March 1998

Access Asia was founded by Paul French and Matthew Crabbe. Both French and Crabbe were previously market analysts with in-depth experience of having studied, written and worked in and around Asia for many years providing research and analysis to a wide range of internationally renowned business information publishers and news organizations. The aim of Access Asia was to fill the gap that then existed in reliable, accurate and independent data and analysis on China's rapidly emerging economy and consumer markets. Initially Access Asia worked on a consultancy basis providing ad hoc and bespoke research to companies with a specific interest in China.

August 1998

French and Crabbe published their first book, "One Billion Shoppers - Accessing Asia's Consuming Passions After the Meltdown" (Nicholas Brealey, 1998, London). The book detailed the rise of consumer markets in Asia and the responses of both consumers and companies to the economic recession of 1997. The book was published globally and the authors undertook publicity tours in Europe, Asia and North America.

December 1998

Due to growing demand for readily available and reliable information on China, Access Asia launched the China Contact series of off-the-shelf market research reports. Initially, the series covered key consumer, service and technology markets in China. The reports were made available through a variety of agents worldwide.

March 1999

Following the initial success of the China Contact series, Access Asia launched its series of China Company Profiles due to client demand. These reports provided more in-depth coverage of both domestic Chinese companies and major foreign multinationals operating in China.

July 1999

Access Asia starts publishing off-the-shelf reports on various other Asian countries and markets including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Japan and Thailand.

June 2000

Access Asia undertook a major regional speaking tour in Asia in conjunction with the Dialog Corporation Asia-Pacific and Groove Street Entertainment of Shanghai. The 'Eat, Drink, Man, Woman'tour provided presentations on China's changing consumer market to a number of audiences in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai and included events at the British Chambers of Commerce in Singapore and Hong Kong as well as Singapore's Internet & Information Group.

February 2001

Access Asia opened its first office in Shanghai, on the city's most famous street Nanjing Lu.

March 2001

Access Asia director Matthew Crabbe spoke at a conference of Chinese librarians organized by the Dialog Corporation in Beijing. Additionally, Paul French addressed a Dialog Corporation executive luncheon of major Beijing consultancies speaking on the shift from "Bricks to Clicks" in China.

April 2001

Access Asia extends its off-the-shelf report series to include coverage of key markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

June 2001

Access Asia undertook a second speaking tour of the region in conjunction with the Dialog Corporation, which included a Dialog/CNTIC conference on information use in Beijing and an information users conference in Seoul, South Korea.

August 2001

Chris Torrens joined Access Asia and moved the company's Shanghai office to Huaihai Road. Access Asia also formed a marketing partnership with the China Economic Quarterly.

September 2001

Chris Torrens was appointed Editorial Director. Chris, who moved back to Shanghai in 1998, had previously worked as a correspondent for the Economist Intelligence Unit and as strategic planner with Ogilvy & Mather. Chris studied Modern Chinese Studies at Leeds University, spending a year at Shanghai's Fudan University in 1984-85. 

December 2001

Access Asia attended Online Information 2001 at Olympia in Central London for the second time. Paul French spoke at a seminar on the growing information market in Asia-Pacific and Matthew Crabbe spoke at the Online 2001 conference on the subject of Asian information sources.

January 2002

An updated version of One Billion Shoppers, the book written by Access Asia's founders Paul French and Matthew Crabbe, was published in Chinese in Taiwan by Sunbright Publishing Ltd, a division of Taiwan's leading business magazine "Business Weekly".

February 2002

Access Asia visited Tel Aviv, Israel to give the keynote speech at a conference on doing business in China organized by the Israeli Export Institute. In Shanghai we organised a Forum on the future for foreign businesses in China with speakers including Matthew Crabbe of Access Asia and Joe Studwell, editor of the China Economic Quarterly and author of the China Dream.

April 2002

Access Asia attended the prestigious CLSA China Forum in Beijing running a discussion on the future of consumer markets in China.

May 2002

Access Asia organised two Forum meetings on the subject of Justice & Debt Recovery in China. The first in Hong Kong featured Joe Studwell, author of the China Dream along with Paul Bromberg of ArmorGroup and Johnson Tan and Lina Zheng of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, a Hong Kong law firm. The second, in Shanghai, featured Joe again but this time with Greg Rumney of ArmorGroup and Mark Schaub and Denning Jin of King & Wood, China's largest law firm.

June 2002

Access Asia Directors Chris Torrens and Paul French went on a research trip to North Korea (DPRK), visiting Pyongyang and Kaesong. This heralded the launch of Access Asia's research products targeted at firms looking to do business in the DPRK. We also organized a 'Nightcap' party in Shanghai, with our partners at China Media Monitor, for delegates to the Shanghai TV Festival and International Film Festival.

July 2002

Access Asia spoke to the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and a visiting delegation of US business people on the prospects for franchising in China. We also organized a Forum on the subject of copyright & IP in China called 'Attack of the Clones' which was addressed by Douglas Clark, a senior lawyer with Lovells and Ted Kavowras, CEO of Panoramic Consulting of Hong Kong.

September 2002

Access Asia organized a Forum in Shanghai on the subject of the prospects for venture capital and hi-tech in China with guest speaker Gal Dymant, CEO of Asia Direct. Access Asia also addressed the Shanghai Rotarians on the subject of possible future scenarios for North Korea.

October 2002

Access Asia was one of the sponsors of a reception in Shanghai for the visiting North Korean football team of 1966 that knocked Italy out of the World Cup. The players were heading back to England after 36 years to visit the sites of their triumphs. The reception was addressed by the British Consul General in Shanghai. Access Asia also addressed a group of visiting MBA students from Bradley University in the US on the current situation in China and future prospects.

November 2002

Access Asia moved into larger offices in Shanghai close to the historic Bund and finally got around to establishing ourselves as a full Representative Office in China. Chris Torrens addressed an Executive Breakfast Briefing on Value Creation & International Performance in Retailing in Hong Kong organised by KPMG, Templeton College Oxford and the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.

December 2002

Access Asia attended the Online Information Exhibition in London for the third time, this year with a bigger stand on the ground floor. We also organised a meeting at the Great Britain China Centre in conjunction with the China Britain Business Council (CBBC) on the topic of China's Prospects for 2003 with speakers including Paul French (Access Asia Shanghai), Calum McLeod (GBCC), Bill Thompson (ClydeBlowers & CBBC) and Zhang Lifen from the BBC World Service.   

January 2003 - Access Asia is five years old!

This month saw the launch of the China Retail Statistical Database, the provision of much more detailed sectoral reports, the launch of SnapShot reports and presentations, as well as increasing the overall report offering by about 25%. Access Asia also spoke at China Dairy 2003 in Shanghai on new product trends in China's dairy sector.

March 2003

Access Asia spoke at the China Insurance Convention 2003 in Beijing on the role of consumer analysis in the insurance industry.

April 2003   

Access Asia chaired and spoke at Yangtse Shipping Conference 2003 in Shanghai as well as addressing the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute annual conference in Shanghai.

May 2003

Access Asia UK moved into new, bigger offices, giving us more storage space to house our growing library of research reference material, and more wall space to display our growing collection of North Korean propaganda posters. We also hired a full time office manager to help us cope with the growing workload.

September 2003

Access Asia spoke on the subject of cereals & wheat consumption & consumer trends in China at Asia Wheat Outlook 2003 in Beijing. We also hosted a meeting in conjunction with the Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club in Shanghai with Stephen Green, Head of the Asia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). The subject of the meeting was China's stock markets and capital reforms.

October 2003

Access Asia was awarded the bronze medal in the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards in Singapore in the best sponsorship package category. The award for our camapign to promote the 1966 North Korean football team's return to England after 33 years.

November 2003

Access Asia held a highly successful Roundtable meeting on the subject of the possible revlaution of the RMB in Shanghai with speakers including Andy Rothman (CLSA), Arthur Kroeber (CEQ) and Hugh Peyman (ResearchWorks) with Paul French in the Chair. We also spoke on the subject of new product trends in the juice sector in the PRC at China Juice Markets 2003 in Shanghai.

February 2004

Access Asia opens its first Hong Kong office. We also present a series of lectures at the 9th ASEF University co-organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation & the John Gokongwei School of Management (Ateneo de Manila University) in the Philippines. In Shanghai we held a successful Forum on China's Investment Funds to 2010 featuring Rob Agnew of Matrix Services HK and presented at Cocoa & Chocolate China 2004 in Shanghai on the subject of changing consumer confectionery tastes in China. In Geneva, Switzerland, Access Asia Director Matthew Crabbe addressed the Private Label Manufacturers Association conference on the issue of own brand and private label in China.

March 2004

Access Asia Managing Director Matthew Crabbe spoke at a conference on Corporate Responsibility in China held in London. His presentation focussed on the issues of corporate responsibility in the consumer goods sector in the PRC.

April 2004

Access Asia held a series of successful meetings in Shanghai. These included Nicholas Bonner of Koryo Tours on his 11-year involvement with running a successful travel business to the DPRK and Doug Red of ING Bank on the role of China's second tier banks in promoting reform in the PRC's financial services industry. 

May 2004

Access Asia's Matthew Crabbe spoke on the panel at the Ninth John Payne Memorial Lecture at the European Business School in London. The subject under discussion was China and its Growing Dominance on the World Stage and other panel members included Peter Nightingale of the China-Britain Business Council; Dr. Linda Yueh, fellow in economics at Pembroke College, Oxford; Paul Batchelor, global leader of geography at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Rt. Hon. Lord Geoffrey Howe, President of the Great Britain China Centre. Access Asia also spoke at Perishable Logistics China 2004 in Shanghai on the subject of the relationship between retailers and the cold chain. Chris Torrens of Access Asia spoke to the China Direct Marketing Association on the subject of Defining Chinese Consumers. Paul French of Access Asia also had an op-ed piece in the Asia Wall Street Journal entitled Welcome to Bubble Town and also appeared on BBC News at Ten, BBC News 24 and BBC World commenting on the same subject.

June 2004

Access Asia's Director Paul French spoke in Beijing at the China Economic Quarterly Forum - Who Owns China? Paul spoke on the state of the Chinese consumer market and the implications for foreign companies active in the market. Access Asia's Editorial Director spoke to the British Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou on the subject of Defining Chinese Consumers. We also ran a successful Access Asia Forum on Shanghai's property market, in Shanghai, featuring Sam Crispin of Crispin Propoerty Consultants and Stephen Harner of SM Harners and Co. Also in June Access Asia's Chris Torrens spoke at the Second Yangtze Delta Shipping and Logistics Conference in Shanghai and also presented on the subject of China's Economic Landscape at a Panalpina Customer Roundtable in Shanghai.

August 2004

Access Asia's Paul French addressed the Shanghai Historic Houses Association on the subject of Carl Crow: A Tough Old China Hand. Crow was the author of 400 Million Customers and an active journalist and adman in Shanghai between the wars.  Additionally the first edition of Xtribes China, an interactive round up of marketing and advertising trends produced by Xtreme Information and Access Asia was published.

September 2004

Launch of the first edition of Luxury Unlimited, a bi-monthly magazine co-published with Hong Kong-based Husband Retail Consulting. Paul French spoke at the CLSA China Forum 2004 - The Canton Riddle and Viva! Macau - in Guangzhou on developments in China's retailing sector and consumer markets. Access Asia Director Chris Torrens was a panel member at the China Direct Marketing Association's DM China 2004 conference in Shanghai.

October 2004

Access Asia Director Chris Torrens addressed the Australia-China Trade & Logistics Summit in Sydney the subject of 'Business, Investment and Distribution Challenges in China'. Access Asia Director Paul French gave the keynote presentation on 'The Complexities of Doing Business with the New China' to the delegates of the IFLN Conference in Shanghai. Paul French spoke at the CSR in China Conference in Hong Kong regarding the development of corporate responsibility in China.  

November 2004

Paul French addressed the Shanghai Expatriate Association on developments in North Korea. Matthew Crabbe addressed the Belgo-British Conference in Namur, Belgium, on the subject of opportunities in China for European companies.  

December 2004

In Hong Kong, Access Asia Director Chris Torrens addressed "Luxury 2004: the Lure of Asia", a two-day conference organised by the International Herald Tribune, on 'Market Opportunities for Luxury Retailers in Post-WTO China'. Managing Director Matthew Crabbe attended the Online Information Show in London's Olympia - the major meeting place for the online information world each year. Chris Torrens also spoke on distribution challenges at China Container 2004 in Beijing.