Opening a flagship store in a new overseas market is a special kind of challenge in the retail sector. It takes tenacity and vision to establish brand awareness, build product knowledge and set the required performance standards for everyone from the general manager right down to recently hired frontline staff.
Britain-based home improvements retailer B&Q has done just this by opening its first local store in East Kowloon earlier this month. - But there is an extra dimension in that the company has introduced a whole new concept in the shape of a 'superstore' focused on home decor and improvement. Shoppers will be able to find anything from nuts and bolts to tins of paint, window frames to bathroom sets, all under one roof.
'It is a one-stop shop,' said Johanna Cheung Hoi-ka, human resources manager of B&Q Asia, who added that, as a home decoration and DIY supplier, the store would have a unique market position.
Achieving this depends on recruiting high-quality staff with the right experience. The firm is keen to find people with specialist skills and has been hiring craftsmen including painters, decorators and builders to be the store's 'trade experts' and help customers with DIY inquiries.
B&Q targeted retired or semi-retired craftspeople with years of trade knowledge and expertise who wanted to apply their skills in a retail environment.
'These people will help our clients by offering product knowledge and doing demonstrations,' Ms Cheung said. This hiring initiative is in line with corporate policy as 24 per cent of the firm's 38,000 employees worldwide are over the age of 50 and many of them have returned to work after a break or have changed career direction. With the average age of Hong Kong's population steadily rising, employers hiring older workers will be able to benefit from this growing 'resource'.