Taiwan maintains its leading edge in giftware
By Jeffry Babb
Giftware is one of the key traditional industries of Taiwan. Though local producers have been moving to mainland China and other South-East Asian sites for the production of lower-priced and big volume gifts, those that call for technique-intensive, high quality, high unit price, high added-value, high-variety but low volume or locally-accessible parts are still Made In Taiwan (MIT), with most suppliers opting to carry on order handling and product R&D locally as well. Many former makers of large volume goods have restructured to develop new products of higher-value and quality with exiting resources.
The largest competitor in the giftware sector for Taiwan is China, which holds a considerable share of the market through volume production and underselling. But a local maker of paper for artistic flowers reveals that the foreign buyers who sought low-priced goods in China and Vietnam have been returning to Taiwan. So the lost orders are coming back and the main reasons are that buyers feel the quality inspections in Taiwan are strict, quality is reliable, and deliveries are on-time.
Despite efforts to establish their own brands and break free from being contractors to boost profitability, local giftware makers are generally small and medium businesses who chiefly invest in production capacities, but who rarely have the resource and time devote to marketing their corporate identity. Hence most makers are still taking on OEM or ODM orders. Their excellent quality, however, has own them many OEM contractors from renowned brands worldwide.
Besides taking on OEM and
ODM orders, Taiwan giftware suppliers are also taking on brand marketing as
a major goal. They are putting more into marketing investment, and not only
placing more emphasis on product design but also creating better packaging and
brochures to raise product image. To be part of a licensed-product show is a
pivotal opportunity for Taiwan suppliers to garner more product licenses, as
well as an opportune time to draw the curtains on newly-hatched products in
front of buyers.