Zespri is adjusting its marketing strategy in China to optimise its sales potential and meet increasing curiosity surrounding food safety.
The kiwifruit marketer launched its 2018/19 Chinese campaign in Shanghai late last week, with high hopes of eclipsing the NZ$500m in sales it achieved in 2017/18.
While the 2018 New Zealand kiwifruit harvest is expected to yield 20m more trays (70,000 tonnes) than last year, Zespri is facing the reality that it won’t be able to capture all of the demand for its fruit in China this season.
The realisation has prompted the company to reconsider its market development strategy in the People’s Republic.
“We’ve made some tough decisions on which markets to prioritise,” explained Holly Brown, Zespri’s general manager Greater China. “We are now focusing on driving growth in fewer markets to make the most of our marketing investment, develop faster and improve operational efficiency.”
To support this strategy, Zespri China will for the first time manage some of the fruit inventory this season, as it aims to meet its partners' individual needs.
Zespri will also take over the packing, quality checking and repacking of its fruit, as well as some outward logistics to provide another level of quality assurance for Chinese consumers.
“We’ve built strong partnerships with our distributors, logistics providers and retailers over many years. As the China market is requiring more for food safety and health, we’d work together with our partners, to make Chinese consumers’ lives a little more delicious by providing them with safe, healthy and premium Zespri kiwifruit.” Brown added.
Local production is another facet of Zespri’s plan for China. For the third straight year, Zespri is working with the kiwifruit industries in Shaanxi and Henan to source, pack, and distribute kiwifruit. Nick Kirton, external relations manager of Zespri, said no insurmountable barriers have been found to sourcing kiwifruit using Zespri quality standards.
“Trials this year will see Zespri sourcing green and red Chinese varieties from Shaanxi and Henan provinces, with plans to expand to other provinces,” Kirton explained. “In addition, this year we will determine whether we can source Zespri-quality kiwifruit in China – meeting our standards right across the quality assurance of the supply chain and out to consumer acceptance.'
Zespri will announce its 2017/18 sales figures in May, with the result set to exceed NZ$2bn.
A full version of this article will appear in the May edition of Asiafruit Magazine.
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