At a conference in Hong Kong last month two of the most successful brand licensors in the world – and one newcomer – explained how they intend to grow their China businesses.
"The potential China has in the next 20 to 30 years is so outrageous that we are continuing to focus there," said Günther Hake, senior vice-president and managing director, Disney Consumer Products, Greater China.
He was speaking at a panel called Licensing and the flourishing region: Asia at a conference running alongside the 10th annual Hong Kong International Licensing Show.
At the moment China receives just a small share of global retail licensing revenues – only $2.5 billion in 2010 compared with $17.5 billion for Japan and $104 billion in the US, according to statistics from the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA).
But it is one of the only regions that is seeing revenues grow. For example in...