In recent years, “modern Chinese style” has emerged as a popular trend and products featuring ingenious integration of Chinese traditional cultural elements and modern trendy designs have been highly sought after. W.H. Furniture, a local furniture company established in the late 1990s, started to design many furniture pieces and decorative items in that style over a decade ago, and has successfully changed its business model and developed the mainland market through live commerce amid the pandemic.

Creative lighting

(Photo courtesy of the company)

Uniqueness injected into traditional Chinese furniture through creativity

        W.H. Furniture started its business as a home-based workshop in Macao that produced vintage rosewood furniture items. Since taking over the business in 2006, the second-generation heir Kelly Sou started to infuse modern aesthetics into vintage Chinese designs and use special production materials. For example, synthetic materials such as acrylic and fibreglass have been used to produce colourful Buddha statues and metallic colours to remodel Chinese-style screens, creating a playful effect while retaining the Chinese cultural essence. Sou recalled with a smile that these creative attempts have turned out to be somehow similar to the “modern Chinese style”, which is popular nowadays.

        W.H. Furniture is running a business as diverse as the style of its products. Its business scope ranges from mass production to customised items; from household orders to hotel, commercial and residential projects in Macao; from wood furniture to various household decorations; and from furniture design, manufacturing, retail and repair to renovation, product agent services and online marketing.

Kelly Sou, person-in-charge of W.H. Furniture

Vibrantly coloured statue

(Photo courtesy of the company)

Chinese-style screen

(Photo courtesy of the company)

Stone sculpture

(Photo courtesy of the company)

Developing live commerce as alternative solution amid business distress

        “An impasse demands change and change leads to a solution”. Pursuit of change is one of the business principles of W.H. Furniture. In early 2020, the company suffered a loss of local orders, and the advantage of traditional retail was also weakened due to the pandemic, forcing the company to find an alternative solution. Therefore, in addition to the fact that they had opened a branch in Mainland China years ago, the company shifted its focus and invested resources in expanding business in the mainland, a prospect it failed to explore in the past due to being preoccupied with the Macao market.

        All things are difficult to begin with. The furniture market in the mainland is a mature one, and W.H. Furniture had to think about how to introduce its products to mainland customers despite their unique appeal. Sou has therefore turned to live commerce as a way to break through the barrier. Sou frankly admitted that she had “no idea” about live commerce at the beginning but, after a certain amount of study, she realised that plenty of preparations are needed before running a live commerce event, such as choosing the suitable streaming platform and equipment, setting up the venue, analysing product information, rehearsing the lines, practising the speed the lines are delivered, and selecting an appropriate host. Several other aspects also need to be considered, such as the supply chain, product delivery efficiency and after-sales review.

        Sou was very satisfied with the live commerce results, saying that at the next stage the company plans to offer a live commerce channel to more quality products from Macao using its own resources. The company is planning to open a live studio in the shopping mall of a large hotel in Macao in the future, in the hope of increasing viewers’ confidence in the products and boosting sales by leveraging the image of the large hotel enterprise.

Live studio

(Photo courtesy of the company)

 Kelly Sou sharing her creative concepts on stage

(Photo courtesy of the company)

Sales channels broadened with IPIM’s assistance in business matching

        In Sou’s view, the “Macao Ideas, Join & Match” Business-matching Showcase organised by Macao Ideas of the Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) helps the company to reach potential customers to a certain extent, and Macao Idea’s online showcase platform helps to bring more exposure to “Made-in-Macao”, “Macao Brand” and “Macao Design” products. She hopes the Macao SAR Government will continue to take the lead in assisting local small and medium-sized enterprises grow their business.

The company in the International Home Expo

(Photo courtesy of the company)

Tableware shop in the shopping mall of a large hotel

(Photo courtesy of the company)

Contact W.H. Furniture

If you are interested in discussing co-operation with the above-mentioned company, please contact the staff of “Macao Ideas” during office hours.

Tel.: 

Ms Cheang +853 8798 9707

Ms Chong +853 8798 9739

Email: 

fionacheang@ipim.gov.mo 

elizachong@ipim.gov.mo