An important growth engine is digital sales, while the brand’s flagship Collagen diamond drink is the topseller, according to CEO Chong Kawee.
Speaking to NutraIngredients-Asia, he pointed out that consumers were still concerned with looking good despite going out less often.
Good growth was also seen in the immune and detox categories, with consumers gifting bird’s nests drinks on festive seasons such as Mother’s and Father’s Day.
With consumers spending a longer screen time, the firm’s Eyebright supplement, which contains ingredients such as FloraGLO lutein, lycopene, beta-carotene, also saw a higher uptake.
“As compared to last year, there is a strong double-digit growth for all products…Collagen is still the topseller as people still want to take care of themselves, and look nice in zoom meetings,” Chong said.
Markets wise, the company, which has all its products certified halal, is seeing strong uptake in Indonesia and Malaysia. Markets such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar are also of interest in the firm’s upcoming plans.
E-commerce habits formed
In response to changing consumption habits, the brand will focus on building its e-commerce strategies, as well as online-to-offline retail.
Chong noted that COVID-19 has accelerated consumers’ use of e-commerce.
“COVID-19 has pushed consumers to get use to ordering and paying for the products online. It has been more than 28 days; this has become a habit and people are now finding it convenient.
“We have prepared ourselves previously, and so we are able to capture the e-commerce opportunities during COVID-19,” he said.
In the recent 10.10 Shopee sales, Kinohimitsu was the bestselling brand in the health category.
The uptake of e-commerce is further fuelled by booming livestreaming activities, he noted.
In response, the firm had upskilled its retail promoters with livestreaming capabilities, so that they can share the videos with their customers and friends.
For the upcoming 11.11 sales, Chong revealed that the firm would be introducing more products, value-buy promotions, as well as limited edition surprise boxes to attract the consumers.
Cross-border e-commerce is also growing, as travel restrictions meant that consumers can only get overseas products online.
Aside from e-commerce, the brand’s products are available in pharmacies, department stores, petrol kiosks, home shopping, as well as its own retail stores, with over 5,000 points of sale in South East Asia.
Although e-commerce is booming, Chong believes that adopting an O2O channel, integrating both offline and online retail is the way to go.
“O2O is still important as consumers will still want to feel and experience the products,” he said.
Kinohimitsu x Taobao pop-up store
About two months ago, the firm opened a Kinohimitsu x Taobao pop-up store in Singapore mall Suntec, which is also the first pilot project with Taobao – an online shopping arm of Alibaba.
According to Chong, this can help increase the basket of existing consumers. Taobao, with its online purchase data, can also provide strategies to attract consumers at the offline retail level.
New product launch
The company recently launched a green caviar marine collagen drink in Singapore, which will later be introduced in China by the end of this year, and to the other South East Asian markets.
Green caviar in this case refers to sea grape, an edible seaweed. It was given the name as it appears in green tiny balls that resemble caviar and is said to contain high amount of amino acid, vitamins, essential fatty acid, and minerals.
Each serving contains 5,300mg of collagen and the product claims to provide anti-ageing, whitening, and UV protection.
It is also planning to launch a different range of edible bird’s nest products in time for the year end gifting season.
