Marketing Feng Shui to Asia

Abstract

Feng Shui practice is very popular in East Asia and has been rapidly adopted by the population of the West. As Feng Shui involves knowledge of object placement, it opens opportunities to market Feng Shui knowledge and products. This paper presents an analysis of a successful Feng Shui enterprise, World of Feng Shui (WOFS), that has been established by a well-known Feng Shui expert Lillian Too and her daughter Jennifer Too. The enterprise`s marketing strategies and tactics are tied to the theoretical concept of social influence, widely researched in the consumer behavior literature. The three types of social influence (informational, utilitarian, and value-expressive) are examined in relation to WOFS marketing strategies using secondary data material. The main results indicate that the strategies of WOFS enterprise address all three types of social influence. The articles generated on- and off-line can be mostly associated with the informational influence. The off-line activities such as events, courses/workshops, and TV shows are also informational in nature. The Q&A sections/postings can be considered as representative of the utilitarian influence. They give experts (e.g., Lillian Too) the opportunity to provide individuals with problem-specific recommendations. Mega-mall website provides the value-expressive influence as purchase and consumption of the Feng Shui products is most susceptible to this type of influence. In terms of implications, WOFS enterprise strategies are suitable not only for consumes but also for business executives in Asia and in the West as architects, designers, and homeowners across continents use Feng Shui practices for building placements and decoration of dwellings and workplaces. Feng Shui practice has some limitations such as conflicting opinions of experts and increased complexity when the dimension of time is taken into consideration. Still, Feng Shui as a practice is growing globally adjusting itself to regional and cultural challenges.