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Admart Case Study

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AdMart
© Maris G. Martinsons 2001, last updated in 2005
This case is based primarily on interviews with key players conducted by the author in 2000 and 2001. Data from the interviews are supplemented by information extracted from media reports.

Hong Kong-based businessman Jimmy Lai Chee-ying launched adMart in June 1999 to sell groceries over the Internet. This start-up was the cornerstone of an effort by Mr. Lai to once again demonstrate his entrepreneurial acumen by successfully diversifying into e-commerce. Back in 1981, Jimmy Lai set up a garment factory and started to sell casual clothing in Hong Kong under the brand name of Giordano. He subsequently developed the Giordano brand into a multinational company that became one of …show more content…

The combination of attractive prices and free delivery services offered by adMart created a deluge of customer orders. It handled up to 12,000 orders per day. Significantly though, the amount of the average order was less than half of the HK$ 750 that was needed to break-even on delivery costs. As a result, adMart was losing money on almost every customer order and burning through its stockpile of cash. However, it was attracting the attention of customers, competitors, and the mass media. Rivals React adMart’s success in capturing market share also sparked strong reactions from Hong Kong's two major grocery retailers. The two established retailers not only lowered their prices on competing products, but also curtailed their advertising in Mr. Lai's publications. (The Chinese name for adMart translates to Apple Delivery, and thus strengthens its literal connection to Jimmy Lai’s Apple Daily newspaper.) They not only stepped up their advertising in local rivals to the Apple Daily, but also created alliances with them, such as the Shop-on-Post initiative between Park’n Shop, Fortress and the Oriental Daily News. At the height of the grocery retailing war in Hong Kong, Park’n Shop and Wellcome combined for more than 80 pages of advertising (costing HK$1 million or over US$ 120,000) per week. The pair also enhanced their own online ordering capabilities and began to offer free delivery services for

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