Hong Kong does not represent a significant market for e-tailers,
speakers at the Retail Marketing Seminar 2000 said.
They said that this was because shopping was too convenient and because
there was so much choice already.
But they did say that many of the markets elsewhere in Asia-Pacific
would be more conducive to e-tailing because retailing was not as well
developed.
The seminar in Hong Kong - sponsored by Hachette Filipacchi and
organised by MEDIA and Asian Brand News - also focused on a number of
other topics.
About 150 people listened to how Lane Crawford changed its image to be
more appealing to a younger market while keeping its brand essence, and
how Mannings is today better off than it ever was because of its
expansion strategy in the late 1990s during the height of the Asian
financial crisis.
The sector analysis dealt with the state of the supermarket industry in
Hong Kong and how local consumers gave great importance to convenience
as well as price.
Speakers consisted of Hachette Filippachi MD Amanda Turnbull-Ashe,
Husband Retailing MD Paul Husband, Lane Crawford's senior VP of sales
and marketing Bonnie Brooks, Wellcome's marketing director Douglas
Brown, Mannings CEO Caroline Mak and Strawberry Net MD Rodney Miles.
