Sales & Marketing

Last week I wrote about the almost-empty South China Mall. The developers had built a gorgeous, state of the art mall — the largest in the world. Only problem: it is built in a factory city, Dongguan, where there are few people able to afford what it has to offer.

To me it signified a stunning lack of advance market research and planning.

However, I inadvertently may have given the wrong impression about all of China — that the entire country can’t afford the upscale, Western, middle class lifestyle that such a mall presupposes. From what I understand, that’s not the case. It all depends on what part of China you are in. Some parts of China have a rapidly growing and thriving middle class.

Take, for instance, Shanghai. Shanghai is a rich city and the center of China’s financial industry. A friend of mine who grew up in Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, says that even during that time citizens owned considerable property and ran businesses in Shanghai.

As one reader emailed me, “To compare Dongguan with Shanghai, is like comparing Altoona with Manhattan. It’s two different worlds economically.” (Apologies to anyone from Altoona — those were a reader’s words, not mine.)

But the point is a good one. As a fast expanding country, China does seem filled with economic opportunities, and not just opportunities to outsource factory jobs from the U.S. to China. There is also the opportunity for enterprising U.S. companies to find an outlet for their products in newly affluent parts of China. Read entire article.

Posted in Planning & Strategy, Sales & Marketing

South China Mall is the world’s largest shopping mall, according to this article in The National.

At over 7 million square feet, it is double the size of the gargantuan Mall of America in the United States. It has an amusement park including a roller coaster; an indoor rain forest; and Las Vegas-style replicas of famous places, including a Venice canal and the Arc de Triomphe.

But it has one big problem: it’s nearly empty.

South China Mall is designed to have 1,500 stores. Unfortunately, only a handful are currently occupied.

The developers expected 100,000 visitors a day. Instead they get 10,000, if that.

Opened in 2005, it was once hailed in the New York Times for exemplifying China’s new consumer middle-class.

Then something went terribly wrong. Read entire article.

Posted in Planning & Strategy, Sales & Marketing

How do you take advantage of social media sites without them eating up your entire day, like the attack of the killer tomatoes?

You know what I’m talking about … those social media sites where you can network with other people, make valuable business contacts, and spread the word about your business. Everything from blogs to Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn to ….

Social media sites can put punch into your marketing and PR at little or no cost. The price is definitely right — the price in dollar terms, that is. For some small businesses social media has become a cost effective and crucial part of the marketing mix.

Only problem is … 4 hours into it you’re flitting from site to site reading everything in your path, leaving comments and voting on your favorite articles, and making new connections along the way. With no end in sight! It’s social media marketing gone amuck.

Meanwhile your phone goes unanswered. Your email inbox is reaching crisis proportions. And work keeps piling up. Read entire article.

Posted in Planning & Strategy, Sales & Marketing