The hot ceramic large tile is actually in crisis
If you ask the most prosperous and enduring products in the ceramics industry in recent years, I believe that I can ask for personal questions at Foshan Huaxia Ceramics Expo City or China Ceramics Industry Headquarters. The answer is: big board.
Since the East Wind in Bologna, Italy, has emerged in China in 2016, ceramic large tiles (often referred to as “big plates”, including “ceramic rock plates”) have been occupying the “hot search list” of the ceramics industry. It has become a topic that must be said when building a pottery.
This is not the case, the ceramic large tile has recently opened up new hot spots.
On June 19th, Henglitai HT36000 super-large press was successfully trial-produced at the Mona Lisa Group, and the 3.6m large-size large-scale board was born. On June 25th, the Guangdong Building Materials Industry Association released T/GBMA 001-2019. Group Standard for “Technical Regulations for ceramic large tile Construction”; on June 26, the National Annual Meeting of the Fourth Committee of Building Sanitary Ceramics Standardization Technical Committee (2019 Annual Meeting) reviewed and passed the “National Standard for Technical Requirements and Test Methods for Large Size Ceramic Plates” .
The above three hot spots have once again proved that the heat of the big board does not fall and rises. The introduction of the “Technical Regulations for the Construction of ceramic large tiles” has filled the industry gap in the standardization of the construction process of ceramic large tiles, and standardized the auxiliary materials, construction auxiliary tools, construction process, acceptance criteria, etc. of ceramic large tiles in the application field. It promotes the iterative upgrade of ceramic large tile application technology, which will accelerate the application of ceramic large tiles in the terminal market and inject new power into the ceramic large tile market.
From this point of view, the development prospects of ceramic large tiles seem to be bright, and the market outbreak seems to be just around the corner. This makes the Taoist people think that they are very excited. But after calmly thinking about it, I found that the future of ceramic large tiles should not be blindly optimistic.
how do I say this? Chan brother will explain through three questions and combined with the situation learned in the Xuzhou terminal survey in mid-to-late June.
Can ceramic large tiles really reduce costs?
Talking about this issue will involve the difference between the two concepts of “ceramic sheet” and “ceramic large tile”. If you do not understand, please make your own brain.
It is understood that compared with traditional ceramic tiles of the same specification, the production of ceramic sheets should save more than 60% of mineral resources per square meter, save more than 50% of electricity, save more than 40% of fuel consumption, and save more than 60%. Cycle logistics costs; at the same time, it can also reduce exhaust emissions, reduce building load, save building space, and reduce the amount of solid waste after the end of the product life cycle.
Ceramic sheet from the production technology, application technology to product decoration and energy saving, economic efficiency and other aspects are in line with the national energy conservation and consumption development strategy, has been high hopes for a long time in the industry. But I don’t know why, after that, the ceramics enterprises suddenly changed their tastes, and the ceramic plates with energy and environmental protection turned to ceramic large tiles with rising energy consumption.
In Zen’s view, no matter how well the ceramic large tile fits the architectural aesthetics, it can reduce the collage and seams, highlight the natural texture of the stone, restore the simplicity and generosity of the space, and at the same time reduce the dirt and dirt, and facilitate cleaning and maintenance. Less contrary to the national development strategy of energy conservation and consumption reduction, not to mention the large investment in the production and sale of ceramic large tiles.
First, there is a need to build a large investment in ceramics. ceramic large tiles have special requirements for presses, kiln, inkjet machines, glaze lines and other equipment. Building ceramics enterprises must reinvest or comprehensively reform their ceramic large tiles. Such large-scale operations require investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. If all imported or most imported equipment is used, it will require an investment of up to 200 million yuan.
Second, it requires a large investment from the dealer. In the transportation, handling, paving and other aspects, ceramic large tiles are much higher than traditional ceramic tiles, so the cost will also rise. Dealers selling ceramic large tiles seem to sell at a high price, but the cost of transportation, handling and paving is actually very limited.
This is not the conclusion that Zen brother reasoned to reason, but the fact learned from the interviewed dealers during the Xuzhou terminal research process. Dealers involved in ceramic large tiles mostly said in an interview with China Ceramics Network that the ceramic large tile market looks attractive, but it is not easy to do. The transportation, handling and paving methods are still immature, resulting in high sales costs.
How hard is it to sell ceramic large tiles?
Despite the rise of ceramic large tiles for several years, the market is still in the initial stage of cultivation.
Zen brother learned from the Xuzhou terminal research that the current market share of ceramic large tiles is still very small, except for villas, large flats and other high-end residential decoration may choose it, the general residential decoration of about 120m2 and smaller units will be the most It is used as a TV background wall.
“A glimpse of the whole leopard, a glimpse of the overall situation.” Although the Xuzhou market has its particularity, but to some extent is the epitome of the national market. Only a small market share of high-end residential and ordinary residential TV background walls is difficult to support the rapid expansion of ceramic large tiles.
The market share is small, but the professional power of sales is also an important factor restricting the sales of ceramic large tiles.
According to the feedback from the surveyed dealers, the sales of ceramic large tiles are different from traditional ceramic tiles. Consumers who purchase it will require delivery, and most require packaging. First of all, the transportation and handling of ceramic large tiles is very difficult. It is easy to break during transportation. In order to prevent damage, it is necessary to hit the wooden frame, which greatly increases the packaging cost. Vertical transportation is extremely complicated (ceramic plates can not enter the elevator beyond certain specifications, and can only be accessed from the balcony by means of lifts, lifting platforms and cranes. Moving it indoors, the cost is greatly increased. More importantly, the difficulty of paving ceramic large tiles is also very difficult. On the one hand, it is difficult to find experienced pavers; on the other hand, the cost per square meter is several times that of traditional tiles.
A dealer told Zen that since ceramic large tiles are easily damaged during transportation, and the price is high, consumers attach great importance to unboxing. Almost all consumers will require that the seller (dealer or its employees), the contractor (decorator or designer, etc.) must be present at the same time when unpacking, so as to avoid damage to the ceramic large tile, but it is not clear. The responsibility of one party does not know which party should bear the compensation. This kind of scene is quite interesting to imagine: three people stand around a pile of ceramic large tiles that have been out of the box. They are like three swordsmen or swordsmen who are preparing to start. They are solemn, their eyes are focused, and they dare not have a slight scorn. Sloppy, I am afraid that a piece of ceramic large tile will have a little bit of damage and put a responsibility.
Another dealer also said a real case. On one occasion, a consumer bought a few large ceramic plates in her. It was limited to the local conditions of Xuzhou and could not be further processed. She asked her to transport the ceramic plates to Foshan to complete the process. As a result, a large ceramic plate was damaged during transportation. As a result, she had to pay for a new ceramic large tile, plus one to one toss, and ultimately the business did not make any money, but also worried about her for more than a week.
It can be seen from this that the professional power of ceramic large tile sales is important, which in turn affects the volume of ceramic large tiles. In this regard, the building ceramics enterprises should pay full attention to it, establish a practical sales system (pre-sales promotion, after-sales service, etc.) as soon as possible, and strive to enhance the professionalism of distributors selling ceramic large tiles.
With the comprehensive market capacity and the professional strength of dealer sales, the sales dilemma of ceramic large tiles can be imagined. It is no wonder that all participating dealers at the Xuzhou Terminal Research Symposium agreed that ceramic large tiles could never become the mainstream of the market, replacing the status of mainstream tiles such as 800×800mm.
Will ceramic large tiles be killed by the wind?
After talking about the sales dilemma of ceramic large tiles, talking about the third question is a matter of course.
It is necessary to ask why so many ceramic companies are pushing the big board, whether it is independent, OEM or imported, the answer is mostly: no big board, no brand.
Indeed, making ceramic large tiles can show the strength of a ceramic tile brand, and it is the need for building ceramics to raise the brand image and expand the brand’s influence. But through the phenomenon to see the essence, the motive behind it is often not so simple, “do big cards, sell big boards, make big money” is the real driving force for most blindly-constructed ceramics companies to follow the trend of pushing ceramic large tiles. Therefore, the building ceramics enterprises encourage dealers to push ceramic large tiles, dealers recommend consumers to buy ceramic large tiles, and limited market capacity is there, the professionalism of sales can not keep up, can only attract consumers by lowering prices. Inevitably moving toward the quagmire of price wars.
Since China has built ceramics industry, has it been killed by price wars, imitations, and price wars caused by cottages, half-dead, not warm, or bad street products? Microcrystalline stone, full polished glaze, wood grain brick, porcelain polished brick…
On the one hand, the proportion of hard-covering houses is getting higher and higher and the installation channels are expanding. Due to cost-saving considerations, it is unlikely that these two channels will purchase ceramic large tiles, and gradually eroded the retail market of ceramic tiles including ceramic large tiles. Share; on the one hand, the bricks of the ceramics industry spared no effort to make a platform for the ceramic large tiles and call the madness, causing a large number of ceramics enterprises and dealers to push up the big board; on the other hand, the ceramic large tiles follow the trend, imitate, the trend of the cottage The wind has ignited a major hidden danger of price wars, and the road to development that relies on high-profit models to survive because of the high cost.
Citing the contents of an article published in the “Ceramic Information” newspaper in 2018: “The information from many parties has been confirmed: according to the current market demand, several domestic ceramic large-plate production lines need only produce 3 in one year. In about a month, it is enough to meet the annual sales needs.”
The actual situation is that domestic and foreign (China and Italy, India) ceramic large tile production lines are increasing, more and more ceramics companies are joining the production and sales of ceramic large tiles.
This situation, in the long run, the future of ceramic large tile development is not a crisis, it is also worrying.
In the Xuzhou terminal research, Zen brother heard one thing. It is said that in 2018, a brand’s dealers could not sell because of the large accumulation of ceramic large tiles in the warehouse, and finally had to cut them into smaller tiles to sell most of them. In such a realistic situation, isn’t the way of selling such a way to alarm the building ceramics and dealers who are pushing the ceramic large tiles?
As a media person who feeds on the industry and relies on enterprises to eat, and said so many “pour cold water” around the ceramic large tile, the main purpose is certainly not to fight against ceramic large tiles.
If the ceramic large tile can become the magic weapon for the ceramic industry to get out of the longest winter in history, of course, all the builders are happy. But often the ideal is very full and the reality is very skinny. Whether it is for individuals, companies or the whole industry, the biggest crisis is that there is no sense of crisis.
Limited market capacity, urgent need for increased sales expertise, high product production, transportation, handling costs, difficulty in paving construction, testing of space quality, etc., should not be taken seriously and targeted to solve The problem.
How should the ceramic large tile develop? Perhaps, out of the barriers of thinking, away from the category of ceramic tiles, the ceramic large tiles as a new building decoration materials have a more way out. For example, ceramic large tiles are used for countertops (kitchen tables, dining tables, etc.), countertops (closets, cabinets, etc.) and even electrical panels (such as refrigerators).
However, this involves a new question: Can ceramic large tiles replace natural stone? Can you gradually seize the market for timber? Still need to be treated dialectically.
As for the fate of the ceramic large tile, what will happen in the end, let it be time.