This is a rather interesting picture taken at Aeon Big at MidValley, Kuala Lumpur. Anlene was having a bone health check clinic but there were quite a number of men interested to check the health status of their bones. Anlene often markets its milk powder at females to prevent osteoporosis. It appears men are also worried about osteoporosis. Perhaps there is a market for men’s too.
Dutch Lady Malaysia has just introduced a new packaging for its UHT milk series. Dutch Lady’s UHT milk is now known as PureFarrm. Clearly, the company wants to drive the message of ‘freshness’ to Malaysian consumers.
A closer look at the old packaging versus the new packaging shows the old packaging emphasises family, while the new packaging shows two dairy cows grazing on the green pasture. There is a tick on the new packaging with the words “Delicious, Essential Nutrients”.
On the side of the new pack is an introduction to FrieslandCampina’s 140 years of farming heritage. The company has the following description on the back of the packaging “Building a strong family takes time. So does producing quality milk. With generations of expertise and farming passion, we know how it takes to make delicious and nutritious milk”.
There are also two photos of a dairy farming family with the Caucasian look comprising a couple with their two kids with their dairy cows on the background. The headline is “Farming is our passion”. The next picture shows their kid drinks milk every day.
PureFarm does look sophisticated. I am sure the followed up marketing campaign will focus primarily on the freshness of the ingredients and how healthy dairy cows from quality dairy farms will produce milk full of nutrients.
It seems the fresh sandwich concept works only in selected Seven-Eleven outlets in Malaysia. At the Bandar Baru Ampang outlet in Ampang, Selangor, 12 Fresh sandwiches with the best before 2 January 2015 (Friday) label became expired at 10pm. All 12 sandwiches were duly removed by the Seven Eleven staff at around 10pm, which means RM 44.4 (12 x RM 3.70) worth of sandwiches now went into the bin. Perhaps 7-Eleven should only make available sandwiches in certain outlets.
Which country in the four leading ASEAN countries – Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines – has the cheapest Bega slice cheese?
The answer is Malaysia.
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| Thailand store check: Tesco online (1 Jan 2015), Philippines Robinson Galleria supermarket (8 October 2014), Australia’s Woolsworth Supermarket online (1 Jan 2015), Indonesia’s Hypermart (10 December 2014), Malaysia’s Giant Supermarket (25 December 2014) |
In Malaysia, each pack of 250g Bega Super Slim costs only AUD 12.56 per kilogram, which is even cheaper than Australia, which retails at AUD 16.6 per kilogram at Woolworths Supermarket (online).
Malaysia and Singapore are the most important markets for Australian cheese in Southeast Asia in 2013/14, according to Dairy Australia. Japan remained Australia’s most important market for cheese in 2013/14 taking up nearly 50% of exports, followed by Greater China, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.
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| Slice cheese price range – Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. Thailand data from Tesco online, Malaysia from Tesco, Aeon Big and Giant, Philippines from Robinsons and Indonesia from Hypermart |
The price of Bega in the four different ASEAN markets reflects the different levels of development of the cheese market. Sliced cheese is relatively more expensive in Thailand compared to Malaysia across the board but in the Philippines and Indonesia, the price gap between the most expensive and the cheapest is the widest. Moreover, the choices of slice cheese in the Philippines and Indonesia are the smallest as consumers prefer to buy processed cheese in block that can be kept at room temperature. This consumer choice is different compared to Thailand and Malaysia where consumers tend to go for the more expensive sliced cheese option.
The latest new product launches in Indonesia and the Philippines are mainly concentrated on the lower end of the market. The focus on the mass market shows manufacturers want to make sliced cheese more accessible to a broader market. Examples of these new launches include Indonesia’s Prochiz in the Philippines and Kraft’s new mass market brand Dairylea Qeju.
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| Dairylea Qeju |
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| Prochiz in the Philippines |
In Malaysia, companies have the flexibility to introduce sliced cheese ranging from mass market to high-end since Malaysian consumers are already accustomed to consuming sliced cheese. Examples of the new launches include Eru and the latest private label Southdale Farm cheese distributed by Dairy Farm International, the operator of Giant and Cold Storage supermarkets.
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| High-end Eru cheese |
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| Southdale Farm private label cheese |
All photos (except Bega and Eru) and data are copyright of the author.
Southdale Farm Australian Butter – salted and unsalted can be found at Cold Storage supermarket in Malaysia. The butter is distributed by GCH Retail (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, which operates Giant, Cold Storage and other Dairy Farm International retailers in Malaysia. Essentially, Southdale Farm is a private label of Dairy Farm. We saw Southdale Farm cheese appearing in Cold Storage few months ago and now the Southdale Farm brand has been extended to butter, making this most likely the first private label butter in this country.
Malaysia’s Blue Ocean Food Industries Sdn Bhd has recently launched a range of fruit juice drink and Chinese herbal drink under the SunChoice brand. One of the most interesting thing about this product is the company is able to enlist HK actor Wayne Lai to become the brand ambassador.
The SunChoice range consists of fruit drinks:
– Apple
– Grape
– Lemon tea
– Mango
– Lychee
– Pink guava
Hot-filled Chinese herbal beverages:
– Honey ginseng
– Longan Lo Ho Go (monk fruit)
– Honey chrysanthemum
– Imperatae cane with water chestnut
Hong Kong TVB actor Wayne Lai is widely known among the Malaysian Chinese community as they tend to follow TVB drama. I am a bit skeptical about this brand ambassador approach. I am not convinced having Wayne as the brand ambassador will help popularise the new drink. Also, I don’t see what else this drink has to offer. It simply does not have a unique selling point (USP).
Indonesian brands are finding Malaysia a convenient market for overseas expansion due to the geographical proximity and affinity in diet and culture. We have seen leading Indonesian FMCG companies such as Wings and Indofood successfully established themselves as one of the key players in the fabric care and instant noodle categories in Malaysia.
Interestingly, Indonesian companies are also active in exporting products where the per capita consumption of those items is still very low in their home country. Examples include fresh milk, cheese, baby cereal and cereal bars. Prochiz slice cheese is now available in the Philippines, Kalbe’s Milna baby cereal can be found in selected supermarkets in Malaysia and Greenfields fresh milk is sold alongside popular Marigold, Goodday and Dutch Lady in Malaysia.
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Lately, Kalbe’s highly popular cereal bar Fitbar is now available in Malaysia’s Aeon Big hypermarket chain. The 125g Fitbar is positioned as a mid-range cereal bar with an average price of RM 84 per kilogram, significantly higher than Australia’s Carman’s (180g at RM 10.75 per pack).
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In Indonesia, the opposite holds true where Fitbar (125g), the category market leader, sells at a 59% discount to Carman’s (180g). Cereal bar choices are limited in Indonesia, which allows the Australian cereal bar to price at a premium.
Malaysian consumers are new to Fitbar. This allows Kalbe to position Fitbar at the mid-to-high end market. Whether Malaysian consumers will choose Fitbar, this is another story.
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The Chinese cocktail brand Rio has collaborated with Hello Kitty to introduce the Rio Hello Kitty limited edition collection. The Chinese actress Zhou Xun is the brand spokesperson.
Here is a close up look of the 275ml Rio cocktail, which has an ABV of 3.8%. The bottle design is really attractive and is clearly aimed at the young female market.
Ready-to-drink cocktail has seen huge success in attracting young Chinese consumers who prefer something more sober than baijiu, which often have a 50% ABV, and sweeter than other alcoholic drinks such as beer. Industry sources said China’s cocktail market has maintained a 30% annual growth between 2009 and 2013 and is set to reach CNY 4 billion (USD 647 million) in 2014, reported China Daily.
Rio is made by Shanghai Bakesi Wine Co., Ltd. (上海巴克斯酒业有限公司). The company is now fully owned by Shanghai-listed Shanghai Bairun Flavor & Fragrance Co., Ltd. Bairun formed the joint venture in 2003 holding a 60% stake but subsequently disposed its entire stake in Bakesi Wine to the other joint venture partners. In 2014, Bairun bought back the company to capitalise on the ready-to-drink beverage sector.
Bakesi Wine has witnessed spectacular growth over the past few years. Clearly, the company still has some leg, which makes the company with a price tag of CNY 5.5 billion (USD 939 million) a worthwhile investment for Bairun. Rio is currently the top cocktail by market share in China. The other competitors are Barcadi Breezer and Red Square (红广场).
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Two new nata de coco products have made their appearance in the market. The first is a rather safe approach by Malaysia Milk, which involves the adding of nata de coco into the Marigold yogurt.
The other nata de coco product is rather a peculiar choice. This is what Indonesia’s Inaco has to say about the new drink – Inaco Nata Drink with chocolate milk flavour (200ml), which is available in Indonesia.
“Why do we have to choose Nata Drink INACO? Nata Drink INACO more delicious and hygienic because it uses real sugar and through the process of pasteurization. Nata Drink good to be consumed every day because it contains good natural fiber which aid digestion and facilitate bowel movements. Nata Drink can also replace your daily breakfast”
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There is also a cappuccino flavour. Can’t comment on the taste though as I haven’t tried it.
Consumers demand free-range poultry eggs. They also want eggs produced by chicken fed with natural ingredients. What’s a better way to present all these qualities than a using traditional egg packaging in a basket or in a wrap.
Presenting here are few examples of these traditional egg packaging. One is from Jakarta – telur ayam or free-range eggs. The other is from North Korea. The North Korean eggs are wrapped in straw and are sold in the Chinese border town of Dandong.
All the photos are copyright of the author.
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