The North American market is a goal. This is coming through the eyes of any Asian brand looking to make a splash with their high end goods. Back home in Singapore, luxury tea provider TWG Tea has hopes of entering Canada, and hopes to establish a presence in North America. The only thing holding TWG is the fact they are yet to find a suitable partner in order to boost expansion.
The reason why TWG has had so much success in the high quality tea market is their personal relationships with the suppliers. The relationships give TWG the advantage of ensuring themselves the first pick within each harvest.
TWG prides themselves on variety. Variety, variety, variety. Aside from classics like Earl Gray and English Breakfast, they also offer around 800 more exotic types including the Middle Eastern-inspired Alexandria, which evokes flavours from the glory days of the Ottoman Empire. The philosophy of variety is paying for itself in the form of sales. In 2008, TWG opened its first international store in NewYork; stock sold out within days.
While it may be difficult to have such a wide variety on other goods, variety is something that allows you to appeal to a wider consumer base. If at all possible, companies should look in to providing some sort of customization, or try to provide a wider variety of goods (differentiating), as they just may see their profits increase. 