South Korea’s FromBIO banks on wide-ranging product formats, celebrity branding to expand footprint in SEA
Besides research and development of functional ingredients, the firm also manufactures health functional foods and dietary supplements addressing a variety of needs. At the same time, its factory is equipped to provide OEM and ODM services.
According to Yoonsu Shin, Assistant Manager of Overseas Business Division at FromBIO, there are a few products that are particularly popular in Korea and have helped the company gain a foothold in the local market.
These hero products are namely Boswellia for Joints and Cartilage, Mastic Gum for Stomach, and Dear Queen Collagen Stick.
Specifically, the Dear Queen brand is targeted at consumers seeking beauty-from-within products, a category known to be especially competitive in the Korean market.
“Our unique selling point is the variety of product formats that we offer. We have powder, liquid, gummy, tablet, capsule, melting film strip, and a dual-format that combines liquid and tablets,” Shin told NutraIngredients-Asia at Vitafoods Asia 2024.
Asked on the rapidly increasing number of such “two-in-one” supplements, Shin acknowledged that Germany’s Orthomol has played a key role in being the trendsetter.
“We think it has gone viral because it is a very new type of product format, and consumers always want new things.”
FromBIO’s products are currently available in Korea, Vietnam, China, and Hong Kong, with the firm’s participation in Vitafoods Asia underscoring its interest in further expansion across the SEA region.
“We are keen to expand in all SEA countries. For example, a market that we see great potential in is Thailand. As you can see, one of our ambassadors is actor Kim Soo-hyun [of Netflix series ‘Queen of Tears’ fame]. We focus a lot of efforts on branding and marketing, such as engaging famous celebrities to represent our brand. It is our strong point.
“These celebrities have their own image to maintain and so, they are very conscious about the brands that they pick to endorse. They wouldn’t want to represent a brand with not-so-good quality products because that will hurt their image. Consequently, this creates a sense of credibility, giving assurance [to consumers] that our brand is reliable and trustworthy.”
Other notable celebrity ambassadors of the company include Squid Game star Lee Byung-hun, and Olympic medallist Yuna Kim.
Bigger push online
In its domestic market, FromBIO is sold across various channels, including e-commerce platforms, TV commerce (home shopping), and department stores and major retailers such as Costco.
Going forward, the company is looking to focus more on online channels, which is said to be “doing great” at the moment.
“We will still continue to promote on offline channels, but we want to focus more on online platforms to meet the evolving consumer habits.
“This is because most Korean consumers are very tech-savvy. They are always on their phones, and they buy a lot of things online, so we are targeting this group of consumers right now,” said Shin.
