During the Spring Festival, when the old and the new come, Chinese people inevitably visit relatives and friends. And just this year while visiting relatives and friends, the attentive editor discovered that a relative who had just purchased a house used a slate dining table. While the editor marveled at the impressive results of slate furniture sinking into the market, he also felt "terrified" by the merchant's promise to "guarantee replacement of products with quality problems such as marks or staining within two years."
So through this article, we can popularize the relevant information and knowledge about rock slabs.
The "secret" of choosing slate for decoration
The popularity of rock slabs as a material began in 2020 and reached its peak in mid-2021. Whether it is the wide variety of slate products on the market or the "high praise" of sales staff, its popularity can be described in one sentence: "Stone Slabs" can be used for decoration. Slate products range from background walls, dining tables, and cabinets to squat toilets, floor tiles, and stair treads. They basically include many materials needed for home decoration, and can be used to create "whole-house slates."
Why are rock slabs so hot? Is it because this product is really as good as the store says, or is there some "insider" behind it? In fact, conspiracy theories are unnecessary. The reason why slate is so popular is that it is the result of the industrial upgrading of the ceramic industry.
There are two main reasons why rock slabs can become the next generation product.
First, the material properties of rock slabs far exceed those of ceramic tiles. Whether it is anti-fouling, hardness or temperature resistance, the performance of rock slabs is far better than that of ceramic tiles. With its good performance, it can also seize the market share of other materials such as marble, glass, solid wood, and wood plywood. In fact, as consumers, we can regard slate as an upgraded version of ceramic tiles.
Secondly, for manufacturers, the commercial prospects of sintered slabs far exceed those of ceramic tiles. In the home, slate can be used in places where ceramic tiles are needed, and slate can also be used in some places where tiles cannot be used, such as the door of wardrobes and the table tops of dining tables. In addition to home applications, slate also has many industrial applications, such as being used as refrigerator panels and even yacht decks.
It is precisely because of the broad prospects that starting from 2020, the ceramic industry will begin to introduce slate production lines on a large scale. Regardless of the size of the industry, onlyAlmost all ceramic companies that have the strength to launch rock slab projects are expanding their rock slab products. As of December 31, 2021, the number of slate production lines has exceeded 200, with an annual output of 150 million square meters. Industry sources revealed that in the past two years, the supply of large-scale machinery and equipment required for slate production lines has exceeded demand.
However, the entire industry has introduced slate production lines on a large scale in a short period of time. The direct consequence of expanding production capacity is that slate has entered a price war. Its price has increased from thousands of yuan per square meter at the beginning to dozens of yuan per square meter now, with the lowest At that time, it even hit 9.9 yuan. Compared with the selling price, the cost required by manufacturers to build a slate production line or modify the original production line ranges from several million to three to five billion. Sales volume is not increasing, and production capacity is still expanding. Therefore, manufacturers whose warehouses are full of slates can only put a "burden" on middlemen, so slates are booming on the market.
Common consumption issues of slate
Low sales of rock slabs does not mean that the material is not good. Objectively speaking, rock slabs are an excellent product in terms of material properties and application scenarios. However, new things have their own development rules. As a new product, rock slabs have many problems in supporting them, such as processing. It is difficult, the transportation cost is high, the aesthetic design of the product has not kept up, etc., that is, the delivery service cannot keep up. If these supporting problems are not really solved, it will be difficult for slate to enter thousands of households.
For us as consumers, some of the most common questions when buying slate can be condensed into three questions: Is online shopping reliable? Are the goods you buy genuine? Why is there no after-sales service?
First of all, although the price of slate has dropped after the price war, it is still very expensive in physical stores and is unacceptable. Therefore, considering the price, most people will choose to shop online, but in fact online shopping is not suitable for rock slabs. Let us not consider the authenticity of the product for the time being, but only consider the logistics issue. There will be various problems in online shopping.
Recently, there was such a case on Sina’s Black Cat complaint platform: On January 9, Mr. A sent a rock slab via SF Express. However, during transportation, the rock slabs became broken and unusable. Not only did the rock slabs sent by Mr. A, originally priced at 4,796 yuan, disappear, but they also paid 200 yuan for shipping. However, SF Express was only willing to pay compensation of 800-1,500 yuan for this accident. During transportation, rock slabs break due to poor toughness, which is a problem that is currently difficult to solve. If such an accident occurs, it is difficult to determine whether it is a problem with the transporter or the product, so it is difficult to hold the company accountable. Coupled with issues such as fake goods, it can only be said that online shopping is not suitable for slate products at present.
itsNowadays, the market is flooded with fake rock slabs. Because the price of rock slabs is much higher than that of ceramic tiles, if the ceramic tiles are sold as rock slabs, the price difference is enough for merchants to take risks.
Recently, Ms. D asked the Black Cat Complaint Platform for help. In June last year, she bought a background wall called "Picturesque Landscape" at the M brand ceramic tile store of Red Star Macalline in Longquanyi District, Chengdu. When purchasing, Ms. D made it clear that she only wanted slate and went to the store three times to confirm whether the background wall was made of slate. Ms. D placed the order only after receiving assurances from the store's shopping guide and store manager. However, after the installation of the background wall was completed in December, the store informed Ms. D that the installed background wall was made of large ceramic panels. When Ms. D went to this store again to discuss refunds and other after-sales issues, the store staff had a bad attitude and refused to deal with it. In this case, Ms. D is the only one who has spoken out. The brand store has not yet responded, but from a glimpse, the problem of fake rock slabs can be imagined.
Finally, a typical case of slate after-sales service problems is product quality problems, and there is a high probability that no one will deal with it.
On this point, Mr. B and Mr. C have more say. In July 2021, Mr. B purchased a batch of furniture at the Quanyou Furniture Chenjiaqiao and Liaojiaping store. Later, he found that a corner of the slate of the coffee table had burst on the morning of February 10, 2022. He contacted Quanyou after-sales personnel and the solution was to make it himself. 400 yuan, they will be responsible for replacement. Mr. C purchased a slate dining table from Tmall Yiluo flagship store. A year later, the tabletop broke and he is still arguing with the merchant. Quality problems that have no one to solve have always been a major problem in the industry. The reason is very simple: after-sales costs are too high and responsibilities are unclear. Both middlemen and manufacturers think it is the other party's problem, and no one wants to bear this cost.
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Since rock slabs have these "stubborn diseases", can they still be bought? How to buy good slate? Regarding these issues, the editor's suggestion is that at this time, ordinary players can buy rock slabs later if they have no urgent needs; while wealthy players can do whatever they want.
The reasons for this suggestion are also very simple: first, rock slabs are expensive; second, as a new thing, rock slabs are still in a chaotic nascent period, and many issues are still under discussion. Just like the common consumer problems introduced above, on the one hand, the matching problem of slate slabs has not been solved, and the product and application design are unsatisfactory. When I visited the furniture market before, I found that the appearance of slate furniture has not kept up with the standards. On the other hand, it is manifested in market confusion. A typical example is ceramic tiles pretending to be rock slabs. However, with the continuous development of rock slabs, the matching of rock slabs has become a very good choice for most people.
Of course, the aesthetic effect of stone slabs is now as good as that of marble. For example, the design effect of installing gas stoves directly on the stone slab countertops is good. The only disadvantage is that it costs money. , only suitable for wealthy players.
As for how to buy good slate, to put it simply and straightforwardly, it is to choose products from big brands. In this order, buy rock slabs based on the price limit you can accept: imported big brands - domestic big brands - imported small brands - domestic small brands. Imported brands such as foreign Desais and Lamina are world-class slate brands; domestic brands such as Delifon, Mona Lisa, New Pearl, Marco Polo, Shunhui Tiancheng, Nobel, General, and Big Horn Deer are also Not a bad choice.
(Author: No)
