In recent years, with the continuous enhancement of independent scientific and technological innovation capabilities, "Made in China" has begun to glow with new vitality. In the context of the improvement of national pride and cultural identity, domestic brands have ushered in a rare development opportunity.
Taking the paint industry as an example, this market, which was once almost monopolized by foreign giants, has now been broken through and reshaped by rising national brands. Among them, 3Trees has become the biggest competitor of the Japanese giant Nippon Paint, and its comprehensive strength and market performance have shown an accelerated trend of catching up.
Recently, 3Trees released its 2023 financial report. In 2023, 3Trees will achieve operating income of 12.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%; Net operating cash flow reached 1.408 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47%. In 2023, in the context of the industry's overall output growth but declining revenue, 3Trees has shown resilience in "growing against the trend".
Now that the dual competition pattern has been formed, can 3Trees surpass Nippon Paint and reach the top of the "First Brother of Coating"?
Channel sinking first, localization advantages highlighted
The downturn in the real estate industry has brought a heavy blow to the traditional large B-end architectural coatings market, and many coating companies have been dragged down by the real estate thunderstorm. However, long before the real estate downturn, 3Trees aimed at the small B-end and retail markets, focusing on the new track of central state-owned enterprises, urban construction and urban investment, and industrial plants, taking the lead in getting rid of the impact of the real estate cycle at the channel level, and at the same time winning the upcoming dividends of the stock housing market.
Nippon Paint has an advantage in the high-end engineering channel, while 3Trees has set its sights on a broader sinking market. By speeding up the process of channel flattening, sinking counties and townships, seizing the third and fourth-tier markets, and rapidly deploying in relatively weak areas of Nippon, forming differentiated advantages, and building a huge channel system of 200,000 outlets. Compared with multinational brands, local brands have a natural affinity and responsiveness advantage in these areas.
At present, Nippon Paint's large B-end real estate channel business is growing sluggishly, and is accelerating its expansion to lower-tier cities and small B-end channels, which is already an area in which 3Trees occupies a leading position.
Scientific and technological innovation continues to catch up and surpass, and the strength defends the glory of the national brand
In addition to its channel advantages, 3Trees also maintains a leading position in technological innovation. According to the data, in 2023, 3Trees will invest 289 million yuan in R&D, the number of R&D personnel has exceeded 700, and 130 invention patents have been applied. Today, with 753 valid patents, 3Trees has surpassed Nippon. The continuous enhancement of independent research and development strength has provided strong support for the development of "specialization, refinement, and innovation" in the industry.
With its strong scientific research strength, 3Trees continues to develop new products and upgrade its product matrix. Its self-developed waterborne two-component polyurethane industrial coatings have been applied to the helmets of the national short track speed skating team and the national cycling team, which not only helped 3Trees move forward in the field of industrial coatings, but also demonstrated the strong strength of China's science and technology to the world.
(Three Trees, Short Track Speed Skating Daisheng Helmet)
(3Trees Bicycle Team Nezha Helmet)
Subsequently, a series of high-performance industrial coating products, such as epoxy glass flake paint, new energy power battery fire retardant coating, and insulating powder coating, have promoted the business growth in the field of industrial coatings. In the future, 3Trees will also accelerate the layout of aerospace, shipbuilding, automobile and other tracks, and overcome the "bottleneck" technology in the industry.
It is foreseeable that with the continuous increase of 3Trees' R&D investment, it is expected to achieve corner overtaking in terms of product innovation and technical reserves, and will form a new round of competition with Nippon Paint in new fields in the future.
Integrating into the national tide culture, the national brand has strong potential
Of course, from a domestic perspective, 3Trees, as a national brand, also has the innate advantage of cultural identity.
In 2023, 3Trees will reach a strategic cooperation with the Palace Museum and jointly launch the "National Paint and National Color" series of high-end art paints, inheriting traditional Chinese color aesthetics and gaining wide recognition from young consumer groups. At the same time, although the "magic paint" that Nippon focuses on creating is innovative in technology, it is slightly inferior in cultural connotation, and it is difficult to occupy an advantage in the national trend.
In addition, in the bidding for municipal projects such as old renovation, local governments will further tilt towards high-quality national brands such as 3Trees, and these localization advantages are also difficult for Nippon to achieve. Relying on favorable policies, 3Trees has vigorously carried out rural revitalization and village reform projects to help build "beautiful villages". With the rapid development of this business, 3Trees Stone Imitation Paint has achieved a compound growth rate of more than 60% for 8 consecutive years, becoming the company's new star product. It can be said that 3Trees has transformed its cultural advantages into product advantages and seized the biggest development opportunity for national brands.
A binary competition pattern has been formed, and the future of 3Trees is promising
At present, Nippon Paint still occupies the leading position in the industry, with capital, talent and other resource advantages, but its growth has tended to be weak, while 3Trees is riding the momentum and flowering in more places, showing a strong momentum of development in high-end categories, rural markets, industrial coatings and other fields. The dualistic competitive landscape has been formed, and the future is not so much a head-to-head confrontation as a staggered penetration of the two into each other's areas of strength.
The battle between national brands and foreign giants is like a marathon race, with Nippon Paint taking the lead temporarily, but the acceleration of 3Trees is exciting. With the roots of Chinese culture, independent innovation technology, and local channel advantages, 3Trees is fully expected to achieve a Jedi counterattack in the future and achieve the glory of China's own national paint brand.