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The hour hand turns to autumn. In September, when the home furnishing industry was supposed to usher in the peak sales season, the three hypermarkets in Zhongshan, Baoan, and Caitian suddenly announced the closure. After the Fuzhou and Chengdu stores were closed in June and July, this is a good century. Another large-scale store closing action.

"In recent years, business has been difficult, and many businesses have been dealing with rents. After a year, they have been busy. In fact, it will be a matter of time for the stores to close. However, the news comes out that some dealers will soon withdraw after processing the 40-50% discount. I still have some off-the-shelf goods. I wanted to take advantage of the double festival to do the final clearance. I didn't expect that it would be closed this time. Hey, what a pity!" A second-tier brand dealer in Chengdu store shook his head and sighed.

Coincidentally, it is not only the dealers who followed the closure of the furniture store, but also the direct-operated stores that are also struggling. Two years ago, more than 40 direct-operated stores were unable to bear continuous losses, and Guangzhou Biaozhuo Furniture, which was established 23 years ago, went bankrupt. This year, a well-known brand-owned direct-operated chain store was exposed to serious losses and low net profit margins. Some branches were forced to close...

According to data from the Home Appliance Distributors Alliance, from 2016 to 2017, the closing rate of physical kitchen and bathroom stores was as high as 15%, that of home appliance stores was 21%, and the number of home building materials stores closed was countless. Even so far, there are still 50,000 in the country. Furniture and building materials stores are facing a crisis of survival. Some stores that have been guarded for more than ten or two decades have not many people and orders, and sometimes there is no order for a few days.

Or they may leave the market sadly or are swallowing the bleak bitterness of business. In fact, in the home furnishing industry, vacancies, losses, and closures are accelerating in batches every day. Home furnishers used to be proud of the days when “you can make money while lying in bed”. Gone long ago.

Xiao Se Qiufeng is here again today, changing the world

Destructive innovations are coming fiercely. The Internet has entered the home furnishing industry for ten years. The traditional home furnishings with poor "net sense" have lower store performance year by year, while the growth rate of innovative companies is steadily increasing. For example, companies that specialize in custom-made furniture such as, Oupai, etc., have achieved sales growth rates of 111%, 92%, and 50% respectively in the past three years; while the Internet home furnishing brand Lin's Wood Industry, which has grown with e-commerce, has experienced five consecutive For the second time in the Tmall Double Eleven furniture category, the GMV on Double Eleven in 2016 alone was as high as 610 million, with annual sales reaching 1 billion.

On the other hand, smart homes with human "IQ" have already attracted Internet giants such as BAT, JD.com, and Xiaomi to enter the game; "new smart" technologies that have grown under the trend of VR, such as smart home improvement technology service companies such as Sandu Yunxiangjia, have their market It is also continuing to rise...While the "spring breeze is proud", while the "cold air is pressing", the new and the old are contrasted. The traditional home furnishings that have fought for channels, brands and resources have to sigh, and they are quite old.

Compared with traditional home furnishings, new forces such as the Internet, O2O and custom home furnishings not only have a closer connection with technology and the Internet, they also have great advantages in terms of traffic, channels, product design and personalized marketing.

According to the experience of developed countries, when the per capita GDP reaches 5,000 US dollars, the consumption of residents will shift to spiritual and cultural consumption. In 2011, China’s per capita GDP exceeded this value for the first time, and around this year, it was the development of new home furnishings and e-commerce. Based on this, we have to say that the rise and fall are not accidental. Before the arrival of the new consumption trend, a large number of rising stars plan forward-looking visions in advance and gain first-mover advantages. Traditional home furnishing companies have obtained the first-mover advantage due to the "net sense." "Poor", "stiff posture" on the Internet, coupled with weak demand after the fragmentation of the industry and staking, in the new consumer environment, "unaccustomed to water and soil" becomes more and more obvious.

The Internet is a tool, and the service and experience will never go out of style

At present, whether it is consumer demand structure, technology, business model or national policy, the home furnishing industry is changing rapidly, and the key to the success of marketing in the industry has also shifted to focus on consumer experience and reputation.

At present, although innovative companies have the first-mover advantage and traditional stores and stores are facing a crisis of closing stores, some old-brand home furnishings have achieved contrarian growth through optimizing products and services, led by Nature Home. During the half year of 2014-2015, its stores The number of closures was as high as 323, but by optimizing the O2O product experience store, the revenue increased by 17%; the two-year-old Qumei Furniture, through the promotion of the "New Qumei" strategy, optimized products from three dimensions of new products, new models and new values Experience and service, the 2017 interim report increased by 45.97% year-on-year; similarly, the founder of China's living room sofa, left and right sofa and artistic lighting brand Nok Lighting, used scene technology tools for the third cloud to enjoy the home, and exerted efforts in store experience and personalized services. 

Tencent founder Ma Huateng once said at the WE Conference, "I still think that the Internet is just a tool. Its invention is conducive to the dissemination of information. It removes unnecessary efficiency-loss links from traditional channels and allows service providers, manufacturers, and consumers. The people are more directly connected to each other."

In essence, the Internet is not an industry. The new home furnishing power that relies on Internet tools is only a subdivision of the industry. By activating information energy, companies can quickly comply with consumer and market needs, and achieve efficiency improvements and service upgrades. And then realize a form of Internet+, or the result of changes in the business environment. However, in the final analysis, tools and methods are only external factors, and products and services are the internal focus; similarly, they are sensitive to the market and have been cultivating products, Traditional enterprises in service and user experience can also consolidate or break through their original market position through self-optimization, and live more vigorously. Therefore, for home furnishing enterprises, the key to victory is not in the competition of forms, but in the market sense and service experience. .

The traffic dividend is fading, and the future is a battle of scenes

A small change in three years and a big change in five years. The Internet is entering the second half, and the traffic dividend is disappearing. Innovative home furnishing brands represented by Shangpin Home Delivery, Oupai, and Lin's Wood Industry have begun to seek new breakthroughs. Scenarios and experiential marketing have become current new trends. This also confirms the view of Ms. Peng Xinrong, vice president of Sanduyunxiangjia, “In the future, home furnishing companies will not sell products, but lively products. Scenes".

Different from other retail products, home furnishing products have natural environmental attributes. Consumers do not need to consider supporting facilities, the division of labor with other products, and indoor tonality issues when purchasing and using them, which are then related to life; accordingly, the home furnishing industry The marketing process of the company has also experienced the evolution from single product to supporting furniture and then to the scene with the changes in the market supply and demand relationship. Moreover, as consumption upgrades, the importance of scenes and experiences in the home retail terminal will continue to increase. The trend, for traditional home furnishings whose main battlefield is offline, will be a new opportunity for them to transform themselves in the cracks.

In the second half of the Internet, the battle between offline and scenes has begun, and the Internet upstarts who had the first-mover advantage in the last round of pk, when entering offline, no matter whether it is business layout, personnel deployment, service or logistics, etc., they are not sound. This is precisely the opportunity for traditional home corners to overtake.