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我剛剛結束了一個在中國西南五個城市的迷你旅程。我去了南寧、柳州、貴陽、重慶和昆明。我上一次的旅程是一個月前到杭州、湖州、昆山和常州的華東之行。
正如大家所知，行程的主要目的和我們陶瓷行業相關，通過拜訪不同城市的經銷商了解中國市場的現狀。在此次行程中，我注意到了一些事情，這些對于你們大部分人來說可能是顯而易見的，但也有可能其他人沒辦法看到，因為并不容易被意識到。另外順便說下，有些城市我第一次去，有些城市則可能是這兩年里的第一次去，比如說昆明，在2018年的開業慶典后我第一次去。
當我完成上面提到過的那幾個華東城市之行的時候，通過看到不同品牌正在做的事情，給到我對于中國市場狀況的大致感覺。流行的規格，顏色，風格以及表面處理，不同品牌的進度，誰做得多一些， 誰做得少一些，進口品牌的狀況，品牌們通過調整他們的展廳做出的改變等等。在那次行程中，所看到的東西給我非常深刻的印象，也許導致我過快地做出了一些結論。
這次華西旅程給了我一些答案，清楚地告訴我只去4-5個城市就作出評估是不正確的，無論它們在規模與地緣上有多大的差異。我們去到的不同城市與市場就像當地的人、食物、語言、風俗以及基礎設施一樣，都非常的不同，它們都有各自獨特的做事方式。
此次行程和以往大部分行程不一樣的是，我們去了每個城市不同的瓷磚市場，從居然之家到紅星美凱龍再到當地主流市場，以及拜訪了不同的設計和家裝公司。很大程度上，會給你一種印象在大部分的中國城市的事物都很相似，但是在其它一些方面，它們卻又不一樣，甚至有時候非常不一樣。如果你不注意這些細節的話，你也許無法看到這些差異。去了解這些差異也正是讓事情變得更加有趣的地方。
我在貴陽看到了迄今我在中國看到的最好的紅星。對我來說，通過對這里面入駐的品牌以及它們在市場上展示自身的方式的判斷，這是最先進的瓷磚賣場，這里能看到在新冠疫情市場開放之后，各大品牌展廳最新的形象以及產品設計。說實話，我本來沒有期望這些。同樣我在重慶看到幾個大型的紅星和居然之家，其中一個正在建設中，預計將會在今年10月份完工，這可能也會是我在中國見到的最大的之一。當我們在參觀建設中的工地過程中問什么時候完工的時候，他們回應說3個月。在我聽來這是很有趣的。我可以告訴你在其它大部分的國家答案可能是至少再過一年，而在中國只要3個月。這也是能夠解釋在這個國家做事有多快的一個簡單例子。一種大部分的外國人無法理解消化的速度。這是一門生意同樣也是執行的速度。在中國事情發生得太快，如果你眨個眼的話，你可能就錯過了很多東西。
在此次行程之中與之后，我很清楚現在是大板“巖板”的時代。 更大的規格正在變得更加流行，從現在看上去更像入門級的75x150cm規格開始，到正在獲得非常多的關注的90x180cm中大規格，再到120x240，120x270，160x320以及160x360cm這樣很明顯成了大家都要有不然就要出局的超大規格。
那些典型的頭部品牌們正通過生產正確的規格迅速行動。他們正在安裝生產線在中國生產大板并且停止進口來自印度或歐洲的大板，產品設計越來越好，表面工藝也變得更好，店面更加漂亮、現代、裝飾得更好。而且他們都行動得很快，非?？?。我決定更多地走出去，去不同城市，為了不要錯過任何正在發生的事情，為了更加意識到變化，為了做出更好的市場調研評估，甚至和不同的部門人員一起，這樣他們就可以親眼看到這些東西。僅僅在公司辦公室里聽到或看到圖片是不一樣的。我相信，除非你睜大眼睛和耳朵，否則你可能會錯過行動而落后。成功的關鍵是了解市場走向，比任何人都更快地去做市場需要的事情！
I just finished a mini tour of five cities in the west of China. I traveled to Nanning, Liuzhou, Guiyang, Chongqing and Kunming. My last trip was to the east coast about a month ago to Hangzhou, Huzhou, Kunshan and Changzhou.
As you all know, the main purpose of the trip is related to our ceramic industry and understanding the status of the Chinese market by visiting distributors and their stores in the different cities where they are located. I noticed several things during this trip that to most of you could have said were quite obvious and some others that maybe some of you couldn’t see because they were not easy to notice. This was by the way, my first time to some of these cities and to others the it was the first time in two years like to Kunming when we had the grand opening of our store there in 2018.
When we finished our last trip to the west coast to the cities I mentioned before, I felt it gave me a general idea of the status of the market, by looking at the things that some of the different brands were doing, the sizes, colors, styles and finishes that were the most popular, the progress of the different brands, who was doing more and who was doing less, the status of the imported brands, the changes the brands were doing by adjusting their showrooms and so on. On this trip, I was quite impressed with what I saw and maybe jumped a little too soon to start making certain conclusions.
This last trip to the west of China gave me some of these answers and showed clearly to me that it was incorrect to start making assessments of the market by only judging it by going to 4-5 cities regardless of how different they were in size and how close or far they were geographically speaking. The different markets and cities that we went to just like the people, food, language, customs, and infrastructure were significantly different and each one of them had their very own way of doing things.
We went in this trip to more than most other trips to multiple ceramic markets in each city from Easy Homes to Red Stars to local markets and different architectural and design firms. In many ways some of the things give you the impression that things are quite similar in most cities in China but in some other ways they were also different and sometimes very different. And if you don’t pay attention to details you may not see that difference. And that is precisely where it gets more interesting, in understanding those differences.
I saw the best Red Star Market that I have seen so far in China in the city of Guiyang. To me it was the most advanced ceramic mall by judging it by the brands there were there and how they presented themselves in this market, with the absolute latest looks and adjustments in showroom and product design after the reopening of China after Covid-19. Honestly, I was not expecting this. I also saw in Chongqing multiple and huge Red Star and Easy Homes. One of them was in construction and supposed to be ready by November of this year and could be one of the biggest ones I have seen in China. It was funny to hear when they were thinking of finishing the mall after we asked about the estimated completion date once we visited the site and toured it while it was still under construction. They told us that it was going to be ready in 3 months. I can tell you that in most other countries the answer would have been in at least one more year but in China only in 3 months. This simple thing explains how fast things are done in this country. A speed that most foreigners can’t understand or process. This is a business also of speed of execution. Things in China happen so fast that if you blink you could miss a lot of things.
It was clear to me during and after the trip that is the era of the big slab “Yen Ban”. The larger sizes are becoming more popular starting with 75x150 that is now like the entry level, 90x180 is gaining a lot of attention as the best mid-larger size and the obvious super larger sizes of 120x240, 120x270, 160x320 up to 160x360 that everyone must have or would be left out of the game.
The usual suspects (typically the top brands in the country) are moving fast by manufacturing the right sizes, they are installing lines to make the slabs in China and stop importing them from India or Europe, the product designs are getting better, the finishes also are getting much better, the stores are more beautiful, modern and better decorated. And they all are making things fast, very fast. I took the decision of travelling more to different cities across the country in order to not miss any of the things that are happening, to be more aware of the changes, to make a better benchmark and assessment of the market and even take with me people of other departments so they can see these things as well with their own eyes. It is not the same to just hear or see images at the corporate office. I believe that unless you keep your eyes and ears wide open you may miss the action and stay behind. The key to be successful is to understand where the market is going and to do the things they need faster than anyone else!
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