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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (1049)	10/20/2003 11:36:07 AM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

When Luca Ricci sold his first batch of leather sofas in 1998 he told the North American distributor they were made in Italy. DeCoro wants upmarket looks at mid-market prices "I was scared because I didn't know if a sofa made in China was saleable," he admits, laughing at the memory. Three months later, he felt confident enough to own up and told his startled buyer, "It's made in China - I lied." When Luca Ricci sold his first batch of leather sofas in 1998 he told the North American distributor they were made in Italy. DeCoro wants upmarket looks at mid-market prices "I was scared because I didn't know if a sofa made in China was saleable," he admits, laughing at the memory. Three months later, he felt confident enough to own up and told his startled buyer, "It's made in China - I lied." Sales at DeCoro, the firm he set up and runs, have rocketed from $10m in its first year to $220m (£131m) in 2002. In June, DeCoro opened what it says is the largest sofa factory in the world. It is 2 million square feet and can fill 55 containers a day. DeCoro aims to sell $250m in sofas this year. Sleek image DeCoro is now roughly one third the size of Natuzzi, the biggest Italian leather sofa maker, which had sales of $761m in 2002, but the upstart is growing fast. Luca: 'I'm proud to give jobs to 2,600 Chinese" Its success hinges on juggling a double identity - both Italian, like its founder, and Chinese. "Retailers all over the world, they advertise the product as an Italian leather sofa, not as a Chinese sofa," says Mr Ricci. Among consumers, Made-in-China spells tacky not trendy. Its reputation as a producer merely of plastic toys and cheap clothing may be out of date but seems unbudgeable. If it were not for China's image problem, DeCoro's Chinese credentials would seem to be impeccable. Trashy or trendsetting? Its HQ is in Shenzhen, a boom town across the border from Hong Kong. All manufacturing takes place there and about 90% of its 2,800 staff work there. news.bbc.co.uk