English tea business

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN
Foundation in Natural and Built Environment (FNBE)
February Intake 2014
A Comparative Analysis of 2 Businesses of Similar
Industry in Different Geographical Locations
English 2 | ELG30605
Group Members: Tang Juyi / 0317741
Wong Carol / 0317735
Rozanna Farahibram / 0317967
Samaa Tariq Abdulsattar Abdulaziz Ismaeeel / 0316353
Ang Wei Yi / 0317885
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2. CONTENTS
No. Title Page No.
1 Key Summary 3
2 History of the Trade 6
3 Brief Description of Swee Tin Tea Merchant 7
4 Brief Description of Chwan Deng Tea Art 8
5 Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits 9
6 Recommendation 16
7 Bibliography 17
8 Appendices 18
9 Reference 30
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3. Key Summary
1. Location
Our task was to study two businesses in any part of the Malaysian Peninsular, and Klang
Valley. We chose to do a research on the tea business located in two different areas, which are Ipoh
and Klang Valley.
2. The Group
For this research report, we have to form a group of five members and choose a business to do a
research on. Our group members consist of Tang Juyi, Wong Carol, Rozanna Farah Ibram, Samaa
Tariq Abdulsattar Abdulaziz Ismaeel, and Ang Wei Yi.
3. The Topic
The two businesses that we have decided to do a comparison on are Swee Tin Tea Merchant and
Chwan Deng Tea Art. Both are tea businesses which have been running for over 15 years.
However, they differ in terms of business management and target audience, however, aside from
their differences they have similarities in the type of products they sell.
4. Research Questions
- When was the business founded?
- Who are the key founders?
- What prompted the founders to start this business?
- What are your main products?
- Who are your customers?
- What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
- How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?
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4. - Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?
- Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?
- Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies have
they used to compete with you?
- How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialised field of knowledge
do you need to run this business?
- Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
- How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert
customers away from your competitors?
- How often do you release a new product (this assumes the business sells differentiated products)?
- Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors?
5. Methodology
5.1 The Interview
Before we visited their shop to interview them, we contacted the person in charge to get their
permission from the owner of the tea shop. Firstly, we introduced ourselves and briefly explained
the reasons we were interviewing them. After that, we began our interview by questioning them
with the listed questions. During the interview, we recorded and listed down every single important
detail and information. Finally we took pictures of the shop, products and the owner at the end of
the interview session.
5.2 References
All research and interview results to show our understanding of the business was recorded. In
addition, some researches were done through online sources and printed materials. Based on the
data obtained from the interview sessions, comparison between the two businesses was made.
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5. 5.3 Meetings
On the first meeting we discussed on what kind of business to do our interview and agreed with
Chinese tea shops. We then chose to do the interview in Ipoh and Klang. Throughout the research,
we had small meetings amongst ourselves so that we were able to understand the businesses’ flow
more clearly. Lastly, we delegated our tasks, so that everyone is contributing in the assignment.
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6. History of the Trade
Chinese tea is a simple beverage, and one that has long been central to the lives of millions
of people, originally from South-East Asia, and now virtually worldwide. Chinese tea is said to aid
in meditation and self-reflection, induce tranquility and even inspire imaginations.
China, the homeland of tea, is the leading producer and consumer. The origin of tea is lost
among history and legends. What can be roughly confirmed is that tea originated in the southwest
of China. The discovery and usage of tea there has a history of about four or five thousand years.
According to history, tea started in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty.
Chinese tea started to break free from its region of origin and has been transported to most parts
of the world. Japanese monks took tea seeds, the techniques of tea making, and tea utensils back to
Japan, which led to the appearance of the Japanese tea ceremony. At the end of the sixteenth
century, the Dutch brought word to Europe that there was a kind of magic leaf in the east, from
which tasty drinks could be made, and this was the first time that Europeans heard of tea. In 1610,
the East India Company was the first to sell tea to Europe, after which the habit of drinking tea took
root. In 1636, tea entered France and two years later it entered Russia, whereas Britain, a nation
famous for its tea drinking, did not have tea until 1650.
Chinese tea drinking culture was brought along by the Chinese people to Malaysia in the olden
days. Driven by the revival of tea drinking culture, the 21st century foresees an upsurge of Chinese
tea consumption. This enables a steady growth of the commodity. Malaysia serves as an ideal tea
stowing and trading point because of the import duty-free policy and strategic geological
conditions. Besides that, Malaysia with a multi-racial society plays a vital role in promoting tea
trading on a global basis.
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7. Brief Description of Swee Tin Tea Merchant
NAME : Swee Tin Tea Merchant Trading Sdn. Bhd
CURRENT LOCATION: No. 18, Persiaran Bijih Timah, 30000 Ipoh, Perak
Swee Tin Tea Merchant Trading Sdn. Bhd has been incorporated in Malaysia for over 65
years. The business does not have any branch. However, it does have one warehouse in First
Garden, Ipoh where the packaging process of the tea takes place. They hired one worker in the retail
shop and fifteen workers in the warehouse.
The business was founded by Lee Yi Zhen in 1942. His father was a tea businessman in China
but his business failed. Lee Yi Zhen came to Malaysia during the glory period of tin mining in Ipoh
and started over the business set up by his father. Lee named his shop as Swee Tin in order to
commemorate his father. The business started as a small stall and sold only Chinese tea. Later on,
he noticed the locals preferred ‘teh tarik’ over Chinese tea and decided to sell black tea as well.
Nowadays, the company is devoted to tea by importing finest teas, blending, processing, and
packing to marketing and distributing. Chinese tea, black tea, red tea, green tea, fermented tea and
non-fermented tea are sold and the main brands are Lion Tea and Fuk Luk Sau Tea. They import tea
from China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and wholesaler in the same field. Recently, Lee Kah Onn, the
third generation of the founder takes over the business and modernized the business. Computer
generated systems are gradually incorporated into the business. Regularly, they receive around 30
orders per day. Most of the customers are ‘kopitiam’ or ‘mamak’ stall’s owner and majority of the
customers are Malay.
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8. Brief Description of Chwan Deng Tea Art
NAME : Chwan Deng Tea Art
CURRENT LOCATION : No. 2098, Jalan Meru, 41050 Klang, Selangor D.E.
NUMBER OF BRANCHES : None
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES : 2
Chwan Deng Tea Art was first founded in year 1999. It is a family operated business. The
key founders of the business are two sisters, Tan Hoe Sim and Tan Hoe Ling. They originated from
Subang, however at that time, Subang was not a developed area, and hence the sisters chose to
attend a high school in Klang. The sisters started to develop interest in Chinese tea since tea
drinking culture was popular in Klang. After they graduated from high school, they bought over an
existing small tea company which was not very successful. They started selling Chinese tea leaves
in Klang Parade. The venue had limited space that they had problems with storage. Recently, in
2013, the sisters decided to move to a bigger venue as their business started to expand and more
stocks required a larger space. Operation of the shop became more efficient as they have enough
space to put their stocks properly.
Pu-erh tea leaves, a kind of fermented black tea produced in Yunnan province, China, makes
up 80% of their sales and is the main product sold in Chwan Deng. The second popular item is the
Oolong tea leaves, which is produced through a unique process of withering and oxidation. The
estimated customers per month are about 300. The customers are mainly Chinese; however they
have Indian customers who enjoy Chinese tea as well. Although their target audiences are people
from age 30 and above, there are still youngsters who purchase tea leaves from them. This is
because more people are aware that Chinese tea brings lots of benefits to health.
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9. Comparative Analysis of the Businesses’ Competitive Traits
Number of Competitors in Respective Areas
Klang Ipoh
Qiu Xiang Tea Merchant Purple Cane Tea House
YL Tea Art Garden STG Tea House Café
Purple Cane Tea House Thaitee Tea
Yuan Yuan Tea House Tork Shou Heong
Cheong Hing Bar
Koong Woh Tong
Lao Ba Cha Tea House
Fong Lye Tea House
Water Drop Tea House
Kuyichai Chinese Cultural & Tea House
Top Competitors Biography
1. Top Competitors for Chwan Deng Tea Art, Klang
1.1 Purple Cane Tea House
Established in 1987 by founder Lim Hock Lam. The company distributes, and re-packages teas that
are imported from China and Taiwan. The company has twenty-four branches spread out across
Malaysia. Furthermore, the company provides education to the mass on the arts of Chinese tea, as
well as raising campaigns to increase the awareness of the beneficial qualities of consuming tea.
1.2 Qiu Xiang Tea
The company has 4 branches in Malaysia.
1.3 Jit Ri Enterprise
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10. Established in the year 2005. The company fulfills demands for both Chinese and Taiwanese tea.
The Chinese teas selections are: Pu-erh tea, Liu Bao tea, Guan Yin, Huang Jin Gui, Dan Chong, Da
Hong Pao, Shui Xian, Tie Luo Han, Scented tea, and Green tea. The selections of Taiwanese teas
are Dong-Ding Oolong tea and Alisan High Mountain tea. In addition, the business also includes
selling tea art accessories.
2. Top Competitors for Swee Tin Tea Merchant, Ipoh
2.1 Purple Cane Tea House
Established in 1987, by founder Lee Yi Zhen, the company distributes and repackages tea from
China and Taiwan. The company has 24 branches across Malaysia. Furthermore the company
provides education to the mass on the art of Chinese tea as well as campaigns to increase awareness
on the benefits of tea.
2.2 Thaitee Tea
Established in 1990, Malaysia’s premier distributor of high-quality tea leaves. Won several awards
in both domestic and international competitions in China. Signature award-winning tea includes
Bergamot, Tie Guan Yin and Shui Xian teas. The tea master Zheng Qing Chi regulates the import
and export of the Young Chun branch responsible with maintaining the excellence of the brand.
2.3 Tork Shou Heong Tea Merchant
Established in 1946, by Lee Thong Kay. Started a small scale tea business now selling tea from all
over the world such as China and Japan. The original “Tork Shou Heong Chinese Tea” is a well-known
tea appreciated by many fans today.
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11. Obstacles Faced When Starting the Chinese Tea Business Today
In 1999 Chinese tea was not as popular as it is now; therefore, to penetrate the market was a
difficult task to do. However, in 2007, Taiwan started importing different flavoured teas from
China. Albeit, to widen their market and increase sales; Taiwan promoted the health benefits of
Chinese tea across the continent, and all over the world. According to statistics, the increase
awareness of health benefits of Chinese tea had resulted in a 7.04% annual market increase between
the years of 2004 and 2009. The demand for tea increased dramatically which was mainly due to
the tea development strategy, this including: implementing modern techniques to better extract tea,
as well as researches done into discovering more benefits of tea consumption. It is a good
investment idea since it has helped discover that bubble tea is popular amongst the young buyers,
and is currently spreading worldwide. It does not apply to any specific demographic as tea comes in
many forms that can be enjoyed by all. On the other hand, starting from scratch isn’t as easy as it
seems; starting a business afresh requires a high capital. The investment put into the business will
be spent on: venue rental, stocks, imported tea, packaging, labor, and marketing. A lot of money that
will be spent on the business is used for marketing so that people are aware of its existence.
Moreover, not everyone can just start a tea business, it is crucial that the shop has a tea master that
is skilled and familiarized with the history of tea, characters, properties, science, and trends of tea
leaves. The staffs should at least know how to handle and package the tea leaves properly as well as
how to prepare and serve the tea.
Nature of Market
Both tea shops are categorized under perfect competition. ‘Perfect Competition’ is a market
structure which meet the following standards: all firms sell an identical product, have no control on
the market price of the products, have a relatively small market share, buyers have clear information
about the products sold and prices charged and, the industry has freedom of entry and exit. Due to
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12. the many competitors in both areas, the shops are forced to set the prices according to the market
price. The market shares are small as the sales for Swee Tin, Ipoh is MYR 41,000 per month while
Chwan Deng Tea, Klang receives around MYR 30,000 per month. The tea industry produces about
18 billion dollars of revenue annually. The total market shares for both shops results in a minor
percentage in comparison to the tea industry annual revenue. In the long run, the shops gain only
normal profit.
Swee Tin Tea Merchant and Chwan Deng Tea Art Comparison Summary
Swee Tin Tea Merchant was established in 1942, by its founder Lee Kok Kong. The reason
the business set up was in memory of the owner’s father, whose original business unfortunately
failed back in China. The customers that buy from Swee Tin Tea are predominantly Malay, the
minority being Chinese, and they also sell their products to Chinese Kopitiam in Ipoh. The
strategies used by competitors to compete with Swee Tin Tea are in the following area which
concern quality, familiarity, modernism, packaging, and technology. For example, they had stated
that other businesses sell higher quality of leaves, sell brands that are well-known and ensures a
sense of safety when bought by customers, they are up-to-date with technological advances – some
competitors have a wide market due to online ordering, aesthetically attractive packaging (which
also reflect and markets business). As the employees had stated – it is quite difficult to enter the tea
market, as it depends on the level of experience the business (owner & employees) has, a lot of
capital is required and in return the level of income may not meet expectation, and due to the
business’ location being in Ipoh (where coffee is valued highly) it show that in the area there is a
preference before tea. On the other hand, Chwan Deng Tea Art was established in 1999, the founder
being –unknown-. The business was bought and is currently run by a family, the two main owners
of the shop are sisters Tan Hoe Ling, Tan Hoe Sim. The ethnic backgrounds of the customers that
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13. buy from Chwan Deng Tea Art are predominantly Chinese and the minority being Indian. The
strategies used by competitors to compete with Chwan Deng Tea Art are in the following areas
which concern opening up many branches, technology, providing services, and winning awards.
Chwan Deng Tea Art’s competitor, Purple Cane, has many branches across Malaysia and does not
have a limited market due easy to access to their website and order the items available. Moreover,
other competitors provide services other than products, such as, education on the art of Chinese tea,
and distributing award-winning tea leaves. In comparison, what we can differentiate from Swee Tin
Tea, Ipoh and Chwan Deng Tea Art, Klang is that Swee Tin Tea has more experience due to the year
of establishment (1942) – 57 years prior to the establishment of Chwan Deng Tea Art which
suggests that Swee Tin Tea has greater experience due to the business running for many years. The
location of business also affects the number of sales made, for example, Chwan Deng Tea Art is
located in Klang. Klang is an area in which Indians predominantly live; therefore, some of the tea
flavors available (such as Jasmine tea) are popular amongst the Indian-Malaysian buyers. On the
other hand, the set up location of Swee Tin Tea is in Ipoh - according to the culture in Ipoh – many
people favour coffee over drinking tea. Therefore, the amount of sales made may not be similar to
the amount of sales that Chwan Deng Tea Art due to the area the business is located in, and the taste
preference the people in the surrounding environment have. The area in which both Businesses can
relate is that they both do not have any branches, they do not provide services to their customers,
nor do they have a website to widen their market audience.
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14. Summary of Comparison Traits
Swee Tin Tea Merchant Chwan Deng Tea Art
Key founder Lee Yi Zhen Tan Hoe Sim
Tan Hoe Ling
Location Ipoh Klang
Products sold Lion tea
Fuk Luk Sau tea
Pu-erh tea
Oolong tea
Products Imported from China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka China, Taiwan
Customers Predominantly Malay and the
minority being Chinese
Chinese kopitiams in Ipoh
Predominantly Chinese and and
the minority being Indian
Number of branches — —
Number of competitors Four Eleven
Strategies applied to keep
steady flow of customers
Pricing and promotions
- the price is set lower
- coupons are distributed to
customers
- special promotions during the
holiday seasons (e.g. ‘buy 3
free 1’ deal)
Quality of tea leaves
- mainly order tea leaves of the
best quality and brand
- keep up with the latest
technology of storing and tea
extracting
Management of tea leaves
- up-to-date with the latest
advancements in tea and
technology
- understand customers’ needs
and offer a wide variety of tea
supplies
Close contact with customers
- n o t i f y l o y a l o r r e g u l a r
customers whenever new
products arrives
Festive season gift sets
- provide special sets of products
with attractive packaging
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15. How often new products are
released?
Swee Tin Tea Merchant Chwan Deng Tea Art
Every month Twice a month
Is pricing affected by
competitors?
Yes
The price is set lower than the
competitors
Yes
Set she price according to the
market
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16. Recommendations
Swee Tin Tea Merchant
Some of the problems that Swee Tin Tea Merchant are location and lack of advertisements.
The first way to improve their problems that regards location is to study their audience. For
example, as stated before the people in Ipoh have a preference for coffee over tea. Therefore, they
could import coffee products or even use local beans to gain more customers. Secondly, Swee Tin
Tea could easily gain a lot of customers as its establishment year was in the 40’s, therefore, what
this suggests is that it is a reliable business and a trustworthy one as it has been running for many
years. However, people will not be aware of the business, its products or services if there is a lack
in selling strategy. Swee Teen Tin could easily improve their marketing by changing their
packaging, having an official website to widen their market, and to provide services such as
educating their customers on the history of tea.
Chwan Deng Tea Art
Chwan Deng Tea Art has similar problems. Majority of their products are favored by
Chinese-Malaysians, however, from what we found out is that the location in which it is set is
where the Indian-Malaysians predominantly live. Moreover, to gain more customers that could
import more Jasmine tea products as it is a popular flavor amongst the Indian-Malaysians.
Secondly, Chwan Deng Tea Art does not have any branches; therefore, it is difficult to gain
recognition with a business that is set up in one specific area only. Their number of customers will
always be limited due to them having no branches in Malaysia. Thirdly, Chwa Deng Tea could
easily provide their customers with services aside from tea products, they not only sell Tea utensils
but they have books on the different uses of tea leaves. That could easily be used to educate the
customers on what tea leaf would come in useful to them.
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17. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ling,W. (2001). Chinese tea culture: The origin of tea drinking. Malaysia: Pelanduk.
Tong,L. (2012). Chinese tea. New York: Cambridge university press.
Yun,L. (2009). Tao of chinese tea: A cultural and practical guide. China. Shanghai donnelley.
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18. APPENDICES
Swee Tin, Ipoh
Information of the Interviewee
NAME : Lee Mei Mei
JOB POSITION : Sales Assistant
OFFICE NUMBER : 05-2540943
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20. Chwan Deng Tea Art, Klang
Information of the Interviewee
NAME : Chong Sze Yen
JOB POSITION : Sales Assistant
OFFICE NUMBER : 03-33440949
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22. Minutes of the Meetings
NAMES OF GROUP MEMBERS TUTORIAL GROUP
Rozanna Farah Friday 8am-10am
Samaa Ismaeel
Tang Ju Yi Friday 8am-10am
Wong Carol Friday 8am-10am
Ang Wei Yi Wednesday 10am-12pm
DATE 1st November 2014
TIME 10am-3pm
VENUE Swee Tin Tea Merchant
ACTIVITY Interview (Ipoh)
DATE 11th November 2014
TIME 3pm-5.30pm
VENUE Chwan Deng Tea Art
ACTIVITY Interview (Klang)
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23. DATE 29th November 2014
TIME 10am-2pm
VENUE Block E3.09
ACTIVITY Watch interview video clip
Do report
DATE 30th November 2014
TIME 10am-2pm
VENUE Block E3.09
ACTIVITY Make presentation slide
DATE 2nd December 2014
TIME 3pm-5.30pm
VENUE Block E3.08
ACTIVITY Rehearsal for presentation
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24. Interview Questions (Ipoh):
1. When was the business founded?
The business was founded in 1942.
2. Who are the key founders?
Lee Yi Zhen is the founder of Swee Tin Tea Merchant.
3. What prompted the founders to start this business?
The founder’s father was a tea business man in China but faced business failure. He wanted to start
over again the business that was set up in China by his father. He continued to use the ‘Swee Tin’
which was used by his father’s shop in China.
4. What are your main products?
Our main products are Chinese tea, Lion tea and Fuk Luk Sau.
5. Who are your customers?
Our customers are predominantly Malay and the minority being Chinese. We sell our products to
the Chinese kopijiams in Ipoh too.
6. What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
We gain less profit compared to last time.
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25. 7. How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?
No branches. However, there is a factory at first garden, Ipoh.
8. Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?
The founder who was from China started up the business with a small stall. At first, they focused on
selling Chinese tea. After he moved to Malaysia, he started to sell Teh Tarik tea leaves as the locals
prefer this flavour.
9. Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?
Our top 3 competitors are Thaitee Tea, Tork Shou Heong Tea Merchant and Purple Cane Tea House.
10. Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies
have they used to compete with you?
We constantly face strong competition from them because they sell high quality tea leaves and they
provide better packagings. Besides that, they even have their own official website to promote their
products.
11. How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialised field of knowledge
do you need to run this business?
To run this business, we need to acquired the knowledge of mixing tea leaves
12. Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
It is not that easy to start the business because the cost required to start the business is high as we
need to purchase stocks, van for transportation, packagings such as boxes and rental fees.
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26. 13. How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert
customers away from your competitors?
Although this market is highly competitive, what makes us unique is the experience we gained over
years.
14. How often do you release a new product (this assumes the business sells differentiated
products)?
We will keep our new products updated in a month.
15. Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors?
Yes. We need to set lower price than our competitors.
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27. Interview Questions (Klang):
1. When was the business founded?
Chwan Deng Tea Art was founded in 1999. It is a family run business which has been running for
over 15 years.
2. Who are the key founders?
Chwan Deng Tea Art’s key founders are the sisters, Tan Hoe Ling and Tan Hoe Sim. They bought
an existing tea business which was already generating cash flow and profits and took over it.
3. What prompted the founders to start this business?
They were from Subang, however at that time, Subang was not a developed area, hence the sisters
chose to attend a high school in Klang. The sisters started to develop interest in Chinese tea since
the tea drinking culture in Klang is so popular. After they graduated from high school, they bought
over an existing small tea company which was not very successful.
4. What are your main products?
80% of Chwan Deng Tea Art’s main products are Pu-erh tea which is produced in the Yunnan
district in the southwestern part of China. Oolong tea is another traditional Chinese tea, originating
in Southern China’s Fujian province which only constitute 20% of the products.
5. Who are your customers?
Our customers are mainly the Chinese people. We have had a few Indian customers too. Our target
audience is people at the age of 30 and above. However, recently, there are a lot of young people
who want to purchase Chinese tea from us.
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28. 6. What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
About RM 30000 per month.
7. How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?
We do not own any branches for this business. Starting a new branch will cost a lot because we
need to spend more on rent and operations.
8. Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?
Recently, in year 2013, the sisters decided to move to a bigger shop as their business started to
expand and more stocks require more space. Things started to go smoothly as they have more space
to locate their stocks properly.
9. Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors?
The number of competitors in the Chinese tea market is increasing dramatically in the Klang Valley
area. Our top 3 competitors are Qui Xiang Tea Merchant, Taitee Tea Merchant, and Jit Ri
Enterprise.
10. Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies
have they used to compete with you?
Competition will be tough because there are local brands everywhere and many of them are long
established with a significant market share. For Taitee Tea Merchant, they are Malaysia’s premier
distributor of high- quality tea leaves. They are constantly making refinements and improvements to
satisfy the market demand for high-quality teas under the careful management and supervision of
their tea master. They have not just established themselves as Malaysia’s market leader and expert
in Oolong tea; they are influencing current and future trends in tea culture.
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29. 11. How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialised field of knowledge
do you need to run this business?
To run this business, we need to know about the market price, types of tea leaves, benefits of tea
leaves to health and how to brew different kinds of tea leaves.
12. Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why?
It is hard to enter this market because Chinese tea is not well known in Malaysia since 1999.
However, in 2003, it became more popular when the tea leaves are brought to Taiwan from China.
Taiwanese start to promote the tea leaves to people all over the world including Malaysia.
13. How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert
customers away from your competitors?
We can clearly see that the Chinese tea market is highly competitive in Klang Valley area. However,
with our innovative approach to marketing, I think we can compete with them.
14. How often do you release a new product (this assumes the business sells differentiated
products)?
Our products will be updated twice in a month. As for the new product, we will scheme against
Chinese tea supplies to get different types of Chinese flavoured tea according to the seasons.
15. Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors?
Yes. Therefore, we usually try to set prices according to the market price.
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30. REFERENCE
1. Global Manufactural(2008) Swee Tin Tea Merchant Sdn Bhd. Retrieved from http://
www.gmdu.net/corp-734216.html
2. About to Thaiteetea.com. (2013, January 1). Retrieved December 2, 2014, from http://
www.thaiteetea.com/en/about.html
3. About us - Purple Cane eShop. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 25, 2014, from http://
www.purplecane.my/en/content/4-about-us
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