In recent years, for many ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers, why have they paid more and more and cost higher and higher, while profits have become lower and lower, and survival has become more and more difficult?
If we want to explore the reasons behind this phenomenon, we must not avoid a word that has been very popular since 2020: involution.
01
What is involution?
Here, we don’t need to throw away the book bag and discuss whether the involution originated from the American anthropologist Gordon Weiser or the American anthropologist Geertz, nor do we even need to figure out its original meaning; we only need to know , involution is a borrowed word that was selected into the "Top Ten Buzzwords of 2020" in the "Yi Wen Qi Zi" edition. Its extended meaning is "peers are competing to put in more effort to compete for limited resources, resulting in a decline in the individual's benefit-to-effort ratio." .
In layman's terms, involution is the "inflation" of effort.
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Corresponding to the construction and ceramics industry, involution refers to the increasing competition and the gradual reduction of profits. More specifically, it mainly manifests as vicious price wars.
For example, a piece of 800×800mm ceramic tile used to be sold for 100 yuan, a few hundred yuan, or even more than 1,000 yuan. It was not a great profit; but now it can only be sold for 70, 80, 40, 50, or 30 yuan. Forty yuan, twenty or thirty yuan, there is no minimum, only lower.
Even if the price of ceramic tiles drops to this extent, it still cannot stop the shrinkage of traditional channels for ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers. Real estate giants use hardcover houses as a carrier to intercept ceramic tile brands and their dealers in the upstream that are unable to enter the hardcover house engineering channels. At the same time, they also harvest ceramic tile brands that have entered the hardcover house engineering channels and have to advance funds; , Internet decoration companies, etc. intercept dealers at the terminal; large ceramic tile brands use dimensionality reduction as a means to intercept small ceramic tile brands.
Faced with such a predicament, many ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers had to resort to all meansTo understand how to walk on multiple legs, you have to do it if you have conditions, and if you don't have conditions, you have to create conditions. In addition to grasping dealer channels, the former must also directly intervene in engineering and assembly channels; the latter, in addition to sticking to traditional retail channels, must also develop multiple channels such as designers, assembly, and engineering.
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At the same time, with the overcapacity, channel fission and consumption upgrading in the building ceramics industry, consumers have become increasingly demanding of merchants. They not only require ceramic tiles with good quality, beautiful appearance and big brands, but also affordable prices and The sales service is considerate, in short, it is to spend the least money to do the most things; dealers have increasingly higher requirements for ceramic tile manufacturers, brand promotion should be greater, product ex-factory prices should be lower, and terminal assistance should be more. On the one hand, ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers have gradually increased their investment in brand promotion, product development and sales services, but on the other hand, profits from selling ceramic tiles have continued to decline.
……
In order to survive, many ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers have to do everything they can to seize the market, roll up and down without realizing it, and drop again and again in the vicious price competition without hesitation, which is painful. Struggling on the edge of losing money.
02
Is involution necessarily a bad thing?
Regarding the pros and cons of involution, people mainly have two views: one view is that involution is a degenerate and endless cycle that consumes energy, which has only disadvantages but no benefits for people; the other view is that involution has advantages and benefits. The disadvantages outweigh the advantages, but sometimes it can inspire people to work hard.
From the first point of view, the involution of the building and ceramics industry in the form of vicious price wars is naturally not a good thing. It is obviously a degenerate and endless cycle that consumes energy and must be avoided and rejected.
However, "people are in the world and can't help themselves". In many cases, it is not the decision of ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers to decide whether to involute or not. Others are constantly lowering the sales price of their products. Will you lower it? Others are cooperating with decoration companies at extremely low profits. Will you cooperate? Don'tAre people following the trend in product development and production? Are you following?
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An example often used to explain involution is: when watching a movie (with limited resources), because part of the field of view is blocked by the first row of spectators, the second row of spectators can originally lean back comfortably on the back of the chair. But in order to get a better view, I was forced to stand up straight and even half-stand. As a result, the audience behind them also followed suit and stood taller (competing to put in the effort). Movies that could have been enjoyed while sitting were finally barely watched while standing (the individual benefit-to-effort ratio dropped).
To be honest, it is not appropriate to use this example to explain involution. Cinemas have fixed seats, and they are distributed in a stepped manner from the first row of seats to the last row of seats, that is, the seats in the back must be higher than the ones in the front, and it is impossible for the first row of viewers to block the second row of viewers.
It is more accurate to explain involution by watching an outdoor movie or watching the excitement on the road. If people want to see the excitement, they must be tall or strong. Of course, they must also have a keen sense of smell and move quickly. They must either be able to see wherever they go, or they must use brute force to push away the crowd and seize the first position in the circle. Either grab the first lap position as quickly as possible; if you can't grab the first lap position, you have to pay a higher price than the person who grabbed the first lap position, or spend money to buy the first lap position, or Spend money to buy a stool and stand in the back, or take the risk and go to the tree house.
Corresponding to the building and ceramics industry, bustling is like limited market demand: tall and powerful people are top brands, with strengths that ordinary brands do not have; people with a keen sense of smell and quick actions are small but beautiful brands. It has characteristics that ordinary brands do not have; others are ordinary brands and have to pay a higher price in order to see the excitement.
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In an environment where China's economy has entered a new normal and the real estate industry as a whole is showing a downward trend, the building materials and home furnishing market, including ceramic tiles, has entered the stock era from the incremental era, with limited demand, overcapacity and endless competition, with vicious prices.Involution, whose main form is grid battle, is inevitable.
Since involution is inevitable and cannot be refused, it is better to use it to motivate yourself to work hard.
03
What is an effective way to crack involution?
To crack the involution, external forces are indispensable. Rock slabs are an effective way to break the involution of the building and ceramics industry.
With the advantages of "simple and elegant, unlimited extension, decorative panelization, cross-border application, rich texture, strong plasticity, anti-destructive strength, acid and alkali resistance, wear resistance, and anti-fouling", rock slabs can be used as ceramic tiles. Wall flooring can also be used for home customization. It is a "revolutionary new material" that breaks the application boundaries and combines the functions and advantages of ceramic tiles, stones, wooden boards and other building decoration materials.
Since slate became popular in China, its production capacity has increased rapidly, prices have continued to fall, production and processing technologies have gradually matured, the ability to output overall solutions has been increasingly enhanced, and market acceptance has increased step by step.
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Externally, slate can cross borders, relying on its superior performance and relative cost-effectiveness to occupy the market of other materials such as stone, wooden boards, glass, etc., and expand the extension of the building ceramics industry; inwardly, slate can be transformed into ceramic tiles, and ceramic tiles can also be used Slate, both can rely on superior performance and relative cost-effective advantages to replace the status of traditional ceramic tiles.
From these two perspectives, slate can be called a sharp weapon and focus for the construction and ceramics industry to break through, giving all ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers the opportunity to change tracks, transform and upgrade. Whether it is a head brand or a waist or tail brand, as long as it sets foot on the slate, it means that everyone is on the same starting line again, and all opportunities are equal. This should be an important reason why ceramic tile manufacturers have invested crazily in building slate production lines since 2020. Of course, whether rock slabs can truly become an effective way for ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers to break the involution of the building ceramics industry depends on the actual operating results.
An imported slate production line requires an investment of at least hundreds of millions of yuan. It is an ideal result to recover the capital and make a profit within five years. On the one hand, such a large amount of financial, material and manpower is invested in the production of slate. On the other hand, with the Slab productionWith the "crazy" growth of online sales and the "diving" decline in slate prices, what kind of ceramic tile manufacturers can withstand this pressure? Ceramic tile manufacturers that cannot resist will not only be unable to seize the trend of rock slabs, but may also be heading towards the abyss of being eliminated.
Stone slabs mean greater investment, a stronger team, better after-sales service and a longer sales cycle. It is inevitable to be pressed by manufacturers like ceramic tiles. What kind of dealer? Have such strength? Weak dealers with neither funds nor a team are destined to linger outside the door of slate, watching helplessly as slate gradually replaces ceramic tiles and have no choice but to worry.
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For ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers who are not involved in slate, there is indeed a feeling of being abandoned by the times and sentenced to "death reprieve" by the market; and for ceramic construction companies and dealers who are involved in slate but face failure, it is indeed easy Knocked out.
Whether the rock slabs succeed or fail, the building ceramics industry will set off a cruel knockout round. This is the main reason why this article says that rock slabs can break the involution of the building ceramics industry. There is a joke on the Internet that can explain this very well.
Yue Buqun got the "Sunflower Book". After he practiced it, he did not keep it for himself. Instead, he copied it in large quantities and sold it in the world. Of course, people who want to practice magical skills rush to buy them. The first batch of people who bought it opened it and saw, "If you want to practice magical skills, you must first commit suicide in the palace." Some were reluctant to part with it, and some were so cruel that they immediately wielded their swords and committed suicide in the palace. People from the palace have developed magical skills and are invincible in the world. Others were also jealous, so they followed him. But when everyone has mastered the magical skills, the magical skills will no longer be magical. Those who commit suicide in the future can only get stabbed in vain and gain no benefit.
In this "Sunflower Collection Incident", only Yue Buqun and the first group of people who committed suicide benefited, and the people behind became leeks. That is to say, those who invent new games and those who are the first to participate in new games are the beneficiaries.
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Slate is equivalent to the "Sunflower Collection" of the building ceramics industry, and "self-gong" is a huge investment, and investment may not necessarily lead to success. Whether it can succeed is closely related to the company's own strength - just like practicing "Sunflower Book", it also requires martial arts foundation and understanding. It does not mean that everyone will be able to practice it even if they practice it to everyone's level. It is also different from the power.
In this era where "everything can be involuted, and everyone is an involutionist", how to get rid of involution with the help of external forces is a real technology and art. If you borrow well, you will be the profiteer; if you borrow poorly, you will become the one who is involved, and you will get nothing from the palace.
This may also be the case for ceramic tile manufacturers and dealers entering the field of slate.
(Author: Chan Can)
