Author: Xiaoshidai (original)
After the reshuffle of the new national standard, the organic milk powder track ushered in a foreign heavyweight player who is gearing up.
After passing the new national standard for milk powder in December last year, Arlaford's key brand baby and my organic new national standard infant formula milk powder recently held a listing meeting in Denmark, and the brand's Chinese distributors and customer teams also collectively came to the new product release site, and the new product will be fully listed from the end of April to the beginning of May.
A few days ago, Baobao from China, our distributors and customers participated in a unique new national standard launch conference at the Arla headquarters in Denmark - "Exploring Nature, Organic Fresh Travel", which was also the first time that the company held a large-scale launch conference for products for overseas markets at the Danish headquarters.
"Baby & Me is Arla's flagship product in the Chinese milk powder market, and this new listing after registration is the key to the company's continued growth and expansion of the market in China. Cheng Yue, vice president and head of Arla China, said at the press conference.
It's easy to see that the world's largest¹ organic dairy producer intends to send a positive signal to the Chinese market and boost dealer and customer confidence with such a high-profile cross-ocean innovation launch. Behind this is Alaffoz's determination to deepen the Chinese market.
With the comprehensive distribution of the new national standard in the Chinese market, the company also has a clearer plan for the next step.
Let's take a closer look.
Transoceanic press conference "show muscles"
For the launch of the new product for the Chinese market, Arla chose to hold the new product launch in the Chinese market at its headquarters in Denmark for the following reasons.
"We wanted to have our channel partners in China visit Denmark in person to give them a deeper understanding of our corporate culture and Arla's strength in the dairy sector. The company said.
Xiaoshidai learned that during this trip to Denmark, Chinese distributors and customers not only visited its world-class innovation R&D center², but also walked into Arla's Danish headquarters, felt the perfect combination of nature and art in the design-filled building, and tasted the full line of Arla's overseas products, including milk, yogurt, high-protein milk drinks, cheese, butter and so on.
Arla's headquarters in Denmark
At the unique launch meeting, dealers and customers walked in nature through a 360° surround image, and had a deeper understanding of the upgraded formula of Baobao and My Organic New National Standard series products and the brand's follow-up strategy.
Arla also deliberately chose the annual Farm Open Day to invite dealers and customers to its innovative organic A2 protein farm to learn more about the stringent Arlagarden quality system and witness the grandeur of the spring cows.
During the week-long launch of the new national standard, not only the head of the company's global early childhood nutrition department and product innovation R&D department participated in the whole process, but also the president and management of the international business department also attended the event and expressed their confidence in the Chinese market many times.
Through these arrangements, the company hopes to bring more confidence to its dealers and customers in China, as well as increase their trust and loyalty to the brand.
It is understood that Cheng Yue also emphasized at the listing meeting that the new national standard series of Baby and My Organic will maintain the original product pricing strategy, strengthen the image of high-end organic milk powder categories, and cooperate with the maintenance of the health of the value chain system.
"As the world's largest infant milk powder market, China's overall market size of organic infant formula milk powder was still nearly 10 billion last year, and the potential is still considerable. He said.
Song Liang, a dairy expert who was also invited this time, said: "Organic is one of the important directions for the development of milk powder, and there is great potential in the Chinese market, and Arla is expected to succeed in the organic segment with its strong brand, supply chain and market advantages. ”
Storm the 10 billion track
Behind such a large investment in the launch is Arla's "ambition" to attack the Chinese organic milk powder market.
Although in recent years, with the disappearance of the demographic dividend, the overall growth of the milk powder industry has encountered a "ceiling". From the perspective of organic milk powder subcategories, it may be difficult to reproduce the explosive growth of 50% per year in the past few years when it was at the forefront of the industry in the short term. However, in Arla's view, the organic infant formula market, with a market size of nearly 10 billion, is still attractive.
国际业务部总裁 Simon Steven
"Although the development has slowed down slightly compared to before, we are still optimistic that organic infant formula has great potential. In terms of demand trends among Chinese consumers, there is still a lot of room for growth in some sub-categories, such as more focused organic milk powder products containing A2 protein³. This is also the reason why Baby and I are deeply involved in the dual track of organic + A2 protein³. The company said to Xiaoshidai.
According to the company, Baby and I will continue the brand positioning of "Nature's Children Are Stronger", with the power of nature as the core. On the basis of organic + A2 protein, the new national standard products of Baby and Me have undergone a comprehensive scientific and technological upgrade and formula upgrade. On the one hand, the technology has been upgraded to a breakthrough EU patented nano-fresh-locking technology⁴, subverting the traditional one-time powder forming process, so that the product can truly achieve "5 times the freshness"⁵.
On the other hand, the original prebiotic has been upgraded to a double benefit combination of prebiotics + Bb-12 probiotics, and natural OPO derived from organic milk fat has been added, striving to "break the game" in the organic milk powder category from the formula.
As the trend of high-end infant formula market is becoming more and more obvious, and organic milk powder has high-end attributes, Baobao and my organic infant formula also have this attribute, which is considered to be able to meet the needs of consumer groups who pursue high-end quality.
In addition, at present, the domestic milk powder market pattern has undergone significant changes, and the regulatory authorities attach great importance to the supervision of the quality of infant formula products, which has brought about the improvement of industry and product quality.
Arla said that the implementation of the new national standard for milk powder will promote the brand concentration of the entire milk powder industry. Although the overall growth space of the industry is limited at this stage, under the strict standards of the new national standard, there are many fewer brands, and there are not many brands that are truly powerful and competitive. To that end, the company believes, "It's a good time for Baby and I." ”
"The development of China's dairy industry as a whole contains very exciting opportunities, which is why we continue to be optimistic about China's dairy track and continue to increase our efforts. The relevant person in charge of Arla said.
Future strategic layout
In the above context, the company is also seizing the opportunity to increase the layout.
"Our current and future business development in China is focused on infant formula, especially with Baby & Me Organic as the focus of expansion in the Chinese market. Arla stressed that in the next 7-10 years, the company will "pay a lot of attention and invest in Baobao and my brand" in China.
In order to better break the situation, it is also important to strengthen the ability of channels and consumer education.
The company told Xiaoshidai that in the future, it will continue to deepen the maternal and infant channels, while improving channel profits, ensuring the stability and sustainability of the channel value chain, and working closely with regional key channels. At the same time, it will also provide systematic solutions for the core mother and baby channel through the newly upgraded two-layer code, such as investing resources to support existing stores and customers to recruit consumers, conduct consumer activities and enhance consumer education.
At the same time, Arla also invited nutritionists, Kochi mothers, and cute baby families as representatives to Denmark to pave the way for the upcoming 360-degree brand activities. By inviting a number of KOLs to Denmark, Arla hopes to further expand the brand's voice.
"We have carried out a comprehensive renewal and upgrade of the overall image of the brand, and in the future, we will cooperate with increasing investment in key channels and platforms, increasing brand exposure and awareness, and continue to deepen the word-of-mouth construction of high-end organic infant formula. The company also said that at present, it has effectively opened up the advantages of various tracks in its business areas in China, integrated and optimized the parent brand and product portfolio, and concentrated resources to accelerate the expansion of new products and new channels. ”
At the same time, the company also reserves its core competitiveness for accelerating the development of the Chinese market in the future, including focusing on the introduction and research and development of high-end dairy products, such as organic A2 protein liquid milk, infant formula milk powder, Cocio chocolate milk, high-protein milk drinks, butter cheese and other products, and will deepen the layout of these categories with a new attitude.
With the all-round offensive of Arla Baby and My Organic New National Standard in China, what kind of latest results the company will give in the Chinese market in the future, Xiaoshidai will continue to pay attention.
1.数据来源于Organic Milk Report 2022_Danish Agriculture & Food Council
2. Refers to the Arla Innovation R&D Center that supports Arla's global business
3. A2 protein refers to A2 β-casein
4. Patent No. EP3471561B1, Patent Type: Invention Country/Region: European Patent
5.5 times more milk than Baby & Me organic process, Freshnutri Nano Direct Extraction technology requires 5 times more fresh milk