With the help of the Myer team, we were able to visit with Amanda Lance, Vice President of Merchandising and her team to learn about the Li and Fung sourcing business. Li and Fung's global sourcing solutions have been established in China for 102 years and the company has a strong and extensive presence in the consumer goods industry, acting as a sourcing agent for some of Australia's biggest brands in the soft and hard goods areas. They have an amazing range of products which has been sourced in well over 40 countries across America, Europe and Asia, looking forward to expanding into Eastern Europe and South America.
The visit began as Amanda told us that through the current economic climate business has been quite good as retailers and brands are increasingly using their network to source products, rather than doing it themselves. The advantage in this is that Li & Fung can provide their customers with short lead time, small orders and spread larger orders across many factories to ensure delivery time is kept to. They have developed a unique map of production specialty across the Chinese region. They have found that different products are produced in a higher quality in different parts of China, and they source accordingly, giving them an advantage over brands and retailers that come into China without the local knowledge. Li & Fung have also found that the demand on products is shifting from that of a high-end product to a more value oriented product and many of their existing customers are placing higher priority on private label product development.
As a group, we then moved through the impressive office space and entered the showrooms, where Li & Fung account managers showcase the latest products and designs for potential and existing customers. This space was very impressive and a whole level was dedicated to mini shop-in-shop's for brands such as Coca-Cola and Disney. It was clear to us why Li and Fung would be an option for many retailers as the company shows a clear strength in a network of quality products chosen for specific retailers, together with a professional and efficient management processes.
The group in the Li and Fung fashion showroom
The latest seasons fashions on display
The group being shown around the merchandise shop-in-shops
