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Part 3 of Sun Tzu is also set in Beijing, China; but this time it focuses on a T-Shirt retailer called Plastered 8 (“P8”). This small business is located in a shophouse near a popular tourist belt and is headed by a Briton called Dominic Johnson-Hill (“Dominic”). He has been living in Beijing with his wife (Laura) for the past 17 years and is reasonably fluent with the Chinese language, so this helps in communicating with the locals and, we shall see, in getting his new T-shirt designs as well.
Essentially, the business designs T-Shirts with bold and progressive designs and then on-sells them to customers who enter the shop. Iconic images around Beijing are put on funky-looking T-Shirts as designs, capturing a significant amount of creativity (mostly coming from Dominic). Unfortunately, the business has stayed stagnant over the years and has not grown (though it is still profitable). The problem has been identified by James Sun as competition, which comes in the form of nearby shops who shamelessly imitate the designs and ideas which Dominic has painstakingly searched for. Dominic is a tireless entrepreneur who will be personally involved (same problem as in Part 2’s CCC) in trawling the streets of Beijing for ideas with which to put onto his T-Shirts to make them eye-catching and funky. (Note: Once again, numbers such as number of T-Shirts sold, gross margins and revenue figures are not provided in this program).
James Sun interviews some passers-by on the street and their reply was that P8 did not differentiate itself much from the competition, and they do not feel that P8’s designs are unique or ground-breaking. This is due to the intense copying which other shops have started to do, and so the main differentiator in this case would be price. In fact, P8 is feeling the heat here and is starting to advertise for 2 T-Shirts for the price of 1. James feels that once a business starts competing on price without product differentiation, it is the beginning of a downhill battle in which all players will lose. On a side note, this is akin to price wars initiated by telcos or airlines in which only the customer benefits (but not the companies itself). Dominic himself has admitted he is not a “numbers guy” and is more focused on designs and ideas, hence the business has been unable to grow. Read more...[caption id="attachment_1255" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Photo by Marco Gomes"][/caption]
Part 3 of Sun Tzu is also set in Beijing, China; but this time it focuses on a T-Shirt retailer called Plastered 8 (“P8”). This small business is located in a shophouse near a popular tourist belt and is headed by a Briton called Dominic Johnson-Hill (“Dominic”). He has been living in Beijing with his wife (Laura) for the past 17 years and is reasonably fluent with the Chinese language, so this helps in communicating with the locals and, we shall see, in getting his new T-shirt designs as well.
Essentially, the business designs T-Shirts with bold and progressive designs and then on-sells them to customers who enter the shop. Iconic images around Beijing are put on funky-looking T-Shirts as designs, capturing a significant amount of creativity (mostly coming from Dominic). Unfortunately, the business has stayed stagnant over the years and has not grown (though it is still profitable). The problem has been identified by James Sun as competition, which comes in the form of nearby shops who shamelessly imitate the designs and ideas which Dominic has painstakingly searched for. Dominic is a tireless entrepreneur who will be personally involved (same problem as in Part 2’s CCC) in trawling the streets of Beijing for ideas with which to put onto his T-Shirts to make them eye-catching and funky. (Note: Once again, numbers such as number of T-Shirts sold, gross margins and revenue figures are not provided in this program).
James Sun interviews some passers-by on the street and their reply was that P8 did not differentiate itself much from the competition, and they do not feel that P8’s designs are unique or ground-breaking. This is due to the intense copying which other shops have started to do, and so the main differentiator in this case would be price. In fact, P8 is feeling the heat here and is starting to advertise for 2 T-Shirts for the price of 1. James feels that once a business starts competing on price without product differentiation, it is the beginning of a downhill battle in which all players will lose. On a side note, this is akin to price wars initiated by telcos or airlines in which only the customer benefits (but not the companies itself). Dominic himself has admitted he is not a “numbers guy” and is more focused on designs and ideas, hence the business has been unable to grow. Read more...
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Part 3 of Sun Tzu is also set in Beijing, China; but this time it focuses on a T-Shirt retailer called Plastered 8 (“P8”). This small business is located in a shophouse near a popular tourist belt and is headed by a Briton called Dominic Johnson-Hill (“Dominic”). He has been living in Beijing with his wife (Laura) for the past 17 years and is reasonably fluent with the Chinese language, so this helps in communicating with the locals and, we shall see, in getting his new T-shirt designs as well.
Essentially, the business designs T-Shirts with bold and progressive designs and then on-sells them to customers who enter the shop. Iconic images around Beijing are put on funky-looking T-Shirts as designs, capturing a significant amount of creativity (mostly coming from Dominic). Unfortunately, the business has stayed stagnant over the years and has not grown (though it is still profitable). The problem has been identified by James Sun as competition, which comes in the form of nearby shops who shamelessly imitate the designs and ideas which Dominic has painstakingly searched for. Dominic is a tireless entrepreneur who will be personally involved (same problem as in Part 2’s CCC) in trawling the streets of Beijing for ideas with which to put onto his T-Shirts to make them eye-catching and funky. (Note: Once again, numbers such as number of T-Shirts sold, gross margins and revenue figures are not provided in this program).
James Sun interviews some passers-by on the street and their reply was that P8 did not differentiate itself much from the competition, and they do not feel that P8’s designs are unique or ground-breaking. This is due to the intense copying which other shops have started to do, and so the main differentiator in this case would be price. In fact, P8 is feeling the heat here and is starting to advertise for 2 T-Shirts for the price of 1. James feels that once a business starts competing on price without product differentiation, it is the beginning of a downhill battle in which all players will lose. On a side note, this is akin to price wars initiated by telcos or airlines in which only the customer benefits (but not the companies itself). Dominic himself has admitted he is not a “numbers guy” and is more focused on designs and ideas, hence the business has been unable to grow. Read more...
