We have our own combos. As the internal combustion forklifts is only up to 20% of our business, we have kept away with the main conflict on the market, but focusing more on the electric forklifts. We pay more attention to the development tendency in the future.

Power will be dug out from the risks. How to turn the risk to be opportunities is a question for every enterprise manager to consider. We have to conclude our experiences, and hold the sense of risk to operate the enterprise successfully standing among the competitors in the industry. The competition of forklift brand in the industry becomes fiercer, which urges us to change the developing mode of forklift industry in China. In the future, the competition will go among the brands, which will highlight the importance of the professional talents. 

Chinaforklift.com: That’s true. The competition in the domestic forklift industry will not be that of product technology, but gradually being that among talents and brands. As for brand competition, what will be the next move of Shanghai Gather-power?

Mr. Liu: We will follow this tendency. As for brand built-up, we will still focus on the international market. We are not urgent to march towards the domestic market. A brand needs cultivation, especially on the domestic market. There are too many brands on the market while the two-extreme division is so serious that few brands stayed at the dominant position. However, the situation is different on the overseas market as the extreme division is not so serious. 

On the global market, nearly all the Chinese forklift brands are young. We are confident with our brand, and believe that we will go steadily forwards facing with the challenges and targeting at our aim if we insist on our professional value and technology innovation. Only to innovate can we walk out a different way of development. As a new way with no footprints at all, there will definitely risks, ups and downs, possibilities to succeed and pitfalls to fail. It is hard to obtain success without preparing for accepting failures. In an era of global economy, the competitive force of an enterprise depends on the innovation ability, which will mostly in turn rely on the capacity of the entrepreneurs.

Chinaforklift.com: Innovation provides the power to impel the development of the enterprise. Mr. Liu, would you like to introduce us with the innovations in terms of product technology in Shanghai Gather-power?

Mr. Liu: Firstly, we consider more on the demands of segmented market and walk on a way of product differentiation. The considerations on the demands of segmented market may be more suitable for the situation when we are still in a mediocre scale; the differentiated way shall be specifically combined with the products of the same kind on the current market. One of our principles is to think more on the product development and to pay more attention on improve the stability, reliability, technique, advantage, cost controllability of the products.

In order to expand the domestic and international market so as to occupy more international marketing shares, we establish technology center to take charge of developing new products, improving the production technology and enhancing technology innovation ability.

Fiercer market competition forced many enterprises to fasten the rate of upgrading the product category, and how to tackle with this situation will be a standard to measure the stable and steady development of an enterprise.

Chinaforklift.com: What measures have Gather-power taken to follow the rapid market development and product upgrade? Will there be new moves this year?

Mr. Liu: Our developing strategies will be defined from the angels of both domestic market and international market. What the foreign customers want is the brand “Made in China”, thus on the overseas market, the key is to control the quality of the products and to enhance the performance-price ratio so as to realize the improvement and upgrade. While on the domestic market, we will launch more new products, such as electric three-wheel forklifts, electric reach trucks and high-end electric three-wheel forklift, etc.

With careful preparation in one year, we currently self-develop 1.0t-2.0t electric stacker and 1.5t-3t electric pallet handler under the brand “GP”. These two series of products, which are manufactured by the advanced warehouse equipment technology on the international stage and equipped with key parts imported from Europe, have now been put into mass production. Meanwhile, our company has passed the authentication of ISO9000, CE and SGS International Quality Management System, and also gained the qualification license for special equipment manufacturing issued by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, Quarantine of People’s Republic of China, fully assuring the quality of GP products and services. 

The homogeneity of product and service supplied by the forklift enterprises led to the irrational price fight so as to outstand among the competitors. To lower the price may be a successful way to increase marketing shares in a short term. Generally speaking, the new enterprise will undertake the great pressure from the leading company when entering a new field and it is the usual method the owner of the new enterprise will take to lower the price. To be fair, there is no right or wrong itself when saying price competition as a strategy, but the key is to how to use this strategy and if it is profitable. 

Chinaforklift.com: The sales mode determines the marketing shares. The price competition between sales companies and dealers has got fiercer and they have set their brands at a quite low position. What sales mode will Shanghai Gather-power take on the domestic market?

Mr. Liu: The domestic market was somehow at chaos these years. Many companies were on so thin ices that they could not even undergo the loss if giving up their business. As a new player in this field, we will not repeat their mistakes.

Shanghai Gather-power will conduct progressive and sound strategy according to our actual operation demands, thinking more on the long-term and close relationships with the dealers. We also consider to hold stocks together with the dealers to complement the advantages of each other so as to realize the stable improvement of our marketing shares. An enterprise that expects to obtain a long and steady development shall get the competitive advance first, which then turn out to be durable competitive power. In my opinion, the success during the competition lies in the capacity of the employees, and only when the human resources are transferred to be the organizational capital can the enterprise enhance the overall productivity and efficiency continuously.

Chinaforklift.com: Mr. Liu, what are the advantages for Shanghai Gather-power to stand steadily on the market?

Mr. Liu: In these years, Shanghai Gather-power insists in sincere operation, and conducts a human-oriented principle, trying the best to make the workers, customers and stockholders satisfy. Our company has gathered profound marketing foundation on domestic and global material handling equipment market as well. With a professional and experienced team, each department such as production, research and development, purchase, sales and service is in the charge of devoted, competent and distinguished staff, who can best meet the demands of rapid development and the needs to expanding domestic and overseas market.

Our advantages are mainly manifested on two aspects: the professionalism and devotion of our working team, and the experiences accumulated theses years for grasping the development tendency of the market.

The forklift market in China has undergone a fast development period with distinct characters of its own. Though the enterprises in this industry hold different opinions, they are all hopeful towards the future of forklift industry. Anyway, the survival of an enterprise does not rely on the macro industry, but on the operational capacity of the managers.

Chinaforklift.com: Gather-power has done great in terms of export and foreign trade. Now the company focuses on the domestic market, Mr. Liu, in your expectation, how will the domestic forklift market go next year?

Mr. Liu: In fact, we did well on both domestic and overseas market. But in these three years, we invested more on the global market. As for the domestic forklift market next year, I think it will progress further, and it is still a good time for a new brand to take part in.

Shanghai Gather-power plans to launch GP series of warehouse equipment to national and international market since January, 2013. On the global stage, we will rely on the mature international trade platform to realize market coverage through 50 overseas dealers and agents, through which the GP series will rapidly appear on overseas market; while for the domestic market, we will go around protecting the profits of our dealers, taking regional authoritative and exclusive dealerships as the main marketing mode to realize win-win. In our plan, we will develop and cultivate 80 regional dealers in the coming two years, gradually establishing a national network for marketing and after sales service.