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Dankotuwa
Porcelain shines more with niche marketing
Gets
mega deal to produce Kelly Hoppen table-ware design for top UK store
BHS
Dankotuwa
Porcelain PLC has been selected to produce a Kelly Hoppen table-ware
design for British Home Stores (BHS), a top UK Store.
Dankotuwa which has moved away from mass produced items to service
niche markets has become a preferred manufacturer for these specialty
designs.
“It is impossible to compete on price with large scale manufacturers
in Asia whose unit production cost are much less than ours,”
Dankotuwa Porcelain Chairman Sunil Wijesinha said.
He added that the Company has gradually revamped its strategy to
produce small lots for niche markets, at short lead times, rather
than volume markets at lower prices. While manufacturers in countries
with cheap natural gas such as, Bangladesh and Thailand cater to
mass markets with competitive prices, Dankotuwa is becoming recognized
as a niche market manufacturer.
“We are delighted in getting the order to make a Kelly Hoppen
design for BHS” said Mr. Wijesinha, adding though that logistics
in catering to small orders in a large variety is difficult and
needs a very high level of management efficiency.
Kelly Hoppen is a world renowned British interior Designer whose
work has been featured in News papers and magazines across the globe.
She has been designing apartments, houses, yachts, and interiors
for hotels, restaurants, Office and Air Crafts. In July 2007 Kelly
Hoppen won the Top Euro Award for Women. Dankotuwa won this particular
order through their UK Agent Fairmont and Main, who was also instrumental
in getting Dankotuwa products into the famous London store Selfridges.
Philip Harrison of Fairmont and Main says that Dankotuwa was selected
mainly because of the superior quality of their white ware and their
high competency in handling complicated designs. Dankotuwa has earned
a lot of respect for its design capability and had recently come
out with innovations such as a new kind of Gold decorations which
has to be polished after firing.
Exporting 85% of its products to overseas markets, Dankotuwa is
gradually branding its products and hopes to reach a level very
soon where 50% of its products would be branded. “Catering
to the mass market is very much easier,” Mr. Wijesinha said
adding though that mass market prices are lower and with the escalating
costs of energy and labour there is no other option but to shift
to high value added segment catering to smaller markets.
In the good old days says Wijesinha “we would have only perhaps
four designs in one container, but today our overseas customers
want about 10 designs in one container. Earlier the whole sellers
and even retailers would keep several months of stocks, but today
because of the volatility of the market no one wants to risk holding
large stocks. This naturally results in smaller quantities, a wider
variety at higher frequencies.”
Dankotuwa has the widest range amongst Sri Lankan manufacturers
and has shapes and designs for every taste.
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