Special interviews
Written by: Kuang Yueting
2021-06-15 08:00
Last update date: 2021-06-15 08:00
Hong Kong has been closed for more than a year, and visitors to Hong Kong have not been honored, and the local retail market has been heavy.
In the past, Weiyuantang, an old-brand traditional Chinese medicine factory, had 40% of its customers come from self-guided travelers.
The company has turned to actively develop Chinese medicine outpatient services, and has introduced non-Chinese medicine products such as food, snacks, soup bags, herbal tea, and pet food. It is hoped that customers will begin to focus on health preservation from their daily diet and promote the concept of "preventing disease".
Deng Huimin, executive director of Wai Yuen Tang, said that in the past, the company mostly focused on cordyceps, sea cucumbers and tonics, but now it is more "landing", selling more daily products, including shampoo, instant soup, ginseng chicken soup and herbal tea, hoping to win by volume , Become the main driving force of the business.
"I hope to be popular. Don't just make a pie. We all have a close look at healthy food, but because the market is so competitive, we have to be cautious in making it."
At present, Wai Yuen Tong has more than 70 stores in Hong Kong and has hired 64 Chinese medicine practitioners in the stores to make a big splash.
(Profile picture)
Weiyuantang has a history of more than 120 years, and an advertising song "Waiyuantang Yangyin Pills, Like the Sun Is Warm" is even more popular.
However, in 2000, the company was in trouble, and only 3 branches were left. In the same year, it was acquired by Hong An Group (1222). After business reorganization, it increased to more than 20 stores in 2003. After that, the company benefited from Hong Kong. The policy of "free travel" and people's acceptance of proprietary Chinese medicines have increased, so far there are more than 70 stores in Hong Kong.
The company has made a comeback in recent years, but with the deterioration of the retail market, social incidents and the outbreak of the epidemic, it is facing a major storm.
Deng Huimin said frankly that in the past, the company’s business in the people’s livelihood and tourist areas accounted for about six to four. Affected by the epidemic, tourists were unable to visit Hong Kong. Seeing that the demand for local people’s livelihood health care consultations has greatly increased, the company immediately allocated resources and adjusted its store network. The district opened more outlets with outpatient services for registered Chinese medicine practitioners, providing consultations, prescribing medicines, decoctions, or taking Chinese proprietary medicines for nearby neighborhoods. It also cooperated with the Hong Kong Registered Chinese Medicine Association Charity Fund to open a Chinese medicine specialist treatment center last year. Extend the service to specialized pain treatment, and expand the existing product line, launching herbal tea, ginseng stewed chicken soup, health hot pot soup base and instant soup bag and other products, hoping to integrate the company's products into the lives of customers, rather than just visiting when they are sick Wei Yuan Tang.
There are a total of 18 products in "My Favorite". Deng Huimin said that the market has responded positively after the product was launched.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Many Hong Kong people regard pets as "children"
In addition, the company officially entered the pet health market in April last year, launching a series of pet health products developed by the Chinese veterinarian team, such as broken Ganoderma lucidum spores, Cordyceps Cs-4, crocodile meat, deer hamstrings, flower gum tubes and cookies.
Deng Huimin revealed that when she visited the shop, she found that many customers wanted to buy Chinese medicine or health care products for pets. In addition, she had kept pets for many years. In recent years, she has increasingly noticed that Hong Kong's pet market has great conditions for development, and Hong Kong's declining birthrate has become a social norm. Many people prefer to keep pets rather than having children. They treat pets such as cats and dogs as their "children."
Therefore, the company specially recruited a team of Chinese veterinarians to develop Chinese-style pet health products.
These health care products are developed and deployed according to the needs and ages of different dogs and cats in one and a half years, and they are tested and clinically tested before they can be released.
"Our products are produced with human consumption specifications. I have tried cookies. They are delicious and delicious. They can be trimmed with medicinal materials, which can increase the immunity of the hairy child!"
She continued that customers are willing to spend money to buy high-quality and expensive products for pets. However, they are more worried that pets are unwilling to eat, so they usually buy a bottle of "test water temperature". If pets are willing to eat, most customers will I bought it again. When I was at the pet show, some returning customers bought 20 bottles of cookies in one go.
In the future, the company will consider launching pet soup packs, but it needs to test whether the product is effective before launching it, instead of fighting a price war and attracting customers to buy it with low prices.
At present, Weiyuantang's proprietary Chinese medicine products can only be sold to the mainland through cross-border e-commerce. Deng Huimin hopes that after the implementation of the Greater Bay Area policy, it will benefit Hong Kong pharmaceutical factories.
(Photo by Yu Junliang)
Plan to adjust the number of shops in the tourist area
On the other hand, the company will consider adjusting its store network.
Deng Huimin said that the company has about 20 shops that need to be renewed every year. If there is still no news about the opening and closing of the lease, and the landlord’s rent reduction rate is not satisfactory, the company will consider adjusting the number of shops in the tourist area. These are likely to be affected. There are about 15 to 16 stores, and then they are transferred to livelihood areas with less rent pressure to open stores, and they tend to choose store locations in estate malls.
"If there are shops with rocks, the number of rocks will be opened." In terms of mainland business, the company currently has 50 specialty stores in the mainland, but only sells tonics such as ginseng and dried seafood, cordyceps, flower maw, and a few tonic Products, etc., are not Weiyuantang’s most famous proprietary Chinese medicine products.
She pointed out that the company is still waiting for the Greater Bay Area policy to have a clearer direction, hoping to make it easier to register Hong Kong proprietary Chinese medicines in the Mainland, and assist the company's domestic sales of its products. In the future, the company plans to add more stores in second- and third-tier cities in southern China.
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Chinese medicine pet
