"The company has been producing slate since the end of last year, and the monthly delivery volume is about 50,000-60,000 square meters." Recently, the head of operations for a slate brand in Shuitou, Fujian, revealed to the media that his company's slate products are in Production and sales are booming, and the number of styles has increased from dozens to more than 600 now. "Judging from the current market acceptance of slate, there is a high probability that there will be explosive growth next year."
It can be seen that as slate is recognized and recognized by more and more consumers, the market demand for slate is gradually opening up. For dealers who were originally in a wait-and-see state, entering the market early will give them a chance to get a bigger share of the pie. Recently, many dealers have inquired about information about slate brands on the investment platform of China Ceramics Network, and expressed their willingness to invest in building slate stores.
However, there is never a sure business in the world, and the emergence of business opportunities will always be accompanied by crises. On the one hand, the slate market is booming, and there are vacancies in professional slate experience stores in most areas. Dealers who are the first to open slate stores may have the opportunity to become the first to succeed in the slate market; on the other hand, the transportation of slate , processing, and application need to be standardized, but their prices continue to fall in the price war, and some manufacturers are even facing liquidation. Various factors may cause dealers who invest in building stores to take advantage of the excitement and return in despair, becoming "big victims." .
So should dealers invest in building slate specialty stores? Which brand to choose? What kind of store to build? Don’t worry, read this article carefully, you may be able to find the answer.
01 The advantages of rock slabs are gradually becoming apparent, but it will take time to become popular
“Stone slabs are the product of iterative upgrading of products in the building ceramics industry. There is no doubt that their physical properties are better than ceramic tiles.” You Jun, general manager of Haosheng Enterprise Brand Management Center, said that from the perspective of upstream manufacturers , we can see that the phenomenon of involution of rock slabs is very serious. If manufacturers want to get rid of this vicious cycle, they must eventually return to the product itself.
Nan Shunzhi, founder of Big Horn Deer, also made an objective analysis of the current development status of slate. He believes that the development of any new thing has its own rhythm. Although the current development of slate is in the incremental stage in the terminal market , but this growth rate is inconsistent with the growth rate of the entire industry's production capacity, forming a large gap. It will take some time for rock slabs to become popular in the market.
According to the analysis of industry insiders, the reason for the "crotch pulling" of rock slabs is mainly because the manufacturers have taken too big steps. However, as time goes byMoving, slate production technology continues to innovate, and application techniques become increasingly mature, which is a boon for terminal dealers operating slate stores. Since 2022, slate specialty stores of brands such as Marco Polo and Dongpeng have sprouted everywhere in terminals.
On April 16, the Marco Polo all-rock home furnishing pavilion was officially opened at Juran Home in Optics Valley, Wuhan, with an area of 600 square meters. Marco Polo’s curved slate and AI infinite connected slate were used in many spaces. Continuously achieve breakthroughs in design and application;
On May 29, Shunhui Tiancheng Slate Hangzhou Aesthetics Center officially opened its store, with an area of 230 square meters. The overall layout is demonstrated by the trinity of 1+N "slate home scene system, architectural decoration system, and full supply chain system" method, covering a variety of display systems;
On July 12, the Siping Store of Guanzhu Slate Haute Couture Living Store officially opened at Siping Red Star Macalline. It integrates home scenes and life aesthetics to create a collection of culture, life, aesthetics, social interaction, entertainment, technology, emotion, etc. Multifunctional slate customized home space;
On July 24, New Yansu Home Furnishing Suzhou Direct Store officially opened with an area of more than 1,000m². Through multi-dimensional product applications such as floors, walls, countertops, cabinet door panels, etc., it creates a diversified and multi-level business/lifestyle Scene, perfect interpretation of what you see is what you get;
On October 22, Dongpeng’s first all-rock gym was officially opened in Tianbao flagship store in Dongguan, with an area of more than 1,000m². Through the design concept of youth, fashion and scene, it creates a high-definition experience space for rock slabs and presents rock slabs. The actual application effect of board whole house customization;
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02 Imported brands are popular, domestic brands are popular
Judging from the slate specialty stores that have been opened, most of the stores are located in high-end chain stores, and the area of the exhibition hall ranges from a few hundred to thousands of square meters. Such a large investment means that dealer selection is crucial for the slate brand. Production strength, product quality, brand awareness, brand positioning and other aspects are all factors that dealers need to focus on.
In this smokeless competition for investment, imported slate brands have shown strong appeal. In July, the Italian Marazzi slate exhibition hall opened in Hangzhou; in the same month, the Zhuhai exhibition hall of LAMINAM slate officially opened; in late October, the Spanish Deses slate·Nanjing Life Aesthetics Museum officially opened; half a month later, the Spanish Desai Slate Nanjing Life Aesthetics Museum officially opened; Seth Slate Wenzhou Living Center also announced its opening...
“Stone slabs are mainly targeted at high-end consumer groups, and the resources of this consumer group are in the hands of designers.” Desaise’s Nanjing dealer said bluntly. It is reported that most designers’ knowledge of slate products begins with several imported slate brands. Designers’ favorable impression of imported slate brands is not only because imported slate brands have a more international aesthetic, but also because imported slate brands have a more international aesthetic. Also contains some preconceived ingredients.
Some slate brands in Foshan have also realized this and began to display strategic cooperation with imported slate brands to integrate superior products. Not long ago, Lishi Slate joined hands with two high-end Italian slate brands - Italian PANARIA and Italian MATERIA to enter the China Ceramics Headquarters to build a high-end and highly differentiated slate brand matrix. To this end, Lishi Slate also specially invited Zhu Baiyangwei, a famous Taiwanese designer, as the chief designer of its new global marketing headquarters.
Some industry insiders believe that the price of imported rock slabs is too high. This purely high-end pricing will cause dealers to lose many mid-to-high-end customers. Therefore, while some dealers represent imported brands, they will also find a domestic brand as a supplement. In addition, purely imported slate products have limited domestic warehousing and long ordering cycles, while the supply of domestic slate products is significantly more timely and flexible, making operation less difficult.
03 Only with the ability to deliver can profitability
At the 22nd China Xiamen International Stone Exhibition held in August this year, there were as many as 40 exhibiting brands in the ceramic industry, with slate brands accounting for more than half, and all of them showed a very clear purpose-to convert stone into business partners. The reason why rock slab brands have a special liking for stone dealers is also very simple, that is, stone dealers know how to apply rock slabs better than ceramic tile dealers.plate. To a certain extent, dealers with delivery capabilities are more capable of making profits.
Take Linshi Stone, the Zhoushan dealer of Xinmingzhu slate slabs, as an example. Before acting as an agent for New Pearl Stone Slabs, the company had been taking root in the Zhoushan stone market for more than 20 years; after acting as an agent for New Pearl Stone Slabs, it opened two slate specialty stores in Zhoushan. Regarding the issue of rock slab delivery, the person in charge of Lin's Stone Industry was very confident. He believed that "stone processing and rock slab processing are integrated and mutually reinforcing, so there is not much difficulty in rock slab processing and delivery."
In fact, in addition to stone dealers, there are also some powerful large-scale building materials dealers with the ability to deliver slate slabs. In 2021, China Resources Building Materials in Chengdu built the country's first Nobel Slate Technology Experience Hall, which maximizes the application of slate in every space. According to its relevant person in charge, China Resources Building Materials has created a complete delivery system for customized finished slate slabs for the entire house, and has an independent custom design team, 3 professional slate processing plants, a transportation and hoisting team, and an installation and construction team.
Compared with experienced stone dealers and powerful large-scale building materials dealers, ordinary dealers have a long way to go to improve their ability to deliver rock slabs. In this regard, Liang Xueqing, general manager of the Ouwen Lai Brand Marketing Center, said that dealers cannot "do it with their heads covered" when it comes to rock slab delivery, but must learn to integrate resources. Take processing as an example. Without the support of large quantities, it is obviously unrealistic for a dealer to build a processing plant independently and support a group of workers. It is better to choose to cooperate with local processing plants.
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To sum up, it is not difficult to find that making rock slabs and making ceramic tiles are completely two different ideas. In order to continue to expand the market for slate, manufacturers and dealers urgently need to recognize the environment, return to rationality, continuously optimize products and services around the issues that consumers care about, eliminate pain points, and clear up blockages, so that slate can have a better future. future.
Finally, let me tell you some good news. The selection of the third "Golden Rock Award" in 2022 is in full swing. The China Rock Slab Trend Summit with the theme of "Rock Change" will also be held at the award ceremony. Please stay tuned. expect!
