Toru Yamasaki GM Marketing, for Kirin Holdings Singapore, explains some of the analysis and recent beverage introductions to suit the palate in Vietnam. Interview by Claire Phoenix.
Toru Yamasaki: It was already doing well in conventional categories such as Asian speciality drinks, but wasn’t doing well in new and growing categories such as RTD tea and isotonic or sports drinks. Therefore, I defined two new mainstream brand lines: Wonderfarm for traditional drinks and Kirin for new and fast-growing categories. Now, I am leading yet more innovation-driven product development with the Kirin brand.
Toru Yamasaki: Wonderfarm Wintermelon tea was actually launched in the middle of May this year. According to our studies, the sales of Wintermelon drinks had relied heavily for many years on older people living in rural areas. The main reasons for the younger generation not trying it, were that it was perceived as having an old-fashioned image and also having too sweet a taste.
As tea already had an annual growth rate of 20% in this region, we decided to launch this as a sugarless beverage to encourage younger people to try it. The single-serve PET packaging also has a younger image that is conducive to purchase.
Toru Yamasaki: We are already selling Ice+, fruit flavoured water, and Latte, a fruit and milk drink. Alongside these beverages, I am planning to launch a new CSD under the Kirin brand in September 2013.
Toru Yamasaki: General Stores (known here as Papa-Mama stores, similar to US Mom n Pop stores and global corner shops) account for 90% of food and beverage retail in Vietnam. This means we have to build a close relationship with local distributors who will push the products to retailers. Otherwise, due to store space constraints on retailers, new products simply cannot penetrate the market even if they spend a huge amount investing in marketing.
Toru Yamasaki: The average age is roughly 27-28. This is very young and so affects our portfolio offering. That is why we are working hard to revitalise the existing traditional brands as well as shifting to more innovation-driven new product development.
Toru Yamasaki: The market is still in its early growth stage, which offers a huge growth opportunity when compared to Japan, which as a country has already reached the mature stage of development.
Toru Yamasaki: One of the key insights of marketing in Southeast Asia is that we have to be aware of just how quickly everything can change.
We can see that the category transitions that have been experienced over the last five decades in Japan could happen in Southeast Asia within just 10 years.
Mostly importantly, the first mover tends to dominate the market. For example, in Vietnam, the RTD Tea market had been almost nonexistent until 2005, but it has grown dramatically during the last seven years and it’s the local manufacturers that predominately lead this growth.
Toru Yamasaki was interviewed by Claire Phoenix, FoodBev Media managing editor – magazines.
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