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What’s new in the Philippines beverage scene?

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

What’s new in the Philippines beverage category? Here is a list of new items launched in the past 2-3 months in the country.

Bear Brand Yogu

Nestle Bear Brand Yogu is a new flavoured yoghurt milk drink featuring three flavours – Green Apple, Mango and Strawberry. It is made from real fruit juice with vitamin C and zinc to meet the growing up needs of young children. Yogu marks the expansion of Bear Brand from milk drink into the yogurt milk drink segment.

Nesfruta Buko and Mangosteen

Nestle Nesfruta is now in coconut (buko). The Nesfruita Buko is made with real fruit juice (contains real fruit processed into powder). It is also available in mangosteen.

In Indonesia and in the Philippines, the coconut water category is expanding its reach with more affordable option such as in powder format. The most recent launch in Indonesia is the Nutrisari Kelapa Muda (young coconut) powdered drink.

Season’s Juice with Nata de Coco

Season’s Juice with Nata De Coco is a juice drink available in orange, apple and white grape. The brand Facebook page can be found here. The juice drink features nata de coco to provide chewable fun to the drink.

Cocio energy drink

The Danish chocolate milk company Cocio introduce the Cocio energy drink in November 2016. The energy drink comes in two flavours – chocolate and coffee. Cocio is made from milk, natural sugar, and cocoa as well as guarana to give the natural energy boost. This product is tapping into the natural energy drink trend without the harmful side effects often found in other chemical filled energy drinks.

Cocio energy drink is made by Cocio Chocolademaelk A/S and imported by Fly Ace Corporation.

Great Taste Coffee

URC introduced two new RTD coffee under the Great Taste brand. The two products are Dark Java Ice Coffee Drink Bold (Strong and Cream) and Viet Latte Iced Coffee Drink Ca Phe Da (Smooth and Cream).

Oishi Hi Coffee

The Hi Coffee range comes in four variants: Caffe Latte, Caramel, Coffee + Choco and Cappuccino. They come in 250ml Tetra Pak. Also available is the Oishi Hi Coffee in 3-in-1 sachet.

Oishi Tea Matchi

The Oishi Tea Matchi does not come with added preservatives and no artificial colouring. It is a matcha milk tea drink in 250ml. Also available is the Oishi Tea Matchi Premium Milk Tea Drink.

Del Monte Fizzy

In October 2016, Del Monte released two new carbonated juice drinks made with real fruit juice. Known as Fizzy, it comes with two variants – pineapple and orange pamelo. It contains 100% vitamin C. Fizzy is free from calories and does not have added sugar. This juice drink is similar to Tropicana Frutz with a sparkling twist to provide consumers with a refreshing drink that has real fruit juice.

Stack ’em high for improved brand visibility

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

How to attract shoppers to your product in a hypermarket? One interesting approach as implemented at Aeon Big Bandar Tun Hussein Onn in Kajang, Malaysia is to stack them high on the top of the shelf to form different shapes, usually a pyramid. Below is an example of Mamee Monster snack by Mamee Double-Decker.

From far away, shoppers will notice the product and know where to find them.

Here is another example of Coca-Cola.

The stacking ’em high approach is usually adopted during Chinese New Year and is usually on the ground level and not on the top shelf. Perhaps this is a new approach by Aeon Big to help brands to become more visible to consumers after the festivity.

Ichitan to expand export revenue by 5x, eyes Myanmar entry

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

The RTD tea producer Ichitan Group plc from Thailand has revealed interesting figures during the launch of its new marketing campaign “Ichitan Exclusive Japan Trip with 40 Superstars” campaign. According to Ichitan founder and CEO Tan Passakornnatee, the company aims to expand its overseas revenue by 5x in 2017 with the focus on the ASEAN market.

https://www.facebook.com/ichitan/videos/1367305273292889/

Overseas revenue to reach THB 500 million in 2017

Overseas sales are expected to reach THB 500 million (USD 14 million) in 2017, up from THB 100 million in 2016. Ichitan is now in Indonesia and Laos, which means the two countries plus other smaller markets contributed THB 100 million in sales in 2016.

In previous occasion in 2015, Tan said the company would only have its own factory in Indonesia if sales there were to reach IDR 380 billion (USD 28.5 million). He did mention in 2017, Ichitan beverages will be produced locally through OEM in Surabaya before a new plant is built. With the USD 14 million export target for 2017, Ichitan may not be having a local production presence in Indonesia anytime soon.

Ichitan received a funding call notice in June 2016 for extra funds for land acquisition and additional working capital, which shows a strong possibility that it will continue to pursue the factory program in Indonesia.

Q3/2016 management discussion

Distributing Ichitan and Yen Yen in Myanmar in June 2017

Ichitan will appoint a local trading company in Myanmar to distribute Ichitan and Yen Yen in June 2017, according to Tan when speaking to Bangkok Post. The reason for investing in Myanmar is because it has a larger population than Thailand and the local consumers are familiar with Thai products.

Focus on healthy drink in Thailand

In Thailand, Ichitan will continue to focus on healthy drinks such as introducing new herbal product lines.

Flip your est Play carbonated soft drink to win iPhone

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Est Cola, the carbonated soft drink brand of Thai Beverage plc (Thaibev), has rolled out an interesting challenge known as the est PLAY Flip Battle Challenge. What consumers need to do is to upload the clip of them flipping the new est Play Hawaiian Punch or est Play Grape Berry to stand a chance to win an iPhone 7.

https://www.facebook.com/estcola/videos/1541762885853721/

Surprisingly, the est Play bottle can really land on the ground upright after being thrown in the air. Below is the latest flavour to join the est Play family – Hawaiian Punch.

Petrol stations become destination points – Foodary, Filling Station, Noonid

By
Tan Heng Hong
-
Image from Convenience and Impulse Retailing (http://c-store.com.au)

Petrol stations in the Asia-Pacific region are reinventing themselves into destination points not just for motorists but for nearby residents.

The Foodary

In Australia, Caltex has recently announced the opening “The Foodary.” The former Caltex Star Mart in Sydney’s inner west suburb Concord was transformed into a food and services convenience hub for motorists.

The unique thing about this petrol station is it comes with an app where commuters can pre-order food before refuelling. They can use the app to refill and pay for fuel on-the-go without needing to make the payment in-store.

Apart from offering on-the-go options for breakfast, lunch and dinner, The Foodary supports local small businesses by selling baked goods from artisan bakers Brasserie Bread and meal kits by The Corner Store.

Commuters can also drop by for the daily laundry service through Washem and ParcelPoint parcel pick-up.

the FILLING STATION in KL

In Malaysia, the FILLING STATION at Shell Desa Sri Hartamas in Kuala Lumpur was launched on 21 January 2017. According to the post-release, “the FILLING STATION is Malaysia’s first ever cafe within a petrol station with a fully equipped kitchen; ensuring customers are served freshly prepared food.”

Eat Drink KL, a food blog, has an excellent write up, together with images, of the FILLING STATION. Here I have reproduced two images from the blog. Image from Eat Drink KL above and below.

According to Nur Mahidza Mohd Zain, owner of the FILLING STATION, “when Shell decided to upgrade the facility and offerings at Shell Desa Sri Hartamas, we jumped onto the chance to change the perception that petrol station only offers mediocre prepacked food. We wanted to revolutionise the practice by coming up with a full-fledged eatery that provides nutritious homemade food in a clean and attractive environment – something that has never been done in any petrol station in Malaysia before.”

The post-release also stated, the new homegrown establishment offers a variety of food and beverage choices comprising local fare including kuih muih (local cakes), pasta, salad, burgers and more to cater to the diverse communities within the locality. Its dishes are homemade without any MSG (Monosodium glutamate) and without any artificial colouring and preservatives added.

Shairan Huzani Husain, managing director of Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd and Shell Timur Sdn Bhd said “we at Shell continuously strive to make our customers’ journeys better by providing products and services that cater to their specific needs. We are confident the FILLING STATION will elevate the customers’ fuelling experience as it is designed to make their pit stop more enjoyable and leave refreshed.”

The commonality between The Foodary and the FILLING STATION is they make consumers stay a bit longer (cosy environment and fresh food) and leave refreshed.

Noonid food shops to open at PTT petrol stations

In Thailand, the Bangkok Post reported the Ministry of Commerce will open 600 or more “Noonid” food shops at PTT petrol stations in 2017. Noonid serves khao kaeng, which is curry with rice costing not more than THB 35 designed to help people cope with rising cost of living (image above).

There are already 11,809 Noonid shops in the country at the moment including 17 Noonid food trucks. The plan is to expand to 15,000 shops and 35 food trucks in 2017, said Commerce permanent secretary Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa.

PTT will be a new channel for Noonid to serve nearby residences and commuters. The first Noonid at PTT will open in early March 2017 and all 600 outlets will open by September 2017.

This is another example of how petrol stations can play a vital role in community service by dispensing affordable meals to the masses.

We expect to see more interesting concepts involving petrol stations in the Asia-Pacific region down the line as they become anchor points for both commuters and nearby residents seeking convenience.

 

 

Wings Teh Javana grew 15% in 2016

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Indonesia’s Wings Food managed to grow Teh Javana by 15% in 2016, above the average growth of RTD tea in plastic bottle, according to Group Head of Marketing Beverages PT Sayap Mas Utama (Wing Group) Aristo Kristandyo. He did not mention whether the 15% growth refers to volume or value. Teh Javana was first launched in early 2015 as a tea drink brewed using Indonesian jasmine tea.

Using a different measuring matrix, Kantar Worldpanel data shows the growth of RTD tea in Indonesia rose by 9% by volume (Kantar Worldpanel – Households Panel – National Indonesia – MAT Oct 2016 vs YA). What it shows is the volume share of bottle is 45%, while cup, which is much more affordable is 55% with bottle growing the fastest and this is where the opportunity lies.

 

Tesco & Aeon tap sampling, celebrity chef to promote private label

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Tesco brand samples

Consumers are hesitant to try private label because of quality concern. In physical stores, retailers can do sampling activities to promote their store brands to non-users. However, in the online sphere, consumers tend to pick products they are familiar while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, neglecting those they have no prior experience of using including own label.

In Malaysia, the UK-based hypermarket chain Tesco is expanding its private label sampling activity to its online store. It is giving out free samples of Tesco own brand for online shoppers as part of the “giving a little extra when you shop online” program. The promotion started on 16 February 2017 and will end on 1 March 2017.

Aeon uses celebrity chef to promote store brand

Aeon has tapped celebrity chef Datuk Ahmad Fadzli bin Yaakob or popularly known Fazley Yaakob to promote its TOPVALU private label. The program is known as “Let’s learn to cook by TOPVALU products with Master Chef Celebrity Malaysia – Dato’ Fazley Yaakob.”

The series has a total of 8 episodes using TOPVALU as the main ingredient. The series include teaching you how to make:

  • Overnight Organic Oats with Mixed Fruits
  • Green Tea Sticky Monkey Bread
  • Pistachios & Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Standalone TOPVALU website

To promote its private label range, Aeon is the only grocery in the country to have a dedicated website and Facebook for its store brand. The online media allows Aeon to share product information and recipes.

During the recent Chinese New Year 2017, TOPVALU provided recommendations on how to use its products to celebrate the new year.

Aeon also runs surveys to gauge consumer interest and behaviour towards certain categories like yoghurt.

What Mini Me thinks

Grocers are employing unique marketing approaches including using celebrity chef and sample giveaways to encourage consumers to embrace store brands to boost their private label share of revenue.

Fueling cereal growth with snack bars

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Grab-and-go cereal bars have become a new strategy for cereal companies to encourage higher consumption of cereal in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia

Nestle Fitnesse and Koko Krunch bars in Singapore

In Singapore, Nestle has made available Fitnesse and Koko Krunch bars for more whole grains on-the-go through 7-Eleven. Nestle Fitnesse is made in Europe and comes with two flavours chocolate and strawberry. Each bar has 93 calories and is priced at SGD 1.60.

At the moment, 7-Eleven Singapore is also selling Milo Energy Snack Bar Original & Milk and F&N Alive Wholegrain Muesli Bars.

Nestle Koko Krunch cereal bar in Singapore, Thailand

The Nestle Koko Krunch cereal bar is available in both Singapore and Thailand. The product is manufactured in Thailand. Each bar has 100 kcal. The price in Thailand is THB 20.

Kellogg’s Coco Cereal Bar in Malaysia

Kellogg’s has recently made available its Kellogg’s Coco Cereal Bar (23g) in 7-Eleven stores in Malaysia.

Also available in the supermarket is the Kellogg’s Frosties Cereal Bar. Both are targeted at children for the breakfast occasion with no reason to skip breakfast.

What Mini Me thinks

Cereal companies are looking at ways to encourage consumers in Southeast Asia to consume more cereals. One approach is to make it more affordable with smaller packaging sizes. With the lack of a culture of drinking milk, it proves difficult to encourage consumers to consume cold cereal. Moreover, not all households have refrigerators or fresh milk. By introducing cereal bar, this would potentially make cereal more accessible and convenient for consumers from children to working adults to engage with the category.

Competition shaping Gardenia new packaging design

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

Gardenia, owned by Singapore-listed QAF Limited, has launched a new packaging design for its popular cream rolls in Malaysia and Singapore.

Cleaner design

In Malaysia, the new packaging comes with a cleaner design with more white spaces to highlight the key ingredients. Each product comes with a bright colour to highlight the product characteristics such as yellow for sweet corn and blue for vanilla. The product name now has colour contrast for better readibility. Overall, the new packaging projects a contemporary look and is well designed.

Old packaging design of Gardenia (image above)

The packaging of Massimo, Gardenia’s top competitor, comes with a lot of white space to project a more cleaner style to make it easy for consumers to grab and go their favourite cream roll. The packaging revamp by Gardenia, the market leader in packaged bread in Malaysia, is seen as following the design trend of its rival Massimo.

Colour coded

In Singapore, the new cream roll now uses colour code to help consumers identify their preferred cream roll flavour. For example, strawberry come with a pink packaging and butter sugar features in a yellow packaging. In the new design, the Gardenia brand name is contrasted by the background colour, making the logo the first thing you see on the packaging.

The old Gardenia design in Singapore does bear some resemblance to the new Gardenia cream roll design in Malaysia with the use of white space.

What Mini Me thinks

Packaging plays an important role in attracting and shaping consumer decision at point of sale. With price offering no real differentiation in the cream roll category, the only point of differentiation is the packaging. The price for Massimo and Gardenia is the same at RM 0.85 each. It appears market leader Gardenia is changing its packaging to react to market competition and how consumer identify with the product visually.

Japanese brings ice cream potong taste experience to a new level

By
Tan Heng Hong
-

In Malaysia, a new ice cream potong iNatural has joined the big family ice cream potong family. Ice cream potong can be traced back to the 1930s and 1940s. Back then, the cold treat was sold in long stick and cut according to customer’s request.

At least six million ice cream potong sold each year

The humble cheap and cheerful Ice cream potong has attracted a lot of attention and following in Malaysia and Singapore. According to the Star in August 2012, at least six million ice cream potong were sold annually. Many more ice cream potong would have been sold since the article was published in 2012. The popularity of ice cream can be largely attributed to its nostalgic appeal and its local flavour where everyone can relate to.

Recent launches

Recent launches include Nestle Aiskrim Tradisi Potong (Red Bean, Coconut Gula Melaka and Bandung Syrup) and the limited-edition King’s Potong Gold Musang King.

Japanese take on ice cream potong

Unlike other ice cream potong, iNatural is a new ice cream potong founded by Japanese Kohei Taki who operates under Matsuya Ice Cream Sdn Bhd. What makes iNatural different is the range is positioned as a premium, natural ice cream made from Malaysian fruits and ingredients.

First ice cream potong sold in premium black packaging

iNatural is also likely to be the first ice cream potong selling in a black packaging. Black is often used to denote the premium quality of a product. The logo also gives the impression that it is an ice cream from New Zealand.

According to the product packaging and website, iNatural is 100% made in Malaysia.

Six flavours

The iNatural range has six flavours:

They come in 4-stick value pack (RM 13.95), assorted value pack (all six flavours – RM 19.95) and single stick (RM 3.95).

99.99% natural ice cream with real fruit pieces

According to Matsuya Ice Cream, iNatural is free from emulsfiers, stabilisers, preservatives, additional colour or additional flavouring (less than 0.01%). It is 99.99% natural made from fresh fruits. Each ice cream contains 20% of coconut milk.

The banana ice cream contains fresh banana pieces, which makes it tasty and unique. (image above)

iNatural durian comes with natural colour

Durian is a popular flavour in ice cream potong. The iNatural durian ice cream does not have the bright yellow colour often associated with durian ice cream. This is because the ice cream is made with water, coconut milk, fresh durian, sugar, condensed milk, evaporated milk, pandan leaves, starch and permitted flavouring (<0.01%).

Each ice cream has a shelf life of 12 months from the manufactured date and has to be kept frozen below -18’C.

Halal certified

iNatural is certified halal by JAKIM.

Sold at premium grocers

iNatural is available in the Klang Valley area at Cold Storage, Mercato, Jason’s Food Hall and Ben’s Independent Grocer. Click here for more information on the outlets.

What Mini Me thinks

iNatural has added a new dimension to the local vibrant ice cream potong scene and has raised the quality standard. The ice cream demonstrated how the use of natural ingredients and the free-from claims help elevate the taste experience and in the process justify its premium pricing.

The ice cream is therefore ideal for consumers who have tasted the normal ice cream potong but wants something more premium in taste.

However, the packaging does need some improvement to grab the attention of consumers with cues to show that it is an ice cream.

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