Bathroom industry e-commerce marketing is still very difficult

Looking at the current mode of operation of some e-commerce in the industry, it is not difficult to see that it is basically a color with a strong traditional industry, and it is also inseparable from the unique product attributes of bathroom tile products. The traditional business model of bathroom tiles in the past, over time, has undergone a variety of changes, in addition to the chain of large stores known by the majority of industry insiders and consumers, such as the Red Star, actually like, there are many regional The independent stores, more powerful independent business stores, in fact, these are the offline business model innovation this year.

Looking back at some of the operating practices of e-commerce, basically we can think of them as red stars on the Internet. Actually, with their increasing popularity and appeal, both C2C and B2C will have to increase their costs; The rising star of Lele and non-livable products is more like a large-scale independent store. Although Melaleuca has developed momentum that covers the national network, this kind of platform not only has to be profitable, but also has to spread itself and enhance itself. Calling force; As for many companies gradually emerging self-built platform, we can think of it as an online independent store, despite the relatively high investment in management and promotion, but it is firmly in their hands.

The e-commerce marketing in the sanitary industry is still very difficult but the current centralized model still has no bold breakthrough in business thinking. It still cannot escape the traditional focus of channels, profitability, and sales. A few years ago, a customer who had contact with a South Korean company started selling bathroom tiles in the form of dealers. With the development of the Internet, he started to enter the e-commerce field of bathroom tiles. Since he has his own store, he started using O2O. . But when it seized the core of e-commerce, it resolutely decided to stop all offline stores, then what is this core? In fact, it is a service. When they do distribution and installation, they can achieve the same or even better service levels as physical stores. Reasonable prices coupled with a highly competitive service system and the resulting reputation have formed the strong core competitiveness of this Korean merchant for e-commerce.

Therefore, I believe that the current domestic ceramic tile e-commerce is still in its infancy and has not yet achieved true breakthroughs and innovations. Many people are still playing a concept, and they have not created a truly new world in the bathroom ceramic tile industry. .

Is the sanitary ware market e-commerce era coming?

According to the monitoring data from the China Electronic Commerce Research Center, as of June 2011, the transaction volume in China's e-commerce market reached 2.95 trillion yuan, an increase of 31% year-on-year. Among them, B2B e-commerce transactions reached 2.6 trillion, an increase of 26.8%. Overall, it maintains a stable development trend.

Now the trend of the sanitary ware industry entering the e-commerce field is becoming increasingly prominent. Many people believe that with the proliferation of traditional sanitary ware channels, the market environment continues to slump, and the rise of e-commerce can be described as timely rain. Many bathroom companies nowadays have wading through e-commerce channels and have achieved little success.

The China Electronic Commerce Research Center predicts that the scale of China's online retail market will reach 736.4 billion yuan in 2011.

Some people say that the future is bound to be the era of full e-commerce economy. Internet marketing will rise to become one of the most important marketing modes in the sanitary ware industry. Online shopping has become a major part of the major consumerism after the 80s and 90s. Business opportunities are huge.

Nowadays, China's sanitary ware companies, especially a large number of small and medium sized enterprises, do not do a good job in brand building of sanitary ware companies. Now, it is an era that pays attention to brands and is also gradually entering the era of online commerce. So, how far is the bathroom brand from the era of e-commerce? Can rely on network marketing to create a large number of bathroom brands?

Online marketing is still at the initial stage as a traditional industry, sanitary ware companies want to take the road of online marketing, Xinhai Hai blue bathroom market manager Chensong Bing believes that bathroom companies should first combine their own resources, do a good job in positioning. After all, traditional companies are unfamiliar with the e-commerce environment and need business leaders to face it with an open mind. Into the e-commerce approach includes the choice of existing platforms such as Taobao Mall, Soufangjiaxia, Pat, Jingdong, etc., Taobao Mall is now developing rapidly, the system is more complete; corporate self-built platform risk and operational difficulties, SME E-commerce The form of project outsourcing hosting is also common.

Liang Xiuhong, Marketing Manager of Huayi Sanitary, said that at present, network marketing is still in its infancy in the industry, including several well-established brands, such as Kohler. Currently, the proportion of real network sales is still relatively small. For the sanitary ware industry, traditional channels still account for a major part, and online marketing can only be used as an auxiliary means as a channel for companies to expand their marketing models. Of course, with 80,90 gradually becoming the main group of consumers, the future era of e-commerce is definitely a trend. As traditional channels enter a store, the cost is very high, and the cost of network marketing is much lower, which is also its advantage. , But at least for the time being, or for some time to come, due to spending habits and dependence on traditional channels, network marketing is still difficult to fully spread.

According to Liu Jiyong, manager of Yigao Bathroom Marketing Department, sanitary ware companies are still in the exploratory stage of entering e-commerce. However, the huge Internet development opportunities currently make every company want to do a good job in this market. How to do it depends on the market of each enterprise. Positioning and business model.

Chen Songbing’s views are more optimistic. He believes that the entire electronic business of the sanitary ware industry needs at least three years of time, and it needs to solve the problem of combining online sales and offline services. In the short term, various "fresh" conditions will continue to appear. Quality problems, logistics problems, and installation of after-sales problems will expose more deficiencies. Sanitary companies must adapt, break through, and make a breakthrough.

E-commerce is the most important means of e-commerce. However, as a network environment where information and resources are shared, Sanitary Enterprise Websites are the best resource for displaying corporate image and demonstrating product functionality.

Liang Xiuhong said that if the traditional terminal market model is equivalent to the concept of its own company's showroom and flagship store, however, it is impossible for a company to expand its market through its own flagship store. It can also pass through third-party websites like other portals. Website links. The second is to use these portals as the distributors of the enterprises. This is a relatively traditional dealership. You can think of a website as an online distributor because it has its own loyal customer base.

Most of the current corporate websites are mostly flat-screen displays, and many small and medium-sized enterprises still only stay on the product display. According to Liang Xiuhong, several companies in Foshan have begun to use 3D technology to open online exhibition halls to simulate the concept of space and allow users to directly participate in the experience. Because the floor tiles are piece by piece, simply displaying people can't see the results. Allowing users to walk directly into the simulation space and choose their own product collocation, the effect is much better than pure display, and people feel there is immersion, but these only include several new product series, and there is no comprehensive coverage.

The other is to increase the interactive link, set up a timely communication system, some companies in their own company official website to open forums, QQ online messages, etc., but these are system engineering, software and hardware requirements are high, but also equipped with professionals, the operation is more Difficulties are difficult for SMEs in general.

Dealers serve as service roles Network marketing is a demand that conforms to social development trends and is a product of social progress. However, new marketing methods will certainly have a certain impact on the traditional marketing model, especially for the local bathroom dealers. So, how to weigh the interest relationship between the company and the distributor becomes a problem that sanitary ware companies must solve in the process of promoting network marketing.

Chen Songbing believes that the last step of e-commerce customer experience cannot be separated from the services of offline entities. The combination of the two is only a matter of time. Already some dealers are aware of the arrival of the new marketing era. With the rapid economic development of network operators, the opposition voice of dealers is getting weaker and weaker. How to weigh the interests of companies and offline channel distributors requires multiple parties to explore together and seek the best method. Can learn from the clothing, furniture, furniture and other types of network operation mode: online sales ** style, online sales promotion line ** inspection sales.

Liang Xiuhong also has the same view, and now domestic sanitary ware companies still use traditional dealer models to promote brands, including after-sales service and installation, all of which are undertaken by dealers. If companies want to do network marketing, they must cooperate with the interests of distributors. differentiate. At the same time, how to cooperate with distributors to achieve a balance between network marketing and the interests of distributors has also become the key. In this regard, we can draw on some mature operating experience of the apparel industry.

Toilet is a relatively heavy product, it will inevitably produce a variety of problems in the process of its use, such as leaking water tanks, flushing is not clean, etc., online sales of toilets used after a period of time problems to return or return to the factory warranty does not seem to It is too likely that local dealers are required to follow up after-sales service. The dealers are not very happy to estimate, and it is even more impossible for companies to send people to the door. So, this problem can not be reached with the local agents to reach a mechanism, e-commerce sales to local products, after-sales service will be responsible for the local dealers.

However, at present, there are some places where distributors operate online marketing independently. Liang Xiuhong believes that e-commerce development to a certain extent is still based on the company's name. Dealers can only serve as a service. Now this situation can only occur. It shows that some companies have low control capability and some regional distributors are very strong. They have regional advantages and do not regulate e-commerce operations. The network information is open, and the prices in different regions are not uniform, which will inevitably disrupt the market price mechanism. The harm to the brand is great. Therefore, a mature e-commerce model must be a brand to operate, a unified price, and a unified Information, to achieve a fair, open and fair network environment throughout the country.

The bottleneck of logistics and installation is difficult to eliminate In 2011, the online retail industry continued to develop at a rapid rate, and many B2C companies obtained **. At the same time, B2C companies realized that logistics will be the top priority of future competition. They have built their own warehousing to further improve their logistics and distribution. . The traditional retail enterprises further touched the net, and comparison shopping also became a hot topic in the first half of the year. In the first half of 2011, the development of the online retail industry was diversified.

For these relatively cold industries such as ceramic sanitary ware, consumer online shopping is not really a habit, and the entire industrial environment has not yet matured. However, like home appliances and clothing products, the online and offline prices have little difference because their operating environment is fully mature. Like Jingdong, its electrical appliances are 5% to 10% cheaper than Gome and Suning. Others are **products. The price will be cheaper. Therefore, many people are willing to buy it, and it sells brands and no worries. It also allows consumers to rest assured that this is a trend and is also a direction for the development of Internet marketing in the sanitary ware industry.

The second is the goods that are rarely seen or not found in other shopping malls. Like some high-end foreign luxury goods, on the one hand, it has brand protection, and on the other hand, it is basic purchase in many second- and third-tier cities in China. It is a trend that the network can solve this problem. Of course, most of the online shopping is still at a low price stage, including the bathroom industry.

Liang Xiuhong believes that for online marketing, not only must consider products, but also consider logistics, especially with the advent of online shopping era, including storage settings and cargo supply protection become a major bottleneck for network marketing, and ceramic bathroom products are relatively heavy Products, high-volume transportation and the rapid information delivery of the network are in stark contrast. Therefore, modern logistics is also demanding. For ceramic sanitary ware companies, how to solve the logistics warehousing problem and reduce logistics costs has become a key factor in promoting online marketing.

Liu Jiyong also said that the current installation and distribution of bathroom products is indeed a major bottleneck in e-commerce, bathroom products are not as simple as the installation of tiles, steam room, massage cylinder installation are all technical things that require professionals to install.

The brand of the network bathroom can be born and mixed in the current market of sanitary wares, and the traditional sanitary ware channels are overflowing. The market is sluggish. With the development of online marketing, the use of online marketing platforms to create their own brands has become a development direction for sanitary ware companies.

Compared with traditional channels, e-commerce environmental information is changing. In addition to frequent marketing activities, the competition between online shopping platforms will also have a great impact. The low threshold caused confusion in the early period, and traditional brands are still selling products according to old concepts, which seriously affect customer experience and are not conducive to the healthy development of e-commerce. Take Taobao Mall as an example, introducing various strategies to enhance customer experience, and not focusing on user experience. The brand will be eliminated. Chen Songbing has his own opinion on this: The network marketing needs more hardware and software requirements. This is a fundamental process for companies that want to create brands through online marketing platforms, and really think about what customers need. The road to branding cannot be duplicated, but it is essentially to solve the user experience. Whoever has mastered the customer and who has the market.

Liang Xiuhong believes that it is not impossible to establish a network brand, similar to only online transactions, other factories as suppliers, online marketing has a high requirement for product quality and supply turnover, the current domestic foundry's technical level can meet the requirements, However, it is difficult to solve the stability of the supply chain. Under the current network environment, it is estimated that no enterprise will dare to invest heavily in this, because the resources needed to establish such a brand are very large.

Liu Jiyong stated that at present, online marketing for sanitary ware companies is basically a mode of promoting online offline, that is, setting up an online platform online and collaborating with distributors offline. If you want to create a network brand, then the industrial structure and price system of the company must be readjusted.

Group buying websites are mixed. On the other hand, in the vast virtual world of the Internet, the risks of online marketing are becoming more and more obvious. For example, starting from last year's group-buying websites, and the 300 group-buying websites failing in August this year, Kai-Fu Lee predicted that 99% will die. According to relevant research statistics, companies spend a lot of money to build websites and market promotion, but 80% of site visitors have flowed away. 15% of visitors visit multiple times without leaving any information, and 4% have The visitor traffic left the information but did not actively contact it. Only less than 1% of the visitors finally completed the transaction with the company. From this point of view, is there a phenomenon of false prosperity at the same time that online marketing is increasingly prevalent? Sanitary companies will spend a lot of money on the Internet economy. Will there be a short-lived phenomenon?

Chen Songbing said that e-commerce competition is the platform of competition. Who can quickly expand the platform, create a quality sales environment, have the most customers, pay attention to the user experience, who will be able to grow, otherwise they will be eliminated. The arrival of the collapse of the group purchase network has nothing to do with this. Kai-Fu Lee’s predictions did not point out that such an exception as Taobao’s cost-effective group purchases, Taobao’s cost-effective development has only been more than a year now, and it has already seized 70% of the market share for online group purchases.

For traditional sanitary ware companies, Chen Songbing believes that companies need to know their role in e-commerce, and it is very important to integrate product supply. He proposed to focus on products, “We cannot put the variables of the electricity supplier business environment, but we can grasp the bottom line of e-commerce, the industry channel chain, and provide excellent products. At the same time, we will use reasonable manpower and material resources. Invested in e-commerce business operations, and gradually rationalized its own network marketing strength, avoiding quick-motivation mentality and causing losses. The so-called calmness is faced with, but this is the case."

Since the network buy-in has entered China in 2010, there has been explosive growth. As a form of expression in the field of e-commerce, group purchase is undoubtedly the fastest growing form of the Internet in these two years.

At present, independent group-buying websites that are in the leading position in the market have already carried out many rounds of **, and the amount is much higher than other websites. These group-buying websites are far ahead of other peers and are at the forefront of the industry. However, for other group buying websites, the industry reshuffle crisis is gradually approaching and many group buying websites have begun to consider the transition.

The reason why group purchase network will appear this kind of situation, mainly because the industry does not have a unified standard, the overall performance is chaotic and vicious competition. Liang Xiuhong said, “The first two years in the initial stage of group purchase and implementation of the market performance is still very good, but with the rise of group purchase sites around the world, many group purchase network flickers on the side of consumers, while 忽悠 manufacturers, resulting in a mess of the entire group buying environment. Some group purchasing networks still do a good job, such as handle network, which mainly depends on whether it stands in the interests of consumers and whether it can create a fair and just environment."

Liu Jiyong thinks that on the whole, group purchase is currently the most popular online marketing method in the ceramic sanitary industry. There are certain consumer groups, and some companies have fallen, but there are also a number of new companies that have stood up. At present, the massive collapse of group buying websites needs to be considered from a combination of factors, including the company’s own operating conditions and market forms. On the contrary, other companies are getting stronger and stronger.

In response, Wu Xuefei, an analyst at the China Electronic Commerce Research Center, said that in the process of development of the group buying industry, capital has helped some companies successfully achieve promotion and improvement of service capabilities. On the other hand, it has also raised the threshold of competition in the industry and led to the emergence of bubbles. . She believes that the competition threshold has been quickly raised by capital, and the group-buying website with the scale has already moved to protect the leading position in the market, and it is difficult for small and medium-sized group-buying websites to maintain their layout in the country.

Competition from scratch Since the end of June 2011, the total number of Internet users in China has reached 485 million, and the Internet penetration rate is 36.2%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the end of 2010. At present, network marketing activities such as network research, online advertising, online distribution, and network services are actively involved in the production and operation of enterprises. With the arrival of the era of Internet marketing, the market competition of various enterprises will be re-aligned. Especially for the sanitary ware industry, the Internet marketing of sanitary ware companies is still at an exploratory stage. There is incalculable room for development. Everyone is competing on the same starting line for brands.

Liang Xiuhong pointed out that there is a trend that is beginning to shift to the direction of specialization. Websites of the nature of the industry are gradually getting more and more. Like SouFun.com, it specializes in real estate, and of course it is quite comprehensive, like Taobao, but it also has specialization. The distinction, as now portals have started to build their own professional websites, then companies using these platforms to include them in their own network of dealers, these are feasible. The relationship between the company and them is the same as the vendor relationship, and the benefits are complementary. For example, Taobao, I work with you, advertising is not money, then where does the money come from? It is extracted from your sales. As for the effectiveness of Internet marketing, we must consider comprehensively and use various network platforms to integrate.

As the world's largest sanitary kitchen market, China is currently experiencing increasingly fierce competition in the domestic sanitary ware market. With the continuous penetration of electronic information, 80,90 after the rise of new consumer groups, Internet marketing has become one of the most hot topics in the bathroom industry. At present, the internet marketing of the kitchen industry is mainly embodied in five aspects. The first is through Baidu, Sohu and other search engines to obtain keyword bids; the second is through some portal websites for online investment promotion; and the third is through the B2B or B2C model. Online shop or website; fourth promotion through blogs, mobile phones, microblogs, etc.; the fifth is through the corporate official website to establish a brand image. The official flagship store that is currently on the Internet is the most common form. Because of the sharing of network resources, these five kinds of network channels can be fully integrated, and each channel can also expand more projects.

At present, domestic electrical appliance giants GOME and Suning Appliance have all set up online stores to open online stores. Gome Kuba Shopping and Suning Tesco are the platforms for their online marketing. At the same time, sanitary ware giant Wrigley baths Toto and Kohler have also opened online stores. According to Taobao data, some of the well-known bathroom brand products have become the most popular category of building materials products.

The same data shows that in the proportion of annual sales of building materials supplies, sanitary ware has become the product with the highest transaction amount, accounting for 18% of the market share. This shows that the future of the sanitary network marketing market is unstoppable. As an emerging market, this is a blank area, and the level of competition in the later period will be even more intense.

Chen Songbing believes that this market competition is always there and the opportunity will always be there. This is a contradictory issue. Look at how different companies have changed their understanding of opportunities. In the past, the big brother brand in the industry is also looking forward to occupying the market share of e-commerce. After the network brand takes up a certain amount of sales, it will develop to where it left off. In the future, there will be a process of infiltration and integration. Whoever is the oligarch of the sanitary ware industry will still have a long time to know.