Tipco goes for 50% share via innovation

As part of the strategy, the company yesterday launched Tipco FruitPlus, a 100-per-cent juice mixed with aloe vera gel and available in UHT packaging.
Chief executive officer and director Viwat Limsakdakul said that amid intense competition in the beverage market, the company that could offer innovative products to meet the infinite demands of customers would win the lion’s share.
“Normally, we would invest about 1-2 per cent of the company’s sales for research and development each year. However, for the new product, the firm has invested more in the past few years after finding a new innovative way to add more value to normal fruit juice,” he said.
Tipco FruitPlus has been developed with a German business partner to include mixed fruit in UHT packaging by adopting an aseptic procedure that is performed under sterile conditions. The company is the first fruit-juice producer in Asean able to provide mixed fruits in ultra-high-temperature packaging by using this process, he said.
The CEO said Tipco had invested more than Bt100 million for the innovation and setting up a new production line. It has also spent Bt120 million on a marketing campaign in order to boost sales.
The company projects 12-month sales of Bt200 million for Tipco FruitPlus after this month’s launch.
Overall Tipco sales this calendar year are estimated at more than Bt3 billion, representing annual growth of 25 per cent.
Viwat said the company should get a more than 50-per-cent share of the domestic fruit-juice market this year, against the current 45 per cent. The Kingdom’s second-largest fruit-juice producer has a share of about 18-19 per cent.
Tipco also plans to introduce the new product to the wider Asean market in the next few months, starting with Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
About 5 per cent of the company’s overall income comes from exports to the other nine Asean member states, a level that is ex-pected to reach 10 per cent this year, he said.
It also plans to establish plants in other Asean countries in the near future if demand increases and overseas production costs remain lower, he said, adding that one high-potential market for investment is Indonesia, because of the size of the population and the country’s lower production costs.
Chanchai Kanjanaratmanee, operations director for beverage business at Tipco F&B, said domestic sales had grown significantly because the summer had arrived earlier than normal.
Generally, sales of 100-per-cent fruit juice are 25 per cent higher in the summer months than in other periods. However, sales have soared by 70-80 per cent since the middle of last month.
Tipco FruitPlus is available in three flavours – apple, grape, and mixed fruits and vegetable – each blended with aloe vera gel.
The retail price is Bt20 for a 180-millilitre carton.
The company plans to add a fourth flavour to the range this year.