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As a significant behind-the-scenes force, hardware is coming into the view of more industry professionals.
For a long time before, its attention was relatively low, but its importance should not be underestimated. Whether it is ready-made furniture, custom cabinets, or doors, Windows, etc., hardware is needed.
The endorsement ability of a brand, the quality of its products and the superiority or inferiority of its performance will all affect the competitiveness of the final product.
Some new changes are taking place, and the traditional situation in the hardware industry is being broken, such as:
The emergence of one-stop hardware solutions, which make up for the deficiencies of individual products and meet the diversified demands of enterprises, has become a new focus for some enterprises.
Brand effect has become the commanding height for hardware enterprises to make an impact.
The iteration of functions has reached a new level, and hardware products with antibacterial and antiviral properties have emerged one after another.
The emergence of scenario-based experience centers has changed the traditional terminal display style of products.
These changes are influencing the business strategies of enterprises and also altering the direction of the industry.
In this regard, the China Home Furnishing Fair (Guangzhou) Equipment and Accessories Exhibition has long maintained close attention to the hardware industry, setting up a dedicated hardware exhibition area to highlight the changes in key points such as concepts, materials, craftsmanship, functions, and designs of furniture hardware.
Strive for the commanding heights of the brand
There is a view that in many cases, home hardware has become "the brand behind the brand".
This means that behind various finished products such as furniture and doors and Windows, hardware brands have become a very important supporting force. The brand endorsement ability of hardware will boost the competitiveness of finished products such as furniture and doors and Windows.
According to the understanding of Da CAI Research, many furniture and building materials enterprises often emphasize the selected hardware brands when highlighting key competitive elements such as comprehensive strength and product selling points.
Even for top-tier brands, in their promotional materials or the explanations of salespeople, it is common to mention the use of certain well-known brand hardware to enhance the recognition of product quality.
Defining a differentiated brand positioning, shaping a clear brand image, conducting all-round brand promotion, and starting from multiple links such as products, channels, and terminals to carry out long-term brand building have become the focus of efforts for over a hundred hardware enterprises.
It is obvious to the naked eye that in public places such as airports, high-speed railway stations and high-speed railways, the advertisements of hardware brands have significantly increased, such as Yajie and Huitailong. Hiring brand ambassadors has also become a way to enhance brand influence. For instance, DTC Dongtai Hardware invited Su Bingtian to be its spokesperson.
Participating in major exhibitions is still regarded as a key channel to enhance influence and reach targeted customers.
The China Home Furnishing Fair (Guangzhou) Equipment and Ingredients Exhibition attracts a large number of brand exhibitors every year. At this year's exhibition held from March 28th to 31st, many brands also made their appearances, including Auster, Beria, DTC, Jusen, Lestef, Kangyale, Opak, Tute, Onos, Tuochen, Xiangxing, Adams, etc.
A professional hardware accessories exhibition area provides a space for hardware brands to showcase their latest technologies, products and brands, and builds a hardware trading promotion platform to integrate the most comprehensive procurement categories of hardware.
By taking multiple measures to achieve brand explosion, it is expected to help the enterprise seize the best ecological position.
Regarding the future trend, Dacai Research believes that whether a hardware enterprise can successfully reach the brand's commanding heights and create a strong brand effect will affect its ultimate say and market share.
Continuous improvement of individual products
The iterative upgrade of individual products has always been the focus. In most cases, relying on the success of individual products, hardware enterprises have a greater chance of firmly occupying market share and boosting overall sales.
In recent years, even very powerful hardware enterprises have been striving to enhance the competitive edge of their individual products. The main approaches are to start from aspects such as design, functionality, durability, intelligence, and standards, aiming for higher quality.
At this year's China Home Furnishing Fair (Guangzhou) Equipment and Ingredients Exhibition, some new flagship products continued to make their debut.
For instance, Tute Hardware has launched new products. According to public information, one of them is the H105 hinge, which has broken through the technical bottleneck of the previous rear door hinges, enabling the previous hinge that could only open and close 95° to achieve an opening and closing effect of 100°. Furthermore, the H105 hinge is suitable for door panels with a thickness ranging from 16mm to 25mm.
Another product, the S39 buffer rebound guide rail, has a rebound stroke of 3 to 5mm compared to domestic ones or 2.5mm compared to foreign ones. Tute has broken through international standards by achieving a rebound stroke of 2mm, thus realizing the effect of opening with a light touch. This enables the drawer panel to easily pop out when pressed from any position.
The concentrated emergence of a variety of new products not only facilitates the display and competition among manufacturers but also provides comparison convenience for distributors. This is also where the value of major exhibitions lies.
One-stop hardware solutions have become a market hotspot
After completing the development of multiple series of key products, many well-known hardware enterprises have begun to focus on one-stop hardware solutions, providing hardware support for the entire house of furniture.
This approach has its great value:
First, the individual products perform very well, with an outstanding fundamental performance, meeting the needs of customers for individual products.
Second, based on its own capabilities, it realizes the creation of related categories, providing a full-house furniture hardware solution to meet the hardware needs of all types of furniture in one stop. Even some enterprises are building a full-house hardware ecosystem, offering a more comprehensive range of products.
Typical enterprises in this direction are on the rise, and the leaders in the new track may emerge in the coming years.
For instance, Nomi has proposed the concept of a full-house hardware ecosystem. With the core advantages of the same style, color, quality and brand, it focuses on high-end full-house hardware customization. With high-end appearance and quality products and cross-category complete solutions, it has become one of the few one-stop full-house customized hardware comprehensive service providers.
Its full-house customized hardware products include seven major systems: cabinet functional hardware system, wardrobe storage hardware system, sink system, basic hardware system, high-end customized aluminum material application system, intelligent lighting system, and bathroom application system, which form the Nomi full-house hardware ecosystem.
Dongtai is also making efforts in this field. In 2021, it launched a "Comprehensive Environmental protection hardware Solution", covering Spaces such as kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, offices, and bathrooms. Within the product range, multiple series have been formed, including hinges, guide rails, drawers, flip doors, sliding doors, connecting parts, etc. Each series has several sub-series to meet diverse needs.
In terms of functional hardware such as kitchen storage and wardrobe storage, the full range of slide rail products, OT series innovative hardware, and electric intelligent hardware, Jusen Hardware continuously outputs new products, integrating the entire product chain of home hardware.
At this year's China Home Furnishing Fair (Guangzhou) Equipment and Ingredients Exhibition, Nomi, Dongtai, Jusen and others not only launched higher-level individual products, but also iterated complete sets of solutions.
In addition, Dacai Research has noted that Hettich of Germany once announced the opening of a hardware solution experience center in China, integrating "design inspiration", "product solutions", and "installation training", providing furniture enterprises with integrated support from furniture design, hardware product solutions to installation and implementation.
Its whole-house furniture hardware solution at least includes hidden hardware accessories, vertically opening kitchen cabinet doors, flexible application of push-pull drawers without handles and sliding doors, as well as the design of large sliding and folding doors, etc.
With the concept of "More Space, More Life", Haifule showcases a one-stop hardware solution, including kitchen, wardrobe, bathroom and door hardware, as well as sliding doors and lighting systems, etc.
The company's hardware solutions cover kitchens, lighting, furniture sliding doors, architectural sliding doors, wardrobes, bathrooms, etc.
For example, in the kitchen area, it includes the upward-flipping support Free Space, the categorized kitchen hanging system, as well as the ultra-thin and curved drawer system, etc. LOOX series LED lighting systems, upgraded LOOX5X systems and Nimubs indoor lighting; A variety of sliding door solutions such as furniture sliding doors and architectural sliding doors.
In addition, the changes in the hardware market also involve: the development space for small brands or no-name brands will become increasingly smaller; Upgrades in various health features may become standard, involving technical capabilities such as antibacterial and antiviral properties.
It can be deeply felt that the fierce competition in the hardware industry is unfolding in full swing. For enterprises, the upgrading of their competitive capabilities has become an urgent matter.