Vitamilk bringing back 'to go' in new format

Green Spot (Thailand) is set to make a major change to revitalise its Vitamilk soymilk brand.

Stiff competition has forced the return of its "Vitamilk to Go" concept in a new form: "To Go in Black", featuring soymilk blended with black sesame.

Green Spot, producer and distributor of Vitamilk, stopped selling Vitamilk to Go late last year but will launch the new concept in October.

The firm is also working hard to boost sales of its UHT package, in order to compensate for business lost when it stopped selling Vitamilk to Go, which seriously affected sales.

It launched a marketing campaign two weeks ago, inviting customers to cut off part of their UHT package and send it in for a chance at a lucky prize.

This response is to fight rival Lactasoy, which launched an "Increase Size but Don't Increase Price" campaign in a bid to persuade consumers to switch brands.

The campaign told consumers the company had increased the size of its soymilk from 250 millilitres to 300ml but kept the product at the same price, which is cheaper than Vitamilk.

By bringing back Vitamilk to Go, which features non-returnable glass bottles, in the new concept, it can also launch a new UHT package.

The 300ml soymilk bottles will be sold for Bt12, while 330ml UHT packages will be Bt10.

Green Spot general marketing manager Chanit Suwanparin yesterday said a lack of glass bottles from suppliers forced the group to stop selling them late last year.

But by relaunching Vitamilk to Go, it expects Vitamilk again to become a main source for sales.

Green Spot is also working hard to boost UHT sales.

The marketing campaign has helped lift sales of Vitamilk 12 per cent two weeks after it began early this month.

Yesterday, Green Spot launched another marketing campaign aimed at selling 7.2 million limited-edition UHT Olympic packages.

The company is a major sponsor of Thai athletes competing next month in Beijing.

Chanit said all of these efforts should help the company achieve sales growth of 5-6 per cent following estimates that the total soymilk market had grown to Bt8.5 billion.

Green Spot hopes to boost its market share from 50 per cent now to 55 per cent by the end of the year.

He said the estimated growth of the market was lower than last year's 12 per cent, due to the ongoing economic and political turmoil.

Vitamilk itself also experienced a drop in sales.

Green Spot will also review its marketing plan more frequently - each quarter.

However, Chanit confirmed the total marketing sales for the second half of the year would be more than Bt100 million.

Besides building awareness of the soymilk's functional and emotional benefits, the focus will be on economic benefits, by setting prizes that convince customers they can save money by buying Vitamilk.