@Geezer.This subject seems to make you so upset that you forget your manners. I haven't been to the store and my only information comes from the few articles I have read in the Swedish press. And then on the other hand, who would like to be hired by a person with such a nasty personality as yours?
What about the fake KFC, called EFG? Does anyone know if that is only here in "the world counterfeit capital" as our Kunming is now becoming known?
www.yizhebao.com/Company/Detail/4536
I can't even work out what the name is supposed to mean in Chinese or English. The 'E' is obviously for 'Eastern' but what are the F and G for, except to sound similar to KFC? And the Chinese character 'ji' is not chicken but the same 'ji' as in Kentucky, what's up with that?
C'mon, whatever you buy in China - consider it a copy of what ever!!!
The Int. media is treating this, as if it was a store opend last week - it has been operating, without NO outcries since '08 or '09...
So can you all relax for a second and just enjoy, that somebody is willing to ake the "risk" and make a "franshice" - that's obviusly is going well.?
For my part: Yes I like 11 Furniture - nice, usually have what I miss - and to a bit cheeper price...
All the people whining here about fake stores and copied items are probably the same people who buy their movies for 10 Kuai and are quite happy about it. I like these "fake" stores: They are fun, some of them sell good and cheap stuff and they provide good photo opportunities too....
I absolutly agree with Beizhan.
If there would be no "fake" stores, only the real stuff, everybody would complain about high prices.
Kunming used to be too poor for the "real" brands to open here - we have the Ginko (jin ge) luxury brands and more recently, the walmarts, Metro, and Carrefour opening and expanding - but the middle brands just weren't here, hence the questionable opportunity for pseudo-branded stores.
The optimal win-win solution is a model developed in Taiwan, when Microsoft was trying to hunt down commercial pirates (after switching from persecuting individual pirates a la the current music industry trend) - sue the "pirates" in international and domestic courts. When the suit becomes "painful" for the defendant - offer an arbitrated solution - conversion to a genuine branded store (with all the associated QA, etc).
The pirate gets legitimized and the brand gets an already established market presence. While this strategy debatably rewards successful pirates - which is gonna happen anyway in an emerging market like China - it actually is more cost beneficial to the brands as they don't have to absorb all the risks and costs associated with entering a new market.
The Stick & Carrot technique, used concurrently - to move various gray markets towards legitimacy. Attorneys are used as the nasty threatening big ol' stick in the big strategy picture of how to play the brand game throughout emerging markets in Asia. Most will choose the peace win-win carrot.
