Moving hearts with soft power
Ju points out that exporting services isn’t just about establishing brands; it’s also about exporting culture. In the new consumer age, he says, “The human touch is key for Taiwan’s service industry.” That touch, he explains, isn’t just about the cultivation of connections that has traditionally been so important to society and business in Taiwan. Rather, it is about carefully meeting the needs of clients and providing considerate service. This sensibility is rare in manufacturing but is an essential part of the service industry. When consumers purchase a service, they are not looking only for value. They are also acquiring a display of consideration, as well as a conceptual framework and cultural atmosphere that are part of experiencing the product.
In 2013 Shin Kong Mitsukoshi broke new ground by working with the Ping Fong Acting Troupe. The goal was to leverage a theater activity to attract consumers so that they would experience a new kind of shopping atmosphere in Taiwan.
After three months of planning, the department store and the Ping Fong Acting Troupe decided to put on Can Three Make It?, a show with mass-market appeal, on the store’s top floor. In three months, it sponsored a series of 100 performances, attracting 55,000 attendees and helping to bolster store revenues.
Zhou Baowen, an assistant manager at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi headquarters, worked with the troupe on producing the show. The aim wasn’t merely to provide foreign customers with a chance to experience Taiwan’s local cultural atmosphere. Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was also hoping to bring local young people back to department stores.
This year Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has followed up by working with the Performance Workshop and the Godot Theatre Company, which are putting on four different shows from July to October. The store hopes that the 70–80 performances will once again draw crowds up to the top floor.
Hogan Bakery, which has experienced a meteoric rise in recent years, takes a different tack by emphasizing a conception of local agriculture. It has expanded out of baked goods into the drinks industry by investing in retailer Fruit Hunter, which stresses sourcing produce from local farmers and telling consumers the stories behind its produce.
Polo Huang, Hogan’s president, explains that Hogan had always been sourcing produce from certain locales: spring onions from Yilan, plums from Xiaolin Village in Kaohsiung, and so forth. The company has also begun to send staff on field trips, going to Miaoli to learn about pickled radish. “After a succession of food safety scandals in Taiwan,” says Huang, “it’s important to have a firm grasp on the way that food is handled, all the way from the fields to the finished product.”
Last year, fed up with drinking tea that was full of additives, Huang decided to move into the beverage market. He set up Fruit Hunter and invited Ku Pi-ling, a senior figure in the media industry, to serve as its president. Fruit Hunter purchases large quantities of crops from local growers, including blue magpie tea from Pinglin, and plums from Xiaolin.
Ku explains that her previous work brought her into contact with quite a few farmers who were toiling diligently in the realm of ecofriendly farming. They truly hoped to grow healthy produce without toxic chemicals, but they found it hard to sell what they had produced. Consequently, she hopes through Fruit Hunter to create supply-chain links for small growers that will allow consumers to enjoy the flavor of truly pristine fruit juices and other drinks.
After a series of recent food safety scandals, consumers are concerned about both the taste and the provenance of what they put in their mouths. The photo shows Leezen’s Tse-Xin organic farm.