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Qianchuan Wood Industry: Extending Product Line to Meet More Consumer Needs

　　Focus Home Decoration Network home.focus.cn March 25, 2009, 22:53 Focus Home Network Comments by Hu Yanli

　　On March 25, the 8th China International Door Industry Exhibition grandly opened at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing. This exhibition fully highlighted the characteristics of "green, quality, internationalization, and branding," striving to create a display and trading platform integrating communication, brand building, procurement, and cooperation negotiation functions, helping industry professionals and many well-known domestic and foreign door enterprises to obtain information and build bridges. During the exhibition, Focus Home Network conducted exclusive interviews with some exhibiting companies to have in-depth exchanges on how the wooden door industry can achieve better development.

　　Date: March 25, 2009 Location: Beijing, National Agricultural Exhibition Center

　　Guest: Luo Zhengren, Chairman of Chengdu Qianchuan Wood Industry Co., Ltd.

　　[Hu Yanli]: What kind of products did Qianchuan Wood Industry bring to this exhibition?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: We mainly brought two different types of products to this exhibition. Mainly high-end solid wood doors, including European style, Chinese style, antique style, and also a type suitable for young people and white-collar consumers, priced around 1000 yuan. This type should have large sales volume, while the high-end sales are smaller. We mainly brought these two major series of products to the exhibition.

　　[Hu Yanli]: Is there any difference between the series you launched this year and previous years?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: Last year we mainly exhibited solid wood composite doors, which are made of engineered wood and belong to the mixed solid wood category. Today we are talking about solid wood doors, also called solid wood composite doors. These solid wood doors are divided into solid wood and mixed solid wood, and there is also a type of solid wood composite.

　　[Hu Yanli]: How do you feel about the popularity of this exhibition?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: The popularity is okay, but the proportion of exhibitors is relatively large. This is somewhat related to their promotion; they should fully invite distributors to participate, which would benefit us exhibitors. Otherwise, it is not very beneficial to us exhibitors and will consume a lot of effort and resources.

　　[Hu Yanli]: The financial crisis in the second half of 2008 might affect our home furnishing industry. What is Qianchuan Wood Door's feeling about the financial crisis?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: The financial crisis from 2008 to 2009 did not have a significant impact on wooden doors because the demand and production volume of wooden doors had not reached saturation. The industry only started developing around 2000. In the secondary and tertiary markets, with the progress and promotion of publicity and technology, more and more people accept finished wood products, from packaged wooden doors to now painted finished doors. Although the financial crisis affected consumer confidence, the total demand is indeed growing. Overall, the impact on wooden doors is not significant.

　　[Hu Yanli]: The impact on Qianchuan itself might not be greater. How has the company's marketing revenue changed from 2008 to 2009?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: Our Qianchuan brand has been established for a long time, about 12 years, with mature products and a wide product range. Also, we are located in Chengdu, Sichuan, and the post-disaster reconstruction has brought us some business opportunities. Our new factory will start production in April, with an annual output value reaching 300 million yuan.

　　[Hu Yanli]: What is the national network layout of Qianchuan Wood Door?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: Qianchuan Wood Door's national layout is like this: very few in the northeast and south. Overall, there are more than 160 distributors.

　　[Hu Yanli]: Will there be increased efforts in developing or supporting distributors this year?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: We will increase development and advertising support for distributors, including store design and decoration. The production value in 2009 is expected to reach 200 million yuan, and the number of distributors will increase to 200.

　　[Hu Yanli]: The wooden door industry is continuously developing, but there is a new economic situation due to the financial crisis affecting the economic environment. Besides these strategies, what major moves will Qianchuan make this year?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: Qianchuan is continuously increasing exclusive stores, and our product line is extended with a wider range of products suitable for secondary and tertiary markets, white-collar groups, and high-end consumers.

　　[Hu Yanli]: Where do you think the opportunities and blue ocean are for the wooden door industry under the new economic situation?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: Our biggest opportunity now is post-disaster reconstruction, which is quite significant. The wooden door industry has certain regional characteristics because it involves installation and after-sales service. So now, wooden door companies do well locally, and there are not many truly national brands.

　　Doing well in one region and several cities is already very good. The wooden door industry is similar to the furniture industry, where consumer groups have large personalized differences. The furniture industry has developed for 30 years with many furniture companies nationwide. In the future, the wooden door industry will also be like the furniture industry, with many factories nationwide. This is different from the flooring industry, which is highly mechanized and factory-produced. If there are five companies producing laminate flooring, they can meet the national demand because of the high mechanization and good control of production processes. Wooden doors and furniture are different because of large personalized differences. So in the future, wooden doors will also be like furniture, with factories everywhere.

　　[Hu Yanli]: So wooden doors will develop along the trajectory of the furniture industry?

　　[Luo Zhengren]: Yes. Although some listed companies are investing in wooden doors, it will not be like flooring, which has very well-known national brands with large sales volumes. Also, wooden doors have large personalized differences, so no matter how much money a listed company invests, it is impossible for everyone to like one style or design. So even the biggest companies cannot make everyone consume their products in a short time; this is not easy.