In fact, whether it is false propaganda or fake foreign devils, the shock that Kangbach's growth in the past two years has brought to the cooker market is real.
For more than ten years, Supor and Asda have been called "two heroes" in China cookware market. From e-commerce platforms such as Tmall JD.COM Vipshop, to offline chain stores such as Carrefour and RT Mart, the cookware duo has built a high industry threshold with brand and product strength, occupying consumers' minds.
Experts believe that the market advantages of Supor and Asda are the result of years of efforts.
Supor and Asda are both well-known listed companies in the industry. The data shows that in the first half of 2020, under the pressure of epidemic situation, Supor cookware's main business realized income of 265,438+36 million yuan, and Asda cookware realized operating income of 900 million yuan.
However, the rapid growth of Combach in just three years has given a lot of inspiration to the cooker industry.
20 18 years, is in the booming period of social e-commerce. With the help of gathering and global catchers, Combach quickly became the favorite pot of social e-commerce platform. In just two or three years, in the case of imperfect offline channels in Kangbach, it is expected to achieve a sales scale of nearly 654.38+0.4 billion yuan in 2020, which makes the industry stunned.
From the marketing point of view, Combach seized two outlets, 20 18 and 20 19 social e-commerce, and the live broadcast of 2020.
Brand communication conspiracy under the cover of patent conspiracy
Combach, who plays well in marketing, is also a big fan of brand building.
Two years ago, perhaps the head brand didn't put Combach in the eye at all, but it couldn't escape the "sharp arrow" shot by Combach.
20 19 Zhejiang Bach Cookware Co., Ltd. v. Wuhan Supor Cookware Co., Ltd.
Obviously, Kombach is drunk, not drunk. For an unknown enterprise that only sells some platforms online, the best way to make its brand rise rapidly is to get involved with industry leaders.
According to Bach's kitchen utensils calculation, being able to go to court with the industry boss has already explained his strength. As long as Supor answers the lawsuit, Combach has already succeeded half way. Every time the two parties appear in court, Bach Kitchenware can enlarge the relevant details and use them as favorable materials to promote their own brands. As for the outcome of the lawsuit, it is not so important.
Obviously, this is not a simple lawsuit between enterprises triggered by patents, but a brand communication conspiracy that Bach Kitchenware has been planning for a long time.
However, Supor, who has many years of market experience, did not enter the legal trap of Combach.
In 2020, the patent dispute between Bach Kitchenware and Supor was declared invalid without trial.
The Intermediate People's Court of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province held that "the independent patent claim claimed by Imbach Company in this case has been determined by the Beijing Intellectual Property Court to be not creative, and China National Intellectual Property Administration's decision to examine the request for invalidation has been revoked, and the patent involved is now in an unstable state. In this case, it is appropriate to dismiss Bach's lawsuit first. "
Kombach's wish abacus fell through.
There is also a German patent with the number A47J37/ 10, which is a joke. The numbering system of German patents is DEXXXXX, and A47J37/ 10 is only the international patent technology classification group number. In fact, this is a patent applied by "German parent company" of Combach in Germany with the patent number of DE20 19 105646. The patent application number is 201910 14, and its protection scope is probably "a non-stick pan with an antibacterial layer at the mouth and a certain height of mesh in the pan."
Domestic products are popular, and brands are willing to be fake foreign devils. It seems that the enterprise itself worships foreign things and flatters foreign countries.
Moreover, the patent mentioned in Bach's kitchenware lawsuit is inconsistent with the company's registration time. Bach kitchenware litigation involves patents first, while Zhejiang Bach Company, a subsidiary of Kangbach brand, is registered in Germany, and Zhejiang Bach Company doesn't own patents at all, which leads to the lawsuit not being established at all. This is an extremely low-level mistake made by marketing planning, which also lowers Kangbaqi's brand value and industry reputation.
Can the cooker really change from Erxia to Three Musketeers?
Although the lawsuit was not won, in two or three years, Combach changed the pattern of cookware and became one of the three musketeers of cookware.
Some professionals believe that Combach wins in marketing, but the product is short-board. In China, there is never a shortage of good products. Only by selling can we get a good market response. Therefore, the brand effect initially established by enterprises depends on marketing skills. Haier, Lenovo and Xiaomi are all marketing experts. However, when the brand has a certain popularity, it is impossible to keep ahead of the industry by marketing alone. Product is the core and technology is the engine.
Opening Combach's Tmall flagship store shows that its short board is indeed on the product. Kangbach, who came out of Yongkang, the capital of hardware, is worried about the sustainability of the new brand in products. If the product cannot be continuously upgraded, it is likely to be a short-lived marketing brand.
Although it is located in the kitchenware manufacturing base, Kangbach has always been mainly engaged in OEM. If the product is the core of the brand, then Kangbaqi is a brand with congenital deficiency. In 2020, Kangbach began to build his own factory. The industry believes that Combach's move is not necessarily to truly grasp the production capacity, but to pave the way for listing.
Combach's product concept, first, grasps the consumer's psychology, creates his own "German brand" background, and gives consumers psychological hints of good product quality. Second, it is claimed that the stainless steel honeycomb wok has no coating and no oil smoke. In China, consumers are always afraid of paints. Uncoated and smokeless are consumers' inner expectations for products.
Strictly speaking, people in the industry know that these are just marketing gimmicks. However, for consumers with little professional knowledge, Combach's selling point is indeed to exchange consumers' ignorance for their own standards.
Some people think that although Kangbach's products are not strong, they have contributed to the cooker market, that is, they have increased the average price of wok. Because the average price of Kangbach's promotional wok has been 299 yuan and 399 yuan, which makes the mainstream brands who used to compete for the market by price very embarrassed.
For example, on 20 19, a brand launched 39 yuan's wok during the promotion period of 618 in JD.COM. After deducting various expenses such as logistics and platform deduction in retail 39 yuan, the more the brand sells, the more it loses. And the price is so low that many people can't help but question its quality.
Of course, after analyzing the case of Combach, many brands have begun to reverse their marketing ideas, shifting their channel focus to various online platforms and doing a good job in the operation of new media.
First, develop explosive products suitable for online sales. In fact, the cookware industry is not short of good products, but short of explosive thinking. One of the reasons why Combach succeeded is explosive thinking. The explosion in the context of e-commerce first values technology and differentiation. Through the operation of new media, the chances of success are even greater.
Second, establish an open mind. Online network operation is a very professional job. Therefore, compared with the brand setting up its own e-commerce department, the professional e-commerce team has better resources, product planning, live broadcast rhythm, traffic introduction and other methods, which can make the brand grow faster and produce more explosive products. Therefore, brands should use an open mind to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses.
But Combach's future is not clear. The first is the product problem. First, Combach's repurchase rate is very low, which means repeat customers. Through the live broadcast, first harvest the fans of the top anchors, and then find a few second-and third-rate anchors. If there are no new products, the development of Kangbach will be very difficult. Moreover, the core of pushing new products is that there must be more shocking products to keep the brand's traffic, otherwise Combach may not go downhill slowly, but plummet.
From the marketing point of view, a mature brand must keep many bright spots in its products in order to meet the needs of different categories of families. The open-flame cooker industry mainly includes wok, pressure cooker, soup pot, frying pan, milk pot, steamer and so on. Only a strong product is the cornerstone of the brand's sustainable development.
Combach only has a honeycomb stainless steel wok, and this short board is very obvious.
When the live broadcast of goods encounters false propaganda.
On June 5438+065438+1October, 2020, the Viya team informed the Combach team that the cooperation between the two parties would be terminated from 20021and the live broadcast of the brand would no longer be conducted. According to insiders, not long ago, Combach's wok was delivered by two top anchors, Viya and Simba, but the sales volume was more than ten times, which seriously affected the image of Viya and led to the suspension of the cooperation between Viya team and Combach.
Why is the sales gap between the same product and different anchors so big at the same time? The reason is that Combach has gained fans of Viya. According to insiders, in the past, when Viya and Combach cooperated, a live broadcast had at least 40,000 to 50,000 sales, but in a recent live broadcast, the sales volume dropped to more than 1 10,000. Taking advantage of the Double Eleven Conference, Simba sold more than 280,000 pots in the first Kambach live broadcast, achieving sales of 654.38 billion yuan. The insiders believe that this is the first batch of "leeks" harvested by Kambach in Simba.
This incident seems to be two head anchors fighting for market position and proving their value. In fact, the greatest significance is to prove that Combach products are single and the repurchase rate is very low. After many live broadcasts by the same anchor, Combach gained fans. The repurchase rate caused by the short product line is low, and a group of fans can only harvest once.
Success is also live broadcast, and failure is also live broadcast.
The Double Eleven brought 654.38 billion yuan of goods to Simba and Kangbach. After pulling out the radish of "bird's nest in syrup", Combach's false propaganda was also exposed to the world.
Foxes always show their tails. Product defects, and then under the hat of "German brand" and "century-old enterprise", Combach faced accusations from the government and industry such as false propaganda.
We really want to know, what will Kangbach's next story tell?