A furniture store in Ap Lei Chau is looking to create a better home atmosphere aided by Hong Kong computer company Infolab Software.
G O D, which when pronounced in Cantonese means to live better, opened shop late last year. General manager Benjamin Lau teamed with a friend to design furniture that fitted in the tight spaces of Hong Kong's flats.
'My partner and I are both architects and we felt Hong Kong had a good market for mid-price, affordable furniture of good design and good quality,' he said.
'We work directly with manufacturers all around the world to produce products for us. We have a local team of designers to research how people live in Hong Kong and design furniture to create an aesthetic atmosphere.
'We choose the best manufacturer around the world for different products. For example, we go to Europe for our lighting, but buy hand-crafted pottery from Asia.' Mr Lau said one of the main problems was developing a logistics system to co-ordinate the ordering and distribution of products ranging from furniture to kitchenware and bathroom towels.
'We shopped around a lot to find a distribution software, but found most catered to fashion houses or restaurants and didn't suit the needs of furniture, especially the delivery aspect,' he said. 'Pinnacle was the only software that could meet our distributions needs, especially the delivery aspect. Most point-of-sales systems didn't have the facility to check stocks, colours and sizes.' Andrew Candlish, Infolab's sales manager, said Pinnacle software was designed specifically to meet distribution needs.
New Zealander Scott Darrow, the original developer, now runs Phil-Data in the Philippines strictly for the purpose of creating customised solutions for Pinnacle customers. Infolab has been the sole reseller in Asia for about five years.
