(Photo / Yingliang Group Warehouse No. 5 General Manager – Liu Xin)
"We only serve high-end clients," said Liu Xin, General Manager of Yingliang Stone, right from the start. With clear target customers and precise business strategies, "building a brand, not chasing the market" is the operating philosophy of Yingliang Stone's self-created brand "Warehouse No. 5."
Yingliang Stone was originally a stone processing factory in Shuitou.
How did a small enterprise transform into Asia's largest stone distribution group and art stone company?
(Photo / The warehouse is like an exclusive stone showcase)
"Buy stone, sell stone, go to China, find Shuitou"—this is a saying widely circulated among overseas stone dealers, and Yingliang Stone is precisely located there. Yingliang Stone's business spans quarrying, rough stone sales, slab and specialized processing, engineering decoration, and real estate, with branch offices in major cities nationwide.
In the past, the stone contract manufacturing model formed in Shuitou kept the stone industry in the lower end of the global supply chain. Companies relying solely on stone processing gradually hit a bottleneck. Yingliang Stone developed its own brand of artistic stones, elevating the stone industry from the low end to the high end of the supply chain. Today, it is Asia's largest stone supplier. Group Chairman Liu Liang has stated that Warehouse No. 5 guides the industry cluster toward transforming its economic development model.
Despite possessing excellent geography and abundant resources, Yingliang Stone faced enterprise transformation challenges. Liu Xin explained that "pure trading cannot resolve the supply and demand levels of the stone industry, nor can it establish a foothold in the entire sector." Facing many stone merchants building processing factories in coastal cities and scattering the market, Yingliang chose to differentiate itself by transitioning from a processing factory to managing its own brand, establishing Warehouse No. 5.
(Photo / The Louis Vuitton of the stone industry)
Warehouse No. 5 houses approximately 200 varieties of the world's most premium and unique stone treasures. Breaking preconceived notions, Warehouse No. 5 is an artistic display, slab sales, and luxury experience center all rolled into one stone showroom. Warehouse No. 5's Chief Executive Qi Fei once said that the brand aims to "enhance brand value," transforming stone into an art form with the ultimate goal of becoming the "Louis Vuitton" of the stone industry.
Yingliang Stone targets high-end clients with its brand services. The "new, rare, special" brand positioning strategy reveals the company's unique business philosophy. Liu Xin explained that "new" means new varieties—a brand daring to try new things, taking the role of a pioneer in seeking new stones. "Whenever there's a new variety, we want to bring it into our platform," expanding product range and variety.
Liu Xin continued explaining that "rare" means unusual and exotic, aimed at collecting all sorts of rare stones from around the world and classifying them into various limited stone series. "Even if some are discontinued editions," they are purchased at premium prices and categorized into fashion, premium, collector's, and limited editions to attract different customers worldwide and enhance brand appeal. Notably, limited editions may feature fossils or fish bones—"These become our treasures that define a space; no matter how high customers bid, we don't sell."
"Special" means distinctive, further emphasizing the importance of "rare," differentiating from mass-market varieties. Liu Xin noted, "The price isn't particularly expensive, but it's filled with rarity," and it is these three operational values that keep Yingliang Stone innovating and refining itself while securing customer confidence in the brand.
Regarding business strategy, Liu Xin pointed out that domestic market operations extend beyond stone production to include art pieces, fireplaces, tiles, tea trays, and bed boards. This diversified product approach not only expanded the company's industrial reach but also made Yingliang Stone a leading player in each product category. This validates the economic theory that industrialization is the foundation of internationalization, internationalization is the key to enterprise excellence, and internationalization is the driving force of business operations.
Additionally, the group's operational model—vertical integration from upstream material transport to downstream design and sales, complemented by horizontal integration of tourism and machinery industries—consolidates a large-scale, independent company with market presence, securing the brand domestically and enhancing its influence with consumers.
For overseas operations, Yingliang Stone actively maintains friendly relations with international markets through various means. Liu Xin said one of the most direct approaches is participating in stone design exhibitions held overseas, identifying potential partnerships at these events while increasing the company's international visibility.
Beyond establishing new opportunities, Yingliang Stone maintains contact with long-term import-export partners and major wholesale clients through periodic revisits, solidifying relationships with existing customers. Additionally, Yingliang Stone invests heavily in showcasing its brand at the Xiamen International Stone Exhibition, one of the world's top three stone design shows held annually in March, leveraging this event's high international recognition to expand into larger overseas markets.
By maintaining first-mover advantage, operating methodically, and planning strategically from top to bottom and across domestic and international markets, Yingliang Stone successfully transitioned the original stone processing business from the low end to the high end—the secret to becoming Asia's largest stone distributor.
Shuitou, nestled next to Xiamen, boasts significant geographic advantage and handles 70% of China's stone imports and exports. However, Liu Xin noted that the stone market, compared to the past, is no longer "bustling." New large companies enter markets everywhere, with major markets in each region reducing Shuitou's export volume from its former concentration in coastal areas like Beijing and Tianjin.
(Photo / Visiting Quanzhou as Taiwan's representative)
Beyond industry transformation and brand development, regarding future direction, Liu Xin believes Shuitou's advantage lies in its distinctiveness. Though pricier, the quality surpasses competitors, naturally attracting high-end clients.
According to Manager Monthly, four characteristics of long-lived enterprises are sensitivity to environmental change, strong cohesion and recognition, high inclusivity, and financial control. Yingliang Stone understands its corporate philosophy and target customers, transforming as environments, economies, and policies change. Shuitou's cultural support for the local stone industry is vital to the company's sustained development and success.
Yingliang Stone plans to establish a home decoration operations center. Liu Xin believes large-scale engineering and technology have matured and the company is entering new territory. With recent economic development in mainland China, the market is vast. "All these homes need stone for decoration," and acceptance of using stone for interior design is growing. Liu Xin hopes the company will eventually become a household name flourishing everywhere, gaining global pricing power and influence.
(Original piece from 2014, a competition entry created with an excellent group of partners to Quanzhou)
