Coconut water embraces flavour extension, Cocomax debuts in Malaysia

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15th October 2015

Coconut water in the Western markets may be moving beyond pure coconut water into other categories such as coffee+coconut water (CocoEspresso) but in Malaysia, coconut water remains coconut water for the moment.

Consumers need to feel comfortable with packaged coconut water before other coconut water-based innovation can start to trickle in. To promote coconut water, Karta is running a roadshow with the mobile truck visiting cites and towns in the the state of Pahang including Raub, Jerantut and Kuantan. The mobile truck went to the morning markets in the first half of October 2015 giving out samples to predominantly housewives shopping for fresh produce and meat.

These ‘aunties’ hold the key to the food choices of their homes. Most of them would be trying packaged coconut water for the first time. If the taste is right, they might become repeat customer buying for their kids since coconut water has less sugar content than other sugary drinks. Targeting children can be other option to grow the coconut water market apart from targeting the sports market.

Kara has also been reaching out to hospitals. Coconut water is provided to patients battling dengue.

Image from Kara Marketing Facebook site

Image from Kara Marketing Facebook. Karta at Reebok Spartan Race

Cocomax is the latest coconut water to enter the Malaysian market. The 100% coconut water is made by Thailand’s Asiatic Agro Industry Co., Ltd. and distributed locally by Max Food Enterprise (M) Sdn Bhd and in Singapore by Field Catering & Supplies Pte Ltd. Cocomax is already available in 15 countries in Europe and Asia. Asiatic Agro is currently investing THB800 million to build a new plant in Amphawa in Samut Songkhram province with a capacity to produce 72mn bottles a year. Malaysia, Poland, South Korea and France are among the new markets for Cocomax. At the moment, Singapore and Japan are the key markets with 25% of Cocomax export sales.

RM5.39 per bottle for the 500ml Cocomax compared with RM 3.49 for the 330ml Coco Life and the 330ml Cowa

Flavour extension is the focus for most brands. Karta is the first to go beyond plain coconut water with new pineapple and cucumber varients.

In the UK, coconut milk is now being used in dairy-free milk shake as a replacement for dairy. One thing in common though is there is no plain coconut milk. In China, it is the other way round with plain coconut milk being an established category but coconut drink is a newcomer.

Photo taken at Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2015 in the UK in September 2015

With fresh coconut water widely available in Malaysia, it is interesting to see if the coconut water category can establish itself in the market.

New Emborg American Cheddar Slices

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Mini Me Insights

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14th October 2015

It has been a while since new consumer pack sliced cheese is introduced to the Malaysian market. The new Emborg American Cheddar Slices is marketed as “perfect for sandwiches, burgers and snacks.” It joins the existing range of Dutch Slices and Swiss Slices.

Uhrenholt’s Emborg has established itself as one of the leading companies in dairy, seafood, meat and vegetables. In Malaysia, the Emborg brand is strong in the cheese segment with a wide range of products including feta, gouda, mozzarella, edam and brie. The iconic purple packaging ensures it stands out in the crowded cheese market. The Emborg Power Panda is also the only children-focused cheese brand with its own Facebook page.

From Emborg Power Panda Facebook page – Malaysia

At Cold Storage, the 200g American Cheddar Slices is priced at RM8.49.

Teh Botol now available at Tesco

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Mini Me Insights

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13th October 2015

Indonesia’s Teh Botol is making headway in Malaysia. The ready-to-drink tea drink with a strong jasmine taste used to be available in small sundry shops or small minimarts or supermarkets. Now, Teh Botol can be found at Tesco! This shows there is a growing demand for Teh Botol, driven by the growing popularity of Indonesian cuisine through bakso and ayam penyet and demand from Indonesians living in Malaysia.

Photo taken at Tesco Extra Ampang

Maggi brings consumers on a gastronomic journey of Laksa

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Mini Me Insights

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12th October 2015

Instant noodle companies in Malaysia are starting to draw inspiration from famous Malaysian dishes and Asian noodles as they search for new premium offerings. For the latest offerings, Maggi’s new premium Royale line up now includes two famous local dishes – Johor Seafood Laksa and Sarawak Sambal Laksa The two new products add to the existing line-up of Royale Seafood Curry and Royale Korean Spicy Beef, launched respectively in early 2014 and in late 2014.Essentially, Maggi’s approach is the same route taken by Indomie in Indonesia to bring consumers on a gastronomic journey to saviour the different local and regional food through the Kuliner Indonesia, Taste of Asia and Selera Nusantara range.

Dendeng Balado fried noodle, Soto Lamongan noodle

Korean Bulgogi fried noodle, Singapore laksa and Thai tom yum

In China, Master Kong has a team of over 20 people from the research and development department spending 8 years crisscrossing China to find inspiration for its instant noodles, according to a Yicai article dated March 2010. One researcher had to go to nearly 80 restaurants in Shaanxi province to taste their sour soup noodle within two weeks, meaning the person had to visit at least five to seven restaurants a day just to taste the noodle to pick the best sour soup noodle.

Luckily in Malaysia, the country is small and regional delicacies are not as many as China or even Indonesia. However for laksa, the country has a rich variety of laksa and is prepared different by states. According to the laksa entry in Wikipedia, there are laksa from the states of Kelantan, Johor, Sarawak, Penang, Terengganu, Perlis and Kedah as well as from the cities and towns of Ipoh and Kuala Kangsar. There is also laksam from Kelantan, Kedah and Terengganu “made with very thick flat white rice flour noodles in a rich, full-bodied white gravy of boiled fish and coconut milk”. Companies can find quite a number of new products from laksa alone.

Ultimately, taste matters. Getting the right taste is crucial to achieve success in the instant noodle category and picking the right culinary delight will help bring excitement to the category.

Photo taken at Tesco Extra Ampang. Royale Johor and Royale Sarawak with a pack of 4 x 99g noodles is retailed at a price of RM 8.25.

Herbal Asia: Sunnah diet will shape Malay FMCG scene

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Mini Me Insights

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7th October 2015

The 9th Herbal Asia 2015 fair at Matrade in October 2015 has revealed several interesting new product trends. Food ingredients from the Sunnah Diet, which is the eating habits of Prophet Muhammad, has a strong influence on new product development at the latest Herbal Asia trade show in Malaysia.

The key ingredients of the Sunnah Diet are:
– Dates (kurma)
– Honey
– Olive oil
– Watermelon
– Grapes and raisin
– Milk (goat’s milk)
– Water

The honey products showcased at Herbal Asia are functional with added health-beneficial ingredients such as tongkat ali and kacip fatimah. Products are also gender specific. For example, the King Honey range comes in three products namely King Honey Power Man with tongkat ali, traditionally used as an aphrodisiac, King Honey Kick Woman with kacip fatimah, the female equivalent of tongkat ali, and King Honey Mudu Ruqyah with 30 Juzuk Al-Quran, a product that has been given the Quranic prayers.

The Masyi QS Honey by Masyi Resources Sdn Bhd comes in the convenient tablet form with chocolate, strawberry and orange flavour and honey in sprayable cansister. The products claim to improve memory, increase the energy levels and good for health.

Date is a popular food ingredient and is often marketed as a food supplement. Date juice or jus kurma of D-Warisan is positioned as a herbal drink and contains not only date but also betel leaf and habbatus sauda, known as the “powerful remedy for each & every disease except death.”

The nrbasshirah Khall date vinegar comes in the ready-to-drink juice in sachet format. Each sachet weighs 10 grams. The drink contains a mixture of honey with palm vinegar, virgin coconut oil and habbatus sauda.

The Srikandi supplement for women by Sirehemas Marketing Sdn Bhd is formulated with date concentrate, betel (sireh), manjakani, habbatus sauda, kacip fatimah, marine collagen, mas cotek (mistletoe fig), pueraria lobata (kudzu) and serapat.

Daralia VCO

Aniera virgin coconut oil

Consumers are rediscovering about the health benefits of virgin coconut oil (VCO). In a country where coconut is abundant, it is strange to see coconut oil no longer being used as the government-driven palm oil policy has elevated palm oil as the edible oil of choice. With heightened health awareness, VCO is now back in the form of VCO-based cosmetics and personal care products or eaten as food supplement.

Cocomune VCO by the Malay Tea House has a booth displaying food and industry grade VCO. Most of its VCO is exported to Japan but the company is seeing growing sales of VCO among local consumers who now realised the benefits of VCO.

Another product that grabs the attention is the instant noodle with a touch of saffron. The instant noodle is produced by Qurba Food Manufacturing Sdn Bhd based in Kedah and comes in two flavous tomyam and sambal.

Other products at Herbal Asia included:

– Coffee with cinnamon, ginger, clove and tunjuk langit (sky fruit)
– Roselle and noni drinks
– Betel-based soap
– Hibiscus shampoo
– Energy drinks with tongkat ali extract, dates and pomegranate
– Kombucha tea
– Sakura White whitening candy
– Sabah snake grass herbal tea and botanical drink
– Tongkat ali health supplement such as Nu-Prep

Remedi Aqif Xtra Boost energy drink with tongkat ali, pomegranate and dates

The products at Herbal Asia were predominately for the Malay market. They revealed a growing interest among the Malay population for food based on the Sunnah diet, which means more food targeting at the Malay segment will incorporate Sunnah ingredients such as dates, goat’s milk and honey.

Malaysia – source: Google Trends as of 7 October 2015

Smaller Nescafe Latte Caramel encourages trial

By

Mini Me Insights

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6th October 2015

I have previously mentioned about using sachet to improve affordability and trial in a blog post dated 24 May 2015. Back then, Power Root was selling the Per’l Cafe Premium Gold Coffee Drink with Oligofructose & Collagen in a pack of three sachets.

The concept is being repeated by Nescafe for the Latte Caramel, launched in mid-2014. The instant 3-in-1 coffee now comes in a pack of five sticks to improve affordability and trial. The existing pack comes with 20 sachets. The price for the 5-stick pack at Cold Storage is RM3.99, while the 20-pack is RM13.5 (promo price at RM11.99). Latte Caramel is a non-bitter coffee targeting non-coffee drinkers and this is where the trial factor comes in.

The five-sachet packaging retains all aspect of packaging design, which makes it more ideal than the three-sachet pack of Power Root Per’l Cafe Premium Gold Coffee Drink where the sachet is sold in a clear, transparent plastic pack.

RTD coffee Wonda Coffee & Nescafe unleashed war on International Coffee Day

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Mini Me Insights

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5th October 2015

Wonda vs Nescafe — Images taken from The Star

Permanis’ Wonda coffee and Nestle’s Nescafe have engaged in a print media war with Wonda unleashing the first salvo on 29 September 2015 in what was known as the International Coffee Day. A range of promotions were held by its participating partners TGV Cinema, Petronas Mesra convenience store, Domino’s Pizza, Seven Eleven, Tesco and Myteksi involving contests such as free petrol, free movie ticket, buy one get one free and price discount. More information can be found at the Wonda Coffee site. Permanis is trying to make the International Coffee Day synonomous with Wonda Coffee. Expect more promotions by Wonda Coffee during the next International Coffee Day in 2016.

Free movie ticket at TGV Cinema

In contrast to Wonda Coffee, Nescafe’s ad on 1 October 2015 focused on the ‘world’s most-love’ coffee credential to show you will not be wrong by going for a coffee that is loved by consumers around the world. Nescafe opted for the official 1 October International Coffee Day, while Wonda went for the unofficial 29 September. However, Nescafe’s promotion did not mention about the International Coffee Day.

The promotion was only limited to RM 5.95 for a 6-pack Nescafe Original, Latte and Mocha and no mentioning of the participating outlets on the print ad. In actual fact, the promotion was available only at “TESCO, GIANT, AEON, AEON BIG, BILLION, ECONSAVE, MYDIN & 99 Speedmart nationwide from 2nd Oct to 4th October.”

From Nescafe Facebook page dated 1 October 2015

One Facebook reader left a note on Nescafe Malaysia page saying “ Is this a marketing gimmick? Why no details on participative outlet? Nescafe should learn from WONDA…no hidden agenda, all info on the newspaper.”

Another Facebook reader said why staff at the 99Speedmart and Mydin outlets was not aware of the promotion.

The Nescafe promotion is only limited to three flavours – mocha, original and latte but the advertisement shows 5 different flavours, which misled consumers into believing the promotion covered all five flavours.

However, the response was overwhelming with most of the RM 5.95 pack already been sold, according to messages left on Facebook.

Conclusion as of 5 Oct 2015
The marketing by Nescafe is more old-school with focus on the mainstream retailers using an irresistible price of RM 5.95 for a pack of 6 cans. There were some confusion on the participating outlets and products that were part of the offer. [See updated information below]

Permanis’ Wonda Coffee has hijacked the International Coffee Day marketing and is likely to take ownership of the coffee day going forward. The marketing involved multiple channels ranging from convenience store, cinema to pizza chain. The final verdict is Wonda Coffee’s approach was more multi-dimensional with greater reach across different touch points.

The battle has not ended for Nescafe

Nescafe promotion goes multi-dimension. Nescafe is available for a price of RM1.50 per can at myNEWS. com and BHPetromarts from 9th – 11th October 2015

At Petron and Nestle, Nescafe and KitKat Green Tea is available at a ‘Special Price.’ At Petronas, you can win prizes by buying RM5 worth of Nescafe.

Event debrief – Matstreif – Norwegian premier food festival

By

Mini Me Insights

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29th September 2015

The author went to Oslo, Norway for the annual Matstreif food festival in September 2015. Matstreif is the event for foodies to enjoy Norwegian food at its best. Salmon, Norway’s top food export, is the star attraction. Visitors can try or purchase the wide varieties of fresh salmon from filleted salmon to smoked salmon.

Photo taken at Matstreif

Also showcased were fresh produce such as carrot, potato and vegetables, dairy products including milk and cheese, meat like bacon and reindeer meat and fruit-based beverages.

One thing the organisers can improve is to have more English-language information about the products. Overall, it was an excellent event to savour what Norway has to offer.

Instant noodle update – September 2015

By

Mini Me Insights

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28th September 2015

Super has introduced the Super Cup Signature white curry noodle in the cup format in Malaysia. The white curry noodle comes with dried shrimp and crab stick. Also in the Signature range is the new sesame chicken flavour cup noodle. The white curry noodle sells for RM3.35 per 98g.

Aeon Vegetarian Flavour Noodles – Photo taken at Aeon Big Cheras Selatan

Aeon private label range Topvalu has made available Vegetarian Flavour Noodles and Curry Flavour Noodles in cup. Each 60g cup noodle retails at a price of RM1.50. The noodles are made by Pacific Food Products Sdn Bhd, the same company that produces Mamee instant noodle.

Aroi white curry noodles – Photo taken at Aeon Big Cheras Selatan

Back to the white curry noodle story, Aroi has a new product (or new packaging?) Penang White Curry Soup Noodle (right). The difference between the earlier one is the addition of the word ‘soup.’ Both are selling at the same price of RM7.25. The one of the left is Penang Traditional Dry White Curry Noodle, while the one on the right is the soup-based noodle.

Aroi has entered Thailand with product sampling activities in local supermarkets including Tops. The company has also produced white curry in cup and will be launching it soon, according to its Facebook posting on 23 July 2015.

Voted product of the year – Photo taken at Aeon Big Cheras Selatan

Maggi Korean Spicy Braised Beef Flavour now comes with the “Voted Product of the Year,” Mamee Chef Mi Kari Seribu Rasa is another winner following an extensive survey conducted by Nielsen Malaysia on more than 2,000 consumers.

Maggi Letup – From Maggi Facebook page

Finally, Maggi has unveiled the premium MAGGI Letup Kari Cili Api dan MAGGI Letup Goreng Kari Berasap. They come with explosive taste of chili. The key ingredients are “pure extracts of fiery red, dried chillies and real curry spices to flare up your taste buds”.

Here is the existing non-premium version.

Marketing religious claims on food products enters uncharted waters

By

Mini Me Insights

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27th September 2015

Sinar Harian, a local Malay-language daily in Malaysia, has a four-page full report on the current problem of using religion to boost product sales. Nowadays, merchants are using religion as a selling point for products ranging from infant milk powder, water to beauty products.

Goat’s milk powder that has been recited with Quranic verses

These products, recited with Quranic verses, are often marketed as providing extra benefits in terms of spiritual, therapeutic and to some extent miracle effect to the users. Using the example of infant formula milk, the Insan infant formula, which has been recited with Quranic verses helps to improve one’s spirituality and physical life. According to the marketing material of Ilham milk by Ebunda Sdn Bhd, the al-Quran therapy fosters children with good moral conduct.

Insan infant milk powder recited with Quranic verses

Some consumers feel much better after using products that have been blessed with prayers especially since the product is endorsed by renown Islamic teachers. Some manufacturers claim the practice of using religious verses is to provide extra blessing to the product without charging extra for the added ‘benefits.’

Air Alkali Anugerah

Not your ordinary water

The Air Alkali Anugerah or Award Alkaline Water is a premium alkaline water selling at RM 4.50 per 500ml. As a comparison, an ordinary 1,500ml mineral water bottle comes with a price tag of around RM 2.30. Award Alkaline Water claims to combine the greatness of Islamic science and medicine, being recited with Islamic verses, helping to eliminate pain, both physically and mentally. After consuming the water, the consumer will feel more energetic. For patients with inner and outer illnesses, their medical conditions will improve. Essentially, the manufacturer seems to imply one can cure their diseases and maintain a healthy body by drinking the alkaline water.

Unless there are clear regulations to govern religious claims for food/non-food products, manufacturers will continue to use these claims to promote their products targeting consumers who have faith in them.

Prayers to be recited while cleaning the face to cure the acne problem.

Imtiyaz chocolate-coated raisin with Al-Quran therapy

Mini Me Insights

Coconut water embraces flavour extension, Cocomax debuts in Malaysia

New Emborg American Cheddar Slices

Teh Botol now available at Tesco

Maggi brings consumers on a gastronomic journey of Laksa

Herbal Asia: Sunnah diet will shape Malay FMCG scene

Smaller Nescafe Latte Caramel encourages trial

RTD coffee Wonda Coffee & Nescafe unleashed war on International Coffee Day

Event debrief – Matstreif – Norwegian premier food festival

Instant noodle update – September 2015

Marketing religious claims on food products enters uncharted waters

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