ParknShop - Melinda Earsdon

THE MARKET
In a fiercely competitive shopping environment,
PARKnSHOP stands alone not onl y as Hong
Kong 's most successful supermarket chain but
also the territory 's most progressive and
innovative food retailer. The company has a long­
standing reputation for providing the highest
quality fresh food and groceries, while at the same
time giving customers great value for money and
world-class service.
PARKnSHOP also produces its own baked
goods and ready-to-eat freshl y cooked meals, and
offers the biggest range of general household
merchandise of any supermarket chain in Hong
Kong in its market-leading Superstores and
Megastores. The company's ability to
stay one step ahead of consumers '
changing needs - and of the
competition
IS
now driving
PARKnSHOP's
expansion
into
mainland China.
ACHIEVEMENTS
PARKnSHOP counts the greatest of its
achievements as having almost single­
handedly revolutionised the way Hong
Kong people shop for fresh food. By
giving customers the variety and
freshness they would expect from a
traditional wet market, but with
unsurpassed standards offood hygiene
and safety, PARKnSHOP has raised
shoppers ' expectations of supermarket
shopping and forced industry-wide
improvements in the way fresh food
is sold.
In 1998 PARKnSHOP established
Hong Kong 's first-ever dedicated food
safety laboratory as part of its
innovati ve Fresh Check campaign. It
then set up the PARKnSHOP Fresh Check
Hygiene Academy for staff and supplier training.
In 1991 , before food hygiene became such a high
priority for many consumers, PARKnSHOP built
Asia's first multi-temperature distribution and
processing centre, at a cost ofUS$30 million. The
centre has HKQAA IS09002 certification, a first
for any food retailer in Hong Kong.
More recently, PARKnSHOP 's Fresh Fish
Centre - again, the first of its kind in Asia - has
raised the standard for fish processing and
traceability, and the company has transformed the
strength and integrity of the supply chains for
fresh eggs, pork and chicken in Hong Kong .
These changes, along with the introduction
of one-stop shopping at PARKnSHOP
Superstores and Megastores , have won the
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company recognition from both consumers and
industry peers.
PARKnSHOP was named Hong Kong's Most
Favoured Brand in a survey by internationa l
researcher Ipsos-Reid. For two years running it
has been named the brand that Hong Kong users
of Internet giant Yahoo! tnIst the most, and has
recentl y won the Yahoo! Emotive Brand Award
in the retail chain category.
PARKnSHOP has won Next magazine 's Top
Service Award every year for the past 13 years,
and in 2003 topped the Supermarkets!
Convenience Stores Category in the Hong Kong
Retail Management Association's Serv ice &
Courtesy Awards .
In 2000, PARKnSHOP won the coveted Hong
Kong Management Association 's Quality Award ,
providing independent endorsement of the
company's exceptionally high standards for
management and staff.
HISTORY
The PARKnSHOP story began with just three
small supermarkets in Hong Kong, bought in
1972 by the AS Watson company, which had
previously focused its business on bottled water
and dispensing medicine. They were called
PARKnSHOP the following year, and have since
grown into what is now one ofAsia's largest food
retailers, with a network of more than 250 stores
in Hong Kong, Macau and southern China and
more than 15 ,000 staff.
Hong Kong 's first ever Superstore opened in
1996 at Wham po a Garden, combining the western
supermarket concept with a traditional Hong
Kong wet market. In 2002 , PARKnSHOP too '
one-stop shopping to a new level with the opening
of the first Megastore in Metro City, Tseung Kwa
0, covering 72,000 square feet , and packed witt
all the fresh and freshly-cooked food and grocery
items found in Superstores, plus a vast range 0 :'
household goods. There are now four Megastore,
in Hong Kong and more than 50 Superstores.
THE PRODUCT
From neighbourhood supern1arkets packed witt
daily grocery necessities to the biggest of iE
Megastores, PARKnSHOP pride>
itself on surpassing custome~
expectations with the widest and be -:
selection of goods in Hong Kong.
In its Superstores, PARKnSHOP
offers a broad range of fresh an '
cooked food including live fis h.
market-style fruit and vegetable- .
Chinese siu mei , freshly prepare '
Japanese sushi and sashimi and eve
bread and pastries baked in-store, i
addition to a vast range of grocery an ·
non-food items.
The creme de la creme of retai:
shopping,
the
PARKnSHO P
Megastore ,
offers
every thing
shoppers could want for their homes.
in addition to everything found in the
Superstores. With the largest selectim:
of general merchandise ever offer
in a Hong Kong supermarke .
Megastores feature a bed and baIt
section, a home entertainment area.
toys, party suppl ies, music, movie;:
and a bargain-packed $8 zone for
Japanese-style home goods.
Cyber shoppers can browse and buy a:
PARKnSHOP.com , where since 1998 customers
have been able to choose from thousands of items.
all offered at the same discounts as i.J:
PARKnSHOP stores, pay online and choose the
time they would like their shopping to be
delivered.
All PARKnSHOP stores carry two own-labe:
product lines : PARKnSHOP brand and Best Buy.
Both labels encompass a wide range of food an '
household items that match the standards of the
world's most famous brands in everything excep:
price, providing cost-conscious shoppers with a
excellent alternative when looking for quality.
low-cost everyday items. The Best Buy range
includes the most popular everyday items 0 :'
PARKnSHOP constantly compares
prices
with
those
in
other
supermarkets, and also runs a
PriceWatch hotline allowing customers
to report discounts and any price
discrepancies.
PROMOTION
PARKnSHOP has earned itself a
reputation for generating ground­
breaking, creative promotions that are
in tune with consumers ' fast-changing
needs , and that add a new, more
exciting dimension to the entire
acceptable quality at the lowest possible
price, while PARKnSHOP brand provides
the same quality as the major brands but
at a lower price.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The recent economic downturn put
pressure on Hong Kong family budgets ,
and PARKnSHOP has been quick to
pioneer new and creative ways to help
customers save money and get the best
possible value. PARKnSHOP has a three­
tier pricing system that gives shoppers
countless ways to save. The PARKnSHOP
Permanentl y Lowest Price campaign
promises a year-round discount on over 500
essential items, while Red Hot Deals offer short­
term savings even beyond nonnal promotional
pnces. PARKnSHOP 's long-running
Yellow Label campaign , whi ch
offers great discounts on a
constantly changing selection
of goods , has been extended
to thousands of items each
week.
All three of these
savmgs
systems
are
backed by PARKnSHOP 's
exclusive
Price Watch
Guarantee, which means
that if any customer finds a
Yellow Label item offered at
a lower price in another Hong
Kong supermarket, they will
receive a refund of five times the
difference . Having pioneered the double­
the-difference pnce guarantee in 1997,
PARKnSHOP is now the first supennarket to back
its price promise with a five-time refund.
,\
shopping experience. The company is
one of Hong Kong 's biggest
adveliisers, and its campaigns on TV,
print and on outdoor media are among
the city's most memorable and most
successful.
Since the first Mrs Wong
advertising campaign of the 1990s, in
which the fictitious character became
a household name with her "chop" of
approval, the company's marketing
activities have consi stently registered
bigh levels of consumer recall and
association. Adveliising to support
PARKnSHOP's market-leading Fresh
Check commitment was successful in positioning
the company as the clear market leader in
providing superior levels of hygi ene and
freshness. And the PARKnSHOP
value jingle launched last year
- based on the 1970s Sam
Hui hit Half a Catty for
Eight Tails - broke new
ground in uniting the
community
and
PARKnSHOP
behind a common
goal during tough
economic times.
Adveliising aside,
PARKnSHOP
has
consistently led the
market
in
creating
consumer promotions and
competitions that build customer
loyalty and make the shopping
experience more exciting. In fact, many one-off
and seasonal promotions started by PARKnSHOP
are imitated by competing retailers.
,
,~
•
In the early 1990s, PARKnSHOP became the
first Hong Kong supennarket to introduce a
loyalty programme in which shoppers collect
stamps tbat can be redeemed for gifts. Promotions
are tbemed to take account of events in the news
and the pre"ailing consumer sentiment.
To ring in the New Year in 2000,
PARKnSHOP and TVB ran a four-week $30
million Millelmium Millionaires promotion which
gave viewers of popular shows the chance to win
up to $ 1 million in gold coins. \\nen the economy
later suffered, shoppers were gi"en scratch cards
and the chance to have PARKnSHOP pay their
utility bills, and at the start of the school year,
PARKnSHOP gave away S 1 mil lion in
book coupons and gave 30 percent off
all student supplies.
BRAND VALUES
PA RKnSHOP 's mission has long been
to become the famil y 's first choice for
food shopping by presenting a one-stop
shopping environment for top-quality
products at unbeatable value. It does this
by making significant investments in
improving the supply chain, inspiring a
dedicated team of staff who pride
themselves on a commitment to service
excellence, and by transforming
shopping into a rewarding and enjoyable
expenence.
PARKnSHOP also gives back to the
community that has helped make it the success
story it has become. Special deals for senior
citizens, for instance, have complemented
charitable activities that have raised hundreds of
thousands of dollars over the years. Just last year,
PARKnSHOP helped raise more than $2 million
for the We Care Education Fund and Project
Blossom to belp children affected by tbe SARS
outbrea k.
THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT
PARKNSHOP
o
PARKnSHOP has 1,600 checkouts, or
roughl y one for evelY 1,000 households
in Hong Kong
o
PARKnSHOP sells about 60,000 tonnes
of rice each year, enough for 90 million
individual meals
o
PARKnSHOP owns Hong Kong's busiest
Superstore at Festival Walk, Kowloon
Tong, where more than 10,000 customers
are served every day
o
PARKnSHOP has one of the few profit­
making online shopping operations in the
world
o
PARKnSHOP's wine selection includes
500 different labels
o
PARKnSHOP sells goods from more than
60 countries around the world
o
PARKnSHOP sells more than 35 million
oranges a year
o
With a staff of 10,000, PARKnSHOP is
one of Hong Kong 's biggest employers
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