There are four weak links in the bathroom hardware industry in the post-crisis era

As we all know, China is a country with a large population and a big producer. According to relevant data, China's sanitary ware accounts for 30% of the world's total, and bathroom accessories also account for nearly 35% of the world's total. However, with the expansion of demand in the domestic market, the pace of entry of foreign sanitary ware brands into China has accelerated.

In 2011, after undergoing a series of shuffles, the sanitary ware industry entered a new crisis. The raw material problems in the sanitary ware industry, crude oil prices, central bank interest rate increases, real estate regulation, and so on all brought the building materials industry a boost. With a heavy burden, under the influence of a series of external factors, sanitary ware companies must strengthen their own development and technological innovation in order to stand firm. Xiao Bian just took a look at the current weaknesses in the sanitary industry.

The post-crisis era is coming

At the previous Shanghai Sanitary Show, international sanitary brands such as Japan's Ina and JADO have brought their latest products to the show to look at the high-end market in China. In recent years, China's sanitary ware industry has developed rapidly. There have been domestic sanitary brands such as Wrigley and Jiumu, and many high-end hotels and hotels have begun to throw the hydrangea into domestic brands with high quality and low price. The rise of national brands has captured the inherent position of international sanitary brands. Faced with the crisis, international sanitary ware brands in China's first-tier cities have begun to feel cool, and have also turned their sights on the secondary and tertiary markets. Moreover, they soon began to formulate corresponding marketing and sales strategies to ensure the first-line market at the same time, to increase the market share of the second and third-tier markets.

China's real estate market, the introduction of regulation and control policies, making villas and Other high-end real estate continue to decrease, the first-tier cities of high-end commercial housing sales are weak, which dragged down the high-end bathroom market, so that began to shrink. According to Ms. Zhong Weihua, general manager of MING Pinshi, the current domestic well-known home improvement brand Dongyi Risheng, as well as Longfa, and the industry's peaks, have all changed from bathroom buyers to brand agents, cutting off the high-end sanitary ware market, which has a great impact on international sanitary ware brands.

For international sanitary brands, this is just the fall of these brands, and the real winter has not yet arrived. In the cold winter, the international sanitary brand needs to do is to dig deeper into the second and third tier markets and strengthen the brand's publicity at all levels of the market.

Domestic product technology is still relatively weak

The 16th China International Kitchen and Bathroom Facilities Exhibition has just ended. Compared with last year, the number of exhibitors increased by 70, and the area increased from 150,000 last year to 250,000 this year. Although the scale of the exhibition has created a record high this year, the flow of visitors to the booth has been much worse than in previous years. It is understood that the decline in the flow of people is not simply due to the dispersal of people caused by the expansion of the pavilion area, but is caused by a combination of factors.

This year's Shanghai cabinet exhibition, according to the theme of the exhibition "green materials, energy conservation and environmental protection," product features are still highlighted in the smart and water-saving features, a considerable number of companies exhibited at this year's show products compared to last year's products exhibited on the technical It must be improved, but there is no new breakthrough in the overall domestic industry's product technology.

At this exhibition, foreign brands toto and Kohler launched more intelligent products. For example, toto introduces a wall-mounted smart toilet in the Nuorrester Light and Shadow Series, which features automatic opening, closing, and automatic flushing of toilet lids, as well as intelligent identification and size water flushing, automatic selection between 3L and 4.8L, and implementation of the Festival. Rinse with water. The latest C3 music enjoyment smart cover controller introduced by Kohler is a smart seat cover that resembles IPHONE in terms of shape and entertainment functions, and supports MP3, MP4, e-books, and Internet telephony. The products of international brands are increasingly based on the intelligentization and development of entertainment functions. In terms of concept and technology, foreign brands still dominate the industry, and domestic brands often follow and lack breakthroughs in product independent R&D.

Many viewers believe that some international brands don’t have on-the-spot publicity methods, but they are still able to attract influxes of people into their booths. Ultimately, these brands’ booths will surely see the technologies and products that lead the industry. Not just show performances.

The overall bathroom market is not yet mature

The emergence of the overall bathroom has accelerated the integration of bathroom products and the further development of the bathroom industry, but also to save the decoration time and energy for consumers. However, this idealized overall bathroom did not quickly occupy the current bathroom market. Although the overall concept of hygienic bathroom has been deeply rooted in people's minds, but the market reaction has been tepid, consumers still see more buy less. According to industry estimates, in the next five years, the overall kitchen and bathroom market will reach more than 40 billion yuan. If a large number of kitchen and bathroom appliances are supplied, the market space in the next 10 years is expected to reach 100 billion yuan. With all major brands involved in all aspects of kitchen and toilet, integrating resources, quickly becoming stronger and bigger, satisfying consumers' "holistic" demand for kitchen and toilet consumption, and narrowing the distance between products and consumers, they become the overall kitchen. The main direction of development of the company.

At present, some high-end bathroom brands, such as Kohler, TOTO, Hansgrohe, and American Standards, are all making bathroom products. According to the overall situation of the market, the current consumption position of the whole bathroom is oriented toward the middle and high-end, so most consumers generally reflect the high prices. Experts pointed out that this marketing model for high-end is not conducive to the overall bathroom into the average consumer family more quickly. In the future, we should develop toward the low-end direction.

Experts also said that the overall bathroom should not only be a manufacturing product, but should also create a bathroom environment. Judging from the current market, our country's overall bathroom still mainly stays at the level of “copying” abroad. However, if it is simply to move foreign products to China, it may not be very effective. The first thing bath companies need to do is understand the characteristics of the Chinese market, and then tailor them to consumers according to market conditions. Bathroom products.

The “Top Ten” selection is yet to be discussed.

Today, many brands that have been obscured in the past have had countless honors, such as "China's Top Ten Taps," "China's Top Ten Bathroom Cabinets," "China's Top Ten Bathroom Sanitary Products," and "China's Top Ten Consumer Products". Wait. Among them, the "China's Top 10 Bathroom Brands", which is called the annual award for the sanitary industry, is the most popular, but the version is also the most. How strong is its credibility, how high is the degree of recognition, and who is the main body of selection, and what is the selection process?

The result of Baidu's "China's Top Ten Bathroom Brands" is: 1,590,000 articles! From the five years from 2006 to 2010, the keyword attention of "China's Top Ten Bathroom Brands" reached its highest peak in 2010, and it has been five in the past. During the year, the search rate of “Top Ten Bathroom Brands,” “National Top Ten Bathroom Brands,” and “Top Ten Bathroom Brands” in the keywords derived from the “Ten Great Bathrooms” were all higher than 600%. The search for the "big ten in the bathroom" has been derived. The tenth is also up to 219%. In terms of 2010, the growth rate of more than 600% is still the top ten brands of the whole bathroom, “the top ten sanitary ware brands in the country”, “the top ten brands of sanitary ware in 2009” and “the top ten sanitary ware brands in the world”, and the tenth name changes. Has become a "ceramic bathroom ten brands."

Historically, the “Top Ten Brands of China's Sanitary Ware” selection subject, that is, the status of the organizations, sponsors and reviewers of the selection, has been questioned. According to reason, this kind of subject qualification is nothing more than such categories: authoritative media, government authorities, industry associations or institutes, experts and scholars, legal assessment agencies, and consumers. However, in the current selections, such a simple and principled issue has also become confused and puzzling.

As far as the association is concerned, the current young Chinese sanitary ware industry does not have a specialized sanitary ware association. Ceramic ware, metal plumbing, bathroom cabinets (solid wood) and other product structures are much more complex than ceramics, making ceramic ware as the main body and the ceramic industry. A vague and indissoluble fate, but because of the concept of "kitchen and kitchen" and the kitchen equipment, there are intangible concerns. As a result, once the selection process is over, the association is also paralyzed. In addition to the absence of a national-level sanitary association, it can only rely on the participation of other associations with which it is associated.

The industry needs development. The truly authoritative "China's top ten bathroom brands" needs the backing and guidance of a truly authoritative selection agency. Whether China's sanitary ware industry, which has long been "under the fence", can be found in the current "China Top Ten Bathroom Brands" selection. My own home? Is a fair and healthy action a "China Sanitary Ware Industry Association" should come into being? Or there will be a saying in three or five years, because the timing is quietly maturing, "The 'Top Ten' selection is crazy" environment "The establishment of the Guardian Association is very eager" is a general trend. Now it owes only the east wind.