From solid wood flooring, solid wood composite flooring, to laminate flooring, and then iterative to resilient flooring, the process of updating and iterating has gone through decades. Since 2015, various manufacturers have begun to produce SPC floors. China’s production volume has reached 360 million square meters, of which 350 million is exported.
What changes have been brought to the industry by the emergence of SPC? What is the market prospect of SPC?
New changes in the building materials industry
“It is not only a revolution in the flooring industry, but also a revolution in the building materials industry.” Protex Flooring CEO David exclaimed.
When working with hotel chains to decorate, David had a first-hand experience of the advantages of SPC. In a chain hotel in Suzhou, he saw the laminate floor foaming when exposed to water, and the waterproof, non-slip, and scratch-resistant stone SPC Flooring just solved the rigid requirements of the hotel. SPC Flooring can be paved to the wet area of the bathroom or extend to the guest room area. “A design can be integrated into the wall and the ground, and it can also achieve a very good style.”
“Formaldehyde-free, waterproof, non-slip, impact-resistant, easy to install. It avoids the wet installation of tiles, and also avoids the free formaldehyde and water swelling rate of laminate flooring.” David said in one breath the functional advantages of SPC . SPC has won more and more commercial space with its high efficiency of fast installation, glue-free, avoiding wet method, and quick construction.
In his eyes, another major advantage of Shijing Flooring is that it breaks the boundaries of resource-based products.
Restricted by resources and environmental protection, the output of ceramic tiles, solid wood flooring and other categories are controlled, and they are resource-based products. Therefore, the flooring industry market has been stuck at a market size of 70 billion to 90 billion. The stone crystal floor is made of PVC and calcium carbonate, raw materials are inexhaustible, and the damage to the environment is minimized. “The use of PVC and calcium carbonate is a drop in the bucket for the flooring industry.” David explained.
70% in the field of tooling, 30% in the field of home improvement
From the seaside with high heat and humidity, to the mountainous area with high cold and high humidity, the footprint of SPC floor is printed in places with extremely harsh weather.
In public areas such as hotels, restaurants, gyms, confinement centers, retirement centers, homestays, sea view rooms, etc., stone crystal flooring has become commonplace. “As the entire consumption upgrades, the demand for SPC will definitely be very large. Now that it has broken out, we have been very surprised.” David predicts that in the future, 70% of SPC flooring will be used in the field of tooling, and 30% will be used in home decoration. field.
Throughout the world, flooring only occupies a small share of the world’s paving materials. According to relevant data, in China, the sales volume of floor coverings in 2018 was 5 billion square meters, of which ceramic tiles accounted for 50%, while the sales volume of overall flooring was 415 million square meters, accounting for 8%; in the United States, flooring accounted for Flooring materials accounted for 6.4%, while carpet sales accounted for 56%; in Japan, marble accounted for nearly half of floor materials, while flooring accounted for 14.6%.
“The emergence of SPC flooring will seize the market share of American carpets and China’s tile market in the future.” In David’s view, SPC flooring has strong plasticity and broad market extensibility. The application space is from the ground to the wall. Surfaces, ceilings, kitchen panels, to bay windows, stairs, etc.
It’s not a change, it’s a revolution!
Not only functional, but also an aesthetic product
“The flooring industry is undergoing profound changes. In this revolution, many companies will be eliminated.” David made an interesting analogy. In the flooring industry, design and service will be indispensable competitiveness. “Whether it can resonate with the public aesthetics becomes your core competitiveness.” He emphasized that SPC flooring is not only a functional product, but also an aesthetic product.
In terms of aesthetics, SPC flooring has broken through the grain patterns inherent in wood. From the texture of iron or cement, the grain of stone or wood, to the grimace of children’s pranks, these patterns can be printed on the SPC floor. Therefore, SPC flooring is a product that can be created by customers, and it is called a “product that begins to move towards aesthetics and towards the masses”.
SPC floor is a very attractive product, it can continuously derive new uses, and constantly superimpose new performance designs and pattern designs. “SPC is a material with great potential in the future.”
Rewrite the history of traditional flooring
SPC Flooring has a natural fit with equipment-type buildings—the products are durable, easy to care for, and have high environmental protection indicators, which are convenient for installation and transportation.
“Compared with other floor coverings, tiles, etc., SPC is incomparable, so it is called a revolution.” David has been in this industry for 22 years and has become accustomed to product update iterations. And the appearance of the SPC floor made him feel the excitement and enthusiasm that he has been missing for a long time. Because he firmly believes that the emergence of SPC is an iteration that will rewrite the history of traditional flooring and will have a profound and long-term impact on the industry.
While controlling product quality, Protex is also striving to pursue breakthroughs in product performance and design.
