"In the beginning we found blue goes very well in China, and we thought it
might be temporary, but later we found out that it is consistent," Pyrah says,
adding it might be the reason that all Swarovski's boutiques have the background
colour of blue, and why customers believe blue is the symbol of the brand.
Swarovski's products also extend to home decorative items, a big seller in
China. Pyrah says the main reason is the brand not only has products for gift
giving, but also introduces new products for every festival throughout the year.
So far, Swarovski's biggest challenge in China is to keep up with the speed
at which the market is moving.
"We have to keep the whole company moving with the fastest market in the
world, such as the supply chain, logistics and personnel management," Pyrah
says. "It sounds easy to keep opening stores, but you have to know in which
cities, at which locations."
In the past few years, the company has had to move offices and double staff
numbers annually.
In China, Swarovski has wholly owned boutiques in Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou. In other cities, it sells through local dealers. Pyrah says the firm
sees huge potential in second-tier cities, such as Chengdu, Chongqing and
Hangzhou. "We may take over some cities from our dealers in the future," she
says, stressing that for the time being the balance between wholly owned stores
and joint ventures is very good.
"The infrastructure is very important for retailing," she says. "You have to
be an expert in each city, which is not easy China has too many cities, it is
more efficient to use local dealers in many cities."
Swarovski was established more than 100 years ago and has made creative
products its hallmark. The philosophy of founder Daniel Swarovski was "to
constantly improve on what is good".
The firms global sales stood at 2.14 billion euros (US$2.72 billion) last
year, half of which came from its component businesses, the other half from its
consumer goods business. For its component business, 45 per cent of revenues
came from China, due to the country's position as the world's largest garment
manufacturer.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
