How the ‘lion rock spirit’ has propelled Sa Sa International into a Hong Kong Legend

Hard work, endurance, and not giving up easily are the words to live by for Dr Simon Kwok, who, together with his wife Dr Eleanor Kwok, founded Sa Sa International in 1978 with little more than a HK $20,000 lease and a dream of building a store devoted to cosmetics. At the time, they could little have known that within a few decades that little shop would grow into a Hong Kong legend. The story of hard work, never giving up, and having the Hong Kong ‘Lion Rock Spirit’, is an exemplar to all and a model to follow. But first, let us look back at how it all began.

Dr Kwok and his wife Eleanor took over a 40-square-foot counter in the basement of the President Shopping Centre in Causeway Bay for HK $20,000 in 1978 to sell cosmetics. They were naturally good at it, and grew their loyal customer base such that within a few years that small counter grew much larger and occupied three shop spaces. The Kwok’s days were longer and harder than most. Their store opened at 10 am, but when others closed they kept working to replenish the stock and take care of the back end of the business, often finishing at 3 am. It was back-breaking, grueling work, but the Kwok’s believed that their hard work will surely pay off.

But then the first shock came that threatened to undo all the good work they had done happened in 1989. Their landlord did what many landlords do in Hong Kong – he raised the rents, but not by a small amount. He wanted to raise the monthly rent from HK $17,000 to HK $45,000 and only gave the Kwok’s a week to make up their minds. Little did they know that the real reason for raising the rent was that a competitor had seen the success the Kwok’s have had with the location, and determined that the location, rather than the Kwok’s hard work and skill, must be the real reason for Sa Sa’s success. By the end of the week, Dr Kwok was given the devastating news. Not only had the store been lost, but their competitor had taken over the lease. This all happened in the days before e-mail and social media, so there was no way to communicate with customers who returned looking for Sa Sa but instead found another shop. So Dr Kwok took the plunge and opened the first stand alone store at street level. It was a bold move, and an expensive one, but he had to save the business. The new store was to be on Lockhart Road in Causeway Bay, near their old counter front in the President Shopping Centre. The problem was how to get all the old customers back. He did a classic guerilla marketing move and sent shop assistants down to the old location with signs alerting old customers to the new location. But would it work, or was location the key to Sa Sa’s success ? Dr Kwok continued to work very hard and impressed customers with his wide range of products and professional services. Word of mouth worked and business was very good.

Sa Sa has since attracted a large number of both tourists and local customers. The store has also enjoyed wide media coverage in various countries. For example,some magazines and television channels in Taiwan and Japan ran stories about this supermarket-like cosmetics outlet; and some guidebooks in Japan even listed Sa Sa as a place to visit in Hong Kong. To fuel its growth, Sa Sa listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and entered China in 2005. Sa Sa has also lead the industry with many innovations that others copy, imitation being the kindest form of flattery. For example, in the 1980s, Dr Kwok noticed that an open layout and product display were very appealing to cosmetics shoppers, so he turned part of his shop into an open-shelf, self-service cosmetics store – a pioneering move which quickly attracted many copycats. In 1997, Dr Kwok turned Sa Sa International Holdings Limited into a listed multinational corporation, with himself as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and the company has grown fast and far. Today there are more than 80 Sa Sa stores in Hong Kong and Macau, and around 240 retail points all over Asia. Sa Sa is the largest cosmetics specialty store in Asia in turnover, and the company’s market capitalization has exceeded HK $12 billion.

Sa Sa was also an early adopter of the internet, setting up their first web site to sell cosmetics in 2000 and they now have customers in 210 countries. But in many ways, Dr Kwok has proved that with the right attitude and spirit, success and happiness is within everyone’s grasp. One thing that Dr. Kwok does invest heavily on is training. Many employees are not just trained in cosmetics, which have turned Sa Sa’s staff into more confident beauty professionals, but also in Putonghua to better serve mainland clientele. Sa Sa’s beauty consultants are well known for their helpful attitude and professional services, and other shops are keen on employing staff trained by Sa Sa. Sa Sa’s sales staff act as personal consultants to customers for their beauty needs. They require an in-depth knowledge of both products and customer requirements in order to provide tailor-made beauty advice. Therefore, Sa Sa offers professional training programmes to its beauty consultants in different areas including product knowledge and sales technique.

The cosmetics retail industry changes very rapidly, therefore Sa Sa’s staff are required to catch up with new trends and the evolving needs of customers. Sa Sa also sponsors many events such as the “Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Day.” 2011 was is the seventh year that this glamorous race meeting was jointly presented by The Hong Kong Jockey Club and Sa Sa International Holdings Limited at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The company also was the title sponsor of the 2011 Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races, celebrating the 21st anniversary of the International Dragon Boat Federation.

Dr Kwok has earned many awards in the past few years. He was awarded the HKSAR Bronze Bauhinia Star, and the Director of The Year Award in the category of Executive Directors of Listed Companies (SEHK – Non-Hang Seng Index Constituents) from The Hong Kong Institute of Directors (2011). He was appointed a non-official Justice of the Peace by the HKSAR Government (2008). He was the winner of the Owner-Operator Award at the DHL/SCMP Hong  Kong Business Awards (2007) and received the World Outstanding Chinese Award from the World Outstanding Chinese Association and World Chinese  Business Investment Foundation (2007). He was also the Retail Category winner in Hong Kong of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year China (2006) (one of 11 winners in Hong Kong and mainland China) and received the Chinese Business Person of the Year (2005) Award from World Executive Weekly; the Distinguished Contribution Award for the Beauty Industry (Cosmetic & Retail) from the International CICA Association of Esthetics, CIDESCO Section China (2005); the Man of the Year (2004) Award from Hong Kong Business.

FAST FACTS
• Founded in 1978 with a 40 square-foot “Sa Sa” counter in Hong Kong • Listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 1997 with an oversubscription of more  than 500 times 

• Opened the first stores in Taiwan, Singapore and Macau respectively in 1997 • Opened the first store in Malaysia in 1998

• Launched sasa.com, an e-commerce platform, in 2000 

• Tapped into the China market with its first store in Shanghai in 2005 

• Opened the largest “Sa Sa” store in Asia (covering 10,000 sq. ft.) in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong in 2009 

• Awarded Medium-Cap Corporate of the Year in Hong Kong in Asiamoney Best Managed Companies 2011 Awards

• Currently has around 240 “Sa Sa” stores and single-brand stores/counters in Asia