Why When Thais See A Business Doing Well....?

[richieudon]

My friend recently moved back up country from Phuket where she worked for many years as a masseuse.

I live in a fairly large town which only had one massage shop which was always busy and was about 1kms outside.

I urged my friend to open a new one in town as I reckoned it would do pretty well.

She did just that. I obviously told all my friends to try it and after a short period of time she was really busy, having to hire a few more girls.

Low and behold 6 months later there are now 8 massage shops in total all within a 1kms radius.

Now my friend is thinking of shutting down as business is not so good and I feel bad for encouraging her.

This seems to happen a lot in Thailand... or maybe it's all over the world and I haven't noticed?

The main road at the bottom of my soi had 1 convenience store last year, now it has 5 and all selling the same items..

There's also the main highways which often you'll see a whole stretch of road selling the same things. I know maybe it's because people in that area are all growing the same things but would that be the case for selling gai yang every 50 metres for a few kms...?

[elliss]

human nature, people see a succesful buisness and they think ,i can do that the same has happened in udon . before only a few bars ,all doing well.

farang see , and think , i can do that , resulting in too many bars.

and not enough customers . :jap:

[bkkjames]

Look at Sukhumvit Soi 8 for a good example of this. Instead of opening a business that might compliment one of the 8 massage places available in 300 meters, they open more massage and all sit there on the steps wondering why mai mee farang.

[apetley]

Come to Kanchanaburi and look at the hundreds of disco rafts floating there doing absolutely f*** all.

Years ago the guy who had the first one probably had a good year.

Now every one is lucky to rent theirs out once or twice a month.

No idea what the reason is, lack of imagination(copy copy copy), lack of opportunity, who knows

[maccaroni man]

original thinking is not a strong attribute in asia, it is known for being good at copying. I put it on the school system.

[rgs2001uk]

Look at Sukhumvit Soi 8 for a good example of this. Instead of opening a business that might compliment one of the 8 massage places available in 300 meters, they open more massage and all sit there on the steps wondering why mai mee farang.

Try talking a walk up Suk soi 4 towards the Ibis hotel, massages on offer for 400 baht per hour, yeah right, and they also wonder why they have no customers.

The only ones getting rich are the landlords.

[wandrinstar]

And Mobile Phone Shops, Rice Merchant,the latest thing is Doggie Preening,for those Bog Brush Dogs that cant walk.Do you get a Free Legless Dog with every Fortuna and every Bulbous 4x4 you buy.?.

[floridaguy]

I think the copying is capitalism pure and simple. They say imitation is the purest form of flattery. I think your lady should buy up all the shops and just shuttle the girls back and forth between customers.

Come to Kanchanaburi and look at the hundreds of disco rafts floating there doing absolutely f*** all.

Years ago the guy who had the first one probably had a good year.

Now every one is lucky to rent theirs out once or twice a month.

No idea what the reason is, lack of imagination(copy copy copy), lack of opportunity, who knows

I hate those boats. They go from about 7 am until midnight. I rented a quiet little bungalow right on the river outside of town. Quiet for stretches of 20 minutes between boats. The music was so loud it shook the windows and mirrors in the room, and the bed. Wait, I think that was something else....

I will never do that again.

[Xircal]

I think your friend has to try and adapt her business to suit the circumstances she now finds herself in. For example pay for two massage sessions, get one free. Or maybe half price between certain hours which are usually slack.

I daresay that will be copied too, but initially, she should be able to increase business for a while.

Edited December 9, 2010 by Xircal

[brd]

Amazingly in Amazing Amazing Thailand no one likes any one, farang or not, to be making money as all of them have to be part of to share with any money pouring in with hard sweat. This is an exclusive right to be capitalist reserved to a number of ruling Thai Families.......why in Chaweng beach not that large road, Koh Samui as an example you have nearly 20 or more opticians paying high monthly rents, etc...etc.... a cash economy where no one makes more than 20,000 THB per month otherwise if above risking to have to pay taxes and none saying business is good..........out of 67 millions Thai population only 4.3% nationals pay income taxes.......

[TheWalkingMan]

I asked a Thai person about this. She said that when Thai people see a business doing well, they think... That's a good idea and open a shop. Even if there are many places doing the same thing, they think that it is a good idea.

Lack of creativity.

TheWalkingMan

[MSingh]

Original thinking & SE Asia do not go hand in hand..

Isn't Thailand virtually known ( amongst other things ) as the Land of Copies anyway ??

[rgs2001uk]

Original thinking & SE Asia do not go hand in hand..

Isn't Thailand virtually known ( amongst other things ) as the Land of Copies anyway ??

Here was me thinking it was actually the hub of copies.

[Sabre]

It's called competition folks and it's a healthy, natural and vital element of capitalism.

If you're having a hard time getting customers it's because you are failing to differentiate yourself from your competition.

And it has nothing at all to do with being Thai or farang ...

[richieudon]

It's called competition folks and it's a healthy, natural and vital element of capitalism.

If you're having a hard time getting customers it's because you are failing to differentiate yourself from your competition.

And it has nothing at all to do with being Thai or farang ...

But if you saw a street full of greengrocers would you open another one?

Maybe you could sell better produce and undercut people but I don't see that.

Personally I wouldn't but I do see it here. It's most likely someone would open another greengrocers selling the same produce from the same suppliers at the same price, that's my point really.

[wandrinstar]

It's called competition folks and it's a healthy, natural and vital element of capitalism.

If you're having a hard time getting customers it's because you are failing to differentiate yourself from your competition.

And it has nothing at all to do with being Thai or farang ...

But if you saw a street full of greengrocers would you open another one?

Maybe you could sell better produce and undercut people but I don't see that.

Personally I wouldn't but I do see it here. It's most likely someone would open another greengrocers selling the same produce from the same suppliers at the same price, that's my point really.

A Nation of Shopkeepers.Perhaps..?.

[Ulysses G.]

Westerners do the same thing when they are not restricted by government regulations. There are tons of the same old non-profitable businesses in the tourist ghettos of Thailand and yet newbies keep coming along and opening the same exact things.

[Thaddeus]

Scenario One

Any busy town center in the UK, you have a fish and chip shop, you have a kebab shop, you have a pizza place, you have an Indian takeaway and maybe a McD's.

You want to start a business, what do you do? copy one of the others or do something different?

Well, anyone with a grain of common sense would do something different, fried chicken or whatever. And as long as you don't cause a bout of food poisoning, it'll be ok and you will have successfully removed that option for any other start-up.

Scenario Two

A half kilometer stretch of road in Thailand and every single stall sells watermelons, just watermelons. One bright spark has an idea and adds fried chicken, does blisteringly good business with the chicken and sells a few more melons to boot. Within a month every single stall sells watermelons and fried chicken.

[DP25]

Seen it lots of countries, especially in Asia. They'll have areas or streets for certain products.

[TheWalkingMan]

Not in Thailand.

I have seen some malls advertising empty restaurant space and sometimes within the advert it would say something like, "any type of restaurant except xxxx and xxxx." Apparently, the mall operators are trying to keep a good selection for the people to choose from.

In one area of Japan, during the winter season (I think) every shop and its daddy are selling the same fish. Rows and rows of fish drying in the sunshine.

TheWalkingMan

[DP25]

Scenario One

Any busy town center in the UK, you have a fish and chip shop, you have a kebab shop, you have a pizza place, you have an Indian takeaway and maybe a McD's.

You want to start a business, what do you do? copy one of the others or do something different?

Well, anyone with a grain of common sense would do something different, fried chicken or whatever. And as long as you don't cause a bout of food poisoning, it'll be ok and you will have successfully removed that option for any other start-up.

Any food court in Thailand you'll have a guay thio stall, a khao man gai stall, a rad na stall, a curry stall, a Muslim stall, etc. It's not like a food court will have only 15 ba mee stalls, they usually all have somewhat different stuff.

In rural areas it's common for the stands in a stretch to often sell the same thing. Go to CA and you might see a strawberry stand, then another strawberry stand, then another and another...

[Thaddeus]

Scenario One

Any busy town center in the UK, you have a fish and chip shop, you have a kebab shop, you have a pizza place, you have an Indian takeaway and maybe a McD's.

You want to start a business, what do you do? copy one of the others or do something different?

Well, anyone with a grain of common sense would do something different, fried chicken or whatever. And as long as you don't cause a bout of food poisoning, it'll be ok and you will have successfully removed that option for any other start-up.

Any food court in Thailand you'll have a guay thio stall, a khao man gai stall, a rad na stall, a curry stall, a Muslim stall, etc. It's not like a food court will have only 15 ba mee stalls, they usually all have somewhat different stuff.

Fine, but they are controlled by a person or persons who understand that variety is required, and we are not talking about food courts anyway.

[Newguy70]

The lower the startup , the quicker it will get copied (material costs, and labor are pretty cheap).. She could keep the shop and try to take it a step up, maybe offer something most do not with the service( Free bottled water, LCD's showing thai or korean soaps, the list goes on , and on)....

You do not see this as often in the states as the rents are too high, thus the overhead is not easily covered.

Hope it works out

:jap:

[whybother]

Anyone ever been to "James Bond Island" in Phang Nga?

A tiny little beach with about 20 stalls on it. Every one of them is selling exactly the same thing.

[Thaddeus]

Anyone ever been to "James Bond Island" in Phang Nga?

A tiny little beach with about 20 stalls on it. Every one of them is selling exactly the same thing.

Replica Golden Guns and Solex Agitators?

[surayu]

That's the "Double A" syndrome, copy-copy-copy-copy.......the trick to stay ahead is to be competitive and offer something that would entice your potential customers in choosing your business rather then the ones next door, it's not easy but not impossible either, as soon you will find something that works, then the copycats will start doing the same as you, if they can and without all the "research" you had to do, so you will have to restart looking for a new way for attracting them back again if however your "competitors" are not in a position to copy you anymore, the scenario might all of a sudden complitely change, as they might eventually decide to A) Try to extort money from you, or B )Just to kill you so business will start to flourish again.....

Edit: added ""

Re-Edit: the text transformed itself in an emoticon, re-added B )

Edited December 10, 2010 by surayu

[kurnell]

Does this mean we are going to be inundated with doughnuts?

[MAJIC]

Unfortunately there is a lack of forethought and business planning,and no assessment of business potential and projections.

One dosnt need a Degee in Economics to work out that.....1 Shop in a particular area gets 100% of the profits while 4 Shops together will take 25% of the profits each,or some will take more than the others,maybe because theres a nice looking female in one,or some other reason,but too many in one area or next door to each other will eventually mean Bankruptsy for some.

Another reason for business failure is not understanding the difference between Stock money and Profits,so the business is reducing stock, only to end up with very little on the shelf,so not much to sell = not many customers.

Seen it many times.

Edited December 10, 2010 by MAJIC

[Spee]

Think of it positively as a sign of a vibrant local economy. Not so good for your friend perhaps, but then if she wants to be a successful business person, she has to learn how to retain existing business and compete for new business. It's easy to make money if you are the sole provider of a desired product. It's not quite so easy when there is competition.

[lannarebirth]

It's called competition folks and it's a healthy, natural and vital element of capitalism.

If you're having a hard time getting customers it's because you are failing to differentiate yourself from your competition.

And it has nothing at all to do with being Thai or farang ...

Actually it's called "supply side economics" and is born of unequal distributions of wealth.