posted by Chris @ Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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Yesterday's Post Magazine reprinted an article from The Guardian (Listen now, pay never) about "free" music. Artists have to find new ways of generating revenue (see Free doesn't mean worthless), and ad-supported websites probably aren't the answer.
Stupid choices - the Rugby Sevens in high definition (on Jade HD), but with no English commentary, or with a fuzzy picture and an English commentary on Pearl. Why couldn't TVB arrange for an English soundtrack to be available on Jade HD?
When I lived in the UK, I used to enjoy eating in Chinese restaurants. Well, how was I to know that it wasn't real Chinese food? By the same token, eating so-called "Western" food in Hong Kong is generally a fairly painful experience
Hong Kong's digital terrestrial TV isn't as bad as I had been led to believe. So what about Now TV HD? Well, it's not very good, I'm afraid to say.
After the deaths of two young children from influenza in Hong Kong at the start of this month, the government instructed all primary schools and kindergartens to close. Ordinary influenza kills quite significant numbers of people every year, and of course the very young, very old, and chronically ill are much more vulnerable. The risks can be reduced by taking simple precautions, but does it make any sense to close all schools during the flu season? Clearly not.
The government has given the go-ahead for the so-called "Sha Tin to Central Link". When this was first announced it was going to be a new railway line from Tai Wai (in Sha Tin district), via Hung Hom, to Central. You might not realize this from newspaper reports, but it has become two separate extensions to existing lines - the Ma On Shan line will be extended south to Hung Hom, and East Rail will be extended south to Admiralty (but not Central, or at least not yet).
No scaremongering in the SCMP today (Flu fight recalls dark days of Sars). Except that isn't an epidemic at all, just the normal flu - and no need to start mentioning SARS.
MusicXS - what's the point of that, then?
There's a full page ad for MusicXS in the SCMP today, so I thought I would check it out. It's a music download service, but you can only listen to the music for as long as you maintain your subscription - and you're out of luck if you wanted to listen on your iPod or any other MP3 player. Well, thanks very much, Smartone-Vodafone.
Hong Kong digital TV - not too bad
I am rather surprised by this, but I think I have to report that digital tv in Hong Kong isn't as bad as some people have suggested.
posted by Chris @ Monday, March 31, 2008
More wise words on the Interweb from an SCMP reader who wants the government to set up an authority to monitor the internet and delete obscene material. Well, good luck with deleting material from the Internet...
As clear as the pictures on Cable TV
The Standard reports that "a pay tv operator" wants to be allowed to re-transmit the digital channels on its network. Which sounds like a good idea, except the picture quality on both Now TV & Cable TV both leave a lot to be desired. It's also hard to see why TVB would want to prevent their channels being re-broadcast when surely this can only bring in more viewers. What can they possibly lose by allowing this? Mind you, it's the sort of strange thing that is always happening here in the "world's freest economy".
Amazingly, the "nude photos scandal" is still front page news in Hong Kong newspapers. The latest non-news is that Edison Chen has admitted he did take the photographs, and also announced that he will quit showbusiness "indefinitely". Beats me how that is worth more than a few paragraphs in a gossip column, but the SCMP has given the story half of the front page of the main paper and all of the front page of the city section, and most of page 3 as well. And not for the first time, either.
It's progress of a sort, but it's no use to those us who live outside the UK. The BBC is going to start selling downloads of shows through the UK iTunes store. Unfortunately, those of us who don't live in the UK, and therefore couldn't watch these shows on TV (and can't record them), and who cannot access the iPlayer, will now also not be able to download the shows. Thee BBC shows are only available from the UK iTunes store, and anyway there is no iTunes store in Hong Kong.
Today the Hong Kong Observatory lowered the "cold weather warning" that has been in force for more than 3 weeks. In the past I have been rather scornful about this, but frankly it really has been quite cold for the last few weeks. The problem is that apartments in Hong Kong really aren't designed for cold weather (wooden floor, thin walls, single-glazed windows...), and some people feel an odd compulsion to open the windows just so that everyone knows that it's winter. Shut the windows!! Buy a heater! Switch it on!
The problem with Talkback (the SCMP's 2nd letter column) is that they clearly don't have enough material, and so they will print almost anything, however muddled or irrelevant. Yesterday there was a marvellous example on the subject of the dodgy photos "scandal" from someone suggesting that "All website owners wishing to display any obscene material in Hong Kong should have to register first. These registered websites would have to indicate clearly that they contained indecent material, so that people were alerted and did not enter the sites unawares." I don't know where to start. What can you do with someone who thinks that Hong Kong can control or censor what goes on the Interweb? Ban the Interweb, that's what I say.
The funniest story of the moment has to be the one about appearance on the Interweb of some, er, candid photographs featuring several Hong Kong pop stars. It's even made it to The Guardian (Film star sex scandal causes internet storm in China). Fortunately the police have acted with commendable speed to deal with this serious crime, and have apparently traced the technician in a PC repair shop who found the photographs on a computer and then uploaded them. Now they just have to figure out which serious crime he may have committed.
Has the Premier League gone mad? They have apparently decided that what they really need is an extra 10 extra games added to the season, and to play them overseas in January (Top clubs consider overseas games). So, in the middle of the season, players will have to travel thousands of miles to play one game at a neutral venue, and then travel back to England to continue the season. Good thinking.
Spike's column in BC Magazine this week muses on one possible reason why HD-DVD & Blu-Ray have failed to take off - namely that if VCDs are popular (which they are here), picture and sound quality can't be that important, and few people will want to pay extra for something better than DVD.
posted by Chris @ Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tau Tiul Yat Bow has a very simple concept - take the top story from HK Headline News (a free Chinese language newspaper) and translate the headline into English
The SCMP likes to think it is a serious important newspaper. In truth it's a local newspaper that prints lots of agency stories. And 'Talkback' is filled up with trivial complaints such as one today about Plaza Hollywood branch of ParknShop, not delivering someone's groceries.
I have no idea what to make of the Hong Kong stock market. In the last few weeks it seems to have become routine for the HSI to go up or down by hundreds of points for no reason at all, so in response to a general fall in stock markets all over the world, it wasn't all that surprising that it contrived to fall by 2,000 points (8%). 
That means the index has fallen by 14% in two days. Yes, the prospect of a recession in the US is a worry, but is the average Hong Kong company really worth 14% less tonight than it was on Sunday night? Don't think so.
About a week ago, I came across a strange story about a pair of twins getting married. I think it first surfaced on the BBC website (Parted-at-birth twins 'married') - where the use of inverted commas around the last word indicated that it was not a verified fact. This all seemed a bit too much like an urban myth - and hats off to Heresy Corner, a blog that has established it is was indeed fiction.
Some people get very excited about announcements from Apple. I don't. However, Apple TV may be quite a significant development. It seems to me that rather than a battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, what we are really seeing is a 3-way battle - the different flavours of DVD vs. illegal downloads vs. legal downloads. For the last of the three. the concept of Apple TV seems exactly right - thousands of movies and TV shows that can be downloaded to a small box to watch on TV, and no horrible computer.
This really is the gift that keeps on giving... I thought Newcastle's board were going to spoil the fun when they said that they would take their time finding a manager and might consider appointing a foreigner. Gérard Houllier was mentioned, and then Didier Deschamps was suddenly installed as favourite. They even turned down Alan Shearer's bid for the job. So far, so good. Then last night they announced (drum roll) that, er, Kevin Keegan is returning as manager.
I see that Harry Redknapp somehow managed to resist the temptation of a few months up on Tyneside followed by the inevitable departure "by mutual consent". Makes you wonder why they were in such a hurry to sack Allardyce if they didn't have a replacement lined up.
Yet another Premier League manager has been fired, and once again it is by 'mutual consent', as if that meant anything
Most of the products that are exported from China to Europe go by boat. Yes, some go by air, but that's an expensive option. Yesterday an agreement was signed to set up a regular freight train service that will take 18 days to get from Beijing to Hamburg, less than half the time it takes by sea.
Two recent studies say that drinking moderately is good for you (and that exercise helps a lot). The first survey also concludes that it's OK to be overweight as long as you eat your sprouts. The second survey is specifically about heart disease, and shows that moderate drinking and exercise both lower the risk of heart disease.
posted by Chris @ Thursday, January 31, 2008
One of the headlines on the front page of today's SCMP is Kevin Sinclair dies after long battle with cancer. John Diamond, another journalist who was killed by cancer, had something to say about the way that the disease is presented in this clichéd way by lazy journalists
Astonishing advice in Friday's SCMP - if you get junk mail, make an "unsubscribe" request to the message sender. That's the very last thing you want to do!
I like to think of myself as rational and logical. Sadly, the world is full of people who believe that all sorts of stupid things are true, and usually these untruths are not only repeated but they are reinforced by doctors, and other people we tend to believe. The Guardian reports on this (Heard the one about reading in dim light being bad for your eyes? It's just a myth).
There's a bizarre story on the front-page of the SCMP today about Lee Shau-kee's market predictions, complete with a lovely graph - that shows that all of Mr Lee's predictions have turned out to be, er, rubbish.
If you ask for a "doggy bag" at the end of your delicious Cantonese meal, the chances are that the waiter (or maybe one of the diners) will pick up a pair of chopsticks, turn them around, and use them to put the food into the take-away container.
OK, so you've probably avoided getting someone else's saliva on the food, but let's think about where the hands (that were holding the chopsticks) might have been.
No, on second thoughts, let's not.
Another few words of wisdom from my desk calendar, this time for the Rooster.
I see that my esteemed colleague Ulaca is recommending Jasmine (a Chinese restaurant in Festival Walk) to unsuspecting readers. I don't agree.
I found this in the 'In Brief' section of today's SCMP:
Wasps sting six hikers
Six hikers from two separate groups were attacked by wasps in Tai Lam Country Park yesterday. They were stung on their heads and hands. Police said a group of three men and two women were hiking near Ho Pui Reservoir at about noon when the wasps suddenly appeared and stung them. At the same time, a group of nine hikers were also attacked by wasps.
Business Week report that Blu-Ray may have the upper hand in its battle with HD-DVD. I hope this is all irrelevant. I don't want to pay HK$250 for a DVD, even if it's high-definition. Rather than wasting money on a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player you can buy a device that could be linked directly to a home network so that you can play DVDs, music and downloaded films on your TV, as well as recording TV to watch later. It seems like a no-brainer to me.
I see that Fumier is back, back, back. Same old nonsense, but this time the old cheapskate is on Blogger.
My worst fears about Graeme Souness, Joe Royle and Peter Reid turning up in the Premier League seem not to have been realized. On the contrary, we even had Derby seriously considering Paul Ince, which would have been an encouraging development - but they finally settled on Paul Jewell.
Before Sunday's by-election, Lau Nai-keung wrote that Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee - backed by the pro-Beijing camp - can count on 140,000 vote "and a turnout of below 280,000 - or 47 per cent - would mean defeat for Anson Chan Fang On-sang, who has the backing of the pro-democracy camp. The logic is so simple that it almost defies further analysis". In fact, Regina Ip, somehow contrived to get only 137,550 votes. If we accept the figure of 140,000 "cast iron" votes for pro-Beijing candidates, she somehow managed to misplace 2,500 of them. Hardly a success story.
Honey and Lemon really does work
As a child, I was always taught that lemon and honey was a good remedy for coughs, sore throats and colds (or URTI as they know seem to be known). Big drug companies spend fortunes trying to persuade us to buy their various concoctions, and yet it seems that honey is as good, if not better, than the stuff they want to sell us
It's always interesting when 'science fiction' turns into reality ('Aggressive but safe' SUV wins robotic street race).
A high-profile by-election in which the two main candidates are former civil servants (Democracy woman wins HK poll as the BBC rather strangely puts it). How exciting is that? In other places it might be a TV or film star, or at least a big-name politician, but not in Hong Kong. No, we get two former civil servants, though admittedly both are very well-known.
Today is Rail Merger Day. The government has engineered a deal whereby the MTR (which used to be government-owned but is now a public company, albeit still controlled by the government), will operate the railway services and manage the property of the KCR (which is still government-owned). That means that all the rail services in Hong Kong are run by the MTR. Well, apart from the train that goes round the outside of Disneyland, I suppose.
posted by Chris @ Wednesday, December 26, 2007
I can't help smiling at this story. Firstly, that Wigan should want Steve Bruce as their manager, after his earlier stint lasted 7 weeks, and secondly that the deal should be held up because of a dispute about, er, image rights.
It's a feature of England qualifying campaigns. There will always be a stage where England appear to have blown it, followed by a reprieve caused (at least in part) by another team.
I just noticed that the very first post here was exactly 4 years ago. I should really have given Ulaca a plug before now, but I didn't quite get round to it. Somewhat in the Hemlock style, with a bit of Fumier thrown in.
When I was first in Hong Kong, I remember looking out of my hotel window one evening and thinking to myself that I needed to wear a jacket when I went out. Well, I felt a bit cold, and it seemed logical that it would be cool in the evening. Somehow my brain hadn't registered that the reason I felt cold was that the chambermaids always turn the temperature down to the minimum when they clean the room. Of course it was actually hot and humid outside, as I soon discovered.
Things have changed somwhat in the world of televised football in the last 20 years. This week the BBC and Sky have agreed to pay £88m per season for rights to the Football League, Carling Cup and Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Clearly that's a lot less than the Premier League deal (and slightly less than ITV Digital agreed to pay in 2001), but I don't think anyone could have imagined 20 or so years ago that broadcasters would pay even a fraction of that for rights to the 2nd, 3rd & 4th Divisions, the Milk Cup and the Freight Rover Trophy (as they then were).
Has the law been changed? Is it OK for newspapers to tell us who committed a crime long before it even gets to court? Are people no longer presumed to be innocent until they're proven guilty? Yes, it's the SCMP (Spiderman scales block to stab ex-girlfriend). Normally these stories are written with a modicum of care, so as to strongly imply who must have been responsible, without actually spelling it out.
I see that the government is auctioning off more 'vanity plates'. Is there any better way of saying "I am a plonker" than paying good money to have your own personalized number plate? Not that I'm complaining - as a taxpayer, I have to approve, and as a bonus it always gives me a laugh when I see one of these idiots driving around.
It seems that Leicester fans may have been celebrating prematurely when Gary Megson left. The BBC reports that Leicester have interviewed Joe Royle, Peter Reid and Graeme Souness for the manager's job and the appointment could be made by Saturday. When I wondered why Peter Reid wasn't on the shortlist for the Ireland job, I was trying to be ironic.
One thing that annoyed me about all the advertising for Now's Mega Sports Pack was that it was far from clear what was on offer. Well, now we know, and it is somewhat better than expected. However, the picture quality is very variable. For all the talk about SD & HD (standard and high definition), the reality is that only a few games seem to be available in what I would describe as SD, and the rest of the coverage is very fuzzy on a large screen (perhaps that's why they give away 9" football-shaped TVs).
More nonsense in the SCMP today - the headline is "Losses from pay TV piracy down 15pc with use of secure network" but it turns out that there are just as many people "stealing" cable signals, but they would have paid less this year because Cable TV have cut their charges. That isn't quite the impression you might get from the headline or the comments about IPTV.
What is a computer? Why do we have "computers" when actually what many people need is one or more consumer devices (or "appliances") that do a fairly limited number of things (such as web surfing, playing games, watching movies, and word processing) as painlessly as possible, and without having to worry about viruses and upgrading operating systems and other assorted nonsense.
posted by Chris @ Friday, November 30, 2007
What I want to know is this. Is it possible to wear a bluetooth headset on a semi-permanent basis and not look like a complete idiot?
One of the more enduring mysteries in football is how certain managers seem to pop up time and again in spite of their conspicuous lack of success. Graeme Souness, for example, who was interviewed for the job of Bolton manager (but pulled out). Personally, I think he should stick to being a football pundit, and I suspect that fans of Liverpool, Blackburn, and Newcastle (amongst others) would agree.
ATV World are showing Heston Blumenthal's series In Search of Perfection on Tuesday nights. I've only watched one so far, but it was a wonderfully bizarre program. The recipe (which appears in modified form in The Times) calls for mass-produced sliced white bread to make toast-flavoured water. Not an ingredient that I'd ever have considered. I guess he knows what he's doing, but eccentric doesn't even begin to describe his approach to food.
Just over a year ago I mentioned that the BBC would be launching several new channels in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Those channels (BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle & CBeebies) are now available in Hong Kong, but apparently that's only the start of it, and The Guardian reports that BBC Worldwide is to launch a further 30 channels internationally, as well as a high-definition outlet and an on-demand service in the United States, as part of the next stage of its aggressive expansion plan. I hadn't heard about the 21 new channels, let alone the 30 more. That would be the Doctor Who channel, the Top Gear channel, the Michael Palin channel, and so on, I presume.
Free stuff, absolutely no catch
It seems as if it's impossible to sign up for a credit card or a pay-tv or broadband service - or almost anything which requires a long-term contract - without getting a free gift. Banks give stuff away if you meet certain criteria (my favourite current offer is the one gives you a free plane ticket if you invest a minimum of HK$5m. As if someone with that sort of money is desperate for an economy class ticket - yes, you heard that right - to London...).
Changing a fuse should be easy, right? Not in my kitchen, it isn't. Fuses are designed to blow if there is a problem, and it is supposed to be very easy to replace them. Isn't it? Well, replacing the fuse is easy, of course, but to get at the plug you need to pull the appliance right out. Each appliance has its own purpose-built slot, so you can't easily get hold of them - or move them from side-to-side - to ease them out. The fridge is huge and almost impossible to move, and of course washing machines are deliberately designed to be very heavy. OK, so the microwave is a bit easier.
I went into to a stationery shop to buy a toner cartridge for my printer. A thimble-full of ink for only HK$100 - thanks very much, people who design printers. What amused me was that the shop had used plastic ties in an attempt to prevent customers from stealing these hugely over-priced items.
Help! I think I'm running out of time in the day to listen to all the podcasts I download. Football Weekly (from The Guardian) is now twice a week, and the BBC has started to offer many more shows, including the News Quiz, the Jonathan Ross show, and even The Archers. As luck would have it, I can just about keep up, in because Danny Baker's All Day Breakfast Show (ADBS) is temporarily on hold.
Another one of those surveys that seem to work wonders in getting free publicity. It was in Friday's Independent London's public transport is world's best (no, really) and Sunday's SCMP London ranked above HK in transport poll as well. "A survey that voted London as having the best public transport system in the world has been greeted with disbelief in Hong Kong - which ranked fifth."
End of the geek affair? I think not
Apple have come in for a lot of criticism recently over the iPhone. First for reducing the price so soon after launching it, and then for issuing firmware updates that have done bad things to phones if people did naughty things that Apple didn't like. Jack Schofield in The Guardian wonders if the iPhone could mark the end of the geek affair with Apple.
If you move from the UK to Hong Kong, many things about driving can seem very familiar (driving on the left, road signs and markings, etc.). This can be deceptive. One obvious difference is that in the UK (and many other countries), on-street parking is allowed everywhere except where there are restrictions (normally indicated by yellow or red lines). In Hong Kong, it is prohibited (on all roads with street lighting) except where it is specifically allowed. Yellow lines are used to indicate whether you are allowed to stop, rather than (as in the UK) when you can park.
More top quality sub-editing from the SCMP (a couple of weeks ago). Was 'hapless' really an appropriate adjective to choose in the headline to a story about a clerical worker, who was killed yesterday trying to help his girlfriend, who had fallen unconscious after an electric shock while taking a bath.
The TV preview section in this week's Post Magazine makes a rather rash assumption. NHK & BBC make programmes in High Definition (HD). TVB broadcast these programmes. Person in Hong Kong buys HD TV. Person in Hong Kong is able to watch these programmes in HD. Well, no they can't. TVB and Pearl hope to start HD transmissions later this year, and only in selected areas. Until then, you'll be out of luck.
posted by Chris @ Wednesday, October 31, 2007
In the Barrels, Shooting & Fish department, we have this latest "sponsored feature" in the Sunday Post, demonstrating that it's not necessary to write adverts in English:
In a breakthrough innovation for the concept of Suzuki cars successful integration into innovative thinking, pioneering global strategy of the model range, the orientation of successful launch since 2005 Grand Vitara, Swift and SX4 to be more clearly revealed. All car enthusiasts welcomed by the lead Suzuki promoted to the three major brands, significant sales growth plus received numerous awards.
Or to put it another way - we sold more vehicles than those losers at Mazda and Nissan, but we couldn't be bothered to hire a copywriter who knew English.
I have to admit that I'm still intrigued by Oasis. Here's an interesting quote (in The Australian):
Stephen Miller, chief executive of Oasis, said: "Where are traditional carriers most vulnerable? They are vulnerable at the front (of the aircraft)."
I think that's correct (and I've been arguing that for a long time). This summer, Cathay and Virgin were offering discounted business class fares in July and August, and that must partially be a response to Oasis.
Jose Mourinho's sudden departure from Chelsea last week "by mutual consent" seemed rather shocking when the news first broke, but of course it wasn't really a surprise at all (apart from the timing). I am always intrigued when a manager is described as leaving "by mutual consent". What is it supposed to mean? In the wider context it's probably true that Mourinho and Abramovich couldn't work together, but with regard to what happened this week it seems to be (as so often) a euphemism for 'being sacked'.
I see that the New York Times is the latest newspaper to abandon the 'pay wall' and make all their content freely available (links). How long can the SCMP hold out against this worldwide trend?
It's that time of year again. Every Chinese restaurant has piles of Moon Cakes everywhere you look. Worse still, fridges across Hong Kong seem to be full of the wretched things, with hardly any space available for actual food or drink. I've never quite seen the attraction of these lard and sugar-filled delights. And who'd have guessed that they might be unhealthy?
I notice that the KCR is advertising their "direct" service from Tsim Sha Tsui East to Lok Ma Chau. The irony here is that when the "Southern Link" is completed in a couple of years, it will be necessary to change at Hung Hom so it won't be direct at all.
I used to think that Hong Kong supermarkets were easy enough to categorise.
And, of course, the basics are available everywhere.
Or so I thought
The most popular subject in Talkback (the SCMP's curious letter column that isn't) seems to be problems with Pay TV, and specifically the sports channels. This is an interesting example of greater competition not having the normal effect of reducing prices. Quite the contrary in fact - the cost of subscribing to all the sports channels in Hong Kong is much higher now than it was a few years.
Random Story GeneratorThe SCMP continues to amuse and entertain (in a good way, of course...). I was reading about new Blu-Ray Recorders (subscription required) and was directed to this story in the "related archives" saying that the BBC World Service plans to develop digital radio by 2003. What could possibly more relevant to a story about new Blu-ray high-definition optical disc recorders than a nearly ten year old story about the BBC World Service?
Back in 2004, the boss of Ultimo (a lingerie company in the UK), claimed that conditions in the dormitories at factories in Guangdong producing her company's products were similar to that of a 'Travel Inn'. Well, maybe not. Or at least not the dormitories for the workers. Now comes a story (I read it in The Sun, but it's everywhere), one elderly couple in the UK have been living in the same room in another budget hotel chain for 10 years - and before that they lived in another branch of the same chain for 12 years
Did I miss this story in the SCMP? I found it in New Scientist (Tsunami risk for Hong Kong and Macao):
Hong Kong and Macao are enormous, sprawling economic centres perched on the coast. And both stand a 10 per cent chance of being hit by a serious tsunami in the next century, warn geophysicists. The warning follows a new assessment of how earthquakes along the nearby Manila trench could radiate tsunami waves across the South China Sea.
Last week I mentioned that the drive-in cinema in Kowloon appeared to have closed down. Today comes confirmation of this in the SCMP (Drive-in cinema shuts after just 8 months - subscription required).
Interesting news. Media conglomerate Sing Tao News Corp (1105) announced yesterday its English-language newspaper, The Standard, will switch to free circulation next Monday - a move industry observers expect to change the landscape of the Hong Kong media market.
I see that today's SCMP has a longish piece about biofuel on the mainland (Enormous potential in laggard biofuel - subscription required). There was an interesting article in The Guardian (The looming food crisis) about the unintended consequences of developing alternative energy sources.
The BBC reports (China dishes up menu translations) that the Beijing Tourism Bureau is trying to improve the English translations of restaurant menus in preparation for next year's Olympics.
posted by Chris @ Sunday, September 30, 2007
I have a theory that supermarkets in Hong Kong are about 10-15 years behind the UK.
About 10 years ago, Tesco in the UK introduced their Clubcard scheme, and it has been a huge success. It's basically a marketing thing - Tesco collects information about what you buy, and in return offers you coupons to spend in their store, either for specific products (based on your buying patterns) or to spend as you choose. There's an interesting article from the FT here that explains more about it.
Dunnhumby [the company that runs the Clubcard scheme] takes the information registered on Clubcards each time those 13 million families come into Tesco for their weekly shop, and turns it into five billion pieces of data. Each separate product bought has its own set of attributes. A ready meal can have up to 45 "values" ascribed to it: is it expensive, or cheap? Tesco-branded, or made by Birds Eye? An "ethnic" recipe, or a traditional British dish? Clubcard is the Big Brother of the shopping world.
This information is also stored in a vast search engine that can be used by suppliers trying to launch products. Dunnhumby makes about £30m a year selling Tesco data to more than 200 consumer-goods companies, such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Coca-Cola. Within hours of launching a product or introducing a promotion into a local Tesco store, brand managers can track who is buying their products or responding to their promotions. Are they empty-nesters or young mums, lawyers or factory workers? "If you understand who is buying and how they are buying, you can make better decisions," [says director of consumer strategy and futures Martin Hayward]. "The joy of our sample is that it is so large, and because Tesco is so representative of the country it is the best source of insight a supplier can get."
Now ParknShop have finally got round to copying this idea, though their rewards seem rather rather mean. If you spent £1,000 at Tesco, you would get coupons worth £10, whereas if you spend HK1,000 in PnS you only get a $4 coupon. On top of that Tesco gives out extra coupons for specific categories, products, or brands, to encourage you to buy something you wouldn't normally buy - and I'm not sure whether PnS will be doing this.
What's clever about Clubcard is that it helps both Tesco and their suppliers to know a lot more about their customers, and to make decisions accordingly. It has enabled Tesco to achieve a dominant market share (of over 30%) and become hugely profitable. Hong Kong is different, because the two main supermarket chains (PnS and Wellcome) already dominate the market, but I suppose extra profit is always welcome.
From a customer's point of view, there is obviously a concern about privacy and that you are simply making it easier for people to sell more stuff to you, but I have to say that I would choose Tesco over any Hong Kong supermarket every single time. If PnS could emulate even some of the improvements that Tesco have been able to make over the last ten years, I'd be very happy, and if PnS make higher profits as a result then that's just fine by me.
posted by Chris @ Friday, January 26, 2007
In the fairly short time I have been here, one of the traditions of Chinese New Year seems to have been eroded quite significantly. There was a time when almost everything shut down for several days, but in recent years more and more restaurants have stayed open - even though they aren't as busy as normal (with so many people out of town). Now most supermarkets and some chain-stores are now open on the first day of the new year, and most shops are open on the second day.
Meanwhile, most motorists apparently expect traffic wardens to be on holiday, so they think they can park anywhere they like. Mostly they do get away with it, but the TV news showed some tickets being issued yesterday - that must be the definition of a slow news day: when they find time to show traffic wardens issuing parking tickets! I reckon there are only three on duty in the whole of Hong Kong and they arranged with TVB to film them issuing a few tickets in the hope of persuading everyone else to park legally.
Another good standby for the TV news is the crush of people visiting the temples in the hope of having good luck for the coming year. You have to be quite strong and very determined to fight your way through the crowds just after midnight at Wong Tai Sin temple, and old ladies practice for months beforehand by shoving their way on to MTR trains and rushing for the single empty seat in the carriage. After the initial rush, Wong Tai Sin remains very busy for the next few days, but the queue is more orderly.
It is one of the more endearing aspects of Hong Kong that although this is now a rich and modern city, the traditions of Chinese New Year still survive and the idea of good and bad luck is taken (relatively) seriously. Roly poly buffoon Ho Chi-ping, the politically-ambitious eye surgeon (and Secretary for Home Affairs) suffered a setback last year when he drew the unluckiest possible stick at Che Kung Temple in Tai Wai, and refused to try his luck again this year. Instead, Lau Wong-fat, chairman of Heung Yee Kuk (and a Liberal Party District Councillor) drew a somewhat more auspicious stick on behalf of Hong Kong.
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posted by Chris @ Friday, January 23, 2004
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