In the construction and ceramics industry, when it comes to the support provided by ceramic tile brand headquarters (hereinafter referred to as "manufacturers" or "brands") to dealers, central warehouses are an unavoidable topic.
In fact, the central warehouse is not a new thing. The concept of central warehouse has been in the ceramic industry many years ago and there have been actual cases. In recent years, as competition in the ceramic tile market continues to intensify, central warehouses have begun to be regarded as a new tool for attracting and supporting business and are increasingly valued by manufacturers. Zhongtaojun learned that there are many powerful ceramic tile brands such as Dajiulu, Guanzhu, Samit, Yingpai, Oceano, Nengqiang, Guanxingwang, Huiya, Asia, and Dajiang who have laid out the central warehouse strategy. , and achieved certain results.
Why does the central warehouse become so important? Zhongtaojun has always paid high attention to it in its terminal research in the past two years.
The manufacturer’s attitude towards the central warehouse is Be rational and don’t follow the trend
In the view of Wang Baohua, deputy general manager of sales at Romario, the biggest role of the central warehouse is to solve the problem of the last mile of ceramic tile logistics and cargo pressing.
Jian Qianmin, deputy general manager of marketing at Huiya, believes that the central warehouse is of great significance for ceramic tile brands to develop markets at the county level and below, but dealers with strong stocking capabilities do not need the central warehouse.
Dajiaolu founder and chairman Nan Shunzhi said: For ceramic tile brands, if there is a lack of channel layout, building a central warehouse will become an empty talk; in addition, whether the central warehouse strategy can be successfully implemented is also closely related to the brand influence. Related.
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In a visit to the brand headquarters of China Ceramics Network's 2022 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile and slate market survey, more than a dozen industry professionals from manufacturers had different views on the central warehouse, or their views were expressed differently. The emphasis is different. As for whether to set up a central warehouse, their opinions have reached a high degree of unity. They believe that this completely depends on the actual situation of the manufacturer and dealer.
“You can know the whole thing by taking a peek at one spot.” From the opinions of many industry professionals above, it can be seen that some manufacturers have a relatively rational attitude towards central warehouses and do not blindly follow the trend.
Dealers have two diametrically opposed views on the central warehouse
In the 2021 "Tao Xing China" national ceramic tile market survey [Chengdu Station] of China Ceramics Network, Fan Chengke, a Chengdu dealer of Geshi Ceramic Tiles, explained his views on the central warehouse to Zhongtaojun.
He believes that the central warehouse is the bridgehead for ceramic tile brands to expand their business. Whoever can grasp the problem of the central warehouse can seize the future. Ceramic tile brands setting up central warehouses can play at least three major roles: first, they can deliver goods quickly, seize market opportunities, and help dealers achieve short-term and fast sales; second, they can effectively reduce dealer business risks, including reducing product damage caused by transportation and mitigating Inventory pressure helps dealers pack lightly and fully participate in market competition; third, it helps dealers build competitive advantages in engineering channels.
In addition to Fan Chengke, many dealers have expressed similar views to Zhongtaojun. Obviously, they are all supporters of the central warehouse, or they are full of expectations for the central warehouse.
However, other dealers have completely different attitudes towards the central warehouse. In the WeChat public account article or Douyin video message area of China Ceramics Network about the central warehouse, some dealers wrote such comments:
"The central warehouse is to remove the dealers, and the manufacturers connect with the distributors and store customers. It is relatively stable for the manufacturers, but it is estimated to have no effect on the wholesalers."
"The tile salesmen from our factory here will go to the community to set up stalls to sell tiles after the housing is handed over. They have become dealers, and the owners just go to buy the goods themselves, and the factory will issue orders for him! Isn't it a mess? The law is sold!”
“I think the profits of ceramic tiles are too thin. Manufacturers directly build warehouses to reduce the number of intermediate links. In the past, large dealers also prepared inventories, but now terminal consumption has decreased and business is difficult to do. Dealers feel that stocking up on goods It’s not cost-effective and they don’t want to stock up, so the manufacturers just buy it themselves, which is a sign of involution.”
"××× was implemented last year and is of no use."
“It is impossible to have all models in shared warehouses at all times, and the cost will increase. Dealers must pay a price increase when purchasing goods from shared warehouses. I still prefer factory delivery, and there are advantages in price wars.”
“The problem is that the central warehouse mentioned by the manufacturer is not the central warehouse you think. This central warehouse is operated by the general agent. The manufacturer finds a powerful agent to set up the central warehouse and pick up the goods.It's convenient, but I've added dozens of points to your price. Don't ask me why. ”
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Some dealers believe that the central warehouse should be actively embraced, while some dealers are quite critical of the central warehouse. Why do the same group have completely opposite attitudes towards dealers? It should be said that "the problem is that the center warehouse mentioned by the manufacturer is not the center warehouse you think of." This sentence hits the point, and also leads to another topic: Do manufacturers and dealers have the same original intention for the center warehouse?
Whether to set up a central warehouse depends on what problem you want to solve
The deputy general manager of a ceramic tile brand told Zhongtaojun that whether a manufacturer should set up a central warehouse mainly depends on what problem it wants to solve. However, he did not elaborate further on this topic.
Zhong Taojun believes that the essence of what he said lies in whether the establishment of a central warehouse should be based on the perspective of the manufacturer or the dealer, or whether the common interests of the two should be found by seeking common ground while reserving differences.
He also said: Setting up a central warehouse is easy to argue, and manufacturers also invest a lot; now many so-called central warehouses are trying to sell dog meat; for areas with inconvenient transportation such as Sichuan and Yunnan, in Chengdu and Yunnan, It is indeed necessary to set up central warehouses in central cities.
Perhaps it is inconvenient to reveal some industry truths (this is why Zhong Taojun did not write down his name, unit, position and other information). His words are limited to the point, but it can explain why some dealers There is quite a bit of criticism about the central warehouse. I believe that many outsiders and insiders involved in the central warehouse can understand this instantly.
Two major implementation approaches and three modes of central warehouse
There are two major ways for ceramic tile brands to establish central warehouses, either by building them themselves or by relying on third parties.
For example, brands such as Jiajun, Eagle, Guanxingwang, Samit, and Huiya all build their own central warehouses to empower dealers with their own strength; while Oceano and Eagle 2086 are in cooperation with the third The three-party home furnishing supply chain logistics service platform-Yi Anju cooperates to develop a new central warehouse model.
As for the three major models of central warehouses, some industry insiders believe that they are nothing more than the branch model, the general agent model and the shared model.
The branch company model means that the central warehouse is directly operated by the manufacturer, coordinating a series of tasks such as marketing and promotion, product planning, channel management, and after-sales service for a certain sales area. The general agent model means that the central warehouse is contracted by the most powerful dealer in a certain sales area, and other dealers become its distributors. The so-called sharing model means that the central warehouse in a certain sales area is jointly funded, operated and managed by manufacturers and dealers.
This industry insider also said that no matter which central warehouse model is used, it has broken the past distribution model of centralized manufacturers and a nationwide game of chess, and upgraded it to a more flexible "enfeoffment system" of regional management. There are at least three core requirements for the operation of central warehouses: first, market research capabilities, which require full knowledge and understanding of the consumption areas radiated by the central warehouse, so as to formulate more matching business strategies; second, coordination and communication skills, and coordination of sales. Relationships with all dealers in the area and strategic communication with the headquarters to realize the manufacturer's pivotal role in the market; third, data analysis capabilities. Through the analysis of product turnover and circulation data, we can gain insight into the life cycle of the product and rationally plan product inventory. .
To sum up, as long as manufacturers work together, have the right direction, clear goals, and take appropriate measures, the central warehouse can fully play its positive role in "supply empowerment, transportation empowerment, and service empowerment" to achieve a win-win situation for manufacturers.
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