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Legend! The road to brand upgrading of New Zealand kiwifruit

author:The world's star farmers

For a long time, China's agriculture has the characteristics of small planting scale and scattered planting areas of a single farmer, resulting in insufficient capital investment in technology iteration, warehousing, logistics, cold chain, etc., and it is difficult to form a scale effect, which has caused the lack of strong market players and seriously affected market competitiveness.

The success of New Zealand's Jiapei kiwifruit has a good reference significance for The construction of China's agricultural brand. Today, tianxia Xingnong will analyze in detail the legendary upgrade process of Jiapei kiwi brand.

01

The market dilemma of New Zealand kiwifruit

Originally known as Chinese kiwifruit, kiwifruit was introduced to New Zealand from China in 1904. Initially called Chinese gooseberry, the local fruit merchant later named kiwifruit (kiwifruit), a unique bird in New Zealand, was named kiwifruit.

Legend! The road to brand upgrading of New Zealand kiwifruit

Due to the suitable climate and water and soil conditions, coupled with the fruit is tender and juicy, fragrant and delicious, sweet and sour, extremely rich in nutrition, kiwi fruit is loved by consumers, and the scale of cultivation has expanded rapidly. Since the 1960s, New Zealand kiwifruit has been exported in large quantities and has become one of the pillar industries of agriculture in the country.

However, compared to the booming export wave, new Zealand's kiwi growing industry has many drawbacks, which ultimately cost growers dearly.

Disadvantage one is that kiwi farmers are scattered and sold separately, and no unified sales network has been formed, the industry's bargaining power is weak, and the price fluctuates violently with the market. Whenever market prices fall, farmers suffer heavy losses.

Disadvantage two, the quality of products is uneven, can not form a brand word-of-mouth effect, so can only compete in the low-end market. With the rise of the Italian kiwifruit industry, the market position of New Zealand kiwifruit has been seriously challenged.

Disadvantage three, the technical research and development capabilities are weak, and the product update iteration is slow. Although after the introduction, New Zealand began to improve the Chinese kiwifruit, but the capital investment is insufficient, the improvement work is mainly carried out spontaneously by growers or in university laboratories, and there is a lack of unified resource allocation.

By 1988, with the rise of local growers, the United States began to implement anti-dumping policies on New Zealand kiwifruit, causing New Zealand to lose its largest overseas market; To make matters worse, due to the addition of Italian kiwifruit, dealers have turned against each other and thrown themselves into the arms of their opponents, and the share of New Zealand kiwifruit in the Japanese market has almost been lost; At that time, the yield of kiwifruit was extremely high, and New Zealand's narrow local market could not digest such a large number of agricultural products, and there was a situation of slow sales, a large number of fruit farmers closed down, and the kiwifruit industry suffered a heavy blow.

02

Breaking the situation: support leading enterprises and promote brand operation

After painstaking consideration, the New Zealand government learned a lesson and decided to unify the integration of scheduling resources, reshape the Brand of New Zealand Kiwifruit, and enhance market competitiveness.

1. Support leading enterprises and enhance market competitiveness

The New Zealand government came forward to set up the "New Zealand Kiwi Fruit Marketing Agency", and in 1997 split into two companies: New Zealand Kiwifruit New Zealand (Referred to as KNZ), responsible for variety breeding, orchard management, post-harvest refrigeration, commodity packaging, transportation and sales and other aspects of the collaboration, and then adjusted to Jiapei International Limited in 2000; Zespri, a company responsible for the global marketing of Kiwifruit in New Zealand.

Jiapei company is completely invested and responsible for the operation of fruit farmers, of which about 60% of the annual sales are paid to fruit farmers, the company signs a supply and marketing contract with fruit farmers, and divides this part of the funds into 30% and 70% of the two parts, the former is the cost paid to the fruit farmers first, the latter will be combined with the sales status, product quality for payment, for the listing of early, good quality, high sweetness there will be additional "rewards"; The remaining 40% of sales are used as the company's operating expenses and profits, of which brand marketing accounts for about 5% of total sales, in addition to freight costs (about 5% of total sales), insurance, tariffs and other costs (it should be noted that the total sales here do not include sales revenue from non-New Zealand homegrown kiwifruit).

It is a monopoly business with New Zealand growers on one end and international markets on the other. Its emergence has ended the disorderly competition between more than 2,000 fruit farmers in New Zealand, and formed a unified technical standard, service model, public relations publicity, and roving promotional activities.

Legend! The road to brand upgrading of New Zealand kiwifruit

2. Brand operation to enhance international competitiveness

In the 1980s and 1990s, Italian kiwifruit sprang up, and its share of the global market increased from 8.9% in 1989 to 39% in 1999. Because New Zealand kiwifruit can not reflect the characteristics of product heterogeneity, it is forced to fight a price war and gradually lose its dominance in the world market.

Under the pressure, in order to adapt to the new trend of global consumption, Jiapei Company decided to strengthen brand marketing and reshape the brand image of New Zealand kiwifruit.

The first problem it faces is what kind of brand image to create? To this end, it has proposed three creative brand themes:

Theme One: Buy New Zealand Kiwi As it is healthy, nutritious and delicious!

Theme two: Please buy the New Zealand kiwi because it is a kiwi of origin and it comes from that beautiful and charming country.

Theme Three: Please buy the New Zealand Kiwi because it has a unique personality.

Let's analyze these three interesting options:

The first option mainly describes the physical value of the product. In fact, any country of origin kiwifruit, has this kind of physical properties, such as New Zealand kiwifruit, Italian kiwifruit, does not make it stand out from many competitors.

The second option combines the product with the country of origin, giving it a country of origin that sets it apart from other competitors. Tianxia Xingnong has mentioned in other articles that the regional attributes of agricultural products give it a unique geographical advantage. But there is also a problem here, that is, New Zealand is indeed a beautiful country, but this does not mean that the kiwi fruit exported from New Zealand will taste better, that is, there is a gap between good ecology and consumers - quality products.

The third option, "Kiwifruit", compared to its original name "Kiwi", has the meaning of curiosity, surprise and vitality, and now directly points out the "personality" of kiwifruit, which is to use anthropomorphic techniques to create a unique brand appeal for it.

Giving kiwifruit a unique personality became the ultimate choice for the company, and on this basis created a new brand: Jiapei (English name: Zespri) kiwifruit.

Legend! The road to brand upgrading of New Zealand kiwifruit

The word Jiapei is taken from the meaning of "good situation, full of vitality", which not only reflects the characteristics of the product, but also allows consumers to think of it, which is full of the sense of the times and affinity.

In order to ensure the uniformity of the publicity, the New Zealand government stipulates that it is illegal for any grower to export kiwifruit under his own brand. The unified brand name effectively avoids the drawbacks of growers fighting their own battles, which is conducive to the international market to form an overall impression of New Zealand kiwifruit.

03

Adhere to the high-end positioning and increase investment in scientific and technological research and development

In 2021, New Zealand's per capita GDP is 48,800 US dollars, while Italy is only 35,600 US dollars, the former is 1.37 times the latter, Jiapei president frankly said: "The domestic workers are very expensive, the land is very expensive, so we can not take the low-cost route, but should work quality." ”

The first is to increase investment in research and development. Millions of dollars are invested annually in research and development of kiwifruit, from improved flavor, appearance and nutritional content to research and development of new varieties. According to data, as of 2010, Jiapei had studied more than 50,000 potential new varieties, more than 40 varieties had entered planting trials, and finally three varieties, including Sunshine Golden Fruit and Charm Golden Fruit, had entered pre-commercial trials.

Second, New Zealand has adopted a series of legislation and improved management systems to ensure the quality of agricultural products and the safety of its ecological environment. For example, the government stipulates that only the first-degree fruit with a rounded and flawless body can be exported; In the planting process, strictly control the dosage of pesticides, establish a set of perfect quality and safety traceability system for agricultural products, and so on.

Third, in order to maintain the freshness and deliciousness of kiwifruit, there is a strict management system from variety breeding, harvesting, packaging, storage, transportation and delivery, and the company will also send trained personnel to be responsible for implementation and supervision. It takes 14 days to ship from New Zealand to China, and Jiapei customized a cold chain transport ship to keep kiwifruit in a cold storage of 0-2 °C, so that the wear rate is reduced to less than 5%, far below the industry average of 10%-15%.

Legend! The road to brand upgrading of New Zealand kiwifruit

Fourth, establish a sound global supply chain. New Zealand kiwifruit grow for up to 240 days and begin to ripen in April and can be eaten until October of the same year. But even so, there is still a "window period" of up to five months. After the operation of Jiapei Company, planting bases have been built in Italy, South Korea, Japan, France and other places to continue the supply of kiwifruit in New Zealand. By the 2020/2021 financial year, kiwifruit that are not natively grown in New Zealand have accounted for 12.9% of the company's total sales.

04

Through experiential marketing, win the favor of the market

In 2001, the Chinese market accounted for less than 2% of Jiapei's total sales, and after years of business development, it has now surpassed Japan and become the company's largest overseas market, with sales of more than 500 million New Zealand dollars in 2018 alone. This change is inseparable from Jiapei's marketing strategy.

1. Cultivate consumer groups through free tasting activities. When it first entered the Chinese market, New Zealand kiwifruit hit a wall, because no one wanted to accept this fruit that did not look good and priced more than 10 times higher than similar Products in China. Jiapei company to take out 30% to 40% of the market budget, the implementation of free tasting activities, and combined with discount promotions, buy-give combination, gifts and other marketing means, quickly open up sales.

2. Promote the brand positioning of "fashion + health" through entertainment integrated marketing. For example, through the sponsorship of the online TV series "Love Apartment", New Zealand kiwifruit has successfully entered the vision of Young Chinese people; Invited zhu Ting, a Chinese sports star, to endorse the product and launch a new slogan "Your health, let you indulge".

Legend! The road to brand upgrading of New Zealand kiwifruit

3. Pay attention to e-commerce sales channels. Jiapei company regards e-commerce as the core sales channel in the Chinese market, accounting for 30%, and has signed cooperation agreements with Alibaba Group and JD.com, of which sales in JD.com have increased by 14 times in 4 years. With the rise of Douyin live broadcasting and the advancement of more social platforms, it is expected that in the near future, the proportion of e-commerce will reach more than 50%.

After a series of actions, New Zealand kiwifruit showed a strong market competitiveness. At present, The area under kiwifruit cultivation in New Zealand accounts for only 21% of the world, but the international market share has reached more than 33%, and the total export volume accounts for nearly 38% of the international market. It can be said that the small kiwi fruit has become the pillar industry of New Zealand agriculture, and it is also a shining business card of the country's fruit industry.

Resources:

1. "The Enlightenment of the Success of New Zealand Kiwi Fruit Industry in China's Tea Industry". Jiang Ran.

2. "New Zealand Kiwi: A Local Realization of Global Brand Strategy". Hu Xiaoyun.

3. "A Brief Analysis of the Promotion Strategy of New Zealand Jiapei Kiwi Fruit Shenzhen Market". Zhang Zhaohang.

4. "Brand Marketing of New Zealand KiwiFruit". Tian Jinwen.

5. The Great Agricultural Model. Li Zhiqi.

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