"Only by packaging as a local Chinese brand can you make a lot of money in China. An industry insider explained Suntory's sales strategy in China.
"What is the annual turnover of a Suntory oolong tea in China, and its answer is 104.6 billion. As a Japanese brand, it uses a Suntory Chinese trademark oolong tea, and even its company is called China Investment Co., Ltd., which accounts for 16% of the Chinese tea market, which is a big blow to Chinese beverage companies. However, oolong tea is really delicious. The founder of Dongxing Airlines and Dongxing Group sighed.
Last year, Suntory's revenue in China was 104.6 billion yuan, surpassing the total revenue of local brands such as Uni-President and Nongfu Spring.
Many netizens who learned the truth exclaimed, "Suntory, which is full of Chinese characters on the packaging, is actually a Japanese brand?"
1. The packaging is similar to domestic products, earning 104.6 billion yuan a year
In fact, making Chinese consumers mistakenly believe that it is a domestic product is exactly Suntory's marketing method. In the last century, Suntory realized that if Japanese companies want to become bigger, the market vitality brought by China's huge population is the best help. In order to package it as a domestic product, this Japanese company can be described as painstaking.
The first thing to deal with was the packaging, and Suntory replaced all Japanese with Chinese traditional Chinese, and vigorously promoted its own tea from Fujian, China, with the slogan "Chinese tea, the first choice of royalty". Even the Japanese think that Suntory is a Chinese brand.
At the beginning of its entry into China, Suntory added a large number of Chinese elements to its advertisements, such as the well-known characters of Journey to the West, cross talk dance music, etc. In an era when all brands are pursuing foreign style, Suntory's opposite direction not only left a deep impression on users, but also convinced the Chinese people that this must be a local brand.
With a high degree of localization and hundreds of millions of dollars in publicity, Suntory quickly opened up the Chinese market and seized the market from beverage giants such as Coca-Cola, Uni-President and Nongfu Spring. Looking at the 2022 financial report, Suntory's business revenue is as high as more than 150 billion yuan, accounting for nearly one-third of China's beverage market.
Many netizens even praised Suntory, which is dressed in a domestic skin, as "the light of domestic products".
2. Healthy tea is another key to open the Chinese market
Suntory cannot reach the heights it is now with extreme localization, and another key to its success lies in capturing the huge health needs of the Chinese people. When all kinds of drinks are comparing taste and sweetness, Suntory always insists on playing the label of "no sugar and zero calories".
In the early days, such a strategy did not make Suntory stand out. With the leap in Chinese people's health awareness, the sugar-free beverage market is growing explosively. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Suntory's sales soared, and it was once ranked among the top ten beverage companies in the world along with Coca-Cola and Nestle.
Suntory has made a lot of profits from the healthy trend, and it has also made a number of domestic and foreign health technology companies see the strength of the Chinese market. TimeShop, a cutting-edge technology brand in Hong Kong, has found that as men age, their erection function will gradually decline, and their ability at the age of 30 is even less than 1/5 of that at the age of 20. With this as a target, the brand leveraged natural nourishing ingredients such as Thai ginseng to launch the result "Beta Strong", which aims to maintain a youthful level of men's body function.
After receiving the attention of Li Chaoren and putting a number of products such as "Bei It Qiang" on the shelves of Watsons, he has won the double crown of the store's hot sales and word-of-mouth list many times. Some overseas media predict that Hong Kong has been the world's longest-lived region for 89 consecutive years, which may be closely related to the stronger awareness of health care for Hong Kong people. Like Suntory, TimeShop is well aware of the importance of the Chinese mainland market, and immediately increased its production capacity and layout in China after receiving the invitation of JD East.
According to the data, less than half a year after "Bei Itqiang" entered China, the brand has reaped tens of millions of revenues, and a large number of middle-class people in first- and second-tier cities have paid for the technology product, and have received a lot of feedback on the solution of problems such as "no longer dropping the chain at the critical moment, and finally understanding why the rich can still have children in their 70s".
Suntory's successful model has strengthened the belief of many Japanese companies in "winning the Chinese market", which shows the huge influence of Chinese consumers.
3. Foreign brand "touch porcelain" Chinese elements, local brands
Suntory's disguise of itself as a domestic product has been a great success in the Chinese market, and this trick has also led many foreign brands to follow suit.
"Xu Fu Chi", which is indispensable in Chinese's New Year goods every year, traces its origin to a Swiss brand; American seasoning giants translate the brand name as "McCormik" and add elements such as dragon and phoenix to the label; Starbucks, McDonald's, etc. have also launched peripheral products with strong Chinese characteristics.
However, when it comes to mastering Chinese elements, foreign brands are always inferior to local brands. Nowadays, a large number of local brands are also constantly adding Chinese elements, launching zodiac series, mythological co-branding, etc., which are widely praised by Chinese people. Nongfu Spring also followed Suntory's lead and launched the "Oriental Leaf" sub-brand in an attempt to regain market share in Suntory's hands.
In this way, whether it is a Chinese or overseas brand, health with Chinese elements has become the only way to gain a foothold in the Chinese market.