Serm Suk seeks to boost market share
Khemmanij (Pancake) Jamikorn serves as presenter for Serm Suk Plc in the relaunch of American Tropicana juice yesterday. The company hopes to attract young, health-conscious consumers.
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Serm Suk Plc, marketer and distributor of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, has begun a new campaign to increase the share of its business taken by non-carbonated drinks, and is pushing some old brand names.
The first step yesterday was the relaunch of the American fruit juice, Tropicana. Next week, the company will launch a soda beverage under the Crystal brand and next year it expects to relaunch Yo soya bean milk. Serm Suk's president Somchai Bulsook said the plan aims to lift the sales proportion of non-carbonated beverages above the current level of 20 per cent of total sales. The company's present non-carbonated products are Crystal drinking water, which it manufactures, and Carabao energy drink and Oishi drink products, which it distributes on behalf of manufacturers. The new launches will allow the company to exploit its strong distribution system serving 200,000 shops in modern and traditional trade channels across the country. Somchai said the company took seven months to test the market for its new Tropicana juice before yesterday's launch. A product with the same name failed a few years ago, so Serm Suk took care to investigate customers' demands, formulate flavours to match consumer tastes, and work out marketing plans. After being delayed from March, yesterday's launch featured new packaging and two flavours - orange and tropical fruit - using the name Tropicana Twister. The company is aiming to build brand awareness among 19-to-29-year-olds who are concerned with good health. It has allocated Bt30 million for advertising and marketing before the end of this year. The campaign will include a giant advertisement covering the entire side of a building, ads on BTS and television advertisements. One and a half million product samples will be distributed to supermarkets and hypermarkets. Serm Suk expects to gain a 6-per-cent share of the market for beverages consisting of 10-per-cent juice. This is expected to rise to about 12 per cent by the middle of next year. The market for 10-per-cent juice accounts for 80 per cent of the overall Bt5-billion juice market. Serm Sukis campaign is buoyed by a strong trend toward healthy food and drinks, which has been growing over recent years. The juice market has grown by double digits throughout the period. The 10-per-cent juice market grew by 20 per cent last year and is expected to maintain the same rate this year. Serm Suk's Yo brand soya bean milk is another case of relaunch, after it failed to succeed over the past four years. The company is studying its marketing errors and is hoping to create a new package and image for Yo that will catch on with health-conscious people.
Nitida Asawanipont The Nation
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