Battling market forces, competition and trends MCM CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS SUPPLY COMPANY LTD has risen to dominate the market. ANDY LAW tells us how.

MCM Construction Materials Supply Co Ltd (MCM) is a member of Man Cheong Metals And Building Materials Co Ltd (Man Cheong).

Man Cheong was founded in 1959 as a small hardware shop situated in Yuen Long. In 1967, Li Tai Chor, the 2nd generation of the company, took up the business and lead Man Cheong to become one of the largest distributors of building materials in Hong Kong now.

The company has been rapidly growing in the last 20 years with a strong product and customer foundation.

To seize the growing business potential, Li decided to develop a direct sales channel focusing on sales and marketing of some well-known brands.

True Solution Provider

“MCM was established with a very clear message – to be a trustful partner and deliver the value-added solutions to the market,” says Andy Law, General Manager.

“Our business is not driven by products, instead we solve customers’ problem by providing solutions. MCM started with a small but dedicated sales and engineering team of 6 members, representing few brands in the area of power tools, firestop, lightning protection and earthing, i.e. Metabo, Astroflame and Unitech respectively. In late 2010, we confirmed the agreement with ITW, a Fortune 150 company, for representing their quality construction products, i.e. Ramset, Spit, Reid, Modfix, Buildex, etc. This partnership strengthened our position and sales network in the market. We continued to explore other opportunities so as to complete our solution portfolio in target trades and segments. After 10 years from start-up, we are now a team of 14 members with a lot more value-added brands in our portfolio. Our objective remains the same: Your Preferred Partner, Your Solution Provider.”

One-Stop-Shop

“We provide complete solutions to our customers,” Law says. “Instead of offering one single product for an application. For example, if you are going to install a big outdoor LED panel wall, you will not only need some anchor bolts. At MCM, we could offer Stabila level or laser tools for precise measurement; Metabo power tools for steel frame fabrication and hole drilling; Wattyl Killrust coating for rust prevention; Ramset certified anchor bolts for safe fastening. This eases a lot of customer’s effort in sourcing various items from different suppliers, and most importantly, they could save money and resources in goods collection and delivery. Apart from the reputed brands that represented by MCM, we are fully supported by Man Cheong for its 30,000sq.ft. flagship retail shop and another 120,000sq.ft. warehouse. This advantage of one-stop purchase is the key value to our customers.”

Smart Strategy

China has been growing very fast in the last 10 years. The development also drives a strong growth momentum in the construction industry in Hong Kong and Macau by the investors and tourists from mainland China. “To develop our sales network in Macau market, MCM Construction Materials (Macau) Ltd was established in 2012. A tool service center was also set up with our distributor to provide a better after-sales service. This branch office provides a simple and efficient option to our customers in term of logistic and payment. We were one of the dedicated suppliers of the key projects like Wynn’s Palace Resorts, Venetian Resorts Parcel 3, Galaxy Resorts, etc.”

China Potential

“In the construction industry, there are lots of low quality products competing only on price. For example, a cordless screwdriver from China may cost you only half price of our product from Germany. We never compete on price as there is always a product cheaper in the market. We define our value proposition in term of return on investment by the customers. Metabo cordless tool as an example, the customers pay more in the first purchase but we offer 3-year full warranty on battery. Generally professional users may need to replace the damaged battery every half to one year. They will eventually pay a lot more by buying new batteries in 3 years for the tool. Our team is working hard every day in the market to educate our customers the importance of a quality product and the true value of it.”

Asked about his expansion plans, Law says, “in the short term, we are developing an online platform to expand our customer reach and simplify the order processing. We are also working on social media platforms like facebook to promote the target brands and increase the brand awareness. In long term, we continue to enrich our solution portfolio by identifying more reputed brands related to the industry.”

For additional information, please visit www.mcmhk.com

Hong Kong’s Business Leaders share market and interest intelligence in the pages of HKMVC 2018

Tagged in: