“The production volume has increased from 630 million pieces to 1.2 billion pieces.” This is mentioned in the cross-border e-commerce development report of the sanitary industry released by Ali International Station.
In terms of global production, China's share of global production increased from 29% to 34%. From 2003 to 2017, the sales volume of the domestic sanitary ware industry increased from US$1.028 billion to US$4.54 billion.
In terms of total import and export volume, the total import and export volume of the domestic sanitary ware industry in 2018 was 17.476 billion US dollars, of which the total export value was 16.581 billion US dollars and the total import value was 895 million US dollars.

[Figure: In the past year, the market scale index of the sanitary industry at Ali International Station]
Based on factors such as enterprise transformation and product upgrades, more and more domestic sanitary ware enterprises have chosen products to go to sea. In the search for a broader overseas market, subtle changes in policies, customs, and competitive environments are enough to make enterprises overwhelmed. For overseas buyers, companies with diversified brands, diverse styles and a well-designed and after-sales service system are more popular.
Product sea service must also keep up
By reducing the cost by investing in factories and local sales in China, the US brand represented by Kohler in the 1990s and the Japanese products represented by TOTO entered the Chinese sanitary ware market and occupied the mid-to-high-end consumer market. Throughout the domestic sanitary ware enterprises, they are mostly concentrated in the middle and low end of the industry. At the same time, with the factors of overcapacity and increasing production costs, the competitive pressure of the industry has intensified, and the transformation and upgrading has become the only way for many enterprises.
According to the report, China's sanitary products are mainly exported to Europe, America, Asia and other countries. Bathroom hardware accounts for 75%, ceramic sanitary wares account for 69%, and bathroom cabinets account for 83%. In addition, the volume of transactions from customers in the Oceania, Middle East and Africa region is growing rapidly and demand is growing rapidly.

Figure: China's sanitary products export destination countries and their export distribution]
"The export products include plumbing and bathroom hardware represented by faucets and showers, sanitary ceramics and bathroom cabinets represented by toilets and basins, shower cabinets, bathroom mirrors and other sanitary products." Alibaba International Station Building Materials Industry Operation Expert Wang Haipeng said to Yibang Power.
Billion Power noted that the regions with strong demand for sanitary products in the world include Southeast Asia, Middle East, South American, Russian and African markets.
According to Wang Haipeng, behind the strong demand in different regions, the purchase and purchase needs are also different.
“Developed users have higher requirements for the functionality and intelligence of sanitary products. However, due to the rapid economic development in developing countries, the demand for infrastructure has exploded, but local production and supply companies cannot meet and undertake, and have a large amount of basic import demand.” Wang Haipeng said that apart from the different market degrees of freedom in various countries, it is also the reason for the different demand in the local sanitary industry. For example, in the Southeast Asian market, some regions have local preferential policies, and there are fewer trade barriers in the Middle East market. Local brands in the market are growing, and market maturity is higher than the industry's development speed, which is also conducive to Chinese companies to expand their brands.
According to Wang Haipeng, the buyers on Ali International Station are not the same. For example, self-use buyers, including home improvement and small and medium-sized commercial projects, there will be a certain group of goods needs, covering a variety of different bathroom products, such as in the renovation of the house, European buyers in addition to buying faucets, showers, will also match Buy bathroom cabinets, etc.
“In addition, they are wholesalers who have higher requirements for quality and cost performance.” In addition to the above two types, Wang Haipeng said that some of the demand comes from the procurement of sanitary products in foreign medium-sized or large-scale engineering projects. The requirements are not the same as the first two.
The focus of engineering buyers is whether the delivery of purchased goods can meet the demand of the construction period, and may be refined to different nodes in the construction period, the type of delivery, etc. Other buyers will also need to provide pre-sales and after-sales services for the merchants. Comprehensive solution.
“For example, in the early stage, buyers are required to provide design and product matching solutions according to their engineering needs, scale and budget, and evaluate the purchase volume. At the same time, the seller will inform the buyer of the special replenishment efficiency of wearing parts.” Wang Haipeng Said after zui.
Sea route in ODM mode
According to Wang Haipeng, the current Ali International Station can be divided into three types of original equipment manufacturers (OEM), original design manufacturers (ODM) and original brand manufacturers (OBM), and OEM merchants are more.
“These merchants use different modes of international stations to go to sea.” Wang Haipeng told Yibang Power that OEMs are mostly OEMs for overseas brands; ODM undertakes orders for some white brand sanitary products sold abroad through supermarkets and building materials markets through distribution models. Foreign buyers need merchants on the platform to provide designs based on different styles of products for their selection. Some buyers will choose 30 to 50 models per year to customize the merchants or manufacturers on the platform; the latter is a domestic independent brand, through the international station. Directly break through overseas markets, or find agents with overseas channels to promote products through international stations.
Hangzhou Bolehui Import & Export Co., Ltd., as a member of the sanitary ware business of Ali International Station, its general manager Jiang Wei introduced to Yibang Power, the company from the sanitary accessories this niche industry, to achieve a global recognition of the brand, It is the path from OEM customization to ODM branding.
“For example, the faucet, the ordinary faucet and the custom style with design texture, the price difference is several tens of times.” Jiang Wei said that the bathroom industry has both products that satisfy basic functions, and also focuses on brand, design, details and functions according to different user groups. And materials, products that focus on special experiences and visual effects, and through product grading and design, can meet the different use and individual needs of high, medium and low.
Ding Gefeng, the general manager of Hangzhou Hongdi Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd., introduced the different roads of the HOMEDEE brand to the sea to Yibang Power.
Hangzhou Hongdi Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd. was founded in 1999. It is a modern large-scale "Seiko products" sanitary ware production enterprise integrating R&D, production and sales. The main products are medium and high grade PVC bath cabinets, solid wood bath cabinets and stainless steel baths. Cabinets and bathroom hardware accessories, etc.
“In 2008, HOMEDEE settled in Alibaba International Station. In 2012, I took over the international station. Zui started to have a variety of products, but the effect was not good. I started to make product transformation from the end of 2012 to 2013, and I mainly do two markets in Europe and the United States. The US market is growing at a faster rate, and the annual expansion rate is two to three times.” Ding Gefeng said that although the sales volume has declined this year due to recent policy changes, the US is still the main exporter of products, and through the international Station platform, the first half of this year, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany and South Korea also have breakthroughs in the market.
For the product model, Ding Gefeng chose the ODM mode. Focus on product design, package products to customers by integrating domestic supply chain. Production is only part of the production order, and other parts are handed over to the supply chain factory.
"We are B2B to the guests, and the customer to the end user is B2C. By providing customers with photos, videos, design and other services, we will accumulate customer trust and recognition." Ding Gefeng said, according to feedback from existing customers, The products are built towards professionalism.
“Prices I think we have no advantage, but after we have done a good job in a category and a region, we have made our customers feel more professional through the arrangement of products on our website and the display of factories. It may be 10% more expensive than others. At 15%, customers will choose us."
According to Ding Gefeng, the total import of cabinets and bathroom cabinets imported from China in the United States in 2018 is about 4.4 billion US dollars, of which the import volume of bathroom cabinets is about 1.3 billion US dollars, and the export value of HOMEDEE last year is about 16 million US dollars.
Industrial belt constitutes the advantage of supply chain
According to the cross-border e-commerce development report of the sanitary industry of Ali International Station, the average daily inquiries and the number of buyers per customer peaked in March 2019. .

[Picture: In the past year, the daily average enquiry volume and average number of buyers in the sanitary industry at Ali International Station last month]
Wang Haipeng introduced to Yibang Power that the peak in March was because the international station held the 'March New Trade Festival' for global SMEs. In 2019, it focused on 'Excellent Business, New Products, New Services'. Wang Haipeng said that through the latitude of the Independent Visitors (uv) data of the New Trade Festival, most merchants have more than 100% growth. In the inquiry dimension, many businesses will basically have a 50%-60% increase.
It is worth noting that the current plumbing business on the Ali International Station is consistent with the offline trend, which are concentrated in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces, accounting for 65% of the total number of suppliers, including Foshan, Chaozhou and Hangzhou. The gathering place; Hebei Tangshan and Henan Changge are important industrial belts in the inland areas, and there are relatively few stock merchants on the international station.
When talking about the reasons, Wang Haipeng said to Yibang Power that foreign trade enterprises are concentrated in coastal provinces and cities, which are related to special conveniences such as ports and terminals. In addition, reform and opening up have led to the distribution of coastal and export enterprises in these areas, forming a long-term Trade precipitation, in addition, the coastal Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places in the e-commerce operations are also more powerful, it is worthy of the inland industry to learn from and learn from the business.
“I think the advantage of domestic sanitary ware enterprises is the advantage of supply chain.” Ding Gefeng said that ceramic products such as Foshan and Chaozhou are very sound, Wenzhou hardware industry is sound, and Jiangmen hardware accessories are abundant. It is difficult for other countries to concentrate in this way. The industry belt brings together the elements of the entire industry chain.
According to Ding Gefeng, when products are exported to different countries, the choice of materials will vary.
“For example, the United States prefers solid wood products, Europe tends to dry and wet separation products, and Southeast Asia should consider the waterproof of the whole product, so some PVC materials will be used.”
"The direction of product development is brand diversification, diversified styles, intelligent functions, simple design and humanized experience." Jiang Wei believes that with the improvement of people's consumption power, the development of real estate creates fierce competition in the sanitary market. The market space is still relatively large, which also makes the user's technical and quality requirements for the product improve, and at the same time has certain dependence on the after-sales service.

(文章來源：中國建材網，侵刪)