Since the beginning of this year, the prices of upstream raw materials in the home furnishing industry have been rising all the way. Affected by this, related companies in the furniture, bathroom, ceramic tile and other home furnishing fields have recently raised their product prices, which has aroused market concern.
1. Rising costs of raw materials
The reporter learned that many leading home furnishing companies, including Oupai Home Furnishing, Dongpeng Holdings, etc., announced price adjustments before and after the "Eleventh" period, involving whole-house customization, ceramic tiles, waterproof coatings, lighting and other fields. The home furnishing industry set off new A wave of price increases.
Chen Wei, vice chairman of Guangzhou Seagull Housing Industry Co., Ltd.: Even if it is adjusted twice a week, the entire home furnishing industry, including sofas, furniture, sanitary ware, ceramic tiles, and other categories, has increased by about 5% to 10%.
Industry insiders told reporters that the prices of home furnishing products were relatively stable in previous years, but since last year, due to the continuous increase in raw material prices, many home furnishing manufacturers have soared costs, and they can only passively increase prices along with the market. Wang Jihong is the head of the purchasing department of a sofa company in Shenzhen. He told reporters that he has experienced such a long period of raw material price increase for the first time in so many years.
In the face of fierce market competition, home furnishing companies cannot pass on all the pressure of rising costs to the downstream terminal market, so many home furnishing companies are facing tremendous operating pressure.
2. Home furnishing companies actively respond
At present, the increase in raw material procurement costs is a common problem faced by the entire home furnishing industry. In the case that product prices cannot rise sharply, the business ability of the company is even more tested.
Many home furnishing companies digest the unfavorable situation brought about by rising costs by innovating products, strengthening supply chain management, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
Chen Wei is the head of a sanitary ware export company in Guangzhou. He told reporters that since the beginning of this year, his company’s export orders for the European and American markets have increased significantly. In order to relieve the pressure of rising raw materials, they signed long-term price-locking contracts with major foreign customers and domestic raw material suppliers. For foreign small and medium customers, they will adjust the prices of products flexibly according to raw material prices and exchange rate fluctuations.
In the face of increasingly fierce market competition, many home furnishing companies focus their operations on building the core competitiveness of their products. In a ceramic tile manufacturer in Foshan, Guangdong, the reporter saw that the R&D team was doing some functional tests on a new ceramic tile. R&D staff told reporters that in order to meet market demand, they launched more than 100 new products this year.
In a sofa manufacturer in Shenzhen, the reporter found that the application of digitization has greatly improved the company's production and R&D efficiency, thereby reducing production costs. Through this system, staff can not only visually see the shape of the sofa on the computer, but more importantly, can accurately calculate the cost of the product.
3. Rising prices accelerate the industry reshuffle
According to the interpretation by the Industry Research Department of China Building Materials Circulation Association, home building materials entered the traditional peak sales season in September, and the sales of building materials and home furnishing stores above designated size nationwide exceeded 100 billion for the first time this year. At the same time, the current market share of building materials and home furnishings, dominated by refurbishment of stock houses (secondary, tertiary, etc.) and improved demand, is gradually expanding.
In addition, the increase in energy prices since the beginning of this year has caused the prices of raw materials to continue to rise, high corporate costs, and strong foreign trade demand, triggering this round of price increases, and some of the price increases have been transmitted to the terminal market. In the short term, competition among building materials and home furnishing companies will become more intense. , The industry reshuffle is accelerated, and some small and medium-sized enterprises are facing elimination.
4. Enterprise's ability to integrate supply chain
Industry insiders believe that the current home building materials industry has entered a mature stage of development, and the competition at this time is the integration capability of the company's supply chain. With the increasing homogeneity of the industry, consumers are more inclined to choose well-known brands for the same money. Therefore, compared with well-known companies, the development of small and medium-sized household building materials companies' channel providers and supply chains may be subject to certain restrictions.
The reporter noticed that many listed companies with substantial growth in the performance of the home building materials industry originated from the horizontal development of the company, such as the expansion of product categories and finished products.
“At present, the main decorations are young people born in the 80s and 90s. They have limited time and tend to buy home furnishing products in the same house. Therefore, additional services such as professional guidance and design solutions for enterprises have become new increments for enterprises."
A veteran in the home furnishing industry told reporters that consumers would not choose a company because of the price, but the company's services and design solutions impressed him.
According to industry insiders, the current market environment is even more testing the business capabilities of enterprises. Direct product price increase is only a short-term strategy to deal with rising costs, and product structure improvement is the long-term driving force for enterprise development. Only by constantly seeking innovations and changes can enterprises adapt to the fierceness. Market competition.