Vachamon Foods’ Japanese apple sales have risen ten-fold in Thailand so far this season thanks to the firm’s concerted efforts to grow the market.
The Bangkok-based fruit marketer-distributor launched the start of an “aggressive” retail campaign last November to develop Thai demand for Japanese apples from just an occasional gifting purchase to an every-day shopping item.
Vachamon rolled out a 30-week promotional programme for Japanese Shinano, Sun Fuji, Ourin and Shinano Gold apple varieties in Big C, Tesco and Makro stores across Thailand, which will continue run until late-June this year.
The campaign involves in-store animations and sales incentives, as well as sampling and point-of-sale activities, explained Vachamon CEO Wipavee Watcharakorn.
“With all the different in-store events, promotions and collaboration we are doing with all the retailers, we [so far] grew the market by more than 1,000 per cent,' she said.
“We sold size 46s, and in the beginning of the season we started selling at THB49 per piece US$1.57) at BigC and Tesco. Then later, during the aggressive period, we are selling three pieces for THB100 (US$3.19). Makro are doing pack two-pack pieces, and they are selling about THB75-85/ pack (US$2.40-2.72),” she revealed.
Vachamon sourced the apples for the promotional programme from supplier Nihon Agri in Japan.
'We want Japanese apples to become every day apples, rather than being just gifted apples for only a short period of time,” Watcharakorn said.
In a separate development, Vachamon unveiled its new range of South Korean fresh produce items in Bangkok during a televised event at the city’s luxury Siam Paragon shopping mall on 30 March.
The launch, which aired on South Korean news channel KBS at 9pm prime-time, marked the start of Vachamon’s link-up with the South Korean Gyenongi regional government to trial 20 different South Korean fresh produce items in Thailand over an eight-month period.
Vachamon has a THB8m (US$0.26m) budget to carry out the mission, dubbed the K-Fruit project, Watcharkorn explained.
With the money, Vachamon will set up sales at four retail locations in Bangkok (Siam Paragon, EmQuartier, Emporium and Bangkae shopping malls), and organise in-store sampling, sales-staff promoters, advertisements, promotions and PR material.
“At the Siam Paragon event, we launched South Korean fresh ginseng, half-dried persimmon, and all sorts of mushrooms, and all sorts of vegetables,” said Watcharakorn. “We had a promotion to buy-one get-one-free for limited products, and we also showed customers how to use fresh ginseng in their everyday smoothie.”
