High or low? The paint industry's product strategy is faced with a dilemma

In recent years, the Chinese construction industry has flourished. Home wall paint is a very important cake in the paint industry. Home wall paint is complete with its complete product line, suitable for the form of store business, can easily solve the personality of the wall decoration needs of the industry and sought after by the industry. Thus, after China Resources and Garbo Lili, second-tier domestic paint brands such as Tuushi, Sanshu, Classic, and Bardez were also born one after another. However, after several years of development, the number of paint companies has increased exponentially, and at the same time, it has been repeatedly impacted by “foreign brands”. In addition to the old Dulux and Nippon, in recent years, Dufang, Fuk Lok, Tikkuri La Fenlin Other foreign brands have also joined the battle for the Chinese paint market. Therefore, the pressure of industry competition is also increasing. Some of them are in recession, some have already encountered bottlenecks in their development and cannot break through, and some are struggling to break. Therefore, the overall paint industry, especially for home wall paint manufacturers, how to improve the product strategy model becomes very important.

In a theoretical sense, the so-called product strategy means that when a company formulates a business strategy, it must first define what kind of products and services the company can provide to meet the requirements of consumers, that is, to solve product strategy problems. Here, an example of "cross-border" worthy of reference by paint companies is the former mobile phone giant Nokia:

According to foreign media reports, Nokia’s market value is only 1/7 in four years. For 14 consecutive years, the mobile phone production championship status will be replaced by South Korea's Samsung Electronics and will be surpassed by Apple in the third quarter. Fitch International downgraded Nokia's debt rating to the lowest investment level of the BBB-, which would be on par with the garbage level. How can a leading company with a history of 146 years be able to collapse in four years? In fact, there is no shortage of vision and technological innovation. In fact, Nokia saw the trend of mobile networks a decade ago. In 1996, Nokia introduced a smartphone concept machine that was more than 10 years older than the Apple iPhone. In 2007, Nokia took the lead in launching the global mobile Internet brand OVI, one year earlier than the Apple AppStore. As early as 2004, Nokia has developed touch technology within its own, and even now popular 3D technology already exists. However, Nokia abandons the trend of touch because of his high cost risk. We do not want to abandon the long-delayed Saipan system sooner, because it had a record of up to 80% in the market. In the end, Nokia's hopes for Meego to stand up are lost. It is an efficient cost control thinking, giving up the development of high-end markets that need to burn money, and ultimately killing Nokia's innovations.

What is the "product strategy" that we summed up from Nokia's tragedy? In fact, it is the basis of the marketing mix strategy. In a certain sense, the key to the success and development of an enterprise lies in the degree to which the product meets the needs of consumers and the correctness of product strategies. Nokia is trapped in excessive "cost control thinking", too much emphasis on the appetite of the low-end market, did not consider the need to distinguish between high-end and low-end product markets, but also did not expect that the high-end market will be so hot. The market has been developing and the needs of consumers have been repeatedly raised. This is why, in recent years, "low VOC", "environmentally friendly", "water-based", and "low-carbon" paint products with various types of labels have been sold hot. However, keeping up with consumer environmental protection, we must also be careful to fall into the trap of “homogenization”.

In the past two years, with the government’s “building materials going to the countryside”, the topic of “coating to the countryside” has gathered the attention of many companies. Driven by the development of the rural market, some paint companies simply gave up the competition in the first-tier cities and retreated to the second-tier and third-tier markets, and even a few turned to specialize in the rural market. Products and technologies are focused on the development of low-end markets, and because they worry about the purchasing power of the rural market, they cannot digest the upgraded products synchronized with the first-tier cities. We have seen that the paint product structure currently pushed by the rural market is almost at the same time as “building materials go to the countryside”. In addition to packaging, the function of the paint is almost unchanged. In fact, the first-tier and second-tier cities such as “water-based”, “charcoal”, “low-carbon”, “anti-fouling film” and other functional coatings have mushroomed. The excessive control over the cost of adaptation to the rural market, while ignoring the upgrading of existing paint products, has also overlooked the potential consumerism of rural consumers, especially young rural consumers in pursuit of fashion and environmental protection. This "misreading" of the market eventually led to the "stall" of the product strategy. We seem to see the Nokia's nightmare in the paint industry.

The history of coatings companies varies. Dulux revealed the atmosphere of this European-style DIY. Nippon was full of inspirational dreams. Mei Tu was like an intelligent housewife's intimate choice. Da Baoqi began to walk internationally. The three trees were the natural selling point. Although the paint effect of the furniture wall paint is relatively homogenous, in order to avoid homogenization. Products must undergo differentiated innovation and develop products based on the actual needs of consumers. For coating companies, product strategy and product packaging need to achieve one purpose: to create a new category style, out of their own unique characteristics. As for how to integrate multiple products, in the final analysis, it is necessary to improve sales and profits, taking into account both customer-oriented and market-oriented strategies. Good products can only be accepted by consumers when they are introduced into the market, so that they can occupy the market share of “everywhere”. Therefore, as the market environment needs to eliminate slow-moving products, product categories that are more in line with market needs are developed, and effective sales force advantages are the trend. .