Saturday, August 23, 2025
Home Blog Page 1067

Indonesia: Premiumisation of local street food creates new eating ritual, opportunities for brands

By
Mini Me Insights
-
One of the most interesting survey data I have come across lately is the one by Jakpat or Jajak Pendapat, the number one mobile survey in Indonesia. The “Premium” Local Food Trend (Martabak Manis and Kue Cubit) report has revealed slightly over half of the respondents have eaten Martabak Manis (sweet pancake) and Kue Cubit.

From Jakpat “Premium” Local Food Trend (Martabak Manis and Kue Cubit) report, 2015

The most interesting aspect of this report is how sellers improvise street snack foods and how it has impacted the brands. Cheese (74.92%) is the most favourite topping, followed by chocolate (67.03%). Interestingly, we can also find products from specific brands used as key toppings. Examples include Nutella, Oreo, Ovomaltine (Ovaltine), Toblerone, Silverqueen and Kit Kat. All these brands are primarily chocolate-based food. The only exception is green tea/matcha, which tends to carry a healthier image.

From Jakpat “Premium” Local Food Trend (Martabak Manis and Kue Cubit) report, 2015

The popularity of these branded products as Martabak Manis topping provides opportunities for the creation of new eating ritual. Instead of dunking an Oreo biscuit into milk, you can also eat Oreo with Martabak Manis the Indonesian way. The adaptation of brands into street food also opens a new avenue to make expensive products like Toblerone and Nutella accessible to a wider audience. Ultimately, the expanding usage paves the way for greater frequency of consumption Branded food will eventually become inseparable part of the eating experience of Martabak Manis and Kue Cubit.

Est Cola makes inroad into modern trade channel

By
Mini Me Insights
-

Est Cola entered the modern trade in Malaysia few weeks ago. The F&N brand started the Est cola journey by first going into the traditional trade and foodservice channels before venturing into the larger store format such as Cold Storage and Giant as well as petrol station convenience stores like Shell. At the moment, Est Cola has no presence in the 7-11 network. [Found Est Cola in 7-11 on 30 November 2015]

The company said it has a 25-30% share of the carbonated drinks (CSD) market in Malaysia. However, sales of carbonated drinks in 2015 fell slightly with the overall market stagnating or growing in low single digits, said Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd CEO CEO Lim Yew Hoe. This shows the overall CSD market has become a low- or no-growth category.

As a result of the low growth environment, the CSD segment is not the main thrust for F&N. The company sees more opportunities in non-carbonated ready-to-drink products such as Farmhouse and Magnolia, added F&N chief financial officer Soon Wing Chong. The company’s main CSDs are sold under the F&N Fun Flavours and F&N Clearly Citrus range.

The new Est Cola, which replaces the previous My Cola, is essentially a product to provide F&N with a presence in the cola segment. The current F&N Fun Flavours range consists of sarsi, orange, ginger ade, strawberry, fruitade, zappel, clearly citrus and ice cream soda. After F&N separated from Coca-Cola in 2012, My Cola was the answer to filling the void left by Coke. Now, Est is taking up the challenge and is in a much better position due to better branding and pack design.

Est Cola even has a Facebook page but as of 12 November 2015, there were only 184 likes. The Facebook page was created nearly one month ago on 16 October 2015.

Est Cola comes in a slim can. F&N said the choice of slim helps reduce logistics costs and saves the company about RM5 for every 1,000 cans it produces. Some of the 100Plus and F&N beverages are already sold in the slim can.

F&N slim cans

In the PET category, Est Cola is more competitively priced than Coca-Cola with the exception at the Shell petrol station convenience store. The price of Est Cola is in the same range as Pepsi without taking into consideration the average price. If taking into consideration the different volume, Pepsi, with its larger volume of 600ml is cheaper than Est Cola and Coca-Cola.

For the can format, Est Cola is clearly the winner. By shelf placement, Est Cola still lies in the peripheral as listing fee is high in the modern retail channel.

Conclusion:

Est Cola cannot depend on price alone. More marketing budget needs to go into the Est Cola account to grow the brand. The success of Mountain Dew can be a good example to emulate.

Bakmi Mewah premium instant noodle comes with real chicken bits

By
Mini Me Insights
-

Bakmi Mewah is the first instant noodle in Indonesia with real chicken meat. According to Wikipedia, bakmi “is a wheat based noodle which was brought to Southeast Asia by Chinese immigrants with Fujian or Hokkien origin, generally prepared and topped with minced soy-sauce pork and few sliced of char-siu or barbecued pork.” Mewah means luxurious in Bahasa Indonesia.

The meat is surprisingly tasty and is not dehydrated. Unlike other instant noodle in Indonesia, Bakmi Mewah by PT Mayora Indah, the same company that produces Mi Gelas, is packed in a box, not plastic.The premium positioning is expressed through the use of real chicken meat and the black box where black is often used to express premium quality.

Thanks to the roadshow at Carrefour, Mangga Dua Square, the author had the opportunity to saviour Bakmi Mewah. The pop-up store provided consumers a chance to taste Bakmi Mewah for free. There was no obligation to buy but the price of IDR 19,000 (USD 1.38) for a pack of three was very tempting. The individual selling price was IDR 7,300 per 110g pack.

Bakmi Mewah temporary stall at Carrefour, Mangga Dua Square, Jakarta, November 2015

The author finds the taste surprisingly delicious. When eating Bakmi Mewah, one does not feel like eating an instant noodle, thanks to the use of real chicken meat. Here is the close up look of the free Bakmi Mewah.

Actual noodle and ingredients inside the box

Usually, companies will only serve a small portion of the instant noodle in a disposable tray cup for sampling. However, Mayora Indah served the whole pack and the noodle was cooked specially on demand. A mother and daughter sat next to me. After finishing eating, she took a photo of her daughter eating the noodle and then uploaded the photo on social media to share among her contacts. The pop-up store has succeeded in generating word-of-mouth marketing and turning sampling into actual sales. The mother eventually bought three packs.

Price wise, Bakmi Mewah is priced above the IDR 7,000 mark per pack, making it one of the few local instant noodles with the premium price tag. The other premium noodle is Tropicana Slim Low Fat Noodle Ayam Bakar, which claims to be a healthy, low fat noodle.

As a comparison, most of the local instant noodle brands like Indomie, Sarimi, ABC and Mie Sedaap are priced in the IDR20,000 to IDR 30,000 per kilogram range compared with Bakmi Mewah, which is retailed at IDR 66,363 per kilogram.

The average price of Bakmi Mewah is IDR 66,363 per kilogram

Will Bakmi Mewah herald the start of the premiumisation of the Indonesian instant noodle market? Potentially so as there is such much instant noodle one can eat. The only way to grow the market is to go up the value scale.

But what I do expect is Bakmi Mewah, given its superior taste, may carve a market for itself in the premium segment. Premium products do have a chance in Indonesia. Diamond Cold Storage’s Brookfarm is a good example. Launched in mid-2014, the product is still available in the market. This demonstrates consumers are willing to pay for premium product if the products deliver the premium qualities.

IDR/RM exchange rate at 0.00028. Store check at Hypermart, Jakarta in December 2014. Greenfields, Indomilk and Diamond are based on promotion price.

Qiulin IPO prospectus shows boom and bust of kvass drink in China

By
Mini Me Insights
-

The recent IPO application of the Chinese kvass maker Harbin Qiulin Beverage Technology Co., Ltd. (哈尔滨秋林饮料科技 股份有限公司) on the Chinese third board NEEQ shows how the kvass market has fallen from grace. Qiulin is primarily a kvass maker. Kvass is a traditional Slavic and Baltic fermented beverage commonly made from black or regular rye bread.

The Harbin-based Qiulin is China’s oldest kvass maker. Kvass is consumed in northeast China, mainly in Heilongjiang province, thanks to the heavy Russian influence in the early 20th century. In fact the company name Churin or Qiulin in Mandarin comes from Ivan Churin, a Russian merchant who first started producing Kvass in Harbin in 1900 during the Tsarist period.

Wahaha Kvass

Kvass suddenly became popular in 2013 when the nation’s biggest beverage company Wahaha launched its own version of kvass called Wahaha Kvass at the end of 2012. From an obscure drink in the northeast of China, kvass, thanks to the strong distribution reach of Wahaha, has penetrated deep into different parts of the country including into Xinjiang. The author was in Turpan, Xinjiang in 2013 and was able to buy Wahaha kvass there.

Wahaha had lofty ambition of turning kvass into a multi billion business. According to media report, the company’s kvass sales reached CNY 1 billion in the first six months of 2013 with a full year 2013 advertising budget of CNY 500 million. This is a classic example of an advertising-led sales.

Wahaha Kvass sponsoring famous singing contest

After two years, news report mentioned sales have tapered off with some saying kvass is now ‘dead.’ Wahaha would only produce if there is an order, said a company official. Kvass competes mainly with carbonated soft drinks, a category that is losing out to other ‘healthier’ drinks. Moreover, kvass is an acquired taste. Either you like it or you don’t. It was also priced at a premium. In 2013, a 420ml Qiulin kvass sold for CNY4. In contrast, a 500ml Coke was only selling for CNY2.50. The party ended once the advertising-led frenzy fizzed off as it was not sustainable. Wahaha Kvass was a sponsor of the hugely popular Hunan TV “I am a Singer” contest in 2013.

Compiled from Harbin Qiulin Beverage Technology IPO prospectus

An analysis of the financials of Harbin Qiulin Beverage Technology shows the company saw a big drop in revenue in 2014, down by nearly 50%. This shows the industry was falling off the cliff after a big jump in sales in 2013.

Compiled from Harbin Qiulin Beverage Technology IPO prospectus

Heavy investment in advertising and promotion in 2014 has generally failed to spur sales. The company deployed its marketing spending to promote its products in the southern and northern regions, a region still new to kvass. Despite spending huge amount of money to cultivate new markets, Qiulin failed to reap rewards.

In 2015, the company came to its senses and changed its strategy to concentrate on the home market in Heilongjiang province, thus resulting in lower advertising and promotion spending. Focusing on Heilongjiang is a more prudent move to put the company on a sustainable path.

Compiled from Harbin Qiulin Beverage Technology IPO prospectus

Inventory level has also reduced from a high of CNY20 million at the end of 2014 to CNY13.2 million at the end of the first four months of 2015.

Kvass sudden rise to glory and back to reality shows how short fad lasts in the Chinese beverage sector. Companies have to be ready to come up with another blockbuster product and only the early bird(s) get the worms.

Affordable OOH advertising to create awareness for new product in Indonesia

By
Mini Me Insights
-

Out-of-home advertising (OOH) can be really affordable. In Indonesia, all you need to do is to get the consent of the stall owner (payment?) and you can wrap their stalls with your brand poster. The OOH poster will help increase brand awareness. Would it dilute the brand value by associating the brand with cigarette stalls and eateries? The answer is no as the Le Minerale bottled water is a mass market product.

In some instances, the stall would sell the drink but in most cases, there is only the banner and the key objective is to create awareness.

Le Minerale is a new mineral water from  PT Tirta Frisindo Jaya, a unit of Mayora Indah.

Ultimate match up for drinks & snacks the Mamee way

By
Mini Me Insights
-

The latest Mamee Lagi Pedas (More Spicy), Lagi Cool (More Cool) campaign in Malaysia is a classic attempt to create new food pairing opportunities. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) philosophy, hot and spicy food should be paired with cool food. China’s Wong Lo Kat herbal tea is a good example. It became a sensation and a must have by associating itself with hotpot. In China, consumers believe eating too much hotpot will create “inner heat” (上火). One way to reduce inner heat is by consuming something cooling such as herbal tea.

The same principle applies to the latest Mamee campaign. Whenever you have a ‘heaty’ moment, a Malaysian equivalent to “inner heat”, you need to cool down with Mamee Cool Tea. Food that can cause ‘heatiness’ include durian and taking something that is fried and spicy. Even frustrating moments such as being caught in a traffic jam can be an excuse to ‘cool down.’

The interesting aspect of the Mamee Lagi Pedas, Lagi Cool campaign is the company is promoting the concept using its own products by pairing Mamee’s ‘heaty’ food – Mamee Monster noodle snack , Mamee instant noodle and Mr Potato chips with Mamee’s ‘cooling’ drink – Mamee Cool Tea. The ideal scenario is once you have consumed Mr Potato chips, remember to cool down your body system with Cool Tea. This concept is akin to eating ‘cooling’ mangosteen after consuming durian, which is ‘heaty.’

In other markets such as in the US, common consumption occasion is used to promote the pairing of carbonated soft drinks with snacks. The Mamee’s cool and heaty concept works more naturally in the Malaysian setting due to the understanding of the need to reduce body heat with something cooling, thus making the Mamee pairing approach more natural to local consumers.

When pack redesign goes bad

By
Mini Me Insights
-
Refreshing the packaging design is part of the marketing process to improve sales and to capture new consumers. However, when the new design fails to shine and did not convey the essence of the product then it is better not to give it a new paint of coat.

Readers can judge for themselves which packaging works. Here is an example of Yeo’s new look for its range of Asian and tea drinks. The image on the right is the existing packaging design, while the one on the left is the new look. As you will notice, the Yeo’s logo is now smaller and insignificant. There is a lack of contrast and the overall design is very dull, looks like watercolour painting.

Here is another design for the Asian drink series. Similarly, the Yeo’s logo is now significantly smaller. The font size is skinnier and the images of the key ingredients be it lychee or melon are no longer prominent. The skinny font size and the black colour text, punctuated by the vast white space, has diluted the product’s impact. Highlights of the earlier design are the Yeo’s logo (consumers can identify with the brand) and images of the ingredients, which helps making selection easier by identifying with the ingredient.

New look
Existing design

For soya drink, the earlier design is much better than the new design.

Existing pack design

Comparing with other competitors

F&N has always been promoting its soy drink by focusing on the NutriSoy brand rather than the company F&N. That is why NutriSoy occupies a bigger space on the packaging. Ace Canning’s HomeSoy continues to retain its iconic design with a bowl of soy drink and the brown colour scheme.

Based on the new design, Yeo’s has now de-emphasised the Yeo’s brand. Instead, it has turned the word ‘Soy’, with no design at all, into the main character. I do hope Yeo’s can retain the existing pack as the new design has failed to deliver the punch.

New Yeo’s design on the far right

Potential for natural herbal drink for Malaysian women

By
Mini Me Insights
-

A Malay reader mentioned she had no energy after drinking herbal tea during menstruation. Normally, Chinese women would refrain from drinking herbal tea when they have menstruation. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), herbal tea, iced drink and ice cream are not recommended to be consumed during menstruation because they are associated with coolness/coldness (寒凉 han liang). Warmth/Heat (温熱 wen re) food such as ginger are prescribed to alleviate the pain.

In traditional Malay medicine, the key ingredients to alleviate menstrual pain are kunyit (curcumae domesticae rhizoma), asam jawa (tamarind) and gula merah (palm sugar). Preparing such drink can be inconvenient especially for busy urban dwellers.

This reminds me of Kiranti, a ready-to-drink product to regulate menstruation (datang bulan) and alleviate the problems related to it. Kiranti by Indonesia’s Orang Tua (OT) is popular in Indonesia and is easily available there. This ready-to-consume drink does have a potential market in Malaysia as the two countries share a common dietary culture and basic concept in traditional medicine. Backed by marketing and education, the success of Kiranti in Indonesia can be replicated in Malaysia.

Kiranti contains:
– Kunyit (Curcumae domesticae rhizoma)
– Jahe (Zingiberia Rhizoma)
– Asam jawa (Tamarindi Pulpa)
– Kencur (Kaempferiae rhizoma)
– Gula jawa (Arengae pinnata fructose)
– Paullinia Cupana
– Kayu manis (Cinnamomi cortex)

 

Farm Fresh diversifies into cultured milk, 100% fresh milk as unique selling point

By
Mini Me Insights
-

The company behind the Farm Fresh brand Holstein Milk Company has recently introduced the Farm Fresh Junior Cultured Milk in Malaysia. The packaging featuring a cute dairy cow is clearly aimed at children.

Apart from having 50 billion CFU live cultures, no colouring, no preservatives and less sugar, the unique selling point of Farm Fresh Junior Cultured Milk is it is made from 100% fresh milk. As a comparison, Yakult is made from skimmed milk powder and Vitagen from milk solids.

The use of 100% fresh milk gives Farm Fresh Junior Cultured Milk a higher protein level. The sugar content is also the lowest among all the low-sugar cultured milk variants in Malaysia, making it the clear winner in the low-sugar cultured milk category. However, Farm Fresh Junior Cultured Milk contains 1.8g of fat per 100ml serving therefore it is ineligible to market itself as fat free.


All the images by the author

Exciting time for Western beer exporters, Chinese consumers developing a taste for imported beer

By
Mini Me Insights
-

The Chinese domestic beer market is starting to face a problem. Local beer production in the first eight months of 2015 declined 6.12% year-on-year but import volume rose 65.7% year-on-year. Among the reasons for higher beer import is the strength of the renminbi versus the euro, making imports cheaper, zero taxation on imported beer and the shifting taste to more sophisticated, higher quality imported beer as evidenced by the craft movement.

Imported beef consumption accounted for less than 1% of volume in 2014 but the figure is set to rise. The average price of imported beer is falling, which means more lower price imported beer is flooding the Chinese market.

First nine months 2013 2014 2015
USD/Litre 1.26 1.19 1.07
Volume (yoy %) 90.79 64.97
Value (yoy %) 79.78 48.59

Local Chinese companies are jumping into the bandwagon. COFCO Group said it will aggressively promote imported beer in China. The food and beverage giant is already bringing the German DAB, Bitburger and  Benediktiner Weissbier into the country. The Netherlands and Spain are fast becoming the preferred choice.

First nine months (% of volume) 2013 2014 2015
Germany 61.14 54.35 44.04
Netherlands 3.24 17.20 22.24
Spain 1.12 2.90 4.76
Subtotal 65.50 74.46 71.05
Source: China Customs

Wine distributors in China are expected to be changing their emphasis and will now distribute more beer instead of wine. Wine is feeling the heat of the government anti-extravagance crackdown but not so for beer, which is still a cheap drink. Now is definitely an exiting time for Western beer exporters. Expect to see more varieties of beer including craft beer in the local hypermarkets or in the pubs and bars near you.

A list of expensive imported beers at the 93rd Autumn China Food&Drinks Fair·Nanjing
– Schorschbock 48% 330ml – RMB9,999 (USD1,577) per bottle
– Snake Venom 67.5% 330ml – RMB2,600 per bottle

1...1,0661,0671,068...1,101Page 1,067 of 1,101

HOT NEWS

Shell Malaysia Partners with CARiNG Pharmacy to Bring Healthcare Essentials to...

Tan Heng Hong - 0
KUALA LUMPUR, 9 MAY 2025 – Shell Malaysia is enhancing its retail experience at petrol marts, building on its long-term vision for Shell SELECT stores...

MUST READ

All

Dutch Lady celebrates Ramadan with Ros Bandung, Kurma flavoured milk

Tan Heng Hong - 0
Dutch Lady, the number one brand in the dairy segment in Malaysia (Nielsen Retail Audit 2018 data), has introduced two flavoured milk products for...

It’s Fun, It’s New, It’s Refreshingly More…It’s Somersby 0.0!

Get Free Slurpee or ANDA Mineral Water When You “MyDebit Je...

Hoarding has started….

Covering food and drinks opportunities in Southeast Asia with daily news and updates
Contact us: info@minimeinsights.com

EVEN MORE NEWS

POPULAR CATEGORY

© Mini Me Insights 2013-2018