Herscovici fait d'la pub pour la fourrure canadienne

[Animal 0]

Herscovici fait d'la pub pour la fourrure canadienne jusqu'en CHINE !
SALOPARD !!!!!!!!!!!

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Courting Asian fur markets

Pappas Furs opens outlet in Richmond to better serve clientele
By Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, January 28, 2008

Pappas Furs is a family-run, Vancouver company that has been around since 1913.
It has long sold its Canadian backcountry furs in a no-man's-land spot where
downtown, Gastown and Chinatown meet.

Then, last year, it branched out into a whole other retail world when it opened
a store at shiny Aberdeen Centre in Richmond.

The company is mum on the topic, but the move to this Asian mall is clearly just
one in a series to court a growing group of Chinese customers, both local
residents and tourists.
The stigma attached to the fur industry by animal-rights activists has yet to
dampen Asian consumer enthusiasm, as evidenced by interest at the China Fur and
Leather Products Fair in Beijing earlier this month.View Larger Image View
Larger Image

"It wasn't an accident," said Alan Herscovici, executive vice- president at the
Fur Council of Canada, in a phone interview. "Quite a bit of Pappas' clientele
is in the Chinese community and [the company] chose Richmond to be closer and
better in serving them."

A strategic physical location is just one aspect of this. Media is another. Many
large B.C. companies aim to reach ethnic groups by advertising in multicultural
newspapers, radio and television. But not many of these companies are more
visible in this minority arena than they are in the mainstream.

Pappas is an exception. There was a time when it ran full-page ads in glossy
English-language magazines. In the last few years, however, it has reduced this
profile, even axing relatively limited visibility, including an ad in a Sutton
Place Hotel brochure and another promotion with Famous Players.

Animal-rights groups take credit for this, citing negative publicity generated
by their campaigns to highlight the cruelty associated with buying fur.

Flip the language switch, however, and Pappas hardly appears the shrinking
wallflower.

One Chinese-language radio station does regular live broadcasts from Pappas'
Richmond location. These are usually short marketing snippets where customers
are chattily interviewed about what they might purchase or why they like Pappas.

And before Christmas, Chinese-language newspapers such as Sing Tao carried a
stretch of Pappas ads.

A few times a year, word gets out via these outlets about Pappas' special
events. The company will, for example, rent out meeting rooms at various
Richmond hotels such as the Radisson on Cambie Road, for big one-day sales
events or VIP fashion shows.

Constantine Pappas, president and son of the company's founder, Ted Pappas,
declined to be interviewed for this story, but said briefly that sales and
traffic in these few weeks before Chinese New Year on Feb. 7 are as brisk as the
pre-Christmas season. "These are the two busiest times of year for us," said
Pappas.

Herscovici at the Fur Council of Canada, which represents retailers and
manufacturers across Canada, said that Pappas' store at Aberdeen Centre fits
into an extended history of selling Canadian furs to a Chinese market, one that
dates back to 19th century cross-Pacific trade.

"These are old stories. These trade routes are not that new," he said.

He also said that these days his council is heavily involved in promoting the
cachet of high-end Canadian furs in China. In some ways, this, and Pappas'
Aberdeen outpost in Richmond, for that matter, may seem foolhardy considering
that China has become a major producer of furs.

However, he explained, "there is a growing luxury segment in China that doesn't
want to wear Chinese-made, mass-market furs. We will target these buyers with
very expensive, wild furs from Canada that are seen as different, more unique.
C'EST CE QU'ON APPÈLE LE LIBRE-ÉCHANGE: ON LEUR ENVOIENT NOS PEAUX D'OURS, LOUPS, RENARDS, VISONS, CASTORS ETC. ET ILS NOUS REFILENT LEURS PEAUX DE CHATS ET DE CHIENS


It's a way of selling coals to Newcastle."

Pappas isn't involved with the council in China, but if this campaign trickles
into the mindset of an ever-mobile group of Chinese tourists, immigrants and
long-time residents flowing through Aberdeen Centre in Richmond, the company
could benefit.