To continue our discussion on Mannings, I would like to go deeper into its branding. When we talk about branding, the first thing goes into mind is probably a brand's positioning relative to its competitors. The primary competitor of Mannings in Hong Kong is without a doubt Watsons, which belongs to the same category of Mannings. This is followed by secondary competitors like dispensaries, supermarkets and beauty stores like Sasa. You can buy healthcare and beauty products in all these places. A brief comparison of the characteristics and selling points like below lets us see where Mannings' edge is.
Dispensaries: Cheap, provide most basic products only, not many to choose from
Supermarkets: Convenient, not a specialist in the field of healthcare and cosmetics
Beauty stores (Sasa & Bonjour): Cheap, cosmetics specialist, wide selection, parallel imports
Lifestyle stores (Mannings & Watsons): Healthcare and cosmetics specialist, dealer goods
The bolded words are the main selling points of that kind of shops.
Dispensaries and Supermarkets are for those who are less concerned about healthcare and cosmetics. Very obviously, they are not the major competitors of Mannings (and Watsons). That remains beauty shops like Sasa. The fundamental attribute of these shops is the parallel imports they sell, but not dealer goods. It enables cheaper price and wider selection. On the other hand, many people hesitate about buying parallel imports because of conern over the quality. Many people fear the products are actually defected goods unwanted by dealers. Some customers are not confident about parallel imports because of this and hence do not buy from Sasa.
Centering on confidence is logical for Mannings
I would say Mannings' positioning centering on "confidence" is a logical one. Directly attacks Sasa and the likes on their product offering and also links well with its healthcare and cosmetics specialist image. As confidence is one of the major considerations in this category, Mannings makes itself a valuable brand in the field by claiming this concept. Mannings adds to its claim another selling point, caring, so as to go with the confidence claim and to support it.
"Care and therefore confidence". This proposition is not any problem by itself. But it has to be communicated and more importantly, lived up to standard with products and services. Mannings uses a more lively and funny way to deliver their proposition in their advertising. It's differentiating when compared to Watsons and Sasa and it's fun to watch. The problem is not in most of their advertising, except the disgusting wii promotion one, but other parts of their marketing.
Mannings as healthcare expert
The proposition "Caring and therefore confidence", if examined more carefully, can be separated into two parts that are somewhat different. Caring is more about the customer service and confidence is more about being professional. I think Mannings excels in the latter by positioning themselves as healthcare and cosmetics expert. They exclusively sell a popular Taiwanese cosmetics brand 我的美麗日記. They issue healthcare tips mentioned in my last post and is initiating a strategic collaboration with Quality Healthcare to provide outpatient services in their stores. Exclusive products and professional services have made Mannings a healthcare expert in people's mind.
Where can I find Mannings?
Having known about its efforts in bring people confidence, it's difficult to believe how bad they are in customer service. I was gathering information to write this post and obviously I would want to have a look at its website as a reference to its online presence. Much to my surprise, I discovered the company has no official website. Yes, it has one, a single page affiliated under Dairy farm international umbrella. OMG, what a jaw-dropper. The story had not ended. I wanted to know where the stores are located, so I search "萬寧分店地址" through yahoo and I got this as the first organic result. I don't know why the list is produced by HKBU, a mystery. When I failed again searching for their service hotline and email, I decided not to bother to look into the social networks.
No website, no store address, no service hotline nor email. Mannings is nowhere to be found when you need them. Is this caring? I don't think so. I am not alone, angry mothers are speaking about this on the web because they speak directly to the customer service. Very clearly, Mannings is not as caring as it claims. They better work harder on this before people get frustrated about their poor service.
P.S. I got confused with the meaning of line extention in my post The Supercooled Coke. I have cleared my concepts and have made the necessary amendment to get the problem fixed. Sorry about the confusion.
Dispensaries: Cheap, provide most basic products only, not many to choose from
Supermarkets: Convenient, not a specialist in the field of healthcare and cosmetics
Beauty stores (Sasa & Bonjour): Cheap, cosmetics specialist, wide selection, parallel imports
Lifestyle stores (Mannings & Watsons): Healthcare and cosmetics specialist, dealer goods
The bolded words are the main selling points of that kind of shops.
Dispensaries and Supermarkets are for those who are less concerned about healthcare and cosmetics. Very obviously, they are not the major competitors of Mannings (and Watsons). That remains beauty shops like Sasa. The fundamental attribute of these shops is the parallel imports they sell, but not dealer goods. It enables cheaper price and wider selection. On the other hand, many people hesitate about buying parallel imports because of conern over the quality. Many people fear the products are actually defected goods unwanted by dealers. Some customers are not confident about parallel imports because of this and hence do not buy from Sasa.
Centering on confidence is logical for Mannings
I would say Mannings' positioning centering on "confidence" is a logical one. Directly attacks Sasa and the likes on their product offering and also links well with its healthcare and cosmetics specialist image. As confidence is one of the major considerations in this category, Mannings makes itself a valuable brand in the field by claiming this concept. Mannings adds to its claim another selling point, caring, so as to go with the confidence claim and to support it.
"Care and therefore confidence". This proposition is not any problem by itself. But it has to be communicated and more importantly, lived up to standard with products and services. Mannings uses a more lively and funny way to deliver their proposition in their advertising. It's differentiating when compared to Watsons and Sasa and it's fun to watch. The problem is not in most of their advertising, except the disgusting wii promotion one, but other parts of their marketing.
Mannings as healthcare expert
The proposition "Caring and therefore confidence", if examined more carefully, can be separated into two parts that are somewhat different. Caring is more about the customer service and confidence is more about being professional. I think Mannings excels in the latter by positioning themselves as healthcare and cosmetics expert. They exclusively sell a popular Taiwanese cosmetics brand 我的美麗日記. They issue healthcare tips mentioned in my last post and is initiating a strategic collaboration with Quality Healthcare to provide outpatient services in their stores. Exclusive products and professional services have made Mannings a healthcare expert in people's mind.
Where can I find Mannings?
Having known about its efforts in bring people confidence, it's difficult to believe how bad they are in customer service. I was gathering information to write this post and obviously I would want to have a look at its website as a reference to its online presence. Much to my surprise, I discovered the company has no official website. Yes, it has one, a single page affiliated under Dairy farm international umbrella. OMG, what a jaw-dropper. The story had not ended. I wanted to know where the stores are located, so I search "萬寧分店地址" through yahoo and I got this as the first organic result. I don't know why the list is produced by HKBU, a mystery. When I failed again searching for their service hotline and email, I decided not to bother to look into the social networks.
No website, no store address, no service hotline nor email. Mannings is nowhere to be found when you need them. Is this caring? I don't think so. I am not alone, angry mothers are speaking about this on the web because they speak directly to the customer service. Very clearly, Mannings is not as caring as it claims. They better work harder on this before people get frustrated about their poor service.
P.S. I got confused with the meaning of line extention in my post The Supercooled Coke. I have cleared my concepts and have made the necessary amendment to get the problem fixed. Sorry about the confusion.
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