KUALA LUMPUR:
Chinese traditional medicine and herbs retailer Eu Yan Sang (1959) Sdn Bhd plans to spread its wings to Taiwan and Japan. Its general manager Loke Eng Hock said the company hoped to make its presence felt at the Chinese medicine stores of the two countries next year.
"Traditional Chinese herbs and medicine are limited mostly to Chinatowns in overseas countries and in some countries like the United States, the market is quite protected and difficult to penetrate," Loke told Star Business during an interview.
Loke said the company planned to set up one more outlet in Penang next year, making the total number of branches on the island to four. The company has 11 branches in Singapore, 13 in Hong Kong and 40 in Malaysia. Eu Yan Sang is also exporting its products to Britain, New Zealand, Australia and South America.
It offers a wide range of products from ginseng, cordyceps, bird's nest to deer antlers, powdered pearl and ox bezoar. Earlier, at a press conference to announce the reduction in the prices of some ginseng products, Loke said the prices were more affordable to the masses despite the current economic situation.
"We have lowered the price of some of our ginseng products from RM625 per gram to RM198 for selected wild Chinese ginseng roots so that more people from the middle income group can afford this luxury item," Loke said.
Other types of ginseng were also given a discount ranging from RM250 per gram to RM128 and RM10 for cultivated ginseng from the Jilin and Heilogjian provinces in northeast China.
Loke said the reduced price of the Chinese wild ginseng , used as a traditional tonic to boost the inner strength of the consumer, was targeted at the middle income earners who still has the spending power.
"We want to promote ginseng to the lower and middle income earners so that they too will have a chance to have a taste of the benefits of ginseng ," Loke said.
Meanwhile, a Chinese ginseng exhibition, currently being hheld at the Selayang Mall in Selangor till Oct 11, will be also held at the Cheras Leisure Mall in Kuala Lumpur from Oct 17 to Oct 19. During the exhibition, the public would be educated on how to differentiate between an imitation ginseng root from the real thing.
Loke told a press conference that this was the first time that the company had slashed down the price of ginseng and promoted it in an exhibition and hinted of more surprises.
"We may also consider lowering the price of our other expensive products like the bird's nest for example," Loke said.
- SOURCE : The Star (Malaysia)1998.10.08
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