Flagship fashion - Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants

“We’ve established a strong
reputation in the United
Kingdom, particularly in our
London flagship store, with
our regular customers who
are high-end individuals
who love fashion... They
know very well that when
they come in, what they see
every season is the best of
the best of many brands all
housed under one roof.”
Wan quickly progressed through the
ranks, and was appointed to work on three
high-profile government investigations into
white-collar crime, which resulted in prison
sentences for those under scrutiny. Partnership
at Peat Marwick beckoned.
However, Wan’s progression at the firm
was thrown off track in 1987 with a job offer
from Dickson Poon, whose company was at
the time a Peat Marwick client. “It was a very
big step indeed, and a very, very difficult decision...
but Mr. Poon made me an offer that I
could not refuse,” he says.
Poon, at that time, was on the brink of acquiring
the European designer goods company
S.T. Dupont. “I was very interested in
doing mergers and acquisitions work, and
enjoyed doing things like fundraising for
rights issues for a listed company and doing
due diligence, all this kind of work was very
attractive to me to enhance my skills and experience,”
Wan says.
“The other attraction for me was that in
this profession, you’re always looking back
at things after they’ve happened, going in to
find out what’s happened and then reporting
on it. But when you’re in business as group
finance director, you’re participating in the
strategy formulation and implementation.
You’re living with the situation day to day
and seeing the results that you’re talking
about and directing.”
With that philosophy in mind, Wan made
the move to Dickson Concepts, and after five
years as the group’s financial director, was assigned
to the newly acquired Harvey Nichols.
Bucking the trend
With its strong Hong Kong connections, one
might expect Harvey Nichols to be leading
the charge of European luxury goods
purveyors into the mainland. Yet not even
Shanghai and Beijing figure in the brand’s
expansion plans, despite growing consumer
wealth and the voracious appetite for designer
labels.
Wan explains that the time is not yet
right. “We’ve established a strong reputation
in the United Kingdom, particularly in our
London flagship store, with our regular customers
who are high-end individuals who
love fashion and are serious about fashion,”
he says.
“They know very well that when they
come in, what they see every season is the
best of the best of many brands all housed
under one roof. What we’re selling is the ‘editing.’
” Wan points out that if people wanted
to buy just one brand they could go to that
brand’s own store, or go online, and shop
from the entire collection.
In the mainland, demand for this kind
of crossbrand curating is still nascent, Wan
says. “The fashion sophistication level
among so-called luxury consumers in China
is, relatively speaking, not as high as the
Western aristocracy or the very wealthy luxury
consumers. A lot of the people are really
only after the brand, the logo, rather than
appreciating the craftsmanship, the style,
the quality of the luxury goods.
“There are many people who are very
wealthy by any standard, but immediately
underneath that social group I can’t find
any really affluent middle class,” he adds.
“China’s clearly somewhere we will enter,
but it’s a question of timing.” For now, the
Hong Kong stores provide mainland visitors
with exposure to the brand and what it offers,
building awareness before an eventual
launch.
Wan says that even after all these years
in the C-suite, he’s still, deep down, a CPA.
“People laugh at me because I still act with
the same professionalism that I did when
I was a practising accountant,” he says.
“When I review things I’ll still issue a query
sheet like I did as a practising accountant
and auditor. But that’s stood me in very good
stead in confronting different situations.
And maybe it’s because I’m so passionate
about the job and love it so much, but I don’t
feel any stress.”
May 2012 31