hitting hongkong

it would be four days of instant noodles, bread and chips, of unlimited walks, of research and collection of data, of canvassing and shopping for interesting items which would fit our budgets...this would be interesting. :)

Hong Kong has always been known for being a great place to shop. It's not so much of the prices they have on their items that makes it a shopping hub, rather it's the availability of certain items that are up-to-date that both the techie and fashion conscious would definitely want their hands on. Considering the line of work that we are in, it would be much of an advantage for us to visit Hong Kong and check-out whatever they're having currently which in some way haven't arrived on our shores yet. Visiting some shops in Hong Kong that are not available in the Philippines has given us ideas on other possible items we could provide for the customers, as well as the presentation on the items sold in the store.

It's definitely in Hong Kong where i got to see how much they take great effort on their visual merchandising. A lot of stores have some unique style of displaying their merchandise which would not only attract some customers to their stores but would give them an identity to the minds of the people who sees them. Branding is everything. and the look of your store, the aura, your products, it's all part of the whole package. Even though i only got to visit some stores the first time, it was never hard to remember them because they were mostly interesting and they'd definitely created a mark. Even a particular mall won me on this, that would be the DELAY NO MALL, wherein they have this PACMAN concept applied for their comfort rooms. Also, the small, narrow spaces some stores have did not limit them in their lay-out of the store. one would be that of the BILLIONAIRE BOYS CLUB wherein every floor has a different theme, but still, has the concept of the entire store in place.

Going back, we were in search for some potential designs for tees. Graphic tees are also abundant in Hong Kong. there, even people who are wearing t-shirts could still look fashion-wise. The prints on their shirts ranges from sketchy prints to photographic to overall prints. The colors that are used also varied, but what caught our eyes where that of neon colors. Which we also had observed with other items including bags, watches, shoes, even on their show window displays, etc. . thus the neon colors on our large-sized bags and other accessories. :)

Aside from visiting their malls and interesting stores, the streets of Hong Kong itself is a great source for research. By just observing the people walking around the streets, looking at what they are wearing from head to toe to their accessories. Majority of the people you can see on the streets follow fashion trends.

it was the end of the season when we visited Hong Kong, that means there's sale everywhere. This certain marketing move is the easiest way to dispose old stocks, out of season items. In this way, there would be a lot of space for the new ones.

And this is why SALEs are very important. :)

Dropping prices as low as 70 percent attracts several shoppers, and yes, we did not let such opportunity pass, we did our own shopping.

The four-day trip was both fun and informative, gives us enough to generate ideas, it gives us a view on a lot of possibilities of presenting our creations. Though our feet had all been tired and painful, it was all worth it. :)