Ko Tak Lee bounced back from tough times to be a success in the quartz watches business
Ko Tak Lee Industrial Company, a veteran manufacturer of quartz watches, has bounced back energetically from difficult times to open a new modern factory block to replace in Shenzhen to replace to old factory earlier this year.
Staying on top of the market, through good times and the bad since its inception in 1983, is no easy feat for Ko Tak Lee Industrial Company, a veteran maker of quartz watches, clock and time pieces packaging.
Recalling how the company was confronted with competitive pressures from China not so long ago, its marketing manager Mr. Carleton Chan said: "Sole proprietors from the mainland were operating with very low overheads and they turn out cheap quartz watches rapidly to follow up the latest trend. In order to maintain the business and catch up the new market. Otherwise, we may lose our reliable customers.
"The situation put us on a high alert, but fortunately, we believe in making business happen, so we came up with very effective rescue measures and implemented them to recover lost territory and gain new business."
How did Ko Tak Lee pull off a challenge that left lesser enterprises in a lurch? The first pro-active step it took was product innovation to offer customers so much value that it made emulation impossible for its competitors.
Mr. Chan explained: "First of all, our new designs were geared towards enhancing the multi-functionality of products by incorporating a vast range of new features in them. Having studied market and sales trends, we decided to introduce stylish designs, including those inspired by the cyber theme, to grab customers' attention in what has become a saturated market."
Diversification efforts were undertaken simultaneously, whereby the company started moving into the production of gift sets, envelop openers, jewelries, earrings, key-holders and other premium gift items to spread business risk.
"Other measures taken were aimed at upgrading overall product quality, but this calls for additional investment in technology. But Ko Tak Lee will never add this extra expense on the costs of products to maintain the most competitive prices. Therefore, we can always offer the best quality products with most reasonable prices.
"Apart from strict quality control to ensure our capability of producing top-notch products for the market, we also improved our follow-up sales service and on-time execution of delivery schedules."
The results of such a major overhaul speak for themselves. Presently, the company's production capacity has reached 700,000 pieces a month, to fulfill overwhelming OEM and ODM orders from overseas clients as far as the United States and several Middle East countries.
Now that Ko Tak Lee is turning in a respectable profit margin, it has invested in a new factory in Shenzhen, which opened earlier this year, bringing the number of its wholly-owned factories to two. 400 skilled workers and professionals are on the company's payroll.
Drawing lessons from its survival of tough times, the company, as Mr. Chan emphasized, will "continue to be highly alert about market changes, particularly the competitive situation, so that we will be able to adapt our business focus and operations from time to time to profit from the new reality."
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