UK steps up efforts to explore business opportunities in Macau

2014-3-12

From：Macau Daily Times

As Macau welcomes the second United Kingdom mission on trade and investment this year, it becomes clear that British businessmen are intensifying their quest to find good business opportunities within the MSAR market.
The Director of Trade & Investment (UKTI) for Hong Kong and Macau, Mr Paul Lynch, told the Times that they have “identified opportunities worth more than 10 billion British pounds over the next five years, in which UK companies will be competitive.”
Yesterday, a UK trade delegation, comprised of 35 company representatives from the sectors of luxury and retail, as well as food and beverages, visited Macau to hear more from the right sources. Local experts, entrepreneurs, and casino resort management provided business executives with a few tips on how to enter such a desirable market.
Last February, a UK delegation of 14 company representatives from the creative industries sector, conducted a similar visit.
These trips have been organized under the umbrella of the “Britain is Great” campaign project, launched back in 2012 to tie in with the London Olympics. It aims to promote the different facets and strengths of the UK abroad.
Yesterday, the UK Trade Commissioner in Hong Kong, Mr Stephen Cartwright, stressed that the UK companies came to town because they see “massive business opportunities” here.
And the British do mean business. Asked if the UK government has reinforced its commitment to help British companies expand their businesses into Hong Kong and Macau, Mr Paul Lynch reiterated that the focus is on the MSAR.
“A few years ago, more than 50 percent of our trade was done within Europe but Europe is not growing. So UKTI identified 50 opportunities around the world first and last year expanded it to 100 (…) So there’s a strong focus on Macau as it is one of our top 100 places around the globe that we want to do business with,” he explained.
From construction to design consultancy, architecture, food, drinks or retail, the British companies are convinced they have what it takes to conquer Macau’s market, as further casino resorts will emerge in the Cotai Strip soon. Uniqueness, history, tradition, quality, and creativity were some of the British qualities pointed out by the speakers.
As other businesses across the globe dream of expanding into a gambling city – whose revenues are now seven times higher than those of Las Vegas – Mr Paul Lynch recognized that Britain will face further competition. Nevertheless, he is certain that “there are areas in which British companies are specifically strong.”
These include architecture and structure design, as well as creative industries in general. But most importantly, Mr Paul Lynch stressed that there is a need to pay close attention to consumers’ behavior over the coming decade.
“Who is going to come to Macau and what are they going to buy here?” he questioned.
“I see the Chinese consumer going through a process of a growing middle class in mainland China, [who are] the majority of visitors to Macau. It’s a very typical process: they look at a brand; they know its name; they know it’s good; so they’ll buy it. But over time, they will want to distinguish themselves (…) They’ll look at different brand stories, those that speak to them personally and not to everybody,” he recalled.
He guaranteed that, even though Britain does not have many high-fashion brands like the Italians and the French, it has something unique to offer. “Often craftsmen-made, we have individual brands, very high-end but something that you can identify with personally,” Mr Paul Lynch added.
Moreover, he guaranteed that the 35 companies visiting Macau “have an absolute commitment to quality, as well as a creative spark that enables them to change over a long period of time.”
“Creativity” and “uniqueness” were the words of Mrs. Emma Shipley, owner of the company Emma J Shipley Ltd, which produces hand-drawn luxury scarves, when describing Britain’s main qualities.
Speaking to the Times at a briefing session held yesterday, Emma Shipley explained that by travelling to Hong Kong and Macau with this mission, she hopes to assess whether there are any business opportunities for her brand here.
“UKTI runs the Great Week scheme and I had done one last year in Tokyo, which was a great insight into the market there. Through that, I started working with some great luxury stores. So when the opportunity came up to also do this trip, I thought it would be really interesting, as I don’t know much about the market here,” she declared.
She too thinks the Chinese customer is becoming more “discerning” and therefore more demanding in terms of product quality and uniqueness. “They are really looking for something that’s unique and not just big brands. They want something that can represent their personality. That’s what I think we can bring over from Britain: something unique,” Emma Shipley assured us.
Mr James Deakin, from Deakin & Francis, a luxury company specializing in gentlemen’s accessories, was also among the 35 representatives visiting Hong Kong and Macau. Representing a company whose history spans decades, having been established in 1786, James Deakin told the Times that his family enterprise is particularly interested in the Asian market.
“We do business in Las Vegas, and obviously when you go to Las Vegas you hear about Macau and the [revenue] figures are beyond impressive. So if we are doing business there, we should be doing the same here,” he commented, adding that luxurious gentlemen’s accessories go well with the gambling, the restaurants and the fine living.
In his opinion, Macau is a perfect market for his brand, from which one of the most recognized pieces is the cufflinks. “Macau is very interesting because we specialize in hand-made high-quality pieces. Therefore it should be a natural market for us,” he declared. Before heading to Macau, James Deakin had the opportunity to meet with Hong Kong jewelers hoping to bring over some of his company’s products to department stores in the HKSAR.
Yesterday morning, the 35 UK company representatives were briefed by local business experts, such as the Executive Director of Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, Mrs Echo Chan, Chairwoman of the British Business Association of Macao (BBAM), Mrs Eileen Stow, and Professor Glenn McCartney, who is also the British Honorary Consul in Macau. As the mission to expand businesses into Macau continues, a UK junior minister working at the office of the Secretary of State for Transport will visit Macau in May.

Copyright@Macau Daily Times