Placed on the dining table, in the bathroom or next to the bed, colourful candles are essential to give every day a bit of extra spice.

At least that's what China Kingking Corporation (Kingking) believes. Mainly engaged in the manufacturing of different candles, the company has achieved nearly 50 per cent growth year on year since it was founded in 1993.

Based in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, the company has become China's largest candle manufacturer, and the third largest in the world, says Cui Yanming, vice president of Kingking.

"Last year our sales revenue was over 1 billion yuan (US$125 million), and profit was over 50 million yuan (US$ 6.25 million)," he says.

Most of Kingking's candle products are for export. With the brand "Kingking," its candles have entered more than 50 countries and regions around the world, such as the US, the UK and Japan.

This year the company was named a famous Chinese export brand by the Ministry of Commerce, together with 30 other companies in China.

"Last year our export value surpassed 500 million yuan (US$62.5 million)," Cui says.

Distribution network

Kingking is now the supplier of many worldwide chain store giants, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Metro and Ikea.

"We've been praised by Wal-Mart as an important international supplier, and we are also the first Chinese company to have its own brand counter in Wal-Mart," Cui says.

However, when Kingking entered the international market several years ago, the company did not realize the importance of building its own distribution network.

"At that time we only sold the products indirectly through the agents," Cui says.

"In the trade with the agents we found that most of our products were finally sold to Wal-Mart, so we went to Wal-Mart headquarter and expressed our intention for co-operation."

The company invited people from Wal-Mart to make an on-the-spot investigation. Wal-Mart Asia's vice president visited Kingking's plants and signed a co-operation contract.

In August 1998, Kingking set up its selling counter in Wal-Mart, becoming the first Chinese enterprise to do so.

"Now Kingking has set up co-operation with nearly 20 worldwide chain store giants," Cui says. "Our distribution network covers nearly 50 countries and regions from Europe to America, from Southeast Asia to South America."

Now, the products sold in chain stores account for over 60 per cent of Kingking's total products.

Patent protection

Compared with a wide distribution network, Cui says quality and design are more important for success, meaning patent protection plays an important role.

"Our foreign consumers are really picky with the quality of the candles as well as the designing," he says. "So they are the core of our business"

In order to develop candles with better quality and design, the company has co-ordinated with many experts to improve its products.

"In 1996 we founded the research and development centre," says Cui.

Kingking has tried to lure experts and designers majoring in chemical research from the US, the UK and Germany with high salaries.

At the same time, it signed co-operation contracts with several universities and colleges, such as the Chinese Scientific and Technological University, Qingdao Chemical Institute to buy the scientific and technological achievements.

The powerful scientific and technological strength enables Kingking great innovation capability. In 1998 its high-tech product jelly candle was the most popular one in the world. In 1999, the product earned more than US$10 million.

Co-operating with a research institution in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province, the company has developed a unique production material for its candles.

"Adding some polymers into the wax, the main material for candle production, our candles are different from any other candle made by other companies," Cui says."For our production material we have applied for several patents for inventions, and we have patents in over 20 countries in the world."

Although paying for the patent application fee in over 20 countries costs a lot, Cui says it is worthwhile for the company's development, and it will apply for patents in more countries.

Trendy design is another weapon Kingking uses to win the market. Every year the company will launch nearly 2,000 new designs.

As for each new design, the company applies for patents for industrial designs.

"Intellectual property rights (IPR) protection is really important for us, we will use it as an important weapon when we come across infringement cases," Cui says.

Cui says nowadays many small companies begin to make similar candles with Kingking. But because they do not own their own patents, it is hard for them to enter the international market.

"And when we find candles in the market which have the same design with us, we can use our patents to protect ourselves," he says.

Today like Kingking, more and more domestic companies have attached great importance to patent applications, says Zhu Hong, an official with the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

China has seen a big improvement in intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection, with patent applications increasing by over 20 per cent for five consecutive years, he says.

In 2005, SIPO received 476,264 patent applications, according to its annual report.

The fast growth in patent applications can be attributed to China's policy of encouraging self-innovation.

Zhu says most of the domestic applications were patents for utility models and industrial designs, while the majority of the foreign patents were for inventions.

"However, in terms of patents for inventions, domestic applications increased much more than foreign ones," he says.

(China Daily 10/09/2006 page9)

2013-07-17