After experiencing a booming period of production line growth in 2020, the development of slate in China has quickly entered a cold period of production suspensions, warehouse liquidations, and price declines. Some people call it a period of confusion or even a period of depression. Currently, the sales pressure of slate brands is quite high. When they realize that the furniture slate market is not as good as imagined, many companies have chosen to adjust their product direction, stop production lines to "stop losses in time" or switch back to the production of ceramic tiles.
Putting aside corporate business strategies, from an industry perspective, why has slate gotten to where it is today? Can rock slabs still become an incremental market for the ceramic industry? Where is the way out for slate brands? ...These questions that affect the "lifeblood" of all brands in the entire slate industry will be answered in this issue of "Stone Slab Industry Research Institute".
On the afternoon of November 30, China Ceramics Network's "Stone Slab Industry Research Institute" specially invited Jia Shiguang, general manager of Mingzhu Kezhu, and Liang Fenghua, general manager of New Pearl Slate, to conduct an in-depth discussion on the current situation and development of slate. Let’s talk about rock slab delivery and branding issues.
▲Scan the code to watch the live broadcast
Behind the bursting of the bubble
The trillion-dollar market for rock slabs is still developing
From the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2020, domestic slate slabs quickly became popular. In view of its superior product advantages and broad home market share, ceramic companies will naturally not miss this "blue ocean" with endless potential, and have invested huge sums of money to invest in slate production. board production line. I thought that the layout of the leading players was the beginning of the take-off of rock slabs, but in 2021, the performance of the domestic rock slab market took a sharp turn, directly ushering in a cooling down, and fell into an embarrassing situation of being well received but not well received. News of slate manufacturers liquidating their stocks and falling product prices are coming one after another. Terminal delivery is difficult to solve, and the after-sales service system has been criticized. Many "ambitious" ceramic companies have also been repelled by reality after paying high "tuition fees."
Liang Fenghua interpreted the current situation of the rock slab market. He believed that the current rock slab market is at aThe inventory cycle means that the initial output of the rock slab industry is too high, but the terminal demand is still being cultivated and developed. At the same time, the intermediate delivery system has not been perfected, resulting in the huge production capacity of the rock slab being unable to be consumed, and the phenomenon of "barrier lake" has emerged. .
This development state of slate is not an isolated case. It is a process that every new technology and new product will go through from its birth to its acceptance by the market. The technology maturity curve (also known as the technology maturity curve) proposed by Gartner Consulting The "Knuth Curve") explains this state of development. ——The arrival of every important technology requires two climbs on this curve. This "technology climbing" process is divided into five stages, namely the technology inception period, the expectation expansion period, the bubble burst trough period, the steady climb and recovery period, and the production maturity period.
Liang Fenghua said that currently rock slabs are clearly experiencing a bubble bursting period, but in fact there is another "hidden line" in the development of rock slabs. This line shows that the technology of rock slabs is still improving, including manufacturing, product design, and delivery. At the same time, the market capacity of rock slabs is also growing. The current depressed situation in the rock slab market is mainly due to the huge gap between the reality of rock slab inventory liquidation and the original expectations of the trillion-dollar market.
In fact, due to its wide range of applications, rock slabs have a very large market capacity. Where is the market? The first is the building rock slab, which is the upper wall and lower floor. With the iterative upgrade of ceramic tile categories in the ceramic industry, slate as a new category will become the mainstream of the industry. The second is the furniture market, which is also a channel for cross-border growth of ceramic companies. At present, the share of slate in the furniture market is not high. In the future, as long as the problem of processing and delivery is solved, the competitive advantage of slate in the furniture market will be very great.
All good things come closer to their goals in twists and turns and cannot be achieved overnight. Liang Fenghua concluded that the development of rock slabs requires the joint efforts of all peers and firm confidence to break through bottlenecks.
After saying goodbye to wild growth
The value of slate lies in brand and delivery
While slate has been caught in the quagmire of production suspension, liquidation, and price wars, it has also entered ordinary people's homes in the form of slate furniture and other household products. The market acceptance and penetration rate have been greatly improved. However, it has brought great benefits to consumers.The user experience was far from what was expected. If slate brands want to gain entry into the furniture market, they must break through the circle.
Jia Shiguang believes that if a slate brand wants to break out of the circle, it must first consider where the "circle" of ceramic people is? The ceramic people have been selling ceramic tiles for 30 years. The customary process is to produce the ceramic tiles, judge the design, color and technology suitable for which scene, and then buy them and deliver them to customers. During the entire sales process, Ceramics did not touch the delivery and laying of ceramic tiles at all. This service was completed by a third party. This is the "circle" that the ceramic industry needs to break.
There are two keys to breaking through the circle: one is to grasp the source of design; the other is to build a finished product delivery service system.
Jia Shiguang said that for furniture manufacturers, slate is a new material and they have high expectations. Currently designers are also trying to combine it with other materials to create higher value products. Therefore, slate brands must take the initiative in design, constantly communicate and penetrate with upstream channel vendors, and provide them with more possibilities for beautiful designs. At the same time, on the downstream consumer side, it is necessary to build a fast-delivery service system through resource integration to solve the "last mile" problem, truly reach the C-side, and satisfy users.
Liang Fenghua added that for rock slab brands to break through bottlenecks, they must ultimately return to the value of the brand. Furniture companies mainly consider appearance, performance and design when choosing materials. Based on this logic, slate brands need to consider whether their products can add value to furniture products, whether the material quality and stability are satisfactory, and whether design and research and development have kept up with consumer trends. High-end slate brands can provide customers with higher value.
Delivery is an unavoidable topic for rock slabs. Regarding the question of whether ceramic companies should invest in building rock slab processing centers and form rock slab service teams by themselves, or rely on the power of third parties, Jia Shiguang said that solving the problem of delivery of finished rock slabs It does require the help of a third party. For example, in the general home decoration market, each store in the future must have a self-built or long-term third-party service team to meet the delivery of slate orders.
However, with the expansion of the application range of slate, this model may not be able to meet the needs of real estate finely decorated houses and upstream design units, that is, tooling channels. As we all know, real estate customers have high requirements for efficiency, large project volumes, and short delivery deadlines. Therefore, only batch delivery can meet such needs. To achieve batch delivery, unified processing standards are necessary to ensure that the overall cost is reduced and efficiency is improved. Many current rock slab processing plants cannot meet the efficiency and requirements of engineering business at the same time.Quality requirements, once problems arise, will cause greater losses.
Therefore, in the slate tooling market, a strong force must be needed to integrate delivery services in the industry and formulate relevant standards to achieve large-scale application of slate. This is also the reason why New Pearl Group launches the precision delivery system of Mingzhu Kezhu slate slabs.
Professional rock slab delivery
Mingzhu Kezhu empowers slate brands
In the past, ceramic workers only needed at least two people to sell and lay ceramic tiles. When a new species of slate emerged, due to its higher requirements for bricklaying technology, construction methods, and auxiliary materials, the service team needed at least With more than three people or even more, delivery becomes more difficult. Therefore, slate brands must not only have products, but also help customers solve the "last mile" problem. Jia Shiguang introduced that Mingzhu Kezhu is the slate precision delivery system launched by New Mingzhu Group to help solve the "last mile" problem of slate slabs.
Mingzhu Kezhu focuses on the entire delivery process of slate series products in terms of application design, custom processing, paving and flooring, resource integration, etc., with the help of a service system of "slate products + design full case delivery service + digitization" The distribution direction realizes the upgrade from selling products to selling services. At the same time, through supply chain integration and technology research and development, a dedicated auxiliary material system and a landing service system will be established, ultimately forming an industry ecological layout of "Stone Slab Delivery +".
It is reported that around the operation process of the complete delivery of rock slabs, Mingzhu Kezhu has made every effort to create a tool for professional guidance on rock slab delivery services - the Mingzhu Kezhu Precision Delivery White Paper, which starts with the introduction of the main material - rock slabs. It provides professional explanations on related sectors such as rock slab transportation, rock slab storage, rock slab processing, six major paving processes of rock slabs, rock slab composite materials, closing process, repair and beautiful seam joining process, etc., and also provides teaching videos to assist customers. Floor construction. In addition, Mingzhu Kezhu has also launched more than 600 types of auxiliary materials, forming a full sales chain service of contracting work and materials.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to standardized construction processes and high-quality auxiliary materials,In addition to materials, in order to further help cooperative customers with project management, Mingzhu Kezhu referred to the implementation process of home decoration and industrial decoration projects, and through practical summary, formed a project management manual for rock slab delivery projects from the beginning to completion acceptance and after-sales guarantee, so as to facilitate cooperative customers Standardize project process management.
After more than a year of implementation verification, Mingzhu Kezhu has received very high praise from end customers and is currently being promoted nationwide. It plans to open material central warehousing in 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, establish delivery centers in 100 cities across the country, and create a professional delivery team of at least 1,000 people to serve the New Pearl Group's overall slate sales and terminal stores.
Stone slabs must maintain a firm brand line
True popularization depends on technical standardization
Whether the future development of rock slabs will take the material route or the brand route, the answer to this question has always been controversial in the industry. In this regard, Jia Shiguang analyzed the plate industry as an example. He said that for leading brands in the sheet metal industry such as Tubaobao, Moganshan and Dawangye, the profitability of their terminal dealers is relatively high. Obviously, what supports the healthy development of the industry and the sustainable survival of enterprises must be the brand. Returning to the slate industry, the cost for ceramic companies to produce slate is relatively high. Only branding can level the company's input-output balance and create a better service environment for the industry.
Regarding this topic, Liang Fenghua, who is the leader of the leading slate brand New Pearl Slate, firmly stated that the development of slate brand must follow the branding route. He believes that the future of rock slabs is "brand + delivery". Rock slabs without delivery are just materials; users experience the scene and remember the brand, and delivery is the standard feature of rock slabs.
Therefore, as a pioneer in domestic slate manufacturing, Xinmingzhu Slate has been firmly positioned as a high-end brand since its birth, leading the market with high quality, high value and delivery services. It is understood that New Pearl Slate can provide thicknesses from 3.5mm to 20mm and sizes covering 900×1800mm, 800×2600mm, 800×2700mm, 1200×2400mm, 1200×2700mm, 1200×3000mm, 1200×3600mm, 1600×3200mm and other specifications of products, relying on the industry’s first digital intelligent demonstration factory to ensure the stable and excellent quality of mass-produced rock slabs. At the same time, New Pearl Slate creates high value through all-round brand promotion, such as establishing high-end image stores at the terminal to create a good slate space scene-like experience for designers and partners.
New Pearl Slate Terminal Store
In terms of delivery services, New Pearl Slabs has the advantages of Mingzhu Kezhu Slate's precision delivery system. The standardized process allows users to rest assured, partners to worry less, and the brand to have more confidence.
The product attributes of slate determine that it is a high-end material, but the high-end market also has many application scenarios that can be explored in depth, such as background walls, kitchen and bathroom walls, furniture countertops, cabinet door panels, etc. Nowadays, the market for rock slabs is gestating and growing. If we want to truly popularize rock slabs and fly from "yans in front of the hall" to "ordinary people's homes", we must reduce the cost of delivering finished rock slabs.
Mingzhu Construction Delivery Case
Jia Shiguang said that rock slabs can be applied to different spatial scenarios according to different specifications and thicknesses. If you want to reduce the cost of delivering finished rock slabs, the technical construction methods used must be standardized, and leading technologies can quickly improve delivery. efficiency. For example, for building curtain walls and other rock slab interior systems, if a faster installation method is developed and efficiency is improved through hanging installation, then the cost of rock slab delivery may be further reduced.
In fact, many companies and institutions, including Mingzhu Kezhu, are currently studying such quick installation technology of rock slabs. Through the joint efforts of all parties in the industry, in the near future, the market penetration rate of slate will become higher and higher, and it will be truly popular and applied.
