Total FMCG growth across Asia remains fairly stable, showing a slight year-on-year increase of +4.6% in Q4 2019 compared with +4.1% at the same point in 2018.
Homecare has seen the most stable growth across all quarters, propelled by improved living standards and increased hygiene awareness.
Asian markets – especially the East and Southeast – continue to lead the way in e-commerce. The channel now accounts for 11.2% of FMCG spend, with Chinese Mainland’s online sales growing faster than any other developed country in 2019.
La Vie, Vietnam La Vie entered the Vietnamese market in 1994 and quickly became the market leader within bottled water. Health and convenience are increasingly important to Vietnamese consumers and bottled water has performed strongly, with double-digit growth in urban and rural areas.
The brand’s growth is attributable to three key drivers.
It has offered variety through innovation, with launches meeting different needs e.g. La Vie Kid. Marketing and communication are further drivers, with TV advertising and sponsorship playing a large role.
Finally, the brand has developed a strong Corporate Social Responsibility programme. La Vie helped launch the country’s Packaging Recycling Organisation (PRO Vietnam) and has stopped using plastic caps on its bottles. As a result, the brand has added more than 160,000 new households into its consumer base.
Botare, Chinese Mainland Botare is a local Chinese Personal Care brand, playing across Tissues, Femcare and Babycare. Its low-cost business model has helped boost sales in the past three years. In 2019, Botare reached 9.3% penetration, an increase of 4.2% penetration points.
With price being a key driver of its success, Botare joined the New Brand Project launched by Pinduoduo to co-manufacture Diapers. This has certainly helped drive further penetration. The brand has also focused on e-commerce. As Chinese online sales are growing faster than anywhere else in the world, it has been able to ride the wave.
Paldo, South Korea Consumers in Korea enjoy modifying recipes, matching different food together, and sharing these experiences on social media. Paldo proactively connected with these young consumers, a break from the traditional image of manufacturers.
Altering its traditional marketing campaign schedules has also yielded growth. Paldo’s main product is a spicy Bibimmyeon, served as a cool noodle. Traditionally, more purchase occasions and marketing activities were planned for summer than any other season.
Paldo moved its marketing campaign much earlier (beginning in March) and expanded its KPI in peak season as well as off-season. As a result, Paldo now ranks second in Non-Soup-Based Noodles.
Goodday, Malaysia Dairy has been in decline in Malaysia, but shoppers are remaining in Liquid Milk. Goodday used this opportunity to bring shoppers into its brand, now reaching 20% of Peninsular Malaysian households. It is the fastest growing brand in terms of CRP within dairy–growing by +56%.
Goodday trades on its longevity with the tagline: “Nourishing Malaysians, since 1968”. Known for its Plain and Chocolate Milk flavours, it launched new flavours such as Charge, Honey, Green Tea and Kurma. Most recently, it has moved into Plant-based Milk. Goodday has created excitement in the category and attracted 476,000 households in 2019.
C-vitt, Thailand C-vitt is a leading beverage brand positioned for health and emphasising the benefits of vitamin C. In 2019, the brand had a high number of new launches, which helped it maintain its position as the fastest growing brand in the beverage sector.
C-vitt saw an increase of 11 million CRPs—more than double in 2018.
C-vitt created new needs for consumers. It provides liquid alternative for vitamin C consumption, which helps the body absorb the vitamin faster. Each bottle contains the recommended daily dosage. The “less sugar” formula on all its variants has also appealed to consumers concerned about their sugar intake.
The brand has encouraged consumption by creating a variety of ideal moments to drink C-vitt. These include waking up, breakfast, feeling stressed, feeling sick, working outdoors, during exercise, nourishing skin, and boosting maternal & child health.
Dabur, India Dabur is a famous beauty and personal care brand in India, known for its Ayurvedic and Natural products. The brand operates in Oralcare and Haircare predominantly and saw success in the Shampoo and Hair Oil categories in 2019.
Dabur renamed its shampoo product Dabur Vatika to Dabur Vatika Health with 7 Herb Properties. Dabur also changed its packaging to give it a more premium look, and shifted its audience focus to the larger Hindi-speaking diaspora.
For Hair Oils, Dabur adopted a defensive strategy to counter the success of its competitor, Shanti Amla. It launched two new brands – Dabur Sarson Amla and Dabur Brahmi Amla. This helped Dabur fight price aggression and opened up a new segment, Unbranded Mustard Oil—popular in parts of northern India.
Thanks to these strategies, Dabur’s penetration grew by +4%.
Boss, Japan Boss is the leading ready-to-drink Coffee brand in Japan, established in 1992 by Suntory Beverage and Food. In 2019, Boss remained the most chosen Coffee brand, growing CRPs by +5%.
The brand initially targeted blue-collar male workers with 190ml cans, slightly smaller than the most popular size at the time. This allowed consumers to drink the Coffee within their short breaks. As ways of work change, the brand has expanded to target all workers and occasions. Boss now has a 500ml PET bottle for at-desk consumption. To cater for women working at home, they released a large-sized premium offer in supermarkets.
Birch Tree, Philippines Birch Tree is a Powdered Milk brand that saw more than 50% CRP growth in 2019. It has shot up the rankings into the Top 20 FMCG brands in the Philippines and the third-most-chosen Dairy brand. Growth has arisen through the gain of 10% penetration over two consecutive years. Almost 40% of households now purchase the brand.
By introducing a smaller 33g sachet, Birch Tree gave households a new option away from larger packs. Its attractive price point and “Sustansyafordable” (Nutritious + Affordable) messaging has helped reach lower income homes who shop in provision stores, where the majority of shoppers are.
With a strong consumer following, their newly launched Chocolate flavour has already gained 14% penetration. Birch Tree successfully climbed to become the number two brand in the Powdered Milk category, even gaining share from the number one brand as it continually recruits new buyers.
So Klin, Indonesia So-Klin, has been one of Indonesia’s leading Homecare providers for more than 35 years. The brand is part of the Wings group, a local manufacturer. Playing in several categories is one of the key levers that So-Klin uses, with varieties in Floor Cleaner, Detergent, Fabric Conditioner and Bleach. The brand has successfully built the image as a specialist in affordable Homecare products.
The key to its longevity has been innovation.
Recent success has come from new Fabric Conditioner and Detergent lines, So-Klin Royale and So-Klin White & Bright. So Klin Royale rides on the fragrance trend in laundry, while So Klin White & Bright offers a way to keep both whites and colours clean with just one product.
Being both innovative and affordable has made So-Klin a success in 2019, with +15% CRP growth in Urban Indonesia.
Vitalon Ochaen, Taiwan Vitalon Ochaen is a local Taiwanese ready-to-drink Tea brand. Its penetration has increased from 35.5% in 2018 to 38.4% in 2019, driving +19% CRP growth. This year, the brand launched a sugar-free Japanese Raw Tea, which had a different shopper profile from its usual buyers. It used famous Asian actors as celebrity endorsers, which built brand awareness among young consumers.
Vitalon Ochaen also expanded its product range to use different types of product packaging, such as Tetra Pak. This gave the brand more opportunities to display products and granted more shelf presence in retailers.
