One of the hottest markets in Thailand right now is apparently the green tea market. Although the competition is intensifying uncompromisingly, the old and new players, both big and small, have high expectations that the sales of their green tea products will rocket eventually. The current green tea leader, the Oishi Group Public Company Limited, for instance, is expecting that the market value will reach an impressive ten billion baht by the end of this year. The green tea market value is currently at eight billion baht.
In contrast to the steady sales growths of other beverage products in Thailand, the demand for green tea continues to soar above others. Thus, new investors have been magnetized by the green tea market, and they are keen to enter into this battle arena as soon as possible. Recently, Coca Cola, one of the world’s largest and most renowned firms, has opportunistically introduced a new green tea product under the brand name “Shizen Plus”. Moreover, approximately ten more firms are expected to enter this market in the near future, to capture the ever-growing green tea market share. Despite an increasing number of players, about five of them are considered to be the “big players”.
As for the new players, the T.A.C. Beverage Company Limited has invested about 50 million baht to promote its new 500 ml. green tea products, under the brand name “Shenya”. During the initial stage, the company is launching two flavours of Shenya into the green tea market, which include pomegranate and traditional green tea flavours. Like many other green tea players, the products are shelved in most convenience stores, to serve the trendy tea drinkers nationwide. In regards to the promotional strategy, the T.A.C. Beverage Company Limited plans to stimulate growth through a price discount strategy, in which it will sell Shenya green tea products at 15 baht per unit for a period of time. As for most green tea manufacturers, their prices are at 20 baht per unit.
Another notable green tea company is the Uni-President (Thailand) Company Limited. The company first launched green tea products to Thailand in 2001, under the “Unif” brand name. Unif also used to be the market leader of green tea until Oishi took over the throne a short time ago. The ferocious and exemplary competition between these two companies has to be noted nonetheless.
Over the past years, Unif and Oishi have been exchanging blows to stay on top of the green tea pedestal. As a proactive firm, the stance of Unif was to boost sales. It also tried to capture public attention by utilising emotional advertisement campaigns, such as the “worm” television advertisement. At the same time, Oishi was investing in hi-technological failsafe anti-contamination equipment. Another commendable strategy employed by Oishi is concerned with customer relationship management. As mentioned earlier, most green tea firms distribute their products at different convenience stores. However, Oishi has decided to sell its green tea products in any places where many people gathered together, such as during sporting or entertainment events. With this penetrable approach, Oishi would be able to get in touch with different types of customers more easily.
As for the promotional campaigns, Unif has launched a 50-million baht campaign for Unif green tea drinkers to compete for numerous prestigious prizes. The campaign made quite an impressive reaction, and was successful until Oishi countered with another appealing campaign, namely the “30-Caps 30-Million”. This campaign greatly stimulated the public across Thailand, and it was more successful than the company had originally expected.
The latest campaign of Unif is “Unif Seven Golden Lucky Days”, which will be effective until August 19th, 2005. The presenters of this campaign are two prominent Thai celebrities, Kalamae and Patcharasri Benjamas. The objective of the campaign is to increase the values of Unif green tea products continuously, and the firm has invested around 100 million baht to set up this campaign. At present, Unif captures about 20 percent of the green tea market share in Thailand.
The market leader, Oishi, is standing firmly at the moment, even though the competitors are strengthening their brands and sharpening their competitive edges. The current number of green tea brands is at 35 brands, while Oishi is capturing around 60 percent of the market share. According to last year’s report, Oishi achieved 2,371% of net earnings growth. This year, the Oishi Group, analysts, brokers and other stakeholders are still optimistic with the green tea outlook in the country. Meanwhile, its shares in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) are valued between 18.50 and 27 baht. Oishi also plans to expand its green tea products to foreign markets, particularly in Cambodia, Korea, Laos and the United States. Concerning Oishi’s domestic prospects, a new one-litre green tea bottle, as well as a new flavour of green tea, will be displayed in different stores around Thailand. The company has also increased its capacity to produce higher quantities of green tea products, in order to satisfy the growing demands.
The overall position of Oishi is still strong, as it continues to grow and develop. However, the number of green tea producers continues to increase as well, while existing firms are always trying to find ways to increment their products and brand images. For instance, even one of the top soft drink manufacturers could not resist the potential rewards of entering into the green tea market. Therefore, the reign of Oishi in this market may not be as steady as in the past.
From : www.boi.go.th/thai
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