Designer bathrooms create expanding market
Print Edition
Bathroom fixtures became a hot topic earlier this year when the media reported the new fad of Chinese tourists buying electric toilet seats in Japan.
Indeed, the once forgotten bathroom has moved to the forefront of interior décor in China.
Shanghai Daily sat down with Emilio Salazar, managing director of the China unit of Spanish firm Roca, to discuss the company’s view on the domestic market.
Salazar said Roca will be opening between 40 and 50 shops a year in China in the next few years.
This year, Roca has launched its new Modo and Inspira collections here, catering to consumers who want quality and design.
Q: What changes have you noticed in the China market?
A: The make-up of our target customers has been changing. A decade ago, our customers were mainly couples in their 40s looking for European-design products. Now the customers are younger and more sophisticated. They want performance as well as design. Electronic products are especially popular now in Asia. We have introduced more products to address this trend.
Q: There were reports earlier this year about Chinese consumers buying electric toilet seats from Japan. What do you think about that?
A: It doesn’t make sense in our case. As long as brands here offer products with quality at least equal to those abroad, there is no need to buy from outside. I can understand that sentiment if people have doubts about some brands, but that wouldn’t include us.
Q: The Chinese real estate market has been in flux this year. How does the sale of homes affect sales of bathroom fixtures?
A: The Chinese market is becoming more mature. In the next few years, growth will slow from its rapid pace of the past 10 years.
It’s actually good when a market takes a pause, adjusts and then picks up again. We are opening more shops and working with key real estate developers. Our partners are involved in huge construction projects. Sometimes the scale of one project is larger than total construction in some European countries. We feel confident about the future.
Q: What areas will you focus on during your expansion?
A: We are strengthening in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities and also expanding into smaller cities. The east coast of China is the key market, but many inland cities are growing as well. We are following the footsteps of China’s urbanization progress.
Q: Any investment plans?
A: So far, we have 10 factories in China and more than 130 factories worldwide.
This month we have concluded the expansion of our biggest factory in China and have also started work on a new factory for shower enclosure products. By the end of this year, we will start on a production facility for surface products to be used in our Modo collection. For faucets, we have a factory in Suzhou that we are currently expanding.
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