[New condition under the COVID-19, great changes can be made] Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 in 2020, it has passed for two years. The COVID-19 has become the normal, still affecting the work and life of us, and also comprehensively impacting the global economic system including the home furnishing industry, especially the development of production-oriented enterprises. Nowadays, the COVID-19 breaks out from time to time, and many uncertainties make many enterprises face a “cold winter” of development.

In the situation of the normalization of the COVID-19, how home furnishing companies avoid the impact of the external environment, adjust their pace and attitude in line with changes, break through against the trend, and achieving corporate development goals has become the focus of attention. Tencent Home Furnishings Chongqing Station is planning to "change the situation in the new normal of the COVID-19", and explore new opportunities for the development of home furnishing enterprises in the context of the new normal of the COVID-19 with Chongqing home furnishing practitioners.

- Guest  -

 - GTChair Ergonomic Chair Founder - Win Tan

[Tencent Home Furnishing]: So far, what is the current status of the operation of GTChair? What are the main impacts of the epidemic?

[Win Tan]: Thanks to the effective domestic control measures and the continuous recovery of the Chinese economy, the epidemic has not had a profound impact on our overall operating conditions, and we can still maintain positive growth despite the current global economic contraction. However, compared with the domestic market, the export business has suffered a relatively obvious impact, which is mainly reflected in the exponential growth of sea freight, the tightening of project budgets in overseas markets or the suspension of work.

The complexity and long-term nature of the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic has put the global supply chain in a state of tension, and has also led to a sharp rise in raw material prices. These unfavorable factors from various aspects still have different degrees of impact on the management and business development of the company.

At the same time, in the post-epidemic era, people’s shift from centralized office to independent office at home and the health awareness inspired by the epidemic have further enhanced, which has led to a blowout growth in the demand for office products. Ergonomic office chairs have become the choice of more people and are one of the most important office partners. The development of office enterprises has ushered in a wave of new opportunities.

As Dickens said, "This is the best of times and also the worst of times." In the context of the normalization of the epidemic, for us, crises and challenges coexist. We should have confidence in market and take action, then seize the opportunity.

[Tencent Home Furnishing]: Under the new normal of the epidemic, whether an enterprise is seeking survival or development, adaptation and thinking about change are the basic logic. What is the logic and direction of the change of GTChair?

[Win Tan]: Before 2021, our role was as a manufacturer, but with the advent of the "office revolution" under the epidemic, this single sales method cann’t meet the needs of enterprise development at this stage. In order to adapt to changes in the market situation, we decided to change the original sales model and move forward to the retail model, and reconstruct the ecological pattern of the entire GTChair.

Since last year, in addition to continuously and steadily promoting the 2B business, we are also actively expanding the 2C business. The market strategy has been switched from the previous "product trade-oriented" to "customer service as the core", and an online mall platform has been built, opening up e-commerce channels, its advantages such as online transactions, non-contact delivery, short transaction chains, timely and transparent data, etc., may become a new driving force for our company's sales growth in the context of the normalization of the epidemic.

Under this general direction, we began to plan the development of our brand strategy, and officially launched the "GTChair" high-end ergonomic chair brand for mass consumers, from only targeting B-end channels to being fully open to global end users, integrating our own business level and brand development, and brand values are exported around the key point of "sedentary", and we are committed to providing more sedentary people with high-quality products and services.

At the propaganda level, we started to build the brand's self-media communication channel, and made great efforts in the new media to serve the brand building. Recently, GTChair will meet you on Tik Tok, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, YouTube  etc. This year, we also reached a cooperation with Tencent Home Furnishing, hoping to complement the self-media channel and seek breakthroughs in communication with the help of the power of official media.

[Tencent Home Furnishing]: Digitalization is a very important new normal in the post-epidemic era. How does GTChair rely on digitalization to achieve effective internal and customer management?

[Win Tan]: In my opinion, I believe that people cannot control the changes in the external situation. What we can do is to change ourselves. The more severe the external environment is, the more we need to strengthen the cultivation of internal skills and improve the internal survival ability of enterprises. Therefore, under the background of the complex and changeable new normal of the epidemic, the most important point for enterprises to survive in countless competitions and changes is the word "management", the upgrade of internal management, external supplier management, and sales channels. Management and development are both top priorities.

First of all, we optimized the organizational structure and established the network department to be responsible for the system management of the company's internal management tools, official website, brand public account, official applet, etc., basically realizing digital management. In terms of internal management, we have joined hands with Schneider Electric, a Fortune 500 company, to develop a "lean management project" for GTChair's internal management, to conduct comprehensive training for employees, strengthen basic management and to optimize corporate management standards in order to achieve a major upgrade of internal management which can activite the enterprises and can continue to empower enterprise development.

On the customer side, we used to rely on visits and phone calls to maintain communication and contact with customers. Affected by the epidemic, there is definitely no way to visit often now, which has indeed caused some inconvenience to our customer maintenance work. We are also actively thinking about countermeasures, actively trying some more efficient and feasible ways, so that every customer can feel our intention and sincerity.

This year, we introduced the customer CRM management system and started the systematic management in GTChair. This management system allows us to designate exclusive product promotion plans for different customer who needs through analysis, which not only facilitates our internal management, but also can provide customers with more personalized targeted services.

[Tencent Home Furnishing]: In the face of a possibly more lasting epidemic situation, what is the management method of GTChair?

[Win Tan]: Since its establishment, GTChair has been focusing on the research and development of single products and ingenuity in manufacturing. We will keep the same both in the present and the future. We will maintain our original intention, unswervingly do a good job in products and services, and rely on differentiated products and services to cater to the market. On the one hand, it optimizes the product structure, and continuously improves and upgrades the old products that have been on the market. At the same time, it focuses on the segmented field of gaming chairs, continues to develop new products that better meet the needs of the public, and adopts intelligent and mechanized production methods, reducing manual production process to ensure the stability of product quality.

On the other hand, GTChair will adhere to high standards, high requirements and the tenet of "service in all operations", to create surprising, professional and high-quality services that exceed expectations in the whole process of pre-sale, in-sale and after-sale.

[Tencent Home Furnishing]: As the leader of the company, what are your expectations for 2022?

[Win Tan]: 2022 is a key turning year. Our corporate transformation and upgrading and brand promotion are facing great resistance under the influence of the epidemic. But I hope that under our actions such as improving internal management, laying out new media marketing, and opening up new channel development, GTChair will appear in front of everyone in 2022 with a new image that is more dynamic.

Editor's Notes

Full of confidence in the market, full of sincerity to customers, and original intention to operate, it is not only the "secret weapon" of the GTChair to seek enterprise development under the new normal of the epidemic, but also shows the attitude of an enterprise in the development trend of the times. I hope that the GTChair can get out of the “cold winter” of the epidemic and usher in a better “spring”.