Sara’s Success in Hong Kong Market
Background
Sara’s company, an international fashion brand, was established in 1985 by Sara Persson. Despite stiff completion in Hong Kong, the company has been able to climb up the ladder of success in the newly established flagship store. By working with different individuals, Angela Wong, the regional manager, has ensured the swift progress of the company in Hong Kong. It is from the efforts put together by the marketing team, the architectural team, and the retailing team through Angela that the store owes its success.
Reasons for Success
As mentioned earlier, several teams were put in place to help come up with the best plan for the store’s location, outlook, and operation. The marketing team was the first team to be put in place, comprising of a manager and four marketing assistants. This team’s role was to find the most suitable location to put up the store. After conducting an in-depth demographic study, Angela and the marketing team had the best place, Causeway Bay. With the highest population in Hong Kong and the second-highest purchasing power among the districts, the team had indeed found the best location.
The aesthetic choice of the Asian market was yet another problem the Scandinavian company had to solve. The architectural team put in place was not familiar with the design that would be effective in the Asian market. To find the best style, the team carried out an extensive customer survey. Most of the individuals questioned preferred a full-height glass panel on the exterior. Most believed that displaying merchandise would attract more attention. With this, the architectural team had to build the store as per the buyer’s instructions. The shop, therefore, had to be in a modern and youthful style.
After the construction of the store, the retailing team handled interior design. It had been noted that by the retailing squad made up of one manager and 50 sales specialists that the Asian buyers were used to stores broken down into departments. However, this was not the case here since the store introduced a new approach. The unique layout was such that the buyers would have almost all the clothes plus accessories in one place. This move proved successful since buyers were encouraged to make multiple purchases simultaneously.
Potential Challenges
The store having been designed more in a youthful and modern style, there would be a problem with making sales across all age brackets. Grown-ups and young children would feel secluded, making their interest in the store lower than it should be. As a result, it would be necessary for the retailing team to device proper channels of advertising their products to suit every age bracket. Advertising would ensure that even grown-ups are aware of what the store is offering. It would give them the impression of an all-round, one-stop-shop.
Keeping up with market trends could also be a potential challenge. With the majority of buyers at their youthful stage, satisfying their ever-changing fashion trend would be quite some problem. However, to remediate this challenge, it would only require a close follow up on the fashion trends through surveys to ensure that the store is always relevant.