In the first half of 2020, the COVID‑19 in China is about to dissipate, and the second half of the economic battle has begun, and all walks of life are gearing up and ready to face new challenges.

1. Challenge: Actively explore new marketing models in line with the characteristics of the flooring industry

The epidemic disrupted the company’s cash flow reserves, plans, and business rhythm, and it was necessary to reallocate resources to match the new situation. On the other hand, it has an impact on the survival and development direction of the enterprise, and the strategy needs to be adjusted.

This epidemic is a challenge for all industries. The home building materials industry is closely intertwined, and under the influence of the epidemic, all links will inevitably be affected. Facing the delay of resumption of work, the marketing rhythm has been changed. The first half of the year will have a major impact on the company’s production, marketing, revenue, and cash flow. This will have a far-reaching impact on the next industry trend. Under the severe test of this big test, it will trigger a new round of industry changes. The consumer market during the epidemic period is relatively sluggish, but will rebound in the second half of the year.

In the past, the flooring industry mainly relied on dealers, engineering, home improvement, carpentry and other channels, and relied on traditional channels to drive. Under the influence of this epidemic, both enterprises and distributors will face new marketing challenges, which will urge plate companies to accelerate the promotion of online marketing and accelerate the transformation of distributors from traditional store vendors to new building materials retailers. The degree of change and online marketing capabilities are about to become new competitive factors.

In terms of manufacturing, even if the epidemic is controlled, it will face a shortage of labor, forcing companies to upgrade from the past high labor-density production methods to automated and intelligent production stages.

2. Opportunities: “health” has become a key competitive point in the development of the industry

The epidemic has a certain impact on consumption habits and will also generate new demand. The two must be considered separately before the corresponding analysis.

First of all, what do we need to do and do? For ordinary people, it is nothing more than isolation and disinfection. For patients, it requires treatment.

Then, the consumption habits and new needs should be viewed in two aspects, one is related to the daily life style, and the other is related to the purchase method and process, such as information collection, comparison and evaluation. Isolation means that the purchasing conditions of consumers are restricted, and the way of purchasing changes accordingly. Because many functions in the physical store must be transferred online, the role of digital network marketing for brands can be highlighted, so live broadcasts and other online activities are in full swing, which everyone can see.

After the epidemic is lifted, offline activities will naturally resume, but online digital marketing will not weaken and will become the new normal. In fact, this was not caused by the epidemic. It existed before the epidemic, but the epidemic played a catalytic, accelerating and strengthening role.

The epidemic also strengthened hygiene awareness and living habits, mainly for daily protection and disinfection. This is most closely related to catering. On the surface, it seems that it is not too directly related to the floor, but there are also some business opportunities that can be tapped in the analysis. If the floor surface material can be given sterilization and disinfection effect, it will also be very popular with consumers. Especially in some specific occasions, this function is also particularly important, such as: medical floors, medical furniture, children’s floors and children’s furniture for kindergartens and various schools, floors in public places, etc.

It is understood that copper ions have the function of eliminating bacteria and viruses, and silver ions are more powerful, but it is still unknown whether they are effective against the new coronavirus, and the medical community has no time to study. What other effective technical methods are still to be discovered by more scientific discoveries, inventions and practical applications. Flooring companies can form teams or commission research as their own topics.

The effect of isolation and disinfection on the flooring industry was discussed above, and the other point is in the treatment and well-being. The medical floor has inherently unlimited space. The epidemic will catalyze and strengthen this demand. At the same time, a new perspective is also implanted. That is, the medical floor, medical furniture, elderly apartments and family health care homes in response to biochemical disasters have What are the special needs? How can the relationship between medical appliances, patients, floors, furniture, and the environment be more coordinated, efficient, and flexible? What things might be normalized?

“Health” will become the common theme of all China in 2020, and “health” will become the key point of competition in the plate industry. We can see that this epidemic has produced a very interesting phenomenon, that is, home has become the last bastion for each of us. It can be said that this time 1.4 billion Chinese people were trapped in their little family. Home has truly become the last harbor. How to manage this home and how to make this home a safe, reliable and warm harbor? I believe that many consumers are beginning to think about this issue. I believe that after this epidemic, everyone will pay more attention to health and respect nature.

Therefore, which direction the home life will be upgraded in the future is an important question for our entire home furnishing building materials industry. Under the condition that the harsh environment has become an objective fact, competition is intensifying, the survival of the fittest, consumers will force home building materials companies to output healthier, more environmentally friendly, more assured of good products. This puts higher requirements on the supply chain management capabilities of the sheet metal companies, product development capabilities, and manufacturing capabilities. For enterprises that have always been consumer-centric and product power-based, after the epidemic, they will occupy a comprehensive advantage in products, production capacity and services.