Bob Dohr

Daily Herald Media

Hsu's Ginseng products available in upscale duty-free shops at five international airports

Hsu's will soon have a full-time product rep in Hong Kong DFS location

Products include graded ginseng roots, ginseng slices and ginseng tea

WAUSAU – For the past year or so, Marathon County-grown ginseng has been available to customers at upscale shops at a handful of international airports, and a local distributor now is sending a full-time employee to manage some of those sales in Hong Kong.

Will Hsu, vice president of operations for Hsu's Ginseng, said his company has a business agreement with DFS Group to sell Hsu's ginseng products at duty-free stores at international airports in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Saipan.

DFS Group, which is owned primarily by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has 420 duty-free stores across four continents and 11 countries — including 18 international airports — and sells merchandise such as high-end jewelry, designer clothing, handbags and liquor.

Duty-free shops — often found in airports and cruise ships — are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties.

Hsu said having someone on-site in Hong Kong will help Hsu's promote and sell Marathon County products.

"As a brand, we're not as well known as Johnnie Walker or Chanel, so you need someone on the ground to tell customers about your brand," Hsu said. "This is our attempt to do that by having someone on-site in the airport stores being able to talk to customers directly and promote the product and encourage them to purchase it."

That someone is Kenneth Chiu, a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point graduate and current Hsu's sales representative who comes with built-in expertise: he's a Hong Kong native.

The 23-year-old Chiu said the timing works out well for him because his work visa is expiring this month and he already had planned to return to Hong Kong to be closer to his family.

"(Hsu's) wanted someone monitoring the operation over there, and they offered me this opportunity, and I said, 'Yeah, I'll take it,'" Chiu said. "Everything linked up. Once I get back, I just need to contact a couple of people and then I'll start working for them."

One thing that helps differentiate Hsu's product line in the duty-free shops, according to Hsu, is that aside from liquor, his products — graded ginseng roots, ginseng tea and ginseng slices — are "probably the first and only" Asian-American brand in the store.

"You go in the store and our stuff is in the store with Johnnie Walker, the high-end scotches, high-end fashion designers — it's a very interesting niche to be in," Hsu said.

But Chiu said that doesn't mean his job will be easy. One challenge, he said, is to educate people about ginseng, a plant whose root is prized by many for its medicinal attributes.

"People talk about ginseng back home, but there's a lot of false knowledge passed around," said Chiu. "People talk about ginseng, but not in the correct way."

Chiu said he'll be working under DFS in his new position and will promote other DFS products, but most of his time will be spent promoting Hsu's ginseng.

Hsu's Ginseng, founded in 1974 and located on Highway W north of Wausau, produces about 100,000 pounds of ginseng each year and is one of the country's largest ginseng producers.

Bob Dohr can be reached at 715-845-0660. Find him on Twitter as @BobDohr1.