Dear colleagues in the ceramic tile industry:
At the beginning of 2020, the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic inevitably had a big impact on the market economy, which was already on a stable development track. The ceramic tile industry was also significantly affected. Recently, the top leaders of many ceramic tile companies have talked with me about this year's market conditions. During my conversations with them, I can deeply feel the anxiety of my peers.
How do we save ourselves in the face of crisis? How to seize opportunities for development in the post-epidemic period?
In this regard, I have some feelings that I would like to share with my colleagues.
First of all, enterprises are part of society
Enterprises are the cells of society. They should be taken from the people, used by the people, and shoulder social responsibilities. We all talk about business management. What is the way to do business? I think the way to do business is to make the company develop better. If a company does not develop well, it may not be able to do charity if it wants to do so. Dajiulu has launched two donation activities during this epidemic. It has joined forces with organizations such as Tencent Home Furnishing and Amity Foundation to launch public welfare activities, and donated materials to show its point. Social responsibility!
Secondly, innovation and globalization are the two pillars of risk resistance
Today, the market environment is full of uncertainties, and the risks faced by enterprises are more severe than ever before. This requires us to remain vigilant at all times and must have sufficient capabilities to deal with sudden risks in the market.
For the ceramic tile industry, I think the ability to continue innovation and building a global brand are the two pillars to resist risks.
First, the ceramic industry must maintain the ability to continue to innovate.
In the past, companies with more advertisements and higher brand awareness might be able to win.
Today, your products must be innovative and have their own core technology. This is a fundamental difference. The market conditions in the ceramic tile industry have not been good in the past two years. There are two types of companies feeling the pressure from the market. One type is companies that rely on low prices to survive; the other type is companies that rely on brand awareness to compete.
To be honest, this is how we got there.
Today, we have embarked on the road of technological innovation and rely on technological innovation to cope with market competition. In 2019, the ceramic tile market performed weakly, but our national market grew by 63%. I think companies in the ceramic industry should get rid of low prices and focus on innovation.
Second, the ceramic industry must have the ability to create global brands.
The global development of Chinese ceramic tile enterprises has never been so urgent. In the 40 years before the reform and opening up, we introduced advanced equipment from abroad and the hard work of our ceramic people made the production scale of Chinese ceramic tiles the largest in the world.
How to turn China from a large production country into a big brand country? Where are the opportunities for Chinese companies?
In the past, Italian ceramic tile companies have sold 70% of their ceramic tiles to the world at high prices, twice as much as ours. In the next 10 to 20 years, Chinese ceramic tile companies will definitely create a number of global brands.
This epidemic has made me even more convinced of the importance of building a global brand.
If the company is a global brand, relatively speaking, China is a single market rather than the entire market. From this epidemicIt seems that the impact of global brands is small, such as Starbucks closing stores in China, but the global market is still turning.
As the Chinese market opens up more and more, more global brands will enter the Chinese market to compete with us. How can we compete with them?
I believe that only global brands can compete with global brands.
China’s growing global influence provides us with an excellent opportunity to create a global brand. In the past ten years, a group of Chinese brands such as Huawei, Gree, and Haier have bravely pioneered in the global market and continued to create influence, reflecting the unprecedented power of "Chinese brands."
China will have more products going global, and more brands going global! Our ceramic industry should seize the opportunities given to us by the times.
Creating a global brand should maintain focus and innovation
Global brands must be extremely focused.
Most of the ceramic companies in China are small and comprehensive. This is because the real estate development speed was very fast in the past and the supply was insufficient. Many companies that have been successful are not willing to be lonely and even operate across industries. They all want to expand the category. All, and most companies have several brands of the same product, but with different base labels. However, they have not created an advantageous brand, so the brands are very weak and have no competitiveness.
I am well aware of the pain and struggle of doing subtraction. Our subtraction method at Bighorn Deer is also very controversial. When we focus on super wear-resistant marble tiles, dealers, internal teams, shareholders, media, and competitors do not understand. I also suffered a lot of pressure from malicious attacks.
So, I understand what my peers are doing. However, focus is the only way to build a global brand.
In the past, China’s ceramic tile industry exports were all trade-based and relied on low prices.
The key to Huawei becoming a global brand is innovation. Our important domestic ceramic equipment company: Keda Enterprise Henlitai is very worthy of our study. Henlitai focuses on independent innovation of presses. If the company continues to maintain its strategic focus, it is very likely to become a globally renowned brand.
We have tried some innovations, and so far, the results are pretty good. Let me share them with my colleagues:
Texture innovation. I personally went to Italian stone exhibitions, mines and global stone markets to look for natural stone textures. I used these textures as tile design blueprints, which were re-originally designed by Italian design director Robert.
Innovation in printing technology. We use American Starlight SG600S printheads and hope to combine the new generation of ultra-high-definition inkjet machines with traditional screen technology to make the texture of natural stone clearer, more transparent, and more natural and lifelike.
Innovation in wear-resistant technology, together with Italy's Carobia Glaze Company, jointly developed a new generation of super wear-resistant diamond glaze, which is three times more wear-resistant than ordinary ceramic tiles.
2020 is an inflection point for domestic ceramic companies. During this period, you will find that good companies will get better and better, and bad companies will get worse and worse.
In 2019, we have taken a small step in product innovation and global branding.
Based on innovation and new brands, we have carried out trademark protection in more than 100 countries around the world, applied for "super wear-resistant" patented technology globally, and have cooperated with New Zealand Hilton Hotel, Kuala Lumpur Marriott Hotel, Colombo Shangri-La Hotel, Japan DANS LE COEUR Hotel, Sheraton Malaysia and other five well-known hotels in the world have reached cooperation, and these hotels have listed us as their preferred supplier.
Finally, I hope that our ceramic industry will build a global brand based on innovation. Let’s wait and see!
I wish Shang Qi a good start!
Dajiaolu Chairman Nan Shunzhi
March 6, 2020
