Foreword: 2011 Shanghai International Wallpaper Expo is jointly organized by Shanghai Everbright Convention and Exhibition Center Co., Ltd and China Building Decoration Materials Association Wallpaper Branch. The purpose of this International Wallpaper Expo is to be professional and orderly. After many active preparations, nearly a hundred wallpaper manufacturers and competitive marketing companies participated in the exhibition. They show the latest version, which combines the decorative material of wallpaper with artistic design. It is expected that 40,000 visitors will watch the exhibition during the exhibition. Pass the development achievements of China's wallpaper industry to all aspects. At the exhibition site, a reporter from Sina interviewed Alan Kang （Jia-Xiang）, the general manager of Suwalper Wallpaper.

Interview time: August 16

Interviewee: Alan Kang (Jia-Xiang), general manager of Suwalper Wallpaper

Interview location: 2011 Shanghai International Wallpaper Expo

Interviewer: Sina reporter Zhang Xiao-Lian

[Sina Household Furniture]: Wallpaper exhibitions are frequently held in the same city at the same time. What is the reason?

[Alan Kang (Jia-Xiang)]: As a relatively immature industry group in the pan-furniture industry, the wallpaper industry has developed rapidly in the past more than ten years, and there has been a lack of an industry association to plan industry development standards or visions. In the past 10 years, the Wallpaper Association was jointly initiated by several leading companies in the industry, with the long-term development of the industry as the core, and hoped that the original intention would be to prevent counterfeiting and plagiarism through wallpapers hosting their own exhibitions. Formulate basic standards for production, construction, sales, etc. of the industry. In fact, it is natural to divide wallpaper manufacturers into two groups. However, for the convenience of dealers and foreign customers to visit the exhibition and negotiate business, two wallpaper exhibitions were held in the same city at the same time.

[Sina Home Furnishing]: What factors affected the overall industry downturn in the first half of the year? How long will this effect last? What is the response policy of wallpaper companies?

[Alan Kang (Jia-Xiang)]: I think there are two reasons: 1. The intensity of macro-control and tightening monetary policy has been continuously enlarged, especially measures such as restrictions on real estate purchases. Currency tightening also reduces hot money in the market and lowers investment demand, making the overall economy bound to fight inflation as a premise to squeeze out the overall oversupply economic environment in the country. This will undoubtedly affect domestic consumption. 2. Excessive competition brought about by oversupply in the wallpaper industry. Under the good conditions of the wallpaper industry in the past few years, many companies outside the industry have indeed begun to enter the wallpaper industry. I personally think that these two factors will interact with each other. Macro-control will accelerate the exit of wallpaper companies without core strength or high debt operations. This will take at least 2 years, but at the same time, some companies with relatively strong strength will Through brand management, vertical and horizontal forces intertwine to achieve a well-known scale enterprise with a high market share.

[Sina Home Furnishing]: In recent years, many enterprises have poured into the wallpaper industry, good and bad are mixed, and the wallpaper industry is currently in a period of reshuffle. Due to the large-scale influx of enterprises, the increase in production capacity is more than 50% higher than the increase in demand. Will this hurt the relationship between supply and demand, making it difficult to guarantee product quality? 

[Alan Kang (Jia-Xiang)]: Due to the serious imbalance between supply and demand, the reshuffle of the industry will be inevitable, but the quality control of wallpaper products mainly comes from the quality of raw materials and the supervision during the production process. In terms of the quality of raw materials, I think legal regulations and standardization of the basic production process will prevent too many fake and inferior products from appearing. But counterfeiting is another issue that has the potential to disrupt competition in the industry. This year, Suwalper has carried out some copyright protection actions through legal actions, which is also a relatively large attempt in the industry. It is hoped that more industry leaders can respect the legitimacy of original designs and design copyrights.

[Sina Home Furnishing]: The Da Vinci incident is thought-provoking. Does the consumer psychology of advocating "foreign brands" also exist in the wallpaper industry?

[Alan Kang (Jia-Xiang)]: Yes, the comparison is more serious. According to the current imported wallpaper and domestic wallpaper brands using the same imported material and the same grade of wallpaper produced by the same imported raw materials, the price difference is about 5 to 10 times. Middle and low-end countries Paper production, the difference is even greater. But I think this situation is not a topic worth worrying about, because the existence of imported brands just makes the market have a comparability or difference. Under the rational development of consumer behavior, consumer groups will also appear different.

[Sina Home Furnishing]: Where is the biggest gap between domestic wallpapers and foreign brands? How does the wallpaper industry guide consumption and promote development? 

[Alan Kang (Jia-Xiang)]: It lies in the design background accumulated over the years. After all, the wallpaper originated in the Western world. Regardless of the innovation of the production process or the design style, it is mainly based on European and American standards. Therefore, Europe and the United States have also cultivated a group of experienced wallpaper design. Designers, this is a gap that the Chinese market has yet to completely replace. But I believe that through the cultivation of China's vast market, this gap will become smaller and smaller. For the future development of the wallpaper industry, I think we can pay attention to the changes in sales channels. Changes in traditional building materials city channels, DIY market channels, online shopping market channels or refined decoration markets will be the core of whether the wallpaper industry can develop.