The ceramic industry is in trouble to make a brand or break through

It is reported that as the largest ceramic export base in China, the ceramics industry in Foshan has developed rapidly in these 10 years, and it has also made it more closely linked with the foreign market environment. Now, with more and more anti-dumping and temporary changes in the domestic market, how will the ceramic industry develop in the next 10 years?

Many people in the industry believe that the most important trend in the future of the ceramics industry is that the degree of industry concentration will be greatly improved, and the overall level of the industry will be boosted through the scale advantages of some large enterprises. In order to increase industry concentration, the management and financial affairs of ceramic sanitary ware companies must go standard and get rid of the submarine-style irregular development model in the past.

Brand becoming industry consensus Since China's accession to the WTO, China's economy has become inseparable from the world economy. Open trade has also driven the rapid growth of the Foshan ceramic export market. At present, Foshan has become China's largest building ceramics production and export base. It is understood that in 2011, China's tile production has exceeded 7.5 billion square meters, of which Foshan holds a considerable share. However, for many Foshan enterprises, the biggest gain in the past 10 years is not only the expansion of output and scale, but the promotion of technology and brand awareness. In particular, brand awareness has been valued by many large enterprises.

Asian Ceramics was listed on the London Stock Exchange last year. The company’s CEO, Pu Dingxin, recalled that 10 years ago, most Chinese entrepreneurs went to Europe to study advanced management concepts of others, and now in certain segments, China Enterprises have surpassed some international developed countries to become the object of learning in some countries. “Like Valentino ceramics, there is a factory in the Philippines. They came to China 20 years ago to teach us how to produce ceramic tiles. We sent people to the Philippines two years ago. How do they accelerate output and save costs?"

General Manager Gong Zhiyun of the Marco Polo branding department has been engaged in the ceramics industry for nearly 20 years and is deeply impressed by the company's brand development. “Ten years ago, there were few brands in the ceramics industry. At that time, Asia, East Asia, Pierre Cardin, and Rome represented a major direction. When we went to the market, we found that their storefront location was the best. The grades are the highest, and I feel like I'm going to do them very well.” Gong Zhiyun said, “It's time to slowly think about how to train, how to build a brand, how to get out of the brand's personalization, Marco Polo gradually The well-known brands that have become antique bricks have achieved good results. Therefore, one of the more important changes in the industry in the past 10 years is how to compete in the era when brands have entered the brand, and the brand's influence will gradually increase."

In fact, at present, many ceramics and sanitary ware companies in Foshan have shouted out the slogan of branding. Mona Lisa’s director Zhang Qikang reminds companies to reflect on the decline of some Taiwanese-owned brands. “Some of the well-known Taiwan-funded brands that we saw before have all disappeared. Now that the Foshan brand is in a strong position in the country, in this round of competition, especially under the real estate regulation environment, Foshan Ceramics How to avoid the decline of similar Taiwan-funded brands in the past decade is worth our careful consideration."

Under the influence of internal and external troubles, or spawning industry oligarchs, Foshan ceramics products have been rapidly growing after entering the WTO because of their high quality and low price, but they have also encountered anti-dumping investigations in many countries and have become increasingly fierce. This year alone, EU, South Korea, Argentina, and Peru launched anti-dumping investigations on Chinese-made tiles. Lan Weibing, director of the Foshan Ceramics Office of the China Ceramic Industry Association, believes that the export of Foshan ceramics will be hit hard, and this kind of anti-dumping It may become the norm in the future.

At the same time, this year, China ushered in the most stringent regulation of the property market, the overall sales of the ceramic sanitary industry in the downstream of the real estate downturn, coupled with corporate financing difficulties, many small and medium-sized ceramic enterprises find it difficult to survive.

However, internal and external troubles have not had much impact on the leading enterprises. New Pearl, Mona Lisa, Jin Yitao, etc. have all enjoyed a good growth in sales this year. Some people in the industry believe that this will allow more market resources to be tilted toward advantageous companies and promote the improvement of industry concentration. It will be a good thing for the long-term development of the ceramic industry.

It is understood that many companies in Foshan can be ranked in the forefront of the domestic ceramic industry, but their respective market share is small, the highest not more than 10%. The low concentration of the industry has caused Chinese ceramics to still lack a brand enterprise that is strong enough. For this reason, there are arguments within the ceramic industry that large enterprises should be bigger and stronger through mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, and other means to produce real leading enterprises.

Shi Bing, general manager of All Friends of the bathroom, believes that in the future development, a trend in the ceramic sanitary industry will be to increase industry concentration. "Like the home appliance industry, the rest of the industry is now also a few brands, and the degree of concentration is high. The strength of these brands is also strong, driving the development of the industry. But the ceramic bathroom has not yet done so."

Get rid of "submarine finance" can only increase the degree of concentration In fact, with the advancement of Foshan ceramics industry transfer, there have been many emerging production areas in China such as Gao'an in Jiangxi, Faku in northeast, Jiajiang in Sichuan, etc. Small and medium-sized enterprises with low technological research capabilities and no branding are less competitive. If large enterprises want to integrate small and medium-sized enterprises and increase industry concentration, it is not a bad thing for the development of the ceramics industry. So, where is the reason for the low concentration of the ceramic industry? Foshan has a large number of ceramic brand enterprises. If they want to become "oligarchs" of similar household appliances such as Haier and Gree, what problems should they solve?

“What does the increase in concentration depend on?” said Zhang Qikang, director of Mona Lisa. “The ceramic industry is not highly concentrated, and the reason for this is the 'submarine financial model'. Most ceramic companies It is a private enterprise. It is not very normative in terms of financial management. It is not transparent and open, which hinders the further development of the company."

The standardized development of the company has also been recognized by Lin Wei, president of Eagle Ceramics. “At present, enterprises or industries must develop in the direction of the norm. Unstandard or disorderly enterprises with low-level competition may become increasingly difficult to survive. The development of the industry is also difficult to improve. ”

Zhang Qikang believes that enterprises can only get rid of the "submarine finance" model, and in an open, transparent, and sunny environment, it is possible to carry out so-called integration mergers. Otherwise, the concentration of the industry in the next 10 years will still be ineffective. It will be very high. “Actually, it can be changed. If there are more companies in the sun, the overall trend of the industry is not vicious competition. It is a sustainable and healthy competition. At that time, the degree of concentration will be high.”

Some companies also feel that it is difficult to achieve ceramic industry concentration to home appliances. A person in charge of a ceramics company who did not wish to be identified believes that China’s domestic market is vast. Due to geographical, consumption habits, economic development, etc., it will generate numerous market segments. “The market for more than one billion people, the demand for ceramic products is huge. Yes, it is impossible to provide these products only by a few companies or more than a dozen large companies, so even if the concentration of the ceramics industry is improved, it will be difficult to be like the home appliance industry."