The extremely decentralized, diversified and personalized industrial ecology has created a unique "jianghu" in the ceramic industry, and the speculator is one of them.
The traditional sales model is for manufacturers to find dealers in various regions through investment promotion, and then the dealers face distributors and end customers. This is a typical industry in which "middlemen make the difference".
This is determined by the attributes and characteristics of the industry, because the ceramic tile product has always been a semi-finished product, which requires many post-processing services, including room measurement, tile selection, design, delivery, guidance on paving, post-maintenance, etc. What consumers need is an overall solution, not just a simple purchase of a few tiles. Therefore, both manufacturers and dealers have to equip a large number of sales staff. These sales staff are the capillaries that reach the market terminals. , the greater their number and the more active their actions, the better the manufacturer's sales performance will be.
The ceramic industry is also an industry with very diversified channels. Almost all channel formats on the market have ceramic sales staff busy, and different sales channels have different operating models. They are interconnected with each other. And very different. As front-line operators who are busy in various channels all year round, facing customers, facing terminals, and signing orders directly, almost every salesperson has accumulated a large amount of customer resources and demand information in the long-term market expansion.
This kind of role positioning as service providers and middlemen gives them the foundation for speculating. On the one hand, they use their status as sales personnel to sell their own products. On the other hand, they will also make a few orders that are outside their own product system and that customers have needs, so as to make some extra money. There are even salesmen who have no bottom line and will "intercept" orders from their own manufacturers and use "substitutes" to turn "public orders" into "private orders" in order to earn huge amounts of ill-gotten gains.
Unlike many industrial products that pursue standardization, ceramic products have always pursued differentiation, and the stronger this differentiation, the better. This leads to large price differences between different companies, products, and brands.
For a piece of bricks with the same specification and color, the price difference between branded bricks and non-branded bricks is sometimes more than double, which provides huge profit margins for speculators. They will take advantage of different production areas, different brands, The price differences between different enterprises can be swayed and reversed, going low and rising high, and earning huge profits caused by various information asymmetries.
It is difficult to count how many salespeople from ceramic manufacturers and distributors across the country are fighting on the front lines of the market. But what is certain is that nearly 10 billion square meters of products are sold through them every year. Beyond the mainstream sales channels, there is undoubtedly a huge hidden forceThe undercurrent is "speculators".
Every sales channel such as foreign trade, e-commerce, engineering, and retail, every brand marketing center such as Foshan Huaxia Ceramics City, Ceramics Headquarters Base, and every ceramics market distribution center in Shiwan and Nanzhuang are active every day. There are a large number of speculators who have a lot of market resources and supply and demand information. They are familiar with the subtle price fluctuations of each product. They have a large number of purchase channels for low-price products. They are familiar with the operation mode of every business. No matter what quality standards and requirements you have, as long as there is an order, they can satisfy you.
On online platforms such as WeChat Moments and QQ groups, salesmen often send purchasing information, seeking manufacturers of certain ceramic tiles. It can be said that "snake follows snake's path, rat follows rat's path", every speculator can find his own business from it.
Most high-end players will register a ceramic company in Foshan, and then establish extensive contacts with ceramic manufacturers, dealers, salesmen of various manufacturers, home decoration companies, designers, and even small and medium-sized real estate developers across the country. Commissions, rebates, commissions, etc. secretly develop other people's salesmen, designers, buyers, etc. into their own salesmen, and rely on profit-driven to expand their own business.
A qualified speculator must have numerous supplier resources at hand, and product and price information should be accessible in all directions and be very sensitive. You know exactly which product, who produces it, what the price is, etc.
Whatever products customers need, they can immediately find cheaper substitutes to "complement" them. Especially for orders from brand manufacturers, the brand premium is relatively high, which gives speculators room to operate. They will engage in vicious competition with the same style at low prices. If the same style is not available, imitation copies will be organized immediately. In short, the purpose is to get the order at a lower price.
The vast majority of speculators have dual identities. They are secretive but extremely active, forming another "jianghu" outside the mainstream sales model of ceramics. They are doing the company's business on the table and busy with their own business privately. Relying on the contacts, information and resources accumulated through many years of immersion in this industry, you can sell other people's goods and speculate on your own orders. As long as the industry is not concentrated and products pursue differentiation, there will be information asymmetry and the soil for speculation will always exist.
There is no right or wrong in speculating. It is completely understandable to use the resources you have accumulated to do a few trades while doing a good job in the company's business, so as not to harm the company's interests and increase your own income.
The most fearful thing is that some speculators with no bottom line rely on the platform and resources provided by the company, but engage in self-serving activities, secretly converting orders from some companies into their own orders, and even collaborating with some dealers and engineering procurement All the people work together to speculate in bad stuff, get commissions, and receive kickbacks. This kind of speculator is undoubtedly a force that disrupts the market.If there is a flow, manufacturers will want to get rid of it quickly.
Author | Wang Li
Cultural Director of Mona Lisa Group
Original title: Another "jianghu" of the speculator
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
