Project Panda Express

CHINA is a beast into itself. Over one billion people in the country is something.....no wonder this is the next DEG conquest.

1st destination...GUANGZHOU

Few interesting facts about Guangzhou

• Guanzhou is 2 hours travel by air from the Philippines
• Guanzhou is only 45 minutes travel by train to Hongkong
• Guangzhou’s land area is 186000 sq km
• Guangzhou’s population is approaching 15 million
• Guangzhou is the 3rd largest city in China
• Guangzhou is southern China’s largest city

Before flying to China,our feeling could quite possibly be described as "fear"....this has changed to excitement on the first day we landed Guangzhou...and we are getting more & more excited as we progress

we practically fell in love with Guangzhou on our first glance at the city...what with piles and columns of high rise condos...tall structured building...green surrounding...wide roads, big malls...well lighted streets....road with glass windows....this we noted all during our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel....





First day.....Sarah has prepared a long line of itineraries....good that we have a rented vehicle on our first day with English speaking driver to guide us...good that we have a good breakfast...we or is it "I"?? survived the amazing race...I can say we have covered enough... more than 15 malls and supermarket combine to do market research...what with thousands of buying people outside.. malling on a Monday...you will definitely be eagerly excited to serve Chinese market...



There are actually 2 sides of Guangzhou, the Makati-like side street...tall-structured buildings



and the Binondo-like side wherein clusters of stores per type of products will be seen



After 2 days of market visit...we noted a few things ;

• Chinese preferred big packing sizes for all consumer goods 2 liters and more for liquid detergent and softener, 2kgs packing sizes for powder detergent ( have not seen any sachet type detergents)
• Packaging Label (for me) is a bit bland...we can beat the existing brands on the shelves in this category
• Detergent fragrances such as Vanilla, Magnolia & Lavender are the widely used
• Only SPF 30 is allowed for sunscreen lotion (i think) as imported product with high SPF declaration are covered with sticker.
• No lubricants display on the shelves, mostly condoms.

2nd destination...SHANGHAI

Shanghai is the most Western city from the 3 cities we visited. Others have called it the next New York City. This is the home for the World Expo, and for me this is a sign of how China is wanting to integrate into Western culture.

We get to experience good-weird food in Shanghai.

pork with a strip of meat


meatballs in capital M



xia long bao


We get to ride the subway also. Every street sign and subway station, as well as most tourist attractions in Shanghai have English signs that are large enough to read. In fact, even the script in the subway audio lines have English lines.



With CCTVs angled in every facet of the city, it is likely one of the safest too. Doubly so because of the Expo and massive influx of foreigners.



3rd destination...BEIJING

Beijing is rich in culture...several tourist destinations...more exotic food









Overall, China is the grand next destination in marketing DEG product. Most of these initial impressions will be expanded out into full posts by the team.

China wicked team has a lot more work to do....our aim...to be on the China shelves by 3rd quarter of 2011...
Cheers!


Photos by Dhon