2020 is destined to become a landmark year in the history of global economic development. Compared with the previous major economic crises, the particularity of this time is:

Over the past few decades, financial capital has pushed "globalization" to an unprecedented stage, and new technologies, including the Internet, have brought countries closer together.

The importance of the above background is that the Chinese economy has been deeply involved in the global market, not only the near stagnation of import and export trade, but also the survival of enterprises, employment of employees, and the consumption capacity and confidence of ordinary residents.

This is also the cause and background of the cover topic of this issue: we are in a world full of great uncertainty, a world of inertial growth stagnation, stock fighting, a world that needs to be revised and re-established operating logic.

From the perspective of the home furnishing industry, the sudden economic stall will cause industries that already have multiple contradictions and difficult problems to have to repair themselves or even "bone scrape" in a huge shock.

The methods that had been running for many years-such as regular centralized new product releases, factory investment, offline blast retail, etc., almost all suddenly failed, cash flow became the key to the life and death of the enterprise, and the stability of the supply chain was severely tested.

We believe that after 2020, China's home furnishing industry will enter a new development period.

During this period, everything from manufacturing to brand marketing, human resources, and retail distribution requires new thinking and the development of new capabilities to adapt to the new living environment. The topic of today's furniture cover will also start with different articles from the above angles.

This article starts with the new 2020 thinking of home furnishing companies.

Two hits, "broken away" to the darkest moment

Since the outbreak, home furnishing companies have suffered two blows: one is the stagnation of production and consumption caused by the domestic economy after pressing the pause button. Some companies turned to online marketing in a timely manner, temporarily gaining breathing opportunities.

However, due to the difference in the ability of different companies to use online dividends, the "Matthew Effect" has become more apparent, and most companies have missed this wave of opportunities.

The second is the turmoil in the international market that continues to this day. Giant companies such as IKEA and Home Depot have also been hit hard. Domestic companies' orders from overseas have declined sharply. Some companies that have just resumed production and resume production have no rice, but import and export traders have almost all collapsed.

Based on the views of most companies in the industry, after June, it will be a real "dark moment" in the industry. After digesting the orders accumulated over the previous year without new demand, the enterprise will once again face the choice of "survival or extinction".

Under the "Extreme Survival" mode, how should companies seek first-line vitality? The first is to guarantee cash flow to the greatest extent possible, reduce all unnecessary costs, divestiture bad business, and leave a ray of life for future recovery.

The second is to join the upstream and downstream supply chains to overcome difficulties in terms of billing period, raw material supply and cost savings. There have been many articles on how companies survive in the current crisis, so I won't go into details.

What this article is going to discuss is, in order to meet the new environment in the mid-to-long term range after 2020, what new thinking and abilities do home furnishing companies need to have? The author summarizes the following four aspects and throws a brick to attract jade.

From the spectator to the end in person, the relationship with the dealer is ushered in reconstruction

Faced with the terminal retail that suddenly stopped in 2020, the headquarters manufacturer found that it can no longer immerse itself in attracting investment, opening stores, and developing new products as in the past. For example, driven by live broadcast marketing everywhere, manufacturers have also actively (or passively) participated. Does this reflect some new trends?

1. Empowering dealers will become one of the key capabilities of brand manufacturers

For many manufacturers, attracting investment and developing products are the top priorities of enterprises, and the ability of "cultivating business" after investment is insufficient.

Many manufacturers recruit new distributors less than 50% a year, so they are attracting investment and changing businesses every year. There are reasons for the blind choice of dealers, but it also shows that the “empowering” of dealers after the investment is seriously inadequate.

What is empowerment? There are fresh manifestations of this epidemic.

After the outbreak, some manufacturers announced that they would pay the base salary of one-month shopping guide for dealers (such as Xilinmen, gold cabinets, Watsons, etc.), and some exempted dealers from trunk logistics (Gujia Home) Direct support.

What is more obvious is whether the manufacturers have the ability to mobilize various resources and help the terminal recovery in the months since the outbreak.

For example, in the early days, it regained some orders for dealers through live marketing, and helped the dealers to carry out rapid social marketing and fission through lightweight marketing applets (such as visiting Meijia). Convenient shopping and experience services, etc.

In contrast, many manufacturers have either done nothing or headless flies during this time, not only did they not help the dealers, but also produced some negative effects (such as the lack of system planning for live broadcasts).

In the longer term, companies have to assume more leadership roles: including analysis and mining of potential markets, research and utilization of new technologies and tools, and exploration of innovative retail models. Not long ago, a recruitment notice issued by Opie Group also illustrates this point.

Known as the "second engine", the European Development Group's Innovation Development Project Department has released the recruitment requirements for multiple positions. Many of these positions are the first time for the industry, such as:

The director of the old customer model research, the director of the old reform model research department, the director of the online drainage research department, and the manager of the new model research promotion department.

These positions show that Europa is exploring various new models with the strength of the headquarters, so as to better guide and empower terminal retail.

The above will make dealers more and more aware: when choosing a manufacturer's brand, not only depends on the product and ex-factory price, but also depends on the ability of the enterprise to empower the dealer.

For manufacturers, in 2020 and beyond, the lack of an effective linkage mechanism with dealers cannot provide dealers with systematic and strong support, and competitiveness will be greatly reduced.

2. Reconstruction of relationship with dealers: need business partners in the future

To a certain extent, while the epidemic promotes the onlineization of products, services, and experiences, it is also a great acceleration of "de-intermediate"-because most of the intermediate channels are in physical form (such as stores, stores, etc.), can manufacturers Directly facing consumers becomes crucial.

It allows the "B" of the B2C model to gradually change from the original dealer, that is, the small b, to the factory headquarters, which is the big B.

The impact of this change will be profound. On the one hand, companies need more flexible organizational capabilities to respond to the demands of C-end consumers.

On the other hand, the relationship between the company and the original direct customer, the dealer, will also change dramatically. In the home industry, this change cannot be avoided.

Although home furnishing companies ca n’t directly and directly serve C-end consumers, the headquarters is building increasingly powerful system capabilities, from informational software (building of various system platforms), to market research, planning, marketing support, etc. Help dealers gain greater competitiveness.

In this way, the headquarters of the manufacturer and the retail of the terminal will no longer be separate from each other in the past, but will increasingly penetrate and merge with each other.

Between the headquarters and the distributors, the relationship between the "head office and branches" may be more manifested to ensure the consistency of actions.

In addition, under some special models, for example, the baggage check-in enterprise (Yadu Home Furnishing) will return the retail function to the headquarters, and the distributor will be a more lightweight "service provider" role.

In short, the relationship between the headquarters and the dealers will tend to be a "business partner" model. Both parties provide products and services to the market under a stable benefit distribution mechanism.

Of course, this is a kind of guessing and anticipation of the mainstream trend in the future, and it is more suitable for large-scale enterprises. The actual situation will be more complicated. The vast market space allows various models to exist.

Online and close-up experience: rediscovering the store

The key to the change of store form is the change of consumption habits. Two motives of this change are particularly noteworthy:

One is "online consumption" and the other is "close-up experience". These two will be further amplified in the future "post-epidemic era".

1. Online consumption

The first language of the March issue of Furniture Today is "A Lighter and Lighter World." The meaning of "light" has many layers, but its core relies on the new world woven by "data". When the trust mechanism is resolved and technology solves the problem of experience, the transaction will inevitably be transferred online.

Consumers may come to physical stores for only two purposes: one is to relax and enjoy "shopping", and the other is to solve key trust issues through face-to-face communication and personal experience.

Back in the home furnishing industry, stores have always been a vital bastion, taking on multiple functions of marketing customer acquisition, experience, service and brand image display.

But when the digital age is approaching, most of the above functions can be completed through data and are more efficient-the visual effects brought by the magnificent decoration may not be comparable to a set of VR panoramic pictures; the patient guide of the shopping guide explains, It may not be as good as a lively short video. In contrast, the store function will be restructured.

2. Up close experience

In the past, home furnishing consumers would go to stores and home shops. However, as upstream real estate developers, bag check-in teams, and home improvement companies cut off, the model room package allows consumers to realize the benefits of peace of mind and high cost performance. This close-range market wrestling has completely different requirements for stores.

Not only that, when there are fewer new houses, and the demand for renovation and improvement of old houses has gradually become the main market for home improvement consumption, stores need to be closer to the market and provide more personalized needs.

In the future, the area and location of stores will have greater freedom, but they will put forward higher requirements for professionalism and digitalization.

From massive product series to refined operations

An epidemic caused home furnishing companies that had relied heavily on investment promotion at the show to panic, not to mention those manufacturers who rely on investment to "get rich".

It is precisely because of this path dependence that the entire industry has not consciously "speeded up" for a long time, but it rarely stops to carefully polish the product. This outbreak just gave the industry an opportunity to adjust internally.

1. Optimize the product matrix and abandon the "thin dog" products

Almost every manufacturer has a product layout for different markets, and some even have more than a dozen product series, but not every series can bring good profits to the enterprise, and some even simply for the "market layout "Is a kind of" narrow weight "disease.

Although this product matrix has certain "rationality", the arrival of the epidemic in 2020 will force companies to have to think about what is the product that brings positive cash flow to the company? Which market should we seize?

In the process of optimizing the product matrix of "disruption", enterprises may wish to refer to the "Boston Matrix" to streamline the product SKU. Those "thin dog products" with little growth space and obvious competitive advantages should be abandoned as soon as possible, and focus on optimization Upgrade "Star Products".

2. Pay attention to the scientific nature of product development

One of the prerequisites for creating explosive products is a scientific and rational product development process.

In the past, companies had many opportunities for trial and error. When a series of products was launched without opening the market, there was a chance to launch the second and third. However, with the changes in the overall market environment, the cost of trial and error will become extremely high in the future. It may even make a mistake in one step and lose all.

Product development requires a rigorous and rigorous process. In this respect, the Shenzhen Furniture Research and Development Institute under the leadership of Professor Xu Baiming already has a profound research foundation, and I will not repeat them here.

In addition, in a recent WeChat group discussion organized by the Shenzhen Furniture R & D Institute, Wang Xin, deputy general manager of Nanyang Dick Channel Center, summarized several product development points, which are worthy of reference:

R & D products should be considered at the strategic level of the enterprise.

Research the market, research consumers. We must study our upstream real estate industry, know the development trend of housing, analyze the industry's profit model, and analyze contemporary trend trends, and must have forward-looking artistic thinking.

After determining the product R & D ideas, it is to test the comprehensive strength of the enterprise, the speed of product listing, the iteration of product optimization and upgrading, and the speed of enterprise response.

The sustainable development of the product is upgraded from the previous product development to the space development. The space effect of the target user is used as the prototype to reverse the function and attributes of the product.

Higher manufacturing efficiency

In the cover topic "New Manufacturing Journey" of the May 2019 issue of Furniture Today, we analyzed the efforts of China's furniture manufacturing industry in terms of technical equipment, informatization, and lean production. More detailed content can be found in previous magazines , Or refer to the furniture public account today.

However, in the new environment after the 2020 epidemic, we still hope to repeat the "manufacturing efficiency". For furniture manufacturing companies, extensive production in the past will be challenged in two ways:

First, under the trend of real estate hardcover and bag occupancy, the price-performance ratio will become a great weapon for the terminal. Most enterprises do not have higher output efficiency in the manufacturing process. Whether they are directly involved in carrying bags or retail channels, they will encounter greater challenges;

The second is that for a long period of time in the future, the company's resumption of production and production must still meet the higher hygiene and epidemic prevention requirements, that is to say, large-scale crowd operations are no longer desirable, and the cost of labor is getting higher and higher.

In addition, when export-oriented furniture manufacturing enterprises have to return to the domestic market due to foreign epidemics, within limited market space, export enterprises instead squeeze the survival space of some manufacturers with higher delivery efficiency and flexible production capacity.

Conclusion

Perhaps five years later, looking back at 2020, there will still be very few home furnishing companies that can complete the transformation and rebirth. Whether the home industry after the epidemic can break into cocoons is ultimately determined by "human" factors.

This includes the foresight of entrepreneurs, the resilience of corporate organizations, and whether each of us in this industry can actively respond.

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