Zibo Antique Tiles: Opportunities and Challenges

Located in the middle of Lu, Zibo is one of the most famous porcelain capitals in the world. The glass products and ceramic products produced here are not only renowned at home and abroad, but also have a long history tradition. Zibo is now one of China's five major ceramic producing areas. Now ceramics production is not only large-scale, but also complete categories, including daily porcelain, Jianwei porcelain, art porcelain, special ceramics, glass, etc., advanced technology, fine products, in addition to supply the domestic market In addition, it also entered the international market and became one of Zibo's traditional industrial productions with local characteristics. Zibo producing areas rely on good ceramic production bases, and they have good advantages in talent technology, industrial chain, etc. However, due to lack of long-term planning and guidance in the development of production areas, there is no advantage in brand competitiveness. With the expansion of the antique brick market, enterprises in the Zibo production area are shifting their previous production focus to antique brick products, hoping to take advantage of this to drive the rise of the entire production area.

The rapid development of the market, companies from the production of polished tiles to antique tiles

Zibo began to enter the antique brick and started late. It began in 2007. The production of antique bricks is the same as polished tiles. It is also the way to introduce design, technology, and talent from Foshan.

On September 6th, 2010, the China Material Research Institute officially awarded Zibo City a “new material name capital”, but the Zibo ceramics industry has a long way to go in this field.

In the construction of a modern production line of bricks and tiles, it can be said that there is not much difference between Zibo and Foshan. In the domestic market, when mainstream specifications were 500×500mm all-terrain tiles and 300×450mm tiles were once popular, Zibo’s local companies and brands were doing well and they were very impressive. At that time, companies such as Crown, Prosperity, and Yida had certain brand influence. However, since its development, ceramics companies in Zibo have gradually embarked on the OEM production process because of the conservative development of local people, the intensified market competition, and the infiltration of capital and strong market development capabilities from Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong. the way. Afterwards, the polished tile market was booming. Zibo companies simply gave up operating their own brands and simply made OEM production to become a typical production enterprise.

According to industry insiders, up to now, there are about 40 companies engaged in the production of antique bricks in the Zibo production area, and nearly 60 production lines. Most of these enterprises are transferred from the production of polished tiles. Moreover, there are many companies that have plans to produce antique tiles. Of course, due to the deep cultural connotation of antique bricks, these companies do not have the corresponding talents to carry out innovative development on their own. Therefore, the first step in Zibo production areas is still imitation, and the most popular varieties are on the market. Mainly.

Zibo production area high quality antique brick, combined with high market recognition

In 2010, Zibo’s antique brick sales had better market performance under the pressure of greater sales in the entire industry. In particular, strong Saite ceramics, unified ceramics, open-source ceramics and other companies that entered the field of antique tiles earlier have strong strength. Their product quality is the same as that of other companies, and they have their own characteristics in terms of design, color, etc., and their brand positioning. High-end. Such as strong Saite ceramics has currently developed 3 categories, 8 series, nearly 100 varieties of products on the market. Taking the same specification product as an example, the price of the strong Sagittarius product is nearly double that of other mid-range products. There is an investigation of the source of this article is Huaxia Ceramics Network reported that the above several Zibo earlier involved in the production of antique brick products in the Southwest market share of up to 50%, and a good reputation, a higher degree of recognition. In addition to a few high-end product manufacturers, there are more than 30 companies doing ordinary mid-range antique bricks. Relatively speaking, these manufacturers are not professional antique brick producers, but produce antique tiles while producing tiles or polished tiles.

Schematic diagram of ceramic production line in Zibo producing area from 2007 to 2010 (Unit: Article)

On the whole, Zibo antique bricks are of stable quality, and individual companies have initially established their own sales channels. However, the overall level of development still lacks influential brands and enterprises, or the visibility of brands and enterprises is not high. In this regard, it is far from Foshan's enterprises and brands. In discussions with business people, many people think that the antique brick may be an opportunity for the rise of local companies in Zibo.

The texture and pattern of antique tiles mainly originate from nature, such as stone, leather, wood, etc. Currently, companies such as Strong Dorset and Unification can do more than 100 varieties, and their designs and product quality are unique. A strong Saite ceramics designer has unique insights on the design of antique tiles: “The easiest bricks to do are antique tiles, and the hardest thing to do is antique tiles.” Easy to make refers to technical difficulty is difficult, the difficulty lies in the design How can ideas be integrated into physical bricks in an appropriate way and be of a combination of form and spirit in order to become a true high-end product.

The antique brick market has good prospects.

Antique bricks have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years because they cater to the natural and personalized pursuit of modern home decoration. In the interview, almost all people are optimistic about the market prospects of antique tiles, practitioners are full of confidence, some companies have adjusted the direction of business development. When companies in the production areas are optimistic about the prospects for the development of antique bricks, some companies still think calmly and respond calmly. According to Liu Wanbing, general manager of Pilcaro, the new brand next year and in the future will be very difficult for Zibo. His main reasons are the following: First, local companies do not have “traders” to plan their products and brands in all directions. These companies cannot meet the requirements for the characteristics of antique brick production; the second is the sale channels and polishing of antique tiles. Different bricks, those manufacturers or distributors who produce antique tiles by polishing tiles or tiles, if the channel can not be converted accordingly, will face greater market risk; Third, Zibo tile gives the impression that the product over the years is the product Middle and low grades, service capacity is not strong, take the wholesale channels, do not take the Foshan ceramics companies to take the brand stores, stores boutique roads, which is not conducive to the development of antique brick market; fourth is the rise of Zibo peripheral production areas, the quality of their products Also good, but the price is lower, to meet the price-sensitive part of the consumer, causing a lot of impact on the sales of Zibo products.

The above four reasons have a greater warning effect on the Zibo ceramics companies that are currently launching vigorously. If they do not solve the above problems well, blindly moving into antique brick production will inevitably put tremendous pressure on development.

For the future development direction of antique tiles, most people in the industry believe that antique glazed tiles will occupy a certain market share in the future market. From a technical point of view, after the glaze has been polished, the surface finish of the product has been improved and it has a better decorative effect. However, there are different voices. Some industry people think that the antique tiles have lost their original natural texture after polishing, and the spatial layering is not strong. They think that the antique polished glazed bricks only cater to the general public's consumer demand and depart from the antique bricks. "Natural", high-end consumer groups will not be lost.