ONE of my best friends is a businessman who has had extensive dealings with China. He manufactures his own electronics brand as well as home fixtures. His brand of electronics has earned much following through over a decade now such that every Christmas, when people have money to spare, the shop underneath his office has a lone of people waiting to be served.
No one’s complaining about the quality. Everyone just wants to get their hands on one, or waiting in line for their upgrades. The home fixtures don’t get the same lines, but the quality is unquestionable. Both are made in China. This friend had long told me that all you need is to give the specifications you want and it will be manufactured as specified.
The profusion of low-quality Chinese goods here, however, failed to make me understand what my friend was talking about. Until I finally was able to see China and gawk at how their facilities, structures, and infrastructures are built to last.
Where’s the low-quality China brand? I wondered. True, they have a “fake market” in Shanghai, where you can get fake branded goods. But you only need to have the eye for quality to get a good deal.
A gullible person who doesn’t have an eye for details will easily be swindled. Our guides were also trained well to warn us against buying specific goods, like what they call the “one-day watches”, because these will only work for one day. But over-all, there were quality goods all over.
Rewind to my best friend and his electronic product that is among the leading brands in Mindanao… Megavision, the videoke brand that you can find in just about every corner of the island. Many such videoke machines have been around for more than a decade now, and yet they are still blaring out the music for the Filipinos who cannot have enough of singing.
My friend had considered retiring and folding up this business, but decided against it because as he said, there’s still a huge demand for it.
Now what gives?
While furiously fanning myself against the heat wave in China, came the realization. It’s the buyer not the bought. In any deals, it’s the buyer who ultimately decides what he needs to buy. The proliferation of cheap China goods in the country can best be attributed by the Filipino’s penchant to settle for less.
“Pwede na” (This will do) is a phrase most often heard. Demand for quality is never high. Ergo, the market caters to the “pwede na” as well.
Why indeed will you ease yourself out of the market when the stingy would settle for what’s “pwede na”? True, there will always be the shysters, those ready to grab you by the neck and shake down the last centavo in your pocket for goods that will break down quickly. But only if you allow yourself to be shaken down and swindled that way.
In the end, a businessman worth his salt will always strive for return business with clients and this can only be had when quality is assured on top of customer service, and that is the kind of suppliers you would want to establish long-term relationships with. But only if you truly care for your customers as well and not settle for what is “pwede na”.
saestremera@yahoo.com