FEATURE
FEATURE
ISABELLA LIU
‘‘
Liu recommends
for a young brand
entering the
market, a smaller
scale retailer is a
better fit than a
department store
just “not actually being there” to
manage what was going on. She
explains that this was negated
by having a good team based
in London and forging strong
contacts in China which she called
“essential” to any brand. “I would
highly recommend partnerships,
you need to be able to find good
partners – there is a saying if you
want to work fast work alone but
if you want to go far work together.
This is true not just for China but
for everywhere.
“In China it is called “Shan
Yuan 善缘: ‘Shan’ meaning ‘kind
or good’ and ‘Yuan’ meaning
‘destiny’, so altogether Shan Yuan
means building up your ‘kind
destiny’. For my own philosophy
for ‘building up Shan Yuan’
it means ‘like-minded people
working together and supporting
each other and because of this are
more likely to grow’.”
Liu adds that she was fortunate
as she “already knew a lot of the
challenges beforehand” and knew
which pitfalls, in terms of logistics,
to avoid. She explains that she had
been “laying the foundations”
for entering the Chinese market
for over two years and strongly
February 2019 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk
advises that other brands take a
similar level of preparation.
“In my case my own team can
do very well on the content side
such as the brand building, the
production, the supply chain my
team can do all that here. Where I
needed help was the marketing and
distribution and I still need some
development in these areas.” Liu
recommends for a young brand
entering the market, a smaller
scale retailer is a better fit than a
department store, where although
the product reachers a wider range
of consumers, it also comes with
lower margins and increased risk.
However she says “it is about
finding a place that shares a similar
message to your brand and where
your target consumers are most
likely to go”.
When asked if smaller brands
have an advantage in that area as
they are more flexible and easily
adaptable, Liu points out they also
have a “lack of resources” to adapt
if they are required to. “It will
cost them a lot of resources and
investment and the risk of entering
the Chinese market is on a much
larger scale,” she says.
“For the bigger brands while
‘‘
Twilight - Waxing Crecent Ring
they have the disadvantage of
being less flexible to changes and
wish to stick to their traditional
brand values, which may not
work in different markets, they
have the money and resources to
do so - they can afford to take
the risk and possibly get it wrong
before they get it right.”
THE FUTURE
Looking ahead Liu wishes to
eventually expand her offerings
not only geographically across
China but also her demographic.
“I would like to grow my
collections and to tailor them
specifically to different areas
of China. I was lucky with The
Twilight Collection as I expected
it be well received in the South
but when I brought it to the
North they also loved it.
“In China my target consumer is
relatively young and sits between
16-45 where compared to the
UK it is slightly older and goes
up to the people in their 60 and
70s - I’d like to see my Chinese
audience also reflect this.”
After reflecting further she
adds: “I also want to further
develop good partnerships in
China, this does not necessarily
mean on a large-scale as for me
it is more important for it to be
partners that try and help each
other to grow and I can trust.
Even if the opportunity looks
good, but i’m not sure I can
work with the people, I will not
take it.”
Twilight-Waxing Gibbous Ring and Bangle Set
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