HENF-grade board materials enter the market, sparking another round of environmental battles?

Source: Customization Observation

Although the board material market has reached a scale of over 100 billion yuan, there is a serious disconnect in the consumer market.

Recently, visits to Guangzhou Wuzhou City International Building Materials Center, Juran Home, and some home furnishing brands located in shopping malls revealed that consumers prioritize price and environmental protection when purchasing board materials, while design value is downplayed; at the same time, consumers lack awareness of environmental protection levels, and salespeople focus on brands and functions in their marketing, neglecting standard education. Although brands are vigorously promoting diversified products, the confusing promotion of environmental protection standards exacerbates the market's cognitive disconnect.

Last year, the China Forestry Industry Association, based on national standards, supplemented and **proposed the "HENF" grade standard for board materials, further blurring consumer judgment. So, what changes have the environmental standards in the current board material market undergone, why has brand marketing confused consumers, and how should the industry break the deadlock in the future?

Existing Environmental Grades in the Market

From a market perspective, the price of board materials is linked to the environmental protection level. Domestic classification of formaldehyde release in artificial board materials is based on "GB/T39600-2021 Classification of Formaldehyde Release in Artificial Boards and Their Products," which is divided into E1 and E0. When aligning with international standards, a stricter ENF standard was proposed. International standards originate from Japan, the United States, and Europe, but the testing methods and conditions differ, so data cannot be simply compared.

With the upgrading of consumer demand and the tightening of environmental protection policies, in July last year, the China Forestry Industry Association released stricter industry standards and **proposed "HENF" grade board materials. Compared with ENF grade board materials, it limits the formaldehyde release amount under a 30° environment based on ENF, making it more suitable for heating environments. The formaldehyde release limit for both is ≤0.025mg/m³, but HENF grade production requirements are stricter, making it more suitable for regions with hot climates and heating equipment in winter.

Interestingly, the environmental protection standards implemented by the state are clear and straightforward, but the consumer market is unclear about this, which actually exposes the marketing shortcomings of the board material industry's insufficient consumer education.

Exposure of Brand Marketing Shortcomings

According to visits to the Guangzhou building materials market, the advertisements posted by major home furnishing brand stores mainly use celebrity images and whole-house custom design elements, while there is less introduction of the environmental protection level and popular science knowledge of board materials, mainly focusing on showcasing the types and colors of board materials available to consumers.

Data from the Xiaohongshu platform shows that users are more concerned about the environmental protection of board materials than the differences in types. There are over 2.41 million notes on "What material is the most environmentally friendly for board materials," while only over 20,000 notes on "Differences in board material classification." According to statistics on the number of notes discussing the environmental protection level of board materials on Xiaohongshu, even though the new HENF-grade board materials have high discussion popularity, there is a disconnect between brand marketing and user needs. Brands tend to differentiate their marketing in terms of board material types and performance, such as Ecological board and OSB, etc., using professional terms that confuse consumers, while ignoring consumers' core concern for environmental protection, resulting in poor marketing effectiveness.

Statistical analysis of the list of enterprises that were among the first to be selected for the group standard "Limit on Formaldehyde Release in Artificial Boards and Their Products for Heating" reveals that most enterprises have brand awareness and technical strength and can grasp the trend of HENF-grade board materials, but they ignore user education during the marketing phase, and the focus of their publicity has shifted. There is a consensus among brands on the implementation of national standards, but consumer awareness is unclear, and the marketing of product categories creates a generation gap, which is detrimental to terminal sales.

Future Breakthrough Directions

Here, it is necessary to mention a marketing logic, that is, for a product to become popular, it must be based on a certain consensus reached by market users, who recognize its value. Then, the brand develops differentiated products based on user consensus, conducts marketing through various channels, and thus forms popular dissemination. The birth of the national brands Heytea and Nayuki in the tea beverage industry is also based on this logic.

The board material industry also has a similar logic. It was found in the Guangzhou home furnishing and building materials market that E1-grade board materials are gradually being replaced by E0 and ENF, with E0 becoming the main basic product promoted by customized home furnishing brands. ENF-grade and HENF-grade board materials have strict requirements and meet high-end needs, but consumer education has not yet been completed.

According to the "2024 China Home Furnishing Market Consumption Insight Report" released by iimedia Research, practicality, environmental protection and health, and cost-effectiveness are the core elements that consumers commonly focus on when purchasing home furnishing products; among them, people with an annual family income of more than 200,000 yuan attach more importance to environmental protection and health and technological intelligence than the overall average, at 70.3% and 64.3% respectively; the group with a budget "above 60,000 yuan" attaches more importance to environmental protection and health and technological intelligence than the overall average, at 75.2% and 66.7% respectively.

From the data, it can be seen that consumers are willing to pay for "environmental protection and health," and this demand is very strong among high-end users. However, because the board material industry has skipped market education for consumers regarding the environmental protection levels of board materials, consumers have a vague understanding of the unclear types of board materials when customizing home furnishings, which is not conducive to good products entering the market.

As HENF-grade board materials become a trend, brands should promote the "environmental protection board material grade" standard to the market and cultivate end users, rather than simply marketing board material types and engaging in price wars, in order to promote industry breakthroughs and development.

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