Modern business, lifestyle, and culture are creeping into the mainstream in Laos. The country is changing fast and in the face of enormous economic change, great opportunities can be created. I can relate to a story of how a Lao girl react to economic change in her local turf.

In Vientiane, Laos, where I worked, there is a strip of land by the Mekong River known as the Mekong Promenade (or Fa Ngum) where traditional streetside food vendors set up makeshift stalls selling delicious Lao food.

In recent years new beer gardens and riverside restaurants have opened up in the area. Mekong Deck, one of the newer modern beer gardens with a stylish modern decor opened for business in around September 2007. I visited Mekong Deck a lot while I was working in Vientiane since my roommate and I knew the people who own the bar. Honestly, Mekong Deck is a wonderful place to nurse a glass of Beer Lao and enjoy the evening tropical breeze by the Mekong River.

Whenever I was at the Mekong Deck, I saw this little girl, about 12 years old, with nice complexion and beautiful eyes selling inflatable figures. Every night, she would walk from one end of the promenade where the streetside food vendors are located to the other end where the chic bars and restaurants are. She would hold these inflated figures usually of animals and sometimes of super-heroes, like Spiderman, while making rounds on the circuit selling toys to patrons there. Regretfully, her business hasn't been doing well. I have never seen a sellout of her inventory. Some nights, I see her getting mad by stomping her feet and yelling at customers for not being able to sell her toys. And then there are nights when she was just sad and disappointed. Ally, a girlfriend of my roommate, and I sympathized with the girl. We really wanted to do something to help her out. One doesn't need an MBA to realize that this is a classical example of adapting to the market and selling the right product. In business lingo, what she needs is the 2 Ps (out of 4) of marketing: placement and product. In terms of placement, we need to recognize that the market is changing at the Mekong Promenade. The demographic trend is towards a younger, affluent, and sophisticated crowd. More importantly, most people go to the Mekong Promenade at night to drink. So she needs a product that specifically targets these people. And what better way to entice a drinking crowd than peanuts. Since I can only speak "baby" Lao (a level of mastery where I can "get by," ie. ordering food and getting around town), I had Ally to speak to the little girl in their native language. We didn't baffle her with the Ps of marketing. Our message was direct and simple. We simply told her: "Go sell some peanuts. Everyone at this beer garden wants peanut." She first reacted by shrugging her shoulders and then asked if we want to buy an inflatable figure from her. We repeated our message to her. She then stared at us for a good 2 seconds before walking away looking disappointed that we didn't buy a balloon from her. Sigh... Maybe I should have bought a toy from her just to get her full attention. In any case, I hope she took our advice and is successful in what she does. I hate seeing her feeling, frustrated and disappointed every night.

2/14/2008 2:31:26 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Comments [2]

Business