Text/Pan Chunhua
Stone slabs are the hottest category in the ceramic industry in 2020. Its popularity is clearly reflected in this Tanzhou exhibition.
300+ rock slab manufacturers and supporting companies participated in the exhibition, turning a ceramics industry exhibition into a rock slab exhibition Exhibition, this domineering, the author thought about it, except for the era of polished bricks and the heyday of polished glazing a few years ago, and the era of unified single categories, it has been a long time since we have seen such a prosperous era of unified single categories. . This prosperity once gave birth to the extreme prosperity of supporting processing enterprises.
According to incomplete statistics, as of June this year, there were a total of about 34 rock slab manufacturers across the country that had been put into production. It has about 45 production lines, with a total daily production capacity of about more than 220,000 square meters. The production area covers almost all production areas in the country. The ceramic tile brand companies involved also cover a series of small brands from first-line big names to rising stars. At the same time, 70% or even more than 80% of these slate products are sold cross-border to the general home furnishing field, and are not the original sales channels for ceramic tile products. As a popular product, slate can be said to be a key product for ceramic companies to change their track and cross-border development, even during the industry reshuffle and industry downturn. Many ceramic companies are clinging to the only life-saving straw.
Stone slabs have indeed lived up to expectations. Compared with materials such as natural stone and artificial quartz stone slabs, they show "acid and alkali resistance, corrosion resistance, dirt resistance, and ease of use" that are lacking. The various advantageous properties of "Treatment" make it a new type of home panel material, which quickly conquers the home, especially in the living room, kitchen and bathroom fields, and is unparalleled in the limelight.
Then, such a hot slate product, is there any sure way to enter the home furnishing field in large quantities that is completely different from the previous ceramic tile sales channels? What is the market demand in the home furnishing field? How to expand channel layout? To this end, the author visited Emeishan Golden Ceramic Slab, a leading enterprise in Sichuan and experienced in the cross-border layout of slate. Slate Enterprise(hereinafter referred to as "Jintao"), Let’s take a look at how they target the target market and lay out their plans for the home furnishing market, which is said to be worth over RMB 3 trillion. Maybe it will inspire you.
▲Tanzhou Ceramics Exhibition gold pottery rock plate booth scene
Segment channels and products according to application areas
Accurate focus and targeted
As the first enterprise to set foot in the field of rock slabs and lay out rock slab channels, Jintao has its own clear plans and paths for its cross-border layout. This time, with the theme of "Creating Emei Culture and Following Original Design", Jintao brought its new "Pure Mirror Dry Powder Polishing" and "Digital Glaze" craft products to booth 405-B of Foshan Tanzhou Exhibition to create high-end slate slabs in China. , representing Sichuan enterprises. Whole-house slate products were also launched as scheduled, and the popularity on the scene was so high that it was eye-catching. In particular, its approach of segmenting channels and products according to application fields and subdividing independent brands fully achieves precise focus and targeted use, highlighting obvious competitive advantages in the current extensive market situation that does not consider subsequent applications.
▲Ran Qixu, General Manager of Jintao Slate Business Department
Ran Qixu, general manager of Jintao Slate Business Department, was interviewed by the author at his Tanzhou Exhibition Hall 4 booth. He said: "Currently, the application of slate in the home field, especially It is used in dining tables, coffee tables and kitchen countertops in living rooms, showing a blowout development trend. We carry out highly targeted design and development of products based on the market-oriented application target fields of the products, especially in terms of size and color. To precise positioning, precise placement, precise hit. Moreover, this size and color are mainly for the general size and design of the public, so as to be as adaptable and targeted as possible. "Through this precise positioning thinking. and layout, Jintao slate once led the development trend of slate home furnishings, especially the development trend of the design, color and size of home slate products in the direction of living room countertop slate. Because of its strong size adaptability, easy subsequent processing and use, and extremely low loss rate, Jintao slate has shown great success in the home furnishing field, and some big-name home furnishing brands have signed contracts with it.
Ran Qixu pointed to the product introduction of the slate living room series lined up on one wall of the exhibition hall: "We are the first company to independently develop this series of slate color and size products. The series is designed to fully adapt to the conventional sizes of countertop panels required in homes. For example, this is the size of the dining table, this is the size of the coffee table in the living room, this is the size of the bathroom sink, this is the size of the kitchen countertop, and this is the size of the TV. The size of the cabinet panel, and this is the size of the kitchen island...the thickness currently ranges from 6 to 20 mm. Basically, these products only need simple grinding to adapt to use. ”
▲Display of different sizes of gold pottery rock slabs
Although slate standards have not yet been released, the industry has already reached consensus on several aspects of its judgment: superior processing performance, high-temperature firing of more than 1200 degrees, and can be used in homes, kitchens and Ceramic material for bathroom countertop panels. As the home furnishing market has become one of the main tracks for cross-border competition in slate, especially now it is one of the main battlefields, and all companies are determined to win in this sector. The layout of gilt pottery rock slabs,Adopting the above precise and focused approach to advance, good development has been achieved.
At the same time, Jintao has specially developed the "Luxury Stone Series" for the living room background wall. By benchmarking precious natural stones and recreating them based on the patterns, colors and textures of natural high-end stones, we researched and developed the "Luxury Stone Series" large slates. This series of slates is specially designed for home and hotel background walls, with bold and jumping colors. Take off, the patterns and colors adopt multiple superposition processes, which are transparent and full of changes and layers. "Our series is circulated in the original ceramic tile sales channels on the one hand, and on the other hand in the stone field. You see, these colors are bolder, green, purple, and blue series, and the design of large slabs with continuous patterns is grand. It is elegant and popular and loved by many merchants." Ran Qixu confidently introduced, Jintao has a product research and development team of more than 30 people and attaches great importance to the original design and quality of products. .
▲Golden pottery rock slab "luxury stone series"< /span>
"In addition, we also have the 'Profound Return to Truth' series developed for the needs of prefabricated buildings and wallpaper fields, advocating the whole house wall cladding slate, which is healthy and ready to live in. Formaldehyde-free, it can truly restore cement, wood boards, wallpaper, cloth textures, leather, etc.; there are bay window series products developed for the centralized procurement system; there are processing application systems built for the application and processing of rock slabs, etc.," said Ran Qixu. , the product series mentioned above are listed in 3 brands ("Goldsmith Home Slate" brand, "KIMS Large Slab Slate" brand and "Ebi Ancient Slate" brand). Under the "Rock" brand), these three brands cover a full range of rock slab application fields.
▲Golden pottery rock slab ‘Profound Return to Truth’ series
Jintao focuses on building a cross-border sales network to many other fields through the professional production technology of rock slabs, completing its leapfrog track transformation development. In this layout, precise positioning guided by market application fields is particularly important - let the market find you as quickly as possible, and you can quickly adapt to its needs.
As for the layout of the rock slabs, Jin Tao did not do it overnight, but had already prepared and evolved it. Ran Qixu revealed that as one of the earliest enterprises in the layout and production of rock slabs, Jintao started as early as 2012, and its thin plate products have been deployed in engineering channels and achieved certain results; in 2016, it launched a ceramic large slab production line and set up an exhibition hall and exhibition hall in Foshan. Warehousing; the slate production line was rebuilt in 2017, and slate products were launched in 2018. It is one of the earliest slate manufacturers in China.
▲Industry leaders visited Jintao booth
As a leading company in the Sichuan production area, Jintao currently has four slate production lines in Emeishan. Basically, all conventional ceramic tile production lines have been changed to slate production lines. There are currently two more The line is about to be put into operation, and it is expected that a total of six slate production lines will be put into operation by October.
The home furnishing market exceeds 3 trillion yuan
This is the battleground for rock slabs
Why are rock slabs so popular? The "old scholar" who works in the ceramics industry has never been able to think clearly: this thing is so big that it is difficult to move and carry, and it cannot be accessed by an elevator. It has to be cut and processed. If you don't cut it well, it will break! I really can’t figure out why it became so popular all of a sudden?
In this regard, Ran Qixu said: "The rock slab is reallyThe main sales field is actually in the home furnishing field, not the traditional ceramic tile field. Sales in the traditional ceramic tile field may only account for 10%-20%, and a large number of slates are sold to the home furnishing field. ”
In fact, the ceramic tile market is a market worth hundreds of billions, while the home furnishing market is a market worth trillions. This is where the blue ocean is targeted by Yanban. So, Dr. Yin Hong once said: "Even if 300 slate production lines are put into production online in the future, this production capacity will be put into the home furnishing field. In the trillion-level market, it’s nothing!”
▲Golden pottery slate home application display
"In fact, glass panels, artificial quartz stone, natural stone, and resin material panels in the home field have long been tired of being used in the home field. They are used for these. The market competition has also entered a fierce stage, and there is an urgent need for a new material to stimulate the market and innovate and iterate the market. In other words, the home countertop material industry itself is facing internal innovation needs, and slate has just caught up with this demand window. . At the same time, the texture, temperament, and superior performance advantages of slate have brought a refreshing experience to this field. Therefore, as soon as slate appeared, it became popular," Ran Qixu analyzed. In addition, the ceramic industry itself is facing a period of intensified reshuffle and industry downturn. A large number of companies that cannot find a way out have firmly grasped slate as a life-saving straw, and the mentality of "taking a gamble" has also contributed to the growth of this category. of madness.
This wave of operations has indeed brought a huge market to a large number of processing equipment manufacturers in Foshan. It is still too early to say whether ceramic tile companies have successfully transformed through this, but slate processing It is true that equipment manufacturers are taking this opportunity to make a comeback.
Behind the Crazy
Requires rational and clear thinkingLayout
The author believes that every trend is a big opportunity. However, opportunities are always accompanied by certain risks. Remember ceramic inkjet technology from around 2010? At that time, we also ushered in a period of revolution from budding to blowout. Some companies took advantage of that wave of momentum to soar, complete the rewriting of the industry structure, and establish their own industry positions. There are also companies that disappeared and were lost in the tide of history after that limelight.
▲The golden ceramic tile booth is very hot
In today's Tanzhou Exhibition Hall, there are many slate companies with various products. Behind the excitement, there may be more directions and paths that need to be considered.
As a leading company in Sichuan, Jintao's development layout of large slate slabs is an attempt to focus more accurately on channels. It may be worth thinking about the logic behind it. After all, every different attempt is a kind of exploration and deserves respect, right?
▲Photograph of Jin Tao Slate and Otao Technology/China Ceramics Network< /span>
Author: Pan Chunhua
