Well, today’s my last day in Hong Kong, which is always bittersweet. This place is amazing, an extraordinary mix of ancient history and modern technology. Something about it really resonates with me.
Tomorrow, I jet off to Beijing for a week, where-—if like last year-—I’ll be plunged into internet blackout, due to rather “challenging” government restrictions. With luck, I might get one blog post off first thing upon arrival, but after that, the firewalls go up and the door locks. If not for Skype (which, thankfully works), my family would be a wreck, since even email access through my business account is blocked off.
If I get lucky and can post from there, I will. If not, please enjoy the soothing music. Will see you upon my return, jet lagged and all.
It’s day three at the Hong Kong Gifts and Premiums Fair, where I’m swimming in thousands of exhibitor booths from all around the world. This is truly an amazing experience…can’t fathom how anyone could physically walk this entire thing in a week.
Yesterday’s seminar “Outlook for the US Market After the Financial Tsunami” (their choice of title) was met with very open ears and a lot of curiosity-—not surprising, given the international nature of this show. From the podium, I could see people frantically taking notes as I detailed the American consumer psyche, what it craves now, and where it’s headed next. When I turned to discussion about the various retail channels and how they’re viewed from a consumer perspective, pens really flew. Was good to see an interest in independent retail as opposed to the typical big box mentality. [click here to continue…]
For those of you who don’t already know, I’m in Hong Kong right now, as a featured speaker at The Hong Kong Gifts and Premiums Show-—the largest gift show in the world. Having spoken here once before, I can attest to the fact that Americans are very warmly welcomed here, by exceedingly gracious hosts.
Unlike the gift shows US retailers are familiar with, this one caters to large orders (read: minimum 1,000 pieces is not uncommon) and custom made goods to be sold by international vendors. Walking the aisles, I’m constantly amazed at how many products I recognize, sans the familiar logos.
They’ve asked that I speak about the outlook for the US market, post-economic meltdown. Prior to my appearance, Sarah Reeve, Editor of Gift Focus Magazine (similar to our Gifts and Dec) will tackle the same topic from a UK perspective. Unlike years past, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council has opted to feature just two international speakers this time, given the level of interest in our respective arenas. Should make for an interesting and enlightening day.
Well, I can’t say I wasn’t warned.
Obviously, my posts were already running a few days behind—chalk that up to the combination of 6:00 a.m. wake ups and midnight returns to the hotel. Just wasn’t time to sit down at the computer.
After frantically trying to catch up on Hong Kong posts while en route to Beijing, then managing to get a few uploaded from the Westin immediately upon arrival, I woke up to a new reality the next morning. I was blocked. Not mentally—internet-ally (yup, just made that word up). While most of my bookmarked sites will open just fine, Blogspot now appears to be off limits. Try as I may several times, there’s no getting past the screen that says “access unavailable.” I was locked out of my own blog…
…and out of RetailSpeaks. I don’t just mean the site—I mean the entire URL, i.e., no email access either. According to the host company (emailed them using an unrelated account), the server is just fine and all systems are functional, so the problem is limited soley to my laptop here in Beijing. My apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by the lack of timely responses (especially since from your side, everything appeared functional).
Bummer. On both counts.
Editor’s note: Since access was blocked, the remaining China posts have been added from the States, still in chronological order, dated correctly.
Apparently “stationery” is open to interpretation. The selection of plastic balls shown here paled in comparison to the full selection inside…
…in spite of the “Printing matters” notation on the banner.
