[Face-to-face interviews with people in the ceramic industry] Issue 18
Interviewed Guest｜Luo Zhicheng, General Manager of Huiya Tiles
Interviewer｜Director of New Media Division of China Ceramics Network Zou Sijin
Interview time｜April 2022
Text writing｜Hong Xiaochun
Since 2021, the construction and ceramics industry has been trapped in the dilemma of rising raw material and energy prices, escalating power and production restrictions, and increasing costs. Whether it is ceramics company owners, employees or brand dealers, the most common word is " It’s not easy.” The market is sluggish and it is not easy to survive; competition is fierce and it is not easy to compete for customers; new models and new channels are emerging one after another, and it is not easy to keep up with the pace of the times; local outbreaks of the epidemic have hindered operations in some regions, and it is not easy to operate normally.
But in such a "not easy" environment, through the joint efforts of manufacturers, Huiya Tile not only achieved impressive performance growth in 2021, but also added 218 new agents.
Regarding the current development situation of the industry, Luo Zhicheng, general manager of Huiya Tile, has an optimistic attitude: "Every industry will have its own winter, but we always believe that everything depends on man-made efforts, and the spring belonging to Huiya will definitely come." Recently , Luo Zhicheng generously shared Huiya Tile’s growth secrets in an interview with China Ceramics Network’s “Ceramic Industry Face to Face” column.
01 Marketing system reform, layout of strategic outlets
Amidst the torrent of competition, why can Huiya Tile achieve growth against the trend? Luo Zhicheng believes that it has done two things right. One is to penetrate the market through the branch model, and the other is to use marketing innovation to increase brand potential.
Glimpse of the exhibition hall of Huiya Tile Headquarters
Luo Zhicheng said that we first carried out drastic reform of the marketing system, with the Foshan headquarters warehouse as the center. At the same time, based on the successful pilot projects of Nanjing and Yingkou branches, we added 7 more branches including Linyi, Tianjin and Zhengzhou. outlets, realizing front-end operations, warehousing, services, and marketing, greatly reducing the investment and operation pressure on original dealers and new merchants.
Utilizing the branch office model, Huiya Tile began to vigorously promote the construction of urban and rural outlets. Since the establishment of Nanjing and Yingkou branches in 2019, and the layout of other branches in 2021, it will play a vital role in the development of urban and rural markets. Huiya Tile has used the "regional central warehouse" operating model to further accelerate the layout of brand urban and rural marketing outlets, and added 32 new outlets in the first quarter of 2022, further confirming the role of branches.
Glimpse of the exhibition hall of Huiya Tile Headquarters
Secondly, in order to speed up the brand building and market competitiveness improvement of urban and rural network agents, Huiya Tile launched the Million Red Sea Action Plan and invested heavily in Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hunan, Chongqing, Liaoning, Guangxi, Tens of thousands of square meters of outdoor giant-screen advertising have been launched in core provinces such as Guizhou, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, further expanding brand awareness and reputation. In order to comply with the market development trend, Huiya Tile will join hands with the movie "The Bomb Disposal Expert" in 2021 for brand linkage promotion, creating a strong brand potential for investment.
02 Insight into consumer demand and define healthy living
Relevant surveys show that the proportion of national health consumption expenditures is growing rapidly, and the scale of the health consumption market is continuing to expand. It is expected that by 2023, the scale of my country's health industry will reach 14 trillion yuan. According to the analysis of living habits, most people stay at home for at least 8 hours a day, and ceramic tiles occupy more area at home than any other building material. With the awakening of healthy consumption awareness, healthy functional ceramic tiles have very promising development prospects. .
Luo Zhicheng believes that the market for health functional ceramic tiles will increase by at least 10% to 20% in the next few years, and may even be greater. Based on the analysis of consumer demand, relying on the scale and intelligent manufacturing advantages of the production base, Huiya Tiles continues to expand the track of comprehensive health products, and launched ecological ion bricks in 2018, antibacterial ceramic tiles in 2020, and even more in 2022. Upgrading health products to aldehyde-free bricks will step by step solve the home environmental protection problems that have troubled consumers for many years.
Huiya tiles aldehyde-free brick products
It is understood that as the main product promoted by Huiya Tile this year, the aldehyde-free tile is also its key brand identity symbol. This series of products has national invention patent technology and has obtained certifications from more than 9 national authoritative testing agencies, truly removing formaldehyde from the source. In addition to functionality, the decorative properties of this series of products are also excellent. Currently, more than 60 designs and colors of aldehyde-free tiles are available, with specifications covering 800X800mm, 600X1200mm, and 750X1500mm, allowing consumers to choose from multiple specifications, designs, colors, scenes, and styles when purchasing ceramic tiles and matching space.
Luo Zhicheng said that Huiya Tile has been making products based on the user's thinking for many years. From negative ion tiles to antibacterial tiles to aldehyde-free tiles, it adheres to the production concept of healthy big home and thinks about how to sell well from the past. A piece of ceramic tile, in the past ten years, we have been thinking about how to sell a space. Today, we pay more attention to the overall space floor solution. Changes along the way are all based on changes in user needs. Only by meeting user needs can we talk about brand value and service value.
Huiya Tiles TT modern brick products
Luo Zhicheng added that while complying with the trend of younger consumption, Huiya Tiles also attaches great importance to the promotion and implementation of craft products.It includes four dimensions of product and market, namely market penetration of existing products to existing customers, market development of existing products to new customers, product development of new products to existing customers, and new products to new customers. Diversified operations are also the core work of Huiya Tile in 2022.
03 Cultivate the inner strength of the channel to create changes and respond to changes< /p>
Since the beginning of 2022, ceramics, general home furnishing and even all walks of life have faced various difficulties and challenges. It can be predicted that 2022 will be an unstable year, and the ability of enterprises to resist risks will face more severe challenges. test. In this regard, Luo Zhicheng believes: "We cannot change the uncontrollable factors in the market, but these non-turbulent factors are only temporary. We must strengthen our beliefs, overcome all difficulties, and advance the goals and strategies set by the brand at the beginning of the year."
Glimpse of Huiya Ceramic Tile Production Base
Looking at the overall environment, Luo Zhicheng analyzed that driven by the policy of fine decoration of houses and the general environment of "no housing speculation", the real estate market has entered a period of stable development, which is reflected at the customer level. C-end users are decreasing, and B End customers are increasing. The changes in customer demand on the C-side place more and more emphasis on environmental protection consumption, personalized consumption, quality consumption and service consumption, while the changes in customer demand on the B-side place more emphasis on the company strength, brand influence, production capacity scale and service capabilities of suppliers.
As early as many years ago, Huiya Tile has established an engineering division, which has a very strong competitive advantage in project bidding and services. So far, more than 20 of the top 100 listed real estate companies have reached strategic cooperation, and the annual performance growth of the engineering sector can reach more than 50%. In recent years, the development of self-contained equipment has been rapid, and many real estate companies have also used their core advantages to develop horizontally and set up self-contained equipment divisions or subsidiaries. In 2022, Huiya Tile has reached cooperation with Vanke and Agile. At the same time, the branch has also reached cooperation in some new fields with local decoration companies in terms of supply and services by taking advantage of the regional central warehouse.
Group photo of Huiya tile service team
It is worth mentioning that the online and offline new retail project directly operated by Huiya Tile Headquarters is about to be launched. This project uses the new retail model to accurately meet terminal sales problems and help dealers keep up with the market and consumption habits in a timely manner. change. This model will break away from the constraints of traditional ceramic tile brands and enter new retail. It is also a new attempt in the sinking of brand channels. At the same time, Huiya Tile will also use the original dealer system to develop its efforts in decoration companies, designers, masons and other channels, and deploy professional teams to help old customers focus on deepening sales channels, achieve walking on multiple legs, and then enhance the The risk resistance of brands and dealers.
04 Systematic assistance terminal, leading dealers to transform< /p>
As an old brand in Foshan with a history of 24 years, Huiya Tiles has extremely rich operational experience in brand operation. From the process of cultivating business to becoming a large business, from building a store to opening a store, it provides every Franchisees provide systematic and comprehensive assistance, allowing franchisees to achieve light investment, fast profits, and stable growth.
Huiya Tile store event site
It is reported that free store decoration has always been Huiya Tile’s main assistance policy. In response, the brand headquarters has provided an unprecedented high store decoration subsidy, which greatly reduces the initial investment cost of dealers and supports dealers to open successfully. stores and open large stores, so that more entrepreneurs with courage and courage can follow the footsteps of the brand headquarters and work side by side. In addition to the regular support policies such as store building model support, decoration subsidies, rebate support, and model issuance subsidies, the core of Huiya Tile terminal assistance lies in tailoring a complete set of comprehensive solutions for dealers from traffic to increment to The store performance doubling system for sales volume also provides more professional assistance and implementation services.
China Ceramics Network found in a market survey that dealers’ deepest feeling about the market is that retail customer flow is declining rapidly, and the traffic is constantly being divided up by channels such as fine decoration houses, designers, and decoration companies. In this regard, Luo Zhicheng believes: “The emergence of new models and new channels continues to encroach on the market. If you want to adapt to market changes, every dealer must first changeChange business awareness, adjust business strategies, and abandon the traditional store model. If we do not change, we will remain complacent and content with the present, and we will eventually be eliminated by the market. Only by advancing with the times, changing our concepts, embracing changes, and pioneering and innovating can we find a new path to sustainable development. ”
Events at Huiya Tile stores in various locations
It is understood that among the original dealer system of Huiya tiles, there are many old customers who have seized the opportunity and taken advantage of the situation. For example, Xinfeng’s Huiya tiles are rooted in the county-level market and continue to operate according to local consumption characteristics. Deeply cultivate the masonry channel; another example is Guizhou Huiya Tile's development of new channels and the development of a new store drainage model based on the traffic of the Douyin platform... Luo Zhicheng said that for those dealers who have ideas and the ability to execute, the brand headquarters provides strong support of. For dealers who still have not found the right ideas and positioning, the brand headquarters will provide guidance and support during their transformation period, integrate the advantages of their store operations, target new channels with potential and opportunities, and help them do a systematic job before entering the channel. layout.
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Currently, the production costs and operating costs of the entire building ceramics industry are rising, and many companies that are still product-oriented have encountered development bottlenecks; in the terminal market, dealers who do not have core competitiveness have fallen into price traps. The quagmire of war.
What Luo Zhicheng firmly believes is that although market competition is cruel, times create heroes. Next, ceramic tile brands can only lead dealers to stand out from the competition by improving their brand value and service value from the perspective of users and constantly making breakthroughs and innovations in marketing models.
