In the development of 2012, integrated ceiling companies need to reverse the situation and go against the trend and must resolve the three major bottlenecks facing the development of the industry.

After six years of rapid development in the integrated ceiling industry, the scale of the industry has continued to expand, and its influence has also continuously improved. While making major breakthroughs, the industry also faces many challenges at the same time. In 2011, with the combined effect of multiple factors such as rising costs, shortage of labor, sluggish market, energy saving and emission reduction, cold export, anti-dumping, and reciprocity, the sales performance of in-line companies was severely impacted. The changes in the economic environment have brought challenges to the development of enterprises in the industry and brought new opportunities for the development of enterprises in the industry. In the development of 2012, companies in the industry must reverse the situation and go against the trend and must resolve the three major bottlenecks facing the development of the industry.

Bottleneck of product innovation For a long time, due to the low barriers to entry and serious product homogeneity, the product innovation capability of integrated ceiling products is not strong, and the development of the industry is restricted. Currently, there are not many innovative products in the industry. In addition to the new products independently developed by the first-tier brands, the second and third-tier companies are basically imitating the products of the first-line brands, and then changing the name of the products, “listing backdoor”. With the increase in labor costs and raw materials, the “three low” development ideas for integrated ceilings “low input, low output value, and low price competition” are already dead ends. The strategy of low-cost expansion has been difficult to sustain and should be changed to “win by volume”. Practice, accelerate the development of healthy and high value-added, high-tech products through innovation, and increase market competitiveness.

Although the bottleneck of brand development is still at a low level during the six years of development of the industry, this does not provide an excuse for the industry’s low profile. At present, integrated ceilings have not yet been widely recognized by consumers, and their product concepts, price levels, and service quality have been resisted by some consumers. The brand is a concentrated expression of the health of the industry. The integrated ceiling companies have limited understanding of the brand, lack of effective brand strategy, and serious homogenization of the brand. The brand is not only the “face” of the company or product, but also the “soul” that embodies the quality of the company and the product. It takes time to build the brand, requires the support of honesty, requires dedicated efforts, and requires the power and aspiration of innovation. Although there are thousands of large and small brands in integrated ceilings, the influence and popularity in the market are insignificant and even unknown. Although many companies have the determination to vigorously develop their brands, they all have problems, lack of strength, fullness of ideals, and poor performance.

The bottleneck of the marketing concept In 2011, the performance of the enterprises participating in the industry was poor, and traditional investment joining methods have exposed various problems. In Guangzhou exhibitions where integrated ceiling companies are most concerned, exhibitors generally have unsatisfactory investment performance. Compared with 2008, 2009 and even 2010, the scale of business investment in 2011 is shrinking. After several years of development in the industry, the scale of the industry has increased, but the market has not been expanded accordingly. At present, the integrated ceiling market is already approaching saturation. It is not easy for in-house companies to expand their channels. With dealer resources being limited, the transformation of the marketing concept will be the most important task for the enterprises joining the industry this year. In the past, it was necessary to abandon all kinds of unrealistic investment promotion policies, or to snatch other brand dealers, and do not hesitate to open attractive conditions to achieve the purpose of investment promotion. Companies should also think deeply about what distributors need most in the marketing process, rather than purely pursuing digital victory.