From the initial casks to steel plates, cast iron bathtubs, to the currently popular acrylic bathtubs, bathtubs have been used as the main appliances for bathing for thousands of years. The real development history of China's modern bathtub industry was only a short period of about two decades. While achieving greater results, it also exposed some problems. Recently, the reporter through the investigation and analysis of the national bathtub market, as well as interviewed some people in the industry, experts, together to contribute to the healthy development of the bathtub industry, but also the bathtub industry development trend forecast.
Bathtub industry issues and related recommendations
First, there is no standard for building specifications in the bathing room. The bathtub is the largest bathing product in the bathing room. Whether the consumer installs a bathtub at home or not has a direct relationship with the size of the bathroom when the room is initially designed. At present, the lack of a unified guideline for the proportion of bathhouses in newly-built properties does not allow the enterprises to design bathtubs with more specifications and styles when producing bathtubs, and it is difficult to form scale production.
It is suggested that behind the rapid development of the bathtub industry, the imperfection of standards has become a major bottleneck restricting sustainable development. The formulation of bathhouse building standardization will promote the healthy development of the bathtub industry, and thus provide favorable conditions for the development of bathtub product quality and specification standards.
Second, the lack of leader brands. At present, China has become a big country in the manufacture and sale of bathtubs. However, in view of the large number of domestic sanitary ware brands, no one company in the domestic sanitary ware market has a 10% market share. The high-end sanitary ware market is completely occupied by imported brands, and it is almost impossible for domestic brands to get involved. In many star hotels and senior clubs, domestic bath brands are rarely seen. However, international brands such as Kohler and TOTO soon became the leaders of the industry after entering the Chinese market. The lack of leading brands in domestic companies has a direct impact on the industry's development trend, and it is difficult to grasp the right to speak in the industry, making it difficult to raise the image of domestic bathtubs.
At present, Wrigley, Huida and other sanitary ware companies have occupied a certain market share. The local government and industry associations should provide greater support, shape the leading brands of domestic enterprises, and promote the overall development of domestic enterprises.
Third, the degree of branding is not high. When reporters visited a bathtub production company in Foshan, they learned that at present, domestically produced bathtub products have reached internationally advanced levels in both quality and technology, but in the domestic market, the overall impression of consumers on domestic brands is still relatively poor. The main reason is that many companies do not brand the image and do not promote the brand when they are doing the domestic market. They think that in order to be a business model for export, doing a good job will bring orders, which will result in a very low value-added brand.
The proposed domestic market is already the age of brand consumption. Enterprises must survive, develop, and take the road to branding is the only way. Enterprises must focus on brand building and promotion, increase product added value, establish brand power is the concept of sales force.
Fourth, the industry entry threshold is low. In recent years, the sanitary ware market has been booming and the sanitary ware industry has developed rapidly. However, due to the low barriers to entry and the benefits of the bathtub industry, many companies have joined the ranks of bath makers, including small and medium-sized home-based SMEs. The entry of a large number of companies has made the competition extremely fierce. The price war, the uneven quality of products, shoddy and plagiarism have made the market even more confusing.
It is recommended that bath companies increase their access requirements when applying for business licenses. Such as raising the registered capital, plant area, production equipment, etc., to ensure the standardization of enterprises, but also increase the company's illegal costs, so that companies can weigh the pros and cons and take the initiative to law operations.
Bathtub industry trends
The development of each industry will experience four phases: the initial period, development period, high-speed development period (shuffle), and maturity. After more than 20 years of development, the sanitary ware industry in China has entered the shuffle stage. Since 2007, with the financial crisis, real estate regulation and other market environment, the sanitary ware industry has seen many major actions in resource integration. "American Standard" changed hands twice and was finally included in the capsule of "Ina" of Japan; Eagle bathroom and Kyrgyzstan bathroom were successively taken over by Roca; Kohler successively acquired Zhuhai Jiade kitchen and toilet, Zhongshan Jiafeng sanitary ware; Chongqing Light Textile The Group wholly acquired 4D sanitary ware; and Fujian Ruida and Hecheng, Zhongyu and German GROHE have reached strategic cooperation in succession. No matter what kind of combination, enhancement of strength, and improvement of the competitiveness of enterprises, strong alliances seem to become an increasingly common phenomenon and trend.
Through the investigation of the market, it is found that in the first-tier cities, the competition in the bathtub market is very fierce. With the improvement of living standards, high-end massage bathrooms are increasingly sought after by high- and middle-income customers. After perfecting the layout of provincial capital cities, sanitary ware companies have opened specialty stores in second-tier and third-tier cities. In the near future, the county-level market will become the main battlefield for the battle for bathtub companies.
The reporter realized that when arranging consumption questionnaires, the domestic market has gradually increased its awareness of domestic bathtub brands. Many domestic companies have occupied a certain share in the market through years of efforts. In the near future, domestic brands and international brands will usher in courtroom rituals. era.
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Software bathtub will lead the next wave
Hot water is soft, such as a sofa, carefully designed according to the human body structure, very flexible, so that consumers can fully enjoy the joy of bathing. The appearance of the bath tub, which is called the bath bath, has attracted great attention in the industry. In the case of Acrylic bathtubs popular in the market, the software bathtub turned out, or will lead the next stage of the bath trend.
Acrylic bathtubs are made of man-made organic materials, which are characterized by rich shapes, light weight, and good surface finish. However, artificial organic materials have the disadvantages of poor high temperature resistance, poor pressure resistance, non-abrasiveness, easy aging, and discoloration. . The surface of the soft bathtub is made of Poly-urethan special new environmentally-friendly material. This material is a high-molecular polymer that can maintain the initial temperature for a long time. The bath temperature only drops by 2 degrees every 1 hour. The soft and elastic bathtub is It is safer to use, reduces the probability of falling, is more suitable for the elderly, children, and makes the body feel more comfortable. The bathtub of the new material also has the characteristics of anti-scratch and no fading, and the service life of the product is 5 times that of the ordinary bathtub.
It is reported that software bathtubs are favored in Europe, the United States, Japan, and other developed countries. They have also received attention from consumers after entering the country in the past two years. However, the high price restricts its market expansion. Maybe in the near future, as the manufacturing process continues to mature and costs decrease, the software bathtub will become the main theme of the bathtub industry.