Author: Xiaoshidai (original)
Nearly a year after a vacancy, the appointment of the new head of Vitasoy Group's Chinese mainland business has come to an end.
Today, Xiaoshidai learned from the industry that Vitasoy Group has officially appointed Wang Dong as the head of Chinese mainland business a few days ago.
This also means that the new boss will be in full charge of Vitasoy's business plate, which accounts for nearly 60% of its business and has an annual revenue of more than 3 billion yuan. This includes the overall production, sales and branding of the Vitasoy brand and the Vitatea series in the Chinese mainland market.
Wang Dong (profile picture)
Who is Wang Dong?
After checking the information, Xiaoshidai learned that the successor who took care of Vitasoy's business in China has successively served as a senior executive in PepsiCo China, Tupperware China and other companies, for example, he was the vice president of franchise for PepsiCo Greater China, which means that he has rich management experience in multinational consumer goods companies and is familiar with the mainland consumer market.
Let's take a look at this latest appointment and the focus of Vitasoy's work in recent years.
New handsome background
Although there is not much public information, many of Wang Dong's "footprints" remain in the beverage industry.
Prior to joining Vitasoy Group, he was the President of Tupperware (China) Co., Ltd. in China. Prior to that, Wang was responsible for managing PepsiCo's franchise business in Greater China. According to public reports, in March 2021, Wang Dong, then the vice president of franchise of PepsiCo Greater China, attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the PepsiCo series beverage project with an annual output of 500,000 tons in Yichang, Hubei Province, as a representative.
In fact, with the completion of the "Comber Strategic Alliance" between PepsiCo and Master Kong Holdings in China in March 2012, Master Kong Beverage Holdings Co., Ltd. ("Healthy Drink"), a subsidiary of Master Kong Holdings, has also become PepsiCo's franchise bottler in China.
In 2012, PepsiCo and Master Kong Holdings announced the establishment of a strategic alliance, PepsiCo gave full play to its advantages in brand management, product development and marketing, and Master Kong strongly complemented production, channels and sales. Among them, Master Kong is responsible for the production, sales and distribution of PepsiCo's carbonated beverages, Gatorade, Pure Fruit and Ice Pure Water.
Wang Dong (first from left, profile picture)
Xiaoshidai noticed that during PepsiCo China's management of beverage-related businesses, Wang Dong had publicly talked about his views on digital transformation and technology applications.
For example, in December 2021, at a sharing session on the theme of "Digital Reconstruction of Business in the Post-Epidemic Era", Wang Dong once said that "consumers are the key to driving digital transformation and the application of digital technology", and he also believes that companies should not only provide products that Gen Z likes, but also cater to their values and occupy their minds.
Now, for Wang Dong, who is about to take over Vitasoy's Chinese mainland business, one of the challenges or opportunities in front of him is to boost Vitasoy's performance in the mainland market.
In November last year, Vitasoy Group said in its interim results report that in the first half of the 23/24 fiscal year, it recorded revenue of 1.798 billion yuan in Chinese mainland, down 6% year-on-year, and down 11% in Hong Kong dollar terms.
In this regard, the group explained in its financial report at the time that the decrease in revenue was mainly due to the high base of comparison due to the high price increase expected by Chinese mainland customers in October 2022 and the early order placement in September 2022.
At the same time, Vitasoy has also set targets for the second half of the financial year to continuously improve its product offerings, strictly implement its sales and marketing plans, and enhance its growth potential and improve profitability. Undoubtedly, these requirements will also become the "examination questions" for the new leaders of the mainland business.
Vitasoy is also trying to seize some industry outlets. Since last year, the sugar-free tea track has shown explosive growth, and related beverage companies have benefited from the strong growth of sugar-free tea products. Vitasoy's Vitatea brand has launched several new sugar-free teas one after another.
Business focus
Xiaoshidai noticed that in the nearly one year before Wang Dong took office, Vitasoy also had many changes. First of all, before a successor is found, Vitasoy Group CEO Lu Botao is temporarily taking care of the mainland business.
Interestingly, Lu Botao was also engaged in beverage franchising business before joining the Vitasoy Group.
According to public information, from 2007 to 2013, Lu Botao held business strategy and general management positions in Coca-Cola China, until he served as the vice president of Coca-Cola franchise in Chinese mainland, specifically responsible for managing cooperation with Swire Group, COFCO Group and Bottling Investment Group.
As the General Manager of Vitasoy Group, Lu Botao also talked about the future business plan and priorities, as well as the source of business confidence. What Wang Dong's future work priorities will include, perhaps we can get a glimpse of it from the mouth of his "new boss".
According to domestic media reports last year, Lu Botao said that Vitasoy's business objectives in the Chinese mainland market will continue to expand its business scale and promote high-quality development through strict implementation, continuous improvement of product supply and selective innovation. "We are confident in the long-term profitability of our business. He said.
In Lu Botao's view, the Chinese mainland market has long-term value-added, and "the year-by-year mainstreaming of plant-based beverages is certain".
He also believes that Vitasoy is also seeing two clear industry trends: more choices in nutrition and health, and the pursuit of taste enhancement and self-reward. According to Lu, Vitasoy is "highly competitive in two major trends", including the introduction of a richer range of high-calcium and high-protein products, differentiated plant-based protein milk and zero-sugar products, and pleasurable bubble tea products, all of which have been recognized by the market.
Another important change is the announcement of Vitasoy in November last year that the latest vice chairman of the board of directors, Lo Chi Mei, is the daughter of executive chairman Lo Youli and the third generation of the family business.
At that time, the 82-year-old Luo Youli pointed out that Luo Qimei's main job at present was to hold meetings with him and visit all things in the company. The 48-year-old said that she would strive to contribute to the company, "My father and I will continue to do this business, and we will work together to do a good job", adding that she is a non-executive director and is familiar with the company's business.
Lo is also the only child who is currently involved in the day-to-day operations of Vitasoy. Prior to joining the firm, she gained "extensive professional experience" in the financial sector, particularly in global asset management, with investment experience in a number of publicly listed companies.
With the appointment of the new Vitasoy coach in the mainland, let's wait and see how Wang Dong will implement the above playing style and goals in the future, and what kind of "sparks" will be encountered with the senior management and family members of Vitasoy Group.