With middle class in the Chinese Mainland growing at a fast pace, their consumption power and quest for lifestyle goods have turned into lucrative business opportunities for Hong Kong SMEs. Including UFO International Limited, many of them are taking advantage of this phenomenon by penetrating into this market and strengthening the brand image.
"Since we started in 1982, UFO has been offering OEM service to licensees and licensing agents to design and manufacture handbags, backpacks and school bags. Eyeing on the spending spree among the Mainlanders, we decided to set foot on retail business in China", said Managing Director Mrs. Jennifer Liu.
Tapping on the stable partnership with its OEM clients, UFO was granted licensee rights in the Mainland successfully. It enables the licensed products to go directly from its factories in Guangdong and Fujian provinces to the retail outlets.
"As the first step, we landed onto a couple of department stores in Huizhou and Quanzhou in September 2009. The sales results were very impressive," enthused Mrs. Liu, "Chinese consumers look for products showcasing cosmopolitan lifestyle, thus our products with international and Hong Kong traits prompt them to make purchases. We were thrilled to realize the huge potential of the Chinese Mainland market."
To boost UFO's China business, Mrs. Liu was keen to develop more licensed products and visited the HKTDC International Licensing Show. She made use of the HKTDC Business Matching service which helped to identify suitable exhibitors for meeting arrangement.
"This service fits my needs a lot. Thanks to the matching expertise and communication work done by the business matching specialists, I met with four Hong Kong and overseas exhibitors, among which three of them I want to commence business with immediately. The cartoon characters and figures should appeal to kids and young ladies, plus their licenses in China, these firms are exactly the kind of partners we hunger for." Mrs. Liu applauded.
Mrs. Liu underwent smooth meetings and has already reached preliminary consensus on terms and royalties at the fairground. She expected that all details could be finalised swiftly and the new collections could be released to the market in June 2010.
