"Buying imported bricks is worshiping foreigners and favoring foreigners", "Supporting domestic products is an expression of patriotism", I believe many people have heard similar remarks. But in fact, in today's era of economic globalization, our Chinese culture is also becoming internationalized. The country's promotion of excellent traditional culture and strengthening of national cultural confidence does not require Chinese people to only buy domestic products and boycott foreign products, but it hopes that Chinese people will increasingly recognize domestic products and also appreciate imported products.
For a long time in the past, imported bricks have been considered to be too niche a market segment. It is not easy to grow in scale and the development speed is relatively slow. This is especially reflected in the market. Ordinary domestic agents are limited by their financial strength and have weak inventory capabilities. There are very few agents with annual sales of hundreds of millions of yuan. Consumers who can afford imported bricks are also attracted by luxury goods. Stone has captured most of the market share.
It is worth mentioning that in 2021, when the epidemic is recurring, the prospects for imported bricks in the domestic market are gradually becoming clearer, mainly reflected in the following three points.
The first point: The national ceramic tile import data is eye-catching.
From January to November 2021, the total import value of China's ceramic tiles reached US$159 million, a year-on-year increase of 15.00% in 2020. Among the categories of imported ceramic tiles, ceramic tile products with the HS code 69072190 of imported large slabs/rock slabs account for the highest proportion. Taking November 2021 as an example, the import value of ceramic tile products with HS code 69072190 accounted for 80.89% of the total import value that month.
According to customs statistics, China imported 235,300 square meters of Italian ceramic tiles in November 2021, with the import value increasing by 47.09%, and the average price was US$39.09/㎡; in addition, China imported 115,300 square meters of Spanish ceramic tiles that month. The import volume increased by 44.54%, and the average price was US$34.67/㎡.
As mentioned earlier, there are few domestic businesses that stock large-scale imported bricks, and coupled with factors such as uncontrollable shipping costs, import data is closely related to market demand. Based on the above sets of data, it is not difficult to infer that the demand for imported bricks in the domestic market will increase in 2021.
Second point: Imported brick brands performed well at the exhibition.
From March 24th to 26th, 2021, the 2021 China Construction Expo (Shanghai) was successfully held at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Convention and Exhibition Center. At the exhibition, many imported brick brands competed on the same stage, showing off their latest and most distinctive products.products.
DPI, which represents a number of imported brick brands, exhibited REX's Origin Series, Hanni Jade 2.0 Series, CERIM's Crayon Series, Matera Series, Haiyan Series and many other new products at the exhibition;
CASA BRAVA, a subsidiary of Weimei Group, exhibited products from five major imported brands: FIANDRE, SANT'AGOSTINO, COEM, FIORANESE and PANARIA;
Mati teamed up with ROBERTO CAVALLI to bring differentiated cutting-edge products;
Silanda teamed up with the ATLAS CONCORDE brand to bring Prism series of products;
SKI European imported bricks bring a series of Italian master artistic handmade bricks;
Minghe Geely brings MARMI DI IMPRONTA fashionable marble series products;
MARAZZI brings Puro purification series products;
IMOLA brings STILE series and VIS series products;
Gardenia brings three series of products: LUCE, MINERAL and SLABS;
......
As the first comprehensive exhibition in the national construction and decoration industry in 2021, the 2021 China Construction Expo (Shanghai) has successfully attracted many domestic and foreign dealers, buyers, real estate companies, decoration companies, and design groups to visit the site, and they all expressed their opinions. The concentrated appearance of imported brick brands was well received. It is reported that many professional visitors went there for the imported brick brands revealed in the official trailer of the exhibition.
The third point: The agency rights of imported brick brands are hot.
The well-known domestic platforms/brands with agency rights for imported brick brands include DPI under Dongpeng, Yimeijia under Weimei, Mati, SKI, Yijia International, etc. When these platforms/brands were established Most of them have been around for a long time and already have a relatively stable customer base. And just in 2021, many ceramic tile brands announced that they have officially signed the agency rights for imported brick brands, and the agency rights for imported brick brands have become very popular for a while.
On the eve of the 2021 Foshan Spring Festival Ceramics Expo, No. 1 marble tiles were officially renamed as No. 1 Smart Selection, introducing Italian ISLA tiles, Spanish AHigh-end brands such as ZUVI ceramic tiles and X-LABS ceramic tiles have since positioned themselves as international high-end product platforms; at the signing ceremony of the import pavilion on the top floor of China Ceramic City at the end of August 2021, Fiona cement tiles announced the introduction of two top international designs The division brands are 41 zero 42 from Italy and WOW from Spain; Wei Bezan, chief product officer of Airmont Ceramics, said at the signing ceremony of entering the China Ceramics Headquarters in September 2021 that Airmont’s product system It has integrated the products of fuoriformato, a high-end hand-painted slate brand under the Italian Target Group, and Kerlite, a high-end slate brand under the Italian Panaria Group.
Chen Gaozhao, founder of Filona, said that acting as an agent for imported brands is of strategic significance to Filona. First of all, these brands are deeply loved by designers at home and abroad, and the products are based on international trends and design sense; secondly, the blessing of imported brands also has It will help improve the image of Fiona as a domestic high-end brand. Some industry insiders pointed out that "in the past, imported ceramic tiles were mainly operated by small individual businesses and lacked synergy. As many domestic first-line ceramic tile companies join in, it is expected to accelerate the establishment of industry standards and promote orderly competition in the industry."
Some industry insiders believe that the reason why domestic businesses have suddenly become interested in imported bricks in the past two years is the rise of the slate category. However, judging from the development process, imported slate has not really opened up the domestic market for a long time. If we analyze this phenomenon from the perspective of changes in the domestic market environment, it is not difficult to find that there are two main factors why imported bricks are becoming more and more popular.
First, help dealers optimize their profit model.
When China Ceramics Network conducted a terminal market survey in Shenzhen, it was found that the stores of purely imported ceramic brand brands such as Lamborghini, Roberto Cavalli, and Versace were almost all gathered in Baoneng No. 1 Space. There is one such brand with high-end positioning. The characteristic is that the price premium is relatively strong, but the order quantity is relatively small, and the operating cost is relatively high. You must know that the knockout competition in the terminal market is far more intense than imagined. If dealers do not enhance their ability to resist risks, it will be difficult to survive the reshuffle.
Tao Shengcheng, general manager of SK (Shenke) ceramic tile sales, said in an interview with China Ceramics Network that the current service system is a core competitiveness of dealers, and service means that it must be supported by profits. Whether it is profitable or not is often a matter of balance. The positioning of the brand chosen by the dealer is directly linked. Although there is a certain profit margin for being a pure high-end brand, if you only open one or two orders every month, you simply cannot support a store. Therefore, when dealers choose a brand, they first need to consider whether the brand has high-value products that can enter the high-end designer channel and maintain a certain profit margin.At the same time, the brand also needs to have retail products in large quantities, so as to better promote the brand locally and gain recognition from consumers.
This is also the reason why so many domestic brands will increase their 100% original imported categories through agents of imported brands in 2021. As end customers become more and more rational in their consumption and pursue cost-effectiveness, brands that were originally engaged in high-end designer channels will also be impacted by traditional retail channel brands. Similarly, dealers who were originally only engaged in imports will have their sales and profits compressed, and they will also choose to increase sales. Domestic brands serve as supplements. Therefore, more and more dealers prefer to combine domestic products with imported products to lengthen product positioning levels, expand their own sales channels, and increase the return rate of store operations.
Second, it is in line with new consumption patterns & trends.
“Home decoration is just like our usual clothing matching. Customers with spending power generally pursue some high-quality and stylish consumer goods to reflect their own taste, such as high-end, luxury furniture, and imported bricks. One of the choices. "Yan Yonghong, a Shenzhen dealer of Elizabeth tiles, said that in international metropolises like Shenzhen, customers generally have a higher aesthetic level, especially the young "creative generation", who pay more attention to the personalization of home decoration. The availability of imported brick products is also an important factor for the designer group to choose which material supplier to serve them.
Zhang Shenghua, general manager of DPI’s imported ceramic tiles, revealed that at present, DPI serves mostly customers with large apartments, large flats, villas, and some high-end engineering projects. These customers have very high requirements for brand, design, quality, and experience, and Imported ceramic tiles have strong accumulation and advantages in brand concept, product development, global marketing, brand promotion, etc. Therefore, with the continuous development of China's economy and the general trend of consumption upgrading, the opportunities faced by imported ceramic tiles are considerable.
There is another important reason why imported bricks are gradually moving from "niche" to "popular", and that is the popularization of design aesthetics. Today's consumers buy ceramic tile products not only for product functionality, but also for space solutions and lifestyle needs. With more and more channels for obtaining information and prices gradually becoming more transparent, imported bricks are no longer the unattainable "flower of the mountains" in the minds of ordinary consumers, even if most areas of the house are using mainstream domestic ceramic tiles. , consumers will also hope to achieve a unique decoration effect by matching imported bricks in local spaces.
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Versace Tile General Manager Ye Mingxiao recognizedBecause, in the next five to ten years, the market will become more and more segmented, and the method of distinguishing domestic brands and imported brands may not necessarily be able to continue. For imported brick brands, the most important thing is to stick to themselves, pass on their own advantages, and form differentiated competition with domestic brands.
In this regard, Chen Xiaodong, founder and managing director of Foshan Sendi Building Materials Co., Ltd., recognized the development model of Italian ceramic tile companies. "In recent years, Italian companies have insisted on being themselves. This is not easy. China Enterprises should learn from them to do things in a single-minded way, only then will there be hope for the future.”
(Author: Hong Xiaochun)
