In recent years, with the acceleration of the process of global economic integration, my country's hand tool processing industry has gradually become the main force in the world's hardware tool production industry. Whether in the global tool market or in the Chinese tool market, the application and demand of hand tools are beyond imagination. The demand for hand tools in some developed countries has increased by more than 10% every year. According to incomplete statistics from several large tool factories in Shandong Province, the annual production and sales volume reaches tens of millions of pieces.
The most common product categories produced by hand tool manufacturers in mainland China are fastening tools, such as basic hand drills, impact socket wrenches, combination tools, etc. These products have high growth potential.
At present, the production of hand tools is mainly affected by the prices of raw materials such as steel. Most hand tools are low-profit products. The market competition is fierce. It is impossible to raise prices uniformly. Individual price increases undoubtedly mean giving up old customers. No one dares to risk losing the market. In general, if the product is sold to other industries, the hand tool industry needs to reduce the price by about 10% compared with the previous year. It can be seen that once the price of steel rises sharply, it will directly affect the survival of hand tool manufacturers.
At the same time, in addition to the company's own reasons, the competitiveness of hand tool products also depends on the quality of raw materials, that is, the quality of steel. At present, the steel used in some hand tools still has problems such as surface quality and internal cracking. This is a problem of steel smelting technology and cannot be ignored.
At present, the main market for Chinese hand tool manufacturers is the overseas market, especially hand tool manufacturers in Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places are increasing production capacity to fully respond to the expected increase in export sales, expand overseas market coverage, and obtain better profit margins by producing mid-to-high-end products. Hand tool manufacturers are confident about the prospects, and more than 50% of manufacturers predict that the overseas market growth rate will exceed 10%.
In the past, China was mainly used as a production base for hand tools. In recent years, with the rapid growth of the domestic economy, China has become the most potential consumer market for hand tools. Industry insiders believe that the mainland domestic market is no less than the European single market or the North American market. The number of hand tool consumers is at least 400 million, and many hand tool manufacturers have entered the Chinese market.
The source of information about hand tools for Chinese consumers is mainly concentrated in specialty stores, exhibitions, trade fairs, and sales promotion by store clerks. It is particularly worth mentioning that consumers do not know enough about the brand when they buy it for the first time. They only know the brand and quality of hand tools after purchasing and using them. It can be said that brand building of hand tools is the best time for Chinese hand tool companies.
Looking at international tool companies, the gap between Chinese tool companies is obvious
In terms of scale, foreign-funded companies are relatively large, such as Carter, a US company that is one of the S&P 500 companies. Its products include hand tools and power tools, automotive diagnostic and maintenance equipment, diagnostic technology and related products, which are widely used in commercial fields such as automobiles and aviation. Most Chinese tool companies are small in scale and their product lines are not rich enough, which is a typical "many but not strong" situation.
