Furniture companies do not have brand power shortages lack marketing strategy

"Executive Officer" magazine recently interviewed the insiders of the furniture industry: Tan Guoqing, the director of the furniture brand in Shenzhen, and the senior furniture industry observer, Yuan Weidong, the producer of "True Love Furniture TIME", to discuss the lack of consumer brands in the furniture industry, perhaps Give some warning to the furniture entrepreneurs who are currently confused, some inspiration.

Interpretation by the industry: Why is there no brand power for furniture companies?

According to a survey report, more than 90% of furniture companies do not know how to develop a brand strategy; more than 80% of furniture companies do not have personnel responsible for brand management; in enterprises with brand management, more than 70% of brands manage People do not understand the specific content of the brand connotation; more than 70% of furniture companies are confused about the difference between brand positioning and marketing positioning.

Throughout the exhibition, there are many brands and a lot of high-end furniture brands. But in fact, behind the seemingly prosperous scene, there is an industry pain.

Tan Guoqing, the brand director of Shenzhen Left and Right Furniture Co., Ltd., pointed out in an interview with the executive officer that the furniture industry currently has only industry brands and almost no real consumer brands.

He pointed out that product innovation and the promotion of industry brands have always been the focus of people in the industry. There are very few brands that can reach consumers. When consumers are pointed out that furniture sold in a certain mall, it is almost difficult to say clearly. What brand of furniture is.

Tan Guoqing said that in the furniture industry, there has never been a furniture company that can achieve 1% of the entire furniture market, even if the brand has a certain reputation in the industry has not been able to dominate this market. He believes that the lack of consumer brands in the industry is related to the characteristics of the furniture industry itself.

Industry threshold low production mode primary

“The furniture industry is mainly based on manual and traditional production. The industry has a low threshold for the industry and low requirements for the quality of the employees. It is not like the high-tech industry has its own core technology. The furniture industry is very simple to manufacture. The starting point for running a business is not high. Anyone with capital and money can do it.” Tan Guoqing analyzed this. This has led to a large number of people pouring into the furniture industry, which has divided the market very small. Despite the large market for furniture, there has never been a leading company like the daily chemical industry and the home appliance industry. It is impossible for a company to take an absolute share. Therefore, in this case, no brand can establish a firm foothold in the hearts of consumers.

Tan Guoqing said that although the left and right sofas have been developed in the industry for 28 years, the market share is negligible compared to the total sales of the sofa fabric market. Even if the market demand is large, the production capacity of the company cannot keep up. Especially for the software, Tan Guoqing said that software production is still a labor-based production model. In the whole world home industry, there is no way to change it. This determines that its production is artificially limited and there is no way to increase it by multiples. Especially in recent years, labor costs are getting higher and higher, and workers are getting older and harder to find. This has determined that even a 28-year-old company that has developed for 28 years has not been able to occupy a large sales share in the furniture industry and it is difficult to become an in-depth consumer. The brand in the heart.

In fact, in the past few decades, the furniture industry has developed rapidly, and a number of furniture companies have grown rapidly. Due to strong demand, enterprises can occupy a market share through channels without complicated marketing and promotion, resulting in the lack of brand awareness of Chinese furniture companies. The boss's dependence is serious. The export relies on OEM, and the domestic market relies on the terminal store. This single-channel approach has prompted the rapid growth of terminal stores. Sales terminals such as B&Q, IKEA, Red Star and Meikailong are also increasingly affecting consumers' lives. In the long run, this also deprives brand companies of their right to speak in the market, so that consumers only know the store and don't know the furniture brand. When companies come back to think about branding themselves, they have missed the best time.

Industry brands are flooding furniture companies

Is there a brand in the furniture industry? Yes! Almost every furniture company has more than one brand.

It is understood that there are more than 50,000 furniture companies in China, and it is conservatively estimated that 10,000 companies own brands, and most companies have more than two or more series of brands. According to the usual practice, enterprises must add one series of brands for an average of two years. According to incomplete statistics, the average age of Chinese furniture brands is no more than 5 years old. But many brands don't die on their own, they die in the vicious competition between each other.

Tan Guoqing said that some furniture companies have speculative behavior, arrogance and frequent vicious incidents in quality management, which greatly dampened the development of the brand. In addition to its own production problems, the industry is also a sword. Furniture companies have swept the door in front of each other, lacking the spirit of unity and cooperation, leading to the inability of the industry to improve, and the brand has been smashed in the process of mutual exchange. Price war is the most common method in the furniture industry, which is a common problem in the furniture industry. When the brand has not yet reached the consumer, people in the industry will kill the brand first in the process of price war.

The survey found that, as furniture in the durable goods industry, price is not a major factor affecting consumption. However, furniture companies often make things that are not conducive to brand development for short-term share. Many companies do not have a clear long-term brand strategy, value the current interests, a brand is dead, the next time you change a series, and then change a name, inevitably caught in a round of vicious circle, unable to get out. This is why companies have to add 1 series of brands on average for 2 years.

"Price wars not only reduce brand grades but also hurt corporate profits, and overdraw the market ahead of time, so that enterprises fall into a vicious circle of the market, resulting in the brand can not get good development, it is bound to be short-lived." Tan Guoqing pointed out.

Lack of talent in the industry, lack of brand marketing strategy

Nowadays, the furniture industry is aware of the crisis of no consumer brand. Many brand manufacturers are paying huge sums of money to promote the brand image and build the brand's personality and style. Tan Guoqing believes that it is an indisputable fact that furniture companies in Guangdong are lagging behind Chengdu's furniture enterprises in terms of popularity. One of the reasons is that some of the leading companies in Chengdu in the early days have made a lot of publicity, and a large number of advertising promotion has seized the opportunity in time. Even later, some furniture companies in Guangdong did some advertising promotion in order to enhance the brand's popularity. However, due to the too many brands in this industry tree, the time of choice of the company did not catch up with the best time, and the media was not enough. Wide or not long, the attention caused is far from enough. It is impossible to make it possible for the industry or consumers to remember your brand.

“It takes a long time to establish a brand.” Tan Guoqing said, “Being a brand is far from being as simple as advertising.” Many companies have low levels, small patterns, and shallow boundaries. They don’t know what marketing strategy is. Hard work, but do not know to look up the road to find resources, planning, preparation. Many companies have realized the importance of branding and marketing, but lack of systematic planning, they are temporarily making their heads, and they havetened to get on the bus without looking for the right direction. Without a scientific and standardized brand system, we do not know how to add value to the brand. The reason why many companies are unsuccessful is that they simply don't know where their business problems are. Business leaders have little knowledge of brand planning, are unfavourable to control sales channels, blindly introduce professional managers, and can not let professional managers do it.

In addition, professional managers in the furniture industry lack professionalism and professionalism. Many people who do branding or marketing do not have professional knowledge. They are self-righteous. They don’t think about how to be in the position of the company. Usually, this company stays for one year, and that company stays. One year, the career path has not changed for the company's brand development. This has led entrepreneurs not to believe in professional managers, professional managers also lacked a sense of belonging, making the furniture industry into a "lack of talent" dilemma.

According to a survey report, more than 90% of furniture companies do not know how to develop a brand strategy; more than 80% of furniture companies do not have personnel responsible for brand management; in enterprises with brand management, more than 70% of brands manage People do not understand the specific content of the brand connotation; more than 70% of furniture companies are confused about the difference between brand positioning and marketing positioning.

Although there are problems in this industry and enterprises, Tan Guoqing said: "At present, the entire furniture industry is striving to solve one thing - how to turn corporate and industrial brands into consumer brands. This topic has been said a lot. Years, but it does require a process."

Industry observer: furniture boss lacks brand belief

Don't blame the manager for running, the manager is always second, they are always the assistants of the boss, the most important is the founder of the brand, can you create a brand, can not settle after the establishment, this is the main problem.

Yuan Weidong, the producer of "True Love Furniture TIME", has a burly body and has the simple temperament of a typical Inner Mongolian. In the furniture industry, everyone likes to call him "Mr. Yuan" because he is an "old media person" in the media circle. He was the editor-in-chief of Fortune Weekly in the Yangcheng Evening News. The head of the window magazine and the head of the financial sector, later became the editorial board of the 21st Century Business Review of the management media of the Southern Newspaper Group.

In January 2008, the first phase of the furniture media founded by Yuan was successfully published. The cover topic was “2008 Embracing Change”. In his blog, he wrote such a sentence: "There is a lot of things that will be deposited in the history of the waves, and those who are called cultural relics, many of them are furniture."

Yuan Weidong believes that the Chinese furniture market was market-starved in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the bosses were small carpenters. Most of them did not even go to high school. At that time, the entire industry also looked down on this activity and gave furniture to most people. Not willing. "Now everyone is more and more affordable, because furniture companies do export and they are making money, and they don't have to worry about terminal channels in Dongguan. Because brands have people, you can do OEM. No one in the domestic market will recognize brands. Ordinary people identify brands to dry up." Yuan Weidong said with emotion.

However, in the eyes of Yuan, the furniture industry still has consumer brands, but that is a minority. For example, Meikemeijia, each product takes 4 years to craft, and its business model is direct retail, not operated by dealers. In addition, Da Vinci has successfully built into a luxury furniture brand in China.

However, in the big environment of the furniture industry, most furniture companies have no consumer brands. Although the industry has developed for more than 20 years, consumer brands have gradually developed, but most of them are unclear. Yuan Weidong analyzed the main reasons. The following three points.

Reason one: The company "services who" did not think well

Yuan Weidong believes that if you want to build a consumer brand, the company's heart must be closely linked with the consumer, and the company wants to serve who is very clear. In Da Vinci, for example, it is a service that has a lot of assets, and has worked tirelessly to Italy to provide Italian furniture solutions, and in the future can provide more top furniture solutions. Da Vinci knows the trends of consumers very much. What do you think? What kind of lifestyle do you need?

“The IKEA we know is not because there is no design for the furniture products of the public. Instead, every furniture product in the home is made by the designer. In contrast, Chinese furniture companies do not need to design for the public. Nowadays, many furniture owners can't do one of the reasons for the mass consumer brand." Yuan Weidong said.

Japan's MUJI, a small piece of furniture can sell five or six thousand, but in China, five or six thousand can buy solid wood furniture, but the white-collar workers in the city recognize the brand of MUJI. After consumers agree with the brand, what they want is Its LOGO. Therefore, the brand issue is very important. Yuan Weidong gave such advice to furniture companies: to clearly carry out their own brand positioning, brand positioning is not bragging, after positioning, resolutely organize changes, do deep and thorough, and certainly succeed. The current furniture companies are heartbroken by the enterprise service who did not think about it. A large number of enterprises are half-hearted and want to do everything. As a result, nothing can be done well.

Reason 2: Focus on dealers

In the furniture industry, there is a "strange" phenomenon. Furniture companies are all dealers, and dealers are the first-class "consumers" of enterprises. Enterprises can find agents even if they succeed, because companies throw risks at risk. These dealers, once the money is paid, the franchise fee is paid, and the product's money is paid for once. If the dealer sells the product, the company will think that you will do it. If the product cannot be sold, the company will replace the dealer.

In the entire supply chain, dealers as the first consumer of furniture enterprises, is the key to determine the success or failure of the enterprise, which reflects that the industrial development of the furniture industry is still in the primary development stage compared with the home appliances, fast sales and other fields.

According to industry statistics, most of China's furniture industry is around 100 million yuan, most of which have been in business for more than 20 years, but the company has not done much, because they are participating in the exhibition, and then constantly change dealers, there are not many products. Innovation is a series of constantly changing colors and changing styles. The ability to toss several times has not grown much.

Yuan Weidong admits that the worst thing in the furniture industry is that it does not provide any in-depth services to consumers. Many furniture companies have been operating for 20 or 30 years and sold a lot of products, but they just ended up selling because the delivery is The dealer sent, about who bought, where to live, how much assets do not understand, no one to communicate, anyway, sell and sell, the money earned back.

Isn't the furniture company doing a big job? Yuan Weidong believes that there are two models that have the potential to become bigger, first, the foundry model. For example, Taiwan's Taisheng peak period has made more than 5 billion yuan; second, the use of the Internet to build consumer brands.

“To be a consumer brand and to be an industry brand is totally different. It should be consumer-centric. In fact, the entire Chinese market does not lack a factory at present, and the lack of a brand is now the best time for furniture companies to play brands. The brand will be transformed into a consumer brand." Yuan Weidong said.

Reason three: the boss lacks brand belief

The two points mentioned above are not the most critical, and the boss’s lack of brand belief is the main reason.

According to Yuan Weidong's analysis, the founder of IKEA Home, Ingvar Kamprad, is entirely a high-end model house of IKEA. His private life is consistent with the brand spirit advocated by IKEA. It is not the founder who advocates corporate culture. At the time, turning around in his own home made extreme luxury, which caused the boss's disloyalty to his own brand belief, that is, the lack of faith. Just to make money, it is the problem faced by the current furniture business owners.

In addition to the brand beliefs, there is also a belief system within the enterprise, which is the positioning problem. "Do not blame the manager for running, the manager is always second, they are always the assistant of the boss, the most important is the founder of the brand, can you create a brand, can not settle after the establishment, this is the main problem "Yuan Weidong said.

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