selected the special local products worth promoting at Taiwan's OTOP Hall.The products have included: a glazed beads from Sandimen Township,Pingtung County; black tea from Yuchih Township, Nantou County; liquorand alcoholic beverages from Hsinyi Township, Nantou County; glass artproducts from Hsinchu; and taro cakes from Tajia,Taichung County. Exquisitearts and crafts, lifestyle items, and local food are all included.The hall regularlypresents organized exhibitions with special local themes to enable productsfrom 319 townships to take turns in getting exposure.The exhibitions featureboth live presentation and product display, combining to provide the con-sumers with a direct shopping experience.

Chen Yi-fu from the Corporate Synergy Development Center said thatdue to the business nature of the Dream Mall, the hall displays mainlyprocessed food, agricultural products, and handcrafted items. Proportion wise,arts and crafts dominated the displays in the beginning. But the fondness ofpeople from the south for cakes and pastries was noticed shortly. Food prod-ucts sold the fastest, so that the proportion of food displays had to be adjustedto 60 percent.As for the accessories, smaller and lower priced items sold bet-ter. Big-sized and higher-priced products such as vases from Yingge had aconsiderably lower monthly sales performance.

With such a wide variety of food products ready to be included, whatrequirements must be met in order to be selected? Chen Yi-fu explained that,in order to protect a brand's image, the hygiene and safety of the products'packaging can be said to be the first consideration when choosing food prod-ucts. Secondly, the products must enjoy a high degree of acceptance in theareas of their origin. If the selected products do not sell well, pricing andpackaging will be evaluated. Problematic aspects requiring change or improve-ment are then discussed with the suppliers. Big packages are replaced withsmaller ones or the single unit price is lowered before being displayed and puton sale again.

Chen Yi-fu emphasized that incorporating the agricultural backgroundstory into the products and making use of the labels on bottles, explanatorycards, and inserted sheets or leaflets are all ways to introduce and bring out the

BY VICTORIA CHENSUPPLMENT WRITER

The Taiwan OTOP Hall located on the 8th floor of the Kaohsiung DreamMall was officially inaugurated on June 7 this year. It is the largest shoppingcenter in southern Taiwan.The hall gathers together the special and represen-tative products from 319 townships and villages around Taiwan, thereby satis-fying the general consumers'desire to make all their necessary purchases inone location.

The Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA) under theMinistry of Economic Affairs established the Taiwan OTOP Hall, and theCorporate Synergy Development Center has been appointed the mainadministration agency of the hall. Since 1989 when the MOEA began to pro-mote special local products through a guidance and assistance plan, there havebeen 120 cases involving the upgrading and transformation of local traditionalarts and crafts as well as local food and tourism industries. In order to encour-age greater public participation, the idea of linking up the 319 townships and

villages with speciallocal products throughthe setting up ofTaiwan's One TownOne Product (OTOP)Hall came about,thereby offer ing aplace to do direct andcomplete buying.

The Small andMedium Enterpr iseAdministration has

OTOP Hall selling 319 towns'products opens in Kaohsiung

Photo courtesy of SMEA

The Taiwan OTOP Hall exhibits a great variety of products, which are spe-cialties from 319 towns.

appliances in our livelihood.Shih said that, the Sandimen Township has always invested efforts in pro-

moting an artwork village. The tribes need the techniques necessary for theresearch and development, designing abilities and improved facilities. Threeyears ago, the tribes received counseling service from the Small and MediumEnterprise Administration. Advisory team was sent from Corporate SynergyDevelopment Center to Sandimen tribes. People in the tribes learned theknowledge from the advisory team and expand the culture industry.

"In the aspect of glazed beads heating in the studio, no matter it was aboutunfamiliar technique or creating artworks with higher sense of design, theadvisory team would always get themselves involved by assisting us to developa new look on glazed beads", said Shih.

She further pointed it out that, there was communication barriers betweenboth sides in terms of handcraft techniques. It was mostly due to the intentionto create products that are suitable for modern taste of design. There arerestrictions in traditional heating method that may limit the making of appro-priate curves. "Only through continuous exchange, and they have less under-standing of the techniques than we do, so it is very important to think of theeasiest ways to convey ideas".

Shih thought that, the assistance such as market analysis and packaging ofproducts from Corporate Synergy Development Center, has greatly improved

the overall popular ity ofglazed beads artworks of theDragonfly Art Studio in themarket. In the present, by hav-ing the access to the marketingchannels of a large shoppingcenter, she hopes that thePaiwan glazed beads artworkscan create an impact and leadthe fashion through the advan-tages of such channels.

distinctive features of theproducts in the hall. Chenwent on: "Like the TheTalking Elder plum winefrom winery in HsinyiTownship or soy saucefrom Siluo, we communi-cate with our suppliers,learning from them howexperts in ancient timesfermented the soy sauce orbrewed the wines.Throughsuch story-telling, consumers would get to know you and the products wouldacquire greater value.Their acceptance would increase, proving such market-ing strategy works.".

Besides, the "Taiwan OTOP" online shop has been established starting onOctober 15 on eBay,YAHOO and open-air auctions to open diverse market-ing channels, and take the products from local to nationwide marketing andeven to export through the use of the Internet. By riding on the currentlypopular online shopping trend, the different local special products wouldhopefully emerge as the most popular items in the online shopping world.

Dragonfly Art Studio

The color glazed beads of the Dragonfly Art Studio (Puqatan) inSandimen, Pingtung has enjoyed relatively high reputation in both nationaland international markets. Founder Shih Hsiou-ju said that, the Dragonfly ArtStudio have made another breakthrough in terms of brand image and packag-ing of glazed beads creation, with 3 years of counseling from the Small andMedium Enterprise Administration.

Glazed beads artwork is the most appreciated handcraft of Paiwan Tribe.Shih established the Dragonfly Art Studio as a design studio to produce diver-sified, creative artworks.The design of glazed beads is also applied in utensils,decorations, clocks, furniture and women's shoes, which adds aesthetic taste to

Photo by Victoria CHen

Seventy percent of the displayed products at the OTOP Hall are agri-cultural food products.

Photo courtesy of SMEA

Shown above is another section of OTOP Hall.