General Manager of Suntory China: To go out of East China, the goal is to sell 20 billion yuan in 2030

The Paper's reporter Wang Qifan

"In early February 2020, I returned to Shanghai from Japan. At that time, the new crown pneumonia epidemic was raging in China, and the streets were empty, and I was very worried. A year later, looking back at China's performance and our company's performance, it can be described as a surprise. Recently, Tetsuho Kikuchi, managing director of Suntory (China) Investment Co., Ltd., said.

Suntory is a veteran Japanese company producing alcohol and soft drinks, which first entered the Chinese market in 1984, invested in the first brewery in Lianyungang as a joint venture with CITIC Group, and entered Shanghai in 1996 to establish a beer and beverage business. At present, Suntory's business in China includes beverages, foreign wine, imported red wine, catering and so on. As of 2020, according to data disclosed by Suntory China, its revenue in China in 2020 is about 2 billion yuan.

Thanks to China's outstanding performance in epidemic prevention and control, Suntory China's performance in the Chinese market has remained stable, and even due to the development of e-commerce and family beverages, its beverages and products such as pre-mixed cocktails "Heleyi", which were introduced to the Chinese market in 2018, increased by more than 30% year-on-year compared with 2019.

"From the perspective of the epidemic, Suntory's main impact on its business in China is alcohol, especially products sold in restaurants and bars. But we've also found that over the past year, consumers have seen a lot of changes in their psychology and behavior, drinking some low-alcohol cocktails and wines at home. Kikuchi Said.

In addition, Kikuchi Tetsuho also revealed that in order to meet the needs of consumers to shop online at home, Suntory China also set up a digital marketing headquarters for the first time in May last year, integrating data on all categories of alcohol, beverages, health products, etc., and even tried to recommend more ways to drink alcohol at home to consumers in live broadcasts, such as how to make cocktails with home whiskey.

Thanks to the rapid adjustment of Suntory's strategy in China and the steady development of performance, Suntory's headquarters has also set a ten-year target for Suntory China, requiring it to complete sales of 20 billion yuan by 2030, equivalent to more than 10 times the sales in 2020. "Last year, China's economy was the fastest to recover in the world, so the japanese headquarters' requirement for the Chinese market was, 'You have to do it for me.'" Kikuchi Said Half-jokingly.

For such a "burden", Suntory will also step out of the comfort zone of the original region and products, push more beverage products outside the East China market, and will try to carry out health product business in China.

Kikuchi Tetsuho revealed, "The headquarters attaches great importance to the Chinese market, and now the Suntory market is still concentrated in East China, so we will do products throughout China in the future, especially in the promotion of beverages." At the same time, we also want to increase Suntory's category in China. In fact, the year before, we had established a joint venture with CITIC Group, mainly doing some health food, imported beer, and coffee business. ”

Editor-in-Charge: Wang Jie

Proofreader: Shi Gong