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759 - We will miss you!

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  1. #1

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    759 - We will miss you!

    Looks like hard times ahead for 759, who I personally think have been overexpanding / doing the hypergrowth thing, not to mention the duopoly issues with Welcome and PnS.

    759 Store also plans to close at least 15 shops this year after giving the big supermarket chains a run for their money
    Interesting bit about sponsorship fees from payment service companies.

    Popular Hong Kong snack chain 759 Store plans to slash its special discounts from next month and shut down at least 15 stores this year, the first net decline since the brand was founded in 2010.

    Chain founder Colis Lam Wai-chun said they could not afford to provide deep discounts as the recent appreciation of the Japanese yen had raised the purchasing cost of its Japanese products, while a huge drop in sponsorship fees from payment service companies this year was also squeezing profits.

    But the change of pricing strategy would result in a 10 to 20 per cent rise in prices for the chain’s members and customers using designated payment methods like MasterCard and electronic wallets, Lam said.
    http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/e...faces-stronger
    Last edited by shri; 28-04-2016 at 08:40 AM.

  2. #2

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    It has nothing to do with hypergrowth or overexpanding. Pretty easy to figure out why Park n Rob and Wellcome control shite and why our food options suck .....

    http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...ring-suppliers


  3. #3

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    I do think there is an element of hypergrowth too ...

    In our area, the housing estate Wah Fu has two 759 stores within 5 mins walk of watch other. One small 7-11 sized store and another one which is their larger grocery store model. The grocery store has a weird mix of product ... Angus steaks at $200 a piece, which I really do not see their regular customers (or even myself) buying.

    But no doubt, they have pricing pressure from the big two. But interested to find out more about these so called credit card subsidies ...


  4. #4

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    Sai Ying Pun has (at least) 4 759's... too many.

    Love the shop, but can't understand why the hypergrowth..


  5. #5

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    This is a few years old and a bit outdated, but the general idea holds true.

    ...sure 759s foolishly expanded into an unfair market, but they certainly aren't playing on a level field. I know most of the regulars on these forums know this, but for anyone new to Hong Kong it is a very interesting read. Hong Kong is anything but a free economy, it is essentially all owned and operated by a handful of very powerful people who started with real estate and then branched out into other sectors.

    The common denominator is that virtually all of them started with property - and then progressively gobbled up utility and public service companies.

    Here are just a few examples of this cross-sector frenzy.
    Cheung Kong Holdings buying Hutchison Whampoa in 1979 - a monster conglomerate involved in myriad businesses, among them the Park'n Shop supermarket chain.

    Sun Hung Kai Properties controlling the Kowloon Motor Bus operator.

    Lee Shau-Kee accumulating shares in The Hong Kong and China Gas - the town gas monopoly - before the company was listed in 1981.

    Hutchison Whampoa buying Hongkong Electric - one of the two electricity duopolies - in 1985.

    New World Development being awarded the Hong Kong public bus routes franchise in 1998 and buying Hong Kong Ferry in 2000.
    The Pacific Century Cyberworks (PCCW) takeover of Hong Kong Telecom in 2000, masterminded by Richard Li, the younger son of Cheung Kong Holdings chairman Li Ka-shing, the wealthiest Chinese in the world.

    This amounts to roughly six families controlling virtually all of Hong Kong's economic sectors. And it will stay like this. The Chinese tradition of passing the family fortune from generation to generation amounts to what Poon derides as an "antiquated feudal system".

    There's nothing "free market" about Hong Kong's major utility/public service companies. On the contrary; they are monopolies or oligopolies. The two supermarket chains - Park'n Shop and Wellcome - have no less than 70% of market share. City Super is owned by Japanese - but that's an upscale brand, with only a few locations, and out of reach for most Hongkongers.

    Park'n Shop and Wellcome consolidated their dominance essentially by pricing smaller companies out of the market; they could easily afford it. Park'n Shop is the retail/food division of A S Watson, which is part of the Hutchison/Cheung Kong conglomerate. Wellcome is part of the Jardines/Hong Kong Land group. So no wonder, for instance, a Park'n Shop outlet is in or around every building developed by Hutchison or Cheung Kong.

    A measure of their power is that France's Carrefour - the second-largest global supermarket chain - tried to break into the Hong Kong market in 1996. They gave up four years later.




    Asia Times Online :: The myth of a free Hong Kong economy

    Last edited by Open Casket; 28-04-2016 at 10:49 AM.
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  6. #6

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    @Open Casket

    I saw an interesting speech from Bernie Sanders about how 40 (forget the exact number) US families controlled a significant amount of the economy. Waltons were the biggest.

    No such thing as free economy anywhere.

    TheBrit and Drunken Master like this.

  7. #7

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    For the year ended April, 759 store operations reported an 11.8 percent drop in revenue and a loss of HK$29.5 million, following a loss of HK$15.8 million in the previous financial year.
    Can snack food retailer 759 Store overcome the crisis?

  8. #8

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    I think they are facing competition from other smaller direct competitors rather than just Wellcome and Park n Shop (which i think slightly differ in what they offer).

    In Mongkok, there are a number of other shops which sell imported Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean snacks. I still go to 759 but only when it is convenient as i have other options now.


  9. #9

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    Thanks, I will buy some more stuff from 759, have to support the little guys!


  10. #10

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    I used to go in quite regularly to get random jars of this and that. Last few times I've been told that I have to spend $100 to get the discount.


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