The two companies signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in NS Home Shopping’s office in South Korea last month.
NS Home Shopping specialises in the distribution of food and health functional foods. It is a subsidiary of South Korea’s food and agribusiness conglomerate Harim Holdings.
The partnership will see the distribution of Medika Natura’s metabolic health supplement Labeesity in South Korea via TV shopping next July, CEO Abdul Razak Mohd Isa told NutraIngredients-Asia.
Labeesity is made of Medika Natura’s patented Labisia pumila standardised extract marketed as SKF7.
The extract is clinically shown to significantly reduce waist circumference.
The partnership, however, will not be limited to home shopping, but will also extend into online shopping, as well as offline retail and pharmacies, said Razak.
Meanwhile, preparations are already underway in submitting the product for approval as a health functional food from South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).
Weight management is one of the hottest categories in South Korea, with probiotics a commonly used ingredient as seen in products from Chong Kun Dang Healthcare, AceBiome, and Haleon.
As for botanicals, Garcinia cambogia extract is a popular ingredient used for weight management. In the first half of 2023, South Korea’s import of the extract had risen 58.8 per cent to 354 tonnes.
How the partnership came about
According to Razak, NS Home Shopping was one of the South Korean companies that approached him after they came across scientific papers on the benefits of SKF7.
“We decided to work with NS Home Shopping because their business model aligns with ours and the chemistry is there,” he said, adding that NS Home Shopping also ran an internal food safety research institute.
“Because of that, they appreciate our work, the technicalities, the quality, and are not interested in just selling a product. They understand the intricacies of our work and we also understand their expectations.
“Their CEO also emphasised that they want to work on a long-term basis, not in the short term for quick wins,” he said.
Labeesity is currently only sold in Malaysia, but he added that there has been interest coming from Germany, the US, Turkey, and the Middle East.
Healthy ageing possibilities
As NS Home Shopping’s main consumers are women above 50 years old, Razak said that there were also plans in developing health functional foods targeted at this demographic.
Similarly, natural plant extracts would be an area of focus for the new products.
“From a cultural angle, South Korea has a focus on natural herbs and natural extracts for health…This is only a starting point for the two companies, there's a lot of other potential that we have already discussed,” he said.