Business in Beijing

In my former life before teaching, I worked for Procter and Gamble (P&G). They are the largest consumer products company in the world and their headquarters is based out of Cincinnati, OH. I was an account manager and spent a significant amount of my time in grocery stores and with their suppliers. As a teacher, I teach technology and business. I have continued my love affair with business, and particularly consumer products, in my teaching career. Which leads me to…

I love CUB! I never carried a sticker on my car stating such, but truly—I love to grocery shop. Seeing how things are organized, what is new … I remember when the olive bar was added, and then the sushi. Then Kowalski's opened and I fell in love with their layout and focus on specialty products. Then Traders Joes, a whole new concept in doing business. Fascinating!

So imagine me in China! I am in awe. I love going to the local markets and seeing how food is sold fresh and how they negotiate prices. I love going to the expat markets and seeing what brands or items they believe will be in demand. Truly, every where we travel (even in the USA) I have to visit a grocery store to see what is unique or different there. I do have a bias; I have a particular eye for anything made by Procter and Gamble. I still own a significant amount of stock and like to support “my” company.

Some of my observations in China: they market items like we did in the '70s or '80s—free giveaways, personal selling in larger stores and LOTS and LOTS of advertising. (As a side note, P&G has traditionally spent more on advertising than any other company in the world.) Two interesting stories I learned: Pampers brand diapers—in China parents use split back pants for toilet training. There just wasn’t a market for disposable diapers. But like the shoe salesman who lands in a island where no one wears shoes, instead of heading back home, P&G said “what an opportunity!” and began creating a market via advertising and changing the perspective of young Chinese parents. So far, so good.

Second interesting story, one P&G shampoo in Beijing is called Rejoice. It is quite popular and reminds me of the brand Pert in terms of its package design. My father, a retiree from P&G, told me that the brand name originated from an East Peoria, IL, client’s private label brand—Re-joyce. P&G asked my father many years ago to send information about this brand name—that company liked their name —but so did P&G, so they changed the spelling. Now Rejoice is sold in China and Re-joyce is (as far as I know) a long dead brand name in the USA. Bet someone wishes they had sold the name rights to P&G.

Just before Christmas, we just traveled to the Philippines. The holiday was a blunt reminder of the poorness of much of the world. Many in the islands still live in grass huts just off the beaches. It is very much a lifestyle of day-to-day buying and living. They don’t concern themselves with the Rejoice vs. Re-joyce type issues. P&G does have a strong brand presence there, but it a single serving kind of way. For example, if you want Tide, you buy it is a single serving packet. Same with shampoo, conditioner, etc. Now, I wasn’t in a big city like Manilla, but in this small community of Pandan, where we vacationed, this was the norm for the small stores.

Watching P&G in the USA and now in Asia, I think I am going to hold on to my stock for a long time.