Phoenicia Around the world – Spotlight on the India Market
Did you know that at any given time, a shipment of Phoenicia Glass makes its way to customers around the globe, from New Zealand to the United States?
Phoenicia exports an average of 50% of its production to countries around the world. One of many reasons is the quality of the glass that meets strict international standards.
In addition to the many logistical challenges involved in exporting large glass panels, each country also adds its own unique demands. These challenges are a combination of the customers’ habits and requirements, regulatory demands, the glass panel dimensions, and even the transportation of glass from port to customers.
One interesting market is the Indian market, In addition to its huge size and massive competition, Indian glass market offers many levels of Glass qualities, forcing Phoenicia to offer customers a unique approach.
Mr. Leo Opan, the Sales Manager of the India and South America Markets, talks about the challenges he faces in this fascinating market and describes how Phoenicia managed to overcome the "Chinese dragon" on its way into the hearts of the Indian people with Phoenicia's True Color® Glass. Leo is 47 years old married +3, with more than 15 years of overseas sales experience. Leo enjoys the challenge of selling to other markets and having to deal with many problems such as the distance to target markets, transportation costs, political matters, etc. The greater the challenge, the greater his level of interest.
When Leo started at Phoenicia, he was told that Phoenicia sale Glass to the Indian market and he needed to ascertain whether Phoenicia should continue these sales or change its approach.
"After initial inquiries, I realized that the glass from China dominated the market, mainly because of a very competitive price; however, at the same time, I felt there was a factor that was beyond the demand for cheap prices."
Some background on India and the Indian glass market
The area of India spans 3.3 million square kilometers and its population is 1.35 billion (for the sake of comparison: China is 9.6 million square kilometers and its population is 1.41 billion). Glass factories in India produce an average of 150 thousand tons of glass per month.
There are ten glass production lines owned by global glass companies, such as Saint Gobain, Asahi, Guardian, and also local companies, such as Gold Plus and others.
In addition, there is also a large import of float glass from many countries such as China, Malaysia, Iran and the UAE.
The use of Glass in the Indian market is divided as follows: 55% for architectural fabrication (construction), 20% for the automotive industry, 15% for furniture and 10% for mirrors.
The market is rapidly growing and glass consumption has nearly doubled in the past years, and the demand for glass continues to grow.
The Indian glass market is price-oriented, but the quality is appreciated and there is recognition that quality comes at a price. Ultra-clear glass is one of the most wanted glass products in the Indian glass market. It has a wide usage in the painting and furniture industry; and it is also used for glazing to provide the end product with a luxurious look for showrooms, showers and balustrades.
Phoenicia’s ultra-clear brand name is True Color®, and it's especially suitable for these uses.
Its deep transparency enables a real color transition that contributes to and provides an elegant, sparkling, and luxurious look. Before Phoenicia began working with the Indian glass market, Chinese glass manufacturers dominated the ultra-clear glass market. They offered ultra-clear glass that lacked color consistency throughout production process. It's important to have color consistency that will enable the glass fabricators to fabricate a high-quality product without the concern of any differences to their customers. This feature is highly valued by the architects.
One important glass fact, among approximately 450 glass factories around the globe, only 40 glass factories produce ultra-clear glass. Phoenicia is considered a leading manufacturer of ultra-clear, low iron glass. The True Color® brand is well known for its consistency, unique lack of color and its transparency.
Understanding the Indian glass market’s demand for low quality float glass (quality that Phoenicia does not sell), and a large demand for high quality ultra-clear glass, led Phoenicia to decide to focus on its True Color® brand. Phoenicia's penetration strategy was built on becoming a part of the industry, participating in all the main events and shows within the market and meeting glass fabricators all across the country. This strategy eventually led to an increase in demand for True Color® Glass.
Two years after Phoenicia began sales in the Indian market, the True Color® brand became well known to every glass fabricator and architect as a very high quality ultra-clear glass.
Today, when discussing ultra-clear glass, the focus is not solely on price but also on quality.
Phoenicia has succeeded in changing the focus of the industry discussion to quality before pricing.
Phoenicia currently holds a major share of the Indian ultra-clear glass market, at the expense of the Chinese ultra-clear glass.
The path to this milestone was not simple; it involved many challenges, such as logistics, unique market characteristics and frequent regulation changes that forced Phoenicia to ‘think outside the box’ on more than one occasion, leading us to find creative solutions.
These are exactly the areas of Phoenicia’s expertise because of its vast experience in exporting glass worldwide.
"I hope that Phoenicia and I will continue being the main player in the ultra-clear glass market, despite the many changes the Indian market is undergoing and will continue to experience. I challenge myself to make turn True Color® Glass into a generic name for all ultra-clear glass throughout India.
Last but not least, I would like to share some of the feelings I had when I started to work in the Indian market: I felt like Phoenicia was a knight going to war against a giant dragon, in order to win the heart of a beautiful Indian princess. Today I can say with complete confidence that I have succeeded in conquering her heart"
