Gem-Year Tries to Gain Presence in Hardware Business

Large fastener manufacturer Gem-Year currently announced that it will step into the business of hardware including the production of pneumatic tools, power tools, abrasives, etc. General Manager Tsai said, in addition to the production on their own, Gem-Year will also integrate with other producers in 2 ways: 1. Buy-in and sell-out 2. Acting as an agent to sell for other producers within its well-constructed sales network. Proportions set by Gem-Year will be 30% for self-made hardware and 70% for products made by other producers.

As for logistics, Gem-Year classified the entire system into the logistics in the headquarters, regional logistics, and direct delivery from local stores. The logistics in the headquarters is the wholesale of the headquarters in Jiashan, Zhejiang; in different regions, Gem-Year will cooperate with local superior companies to co-invest in the market; as for the shops in local markets, Gem-Year will set up both regular chains and franchise stores to expand the sales network. The first step of Gem-Year is to set up 1,000 stores nationwide. So far, it has set up stores in most provinces.

General Manager Tsai pointed out that Gem-Year is the first Chinese Enterprise to create a professional hardware selling platform. The plan will take a long period of time to complete the deployment. The following 3 years is the time to gain more market share, which will be a new business type of Gem-Year. The hardware of the system will be completed within this year and the internal management system will be also activated this June. However, it will need more time for the development of the e-commerce platform in order to ensure better customer experience when it is put to use. The platform is expected to be activated by the end of next year. In 2013, Gem-Year gained the contracts of representation of over 60 hardware distributors.