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Published on January 31, 2008

It is starting with the launch of its second mini-product, Wall's Mini Poppers, which have a snack-like look.

"Consuming ice cream is not a strong behaviour among Thais," Chanya Rodrakquan, ice cream marketing development director, said yesterday.

The whole market is struggling to gain more converts while current customers are not increasing their consuming frequency, which is just three times a month, she said.

The overall market is 84.8-per-cent impulse buying and the rest take-home. Immediate consumption dropped 5.2 per cent last year while take-home business grew 14.9 per cent.

The company's first mini-size ice cream, Wall's Mini Cornetto, came out two years ago and has put in a good showing, with growth last year alone at 186 per cent, Chanya said.

Wall's Mini Poppers comes in bite-sized, chocolate-coated balls that allow convenient eating at all times like a snack. Consumers do not have to fuss around with scooping ice cream out of big containers.

The company believes Thai consumers are hooked on snacks and that launching the snack-like ice cream should gradually create a strong habit of consuming ice cream.

That would revive the

overall market as well as strengthen its own leadership position.

Mini Poppers are targeted at working women aged 25-40, with Bt50 million budgeted to widen awareness. They come in two flavours, vanilla and chocolate, and sell for Bt89.

The 7-Eleven and Siam Family Mart convenience chains are the exclusive distributors for the new product.

Wall's last year commanded 60 per cent of the Thai market, which the company claims is its highest share in the past three years. In the take-home segment, its share expanded 5 percentage points to 66 per cent.

In the third quarter of last year, the Cornetto price had to be hiked from Bt20 to Bt22 due to rising product costs and an adjustment to ingredients.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation