Porcelain tile production in Brazil has grown from 4 million m2 in 2001 to 218 million m2 in 2021. The segment reached a 20% share of a total of 1,048 million m2 of ceramics (in Italy, porcelain tile represents 88% of the total production of ceramics).
Brazil is the third largest consumer of ceramics in the world (very close to India) and with an average of 4.25 m2/inhabitant; It is the 7th largest exporter of ceramics in the world, with a volume of 102 million m2 and this drives the porcelain tile business even more.
Porcelain tile ceased to be a “niche” to become a leading segment in terms of turnover (reals/dollars). The growth in the size of the slabs and other attributes inherent to porcelain tiles allow sustaining rising prices, which distance them from traditional ceramics.
Major players in the distribution of ceramics
According to SBVC (Sociedade Brasileira de Varejo e Consumo), the top construction material stores in Brazil are: Leroy Merlin (42 stores), Telhanorte from Saint – Gobain (78), Quero Quero (465), Sodimac ( 52), C&C (36), Portobello Shop (138), Todimo (27), Cassol (25), Balaroti (29), Redemac (108) and Joli (19).
Specialists in ceramics and porcelain
Portobello Shop (138 stores), is a specialist. It is the company that sells the most ceramics and porcelain in Brazil.
Hausz is a network of franchise stores, which has grown remarkably and shows 85 stores.
Elevato is a family business with 17 stores in the southern region.
Ceramic distribution is very dispersed in Brazil, there are great opportunities to develop specialty retail brands.
Brazil – Interest of business keywords according to Google Trends
Consumer acceptance and interest can also be seen through the evolution of searches on Google.com/trends
This trend is repeated in other Latin American countries such as Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, etc. where the interest in the word porcelanato surpassed any other word in this industry.
To position a website, the words used in all URLs are important. The home URL (the domain) is like the title of a book and the rest of the URLs are the book chapters and subtitles.
According to Anfacer, Brazil has more than 60 companies dedicated to the manufacture of ceramics and 137 brands, with excellent products that are exported all over the world.
Saint Gobain’s strategy to be close to the customer
Saint Gobain It is the largest ceramic tile retailer in France, with its own stores: Point.P (900 stores), La Plataforme Du Batiment (66 stores) and CEDEO (450 stores). It has launched its own social media to interact with the final consumer. Building a network of professionals in the sector, to help the consumer in their renovation projects.
“La Maison Saint Gobain” provides an unprecedented service in France, and this causes a great impact on consumers, who spread this innovative solution by word of mouth (viral). (see: https://www.lamaisonsaintgobain.fr/)
Saint Gobain’s advantages are based on developing a social environment on a name that belongs to it. He promotes his brands within this environment, later, he could develop a market place, ecommerce or any other business model.
Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. They have been used by companies to publish their catalogs, news and be in contact with their customers. When everyone is doing the same thing, it is very difficult to differentiate yourself.
There is a huge hidden cost in investing in “free media” that is third party URLs.
Author: Julio Sol
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