During the Spring Festival, when the old and the new come, it is inevitable for Chinese people to visit relatives and friends. And just this year while visiting relatives and friends, the attentive Xiaoguai discovered that a relative who had just purchased a house used a slate dining table. While Xiao Xiaoguai was amazed by the impressive results of the slate furniture sinking into the market, he was also "horrified" by the sales staff's promise that "if there are quality problems such as marks or stains on the products within two years, they will be replaced."
So this article will share with you the "industry information" of rock slabs.
The "secret" of choosing rock slabs for decoration
The popularity of rock slabs as a material began in 2020 and reached its peak in mid-2021. There are many types of slate products on the market, ranging from background walls, dining tables, and cabinets to toilets and floor tiles, which basically cover the "big items" needed for home decoration. It is highly praised by the sales staff, and its popularity can be described in one sentence: it can be decorated with "slate".
Why are rock slabs so hot? Is it because this product is really as good as the store says, or is there some "inside story"? In essence, conspiracy theories are unnecessary. The reason why rock slabs are so popular is because the ceramic industry is undergoing "industrial upgrading", with rock slabs being the main focus. There are two main reasons why rock slabs can become the next generation product.
First, the material properties of rock slabs far exceed those of ceramic tiles. Whether it is anti-fouling, hardness, or temperature resistance, rock slabs perform far better than ceramic tiles. And with its good performance, slate can also occupy the market share of other materials such as marble, glass, solid wood, and wood plywood. In fact, as consumers, we can regard slate as an upgraded version of ceramic tiles.
Secondly, for manufacturers, the commercial prospects of sintered slabs far exceed those of ceramic tiles. In the home, the places where ceramic tiles are needed can be replaced by slate, and some places where tiles cannot be used can also be replaced by slate, such as the door of the wardrobe and the table top of the dining table. In addition to home application space, it also has many industrial applications, such as large ships.
So starting in 2020, the ceramic industry began to introduce slate production lines on a large scale. Regardless of the size of the manufacturers in the industry, as long as they have the strength to launch rock slabs, almost all of them are completing or expanding their rock slab products. The final result is that as of December 31, 2021, the number of slate production lines has exceeded 200, with an annual output of 150 million square meters. (Tips: In the past two years, the equipment required for the slate production line has been supplied toDon't ask for it. )
However, the direct consequence of the short-term and large-scale introduction of slate production lines in the entire industry is that slate has entered a price war, and its price has also been reduced from the initial few hundred yuan per square meter to the current tens of yuan per square meter, which is the lowest at the time. It was even discounted to 9.9 yuan. The cost for manufacturers to build a slate production line or modify the original production line ranges from several million to three to five billion. Sales are not good, and manufacturers' warehouses are full of slate, which can only put a "burden" on middlemen. Therefore, middlemen vigorously promote slate to us end consumers. This is why slate is so popular.
Common consumption issues of slate
Low sales of rock slabs does not mean that the material is not good. Objectively speaking, rock slab is an excellent product in terms of material properties and application scenarios. However, new things have their own development rules. As a new product, rock slab still has some supporting problems, such as difficulty in processing. Large, high transportation costs, the aesthetic design of the product has not kept pace, etc. When these supporting problems are solved, slate can really enter thousands of households.
For us consumers, some of the most common questions when buying slate can be summarized into three questions: Is online shopping reliable? Are the things you buy authentic? Why is there no after-sales service?
First of all, although slate has declined after the price war, its price in physical stores is still very expensive and difficult to accept. Considering the price, most people will choose to shop online. But in fact, online shopping is not suitable for rock slabs at present. Let us not consider the authenticity of the product for the time being, and only consider the logistics. Online shopping is prone to all kinds of problems. There was a recent case on the Black Cat complaint platform: On January 9, Mr. A sent a rock slab via SF Express Kuaiyuan. However, during transportation, the rock slabs became broken and unusable. Not only did the slate that Mr. A sent with an original price of 4,796 disappear, but he also paid 200 for shipping. However, SF Express was only willing to pay 800-1,500 for the accident. Due to toughness issues, rock slabs are prone to cracking during transportation, so it is difficult to hold accountable the cause of such an accident. Coupled with problems such as fake goods, online shopping is currently not suitable for slate products. Maybe a physical store would be a good choice.
Secondly, the market is flooded with fakes. The price of rock slabs is higher than that of ceramic tiles. If the ceramic tiles are sold as rock slabs, the price difference is enough to make people take risks. Recently, Ms. D asked the Black Cat Complaint Platform for help. In June last year, Ms. D purchased a product called "During the purchase process, Ms. D made it clear that she only wanted slate and went to the store three times to confirm whether the background wall was made of slate. Ms. D only made the purchase after getting the guarantee from the store’s salesperson and store manager. However, in December, after the background wall was installed, the store informed Ms. D that the installed background wall was made of ceramic panels. When Ms. D went to the store again to negotiate refunds and other after-sales issues, the attitude of the store staff was unfavorable. It is bad and refuses to deal with it. This case is just one family's opinion, but it is clear that the problem of fake slates is obvious (the merchant's approach stems from the industry's opinion on the definition of slates, that is, slates are good quality ceramic tiles. Big board. )
The final after-sales service problem is typically represented by product quality problems, and there is a high probability that no one will deal with it. In this regard, Mr. B and Mr. C have more say. In July 2021, Mr. B purchased a series of furniture at the Quanyou Furniture Chenjiaqiao and Liaojiaping store, and later discovered that a corner of the coffee table's rock plate had burst on the morning of February 10, 2022. He contacted Quanyou after-sales service and the solution was to pay 400 himself. Mr. C purchased a slate dining table from Tmall Yiluo flagship store. A year later, the tabletop broke and he is still arguing with the merchant. This kind of service problem has always been a major problem in the industry. The reason is very simple: after-sales costs are too high and responsibilities are unclear. Both middlemen and manufacturers think it is the other party's problem, and neither wants to bear this cost.
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Since rock slabs have these "stubborn diseases", can they still be bought? How to buy good stuff? Regarding this issue, Xiao Xiaoguai's suggestion is that at this time, if ordinary players are not in a hurry to decorate, they can buy slate later; wealthy players are free to do so.
The reasons for this recommendation are also very simple: First, slate is expensive, and second, as a new thing, slate is still in a chaotic new period, and many issues are still under discussion. As mentioned above, the common consumer problems are: on the one hand, the problem of supporting technology of slate slabs has not been solved and the product design is unsatisfactory; (when Xiaoxiaoguai visited the furniture market before, he found that the "appearance" of slate furniture was not as good as before. Keep up.) On the other hand, it is manifested in market confusion, with ceramic tiles pretending to be slates being a typical example.
Of course, the effect of slate is not inferior to that of marble. The only disadvantage is that it costs money, which is especially suitable for rich players. As for how to buy good products, to put it simply and straightforwardly, it is to use products from big brands. Just search according to the price in the following order: imported big brands - domestic big brands - imported small brands - domestic small brands. Imported brands, such as foreign Desais, Lamina, ICC; Domestic brands such as Marco Polo, New Pearl, Delifon, Meili, Big Horn Deer, etc.
