Uni-President picks Lowe to launch new tea drink

"China's beverage market is increasingly increasingly segmented," said Daphne Chen, vice-president of Uni-President's tea business division. "Every year, a large number of new products enter the market. However, not many of them can gain wide acceptance nor can they stand the test of time."

When asked what was different about the new tea product and who it was targeting, Fanny Yum, MD of Lowe China, said the new product will be launched next year and it was "still confidential at this stage".

Yum noted that major competitors for Uni-President in the beverage industry in China include Master Kong, another FMCG giant from Taiwan. However, other brands like Tiangyi, Want-Want, Vitasoy, Suntory and Wahaha are also churning out a wide range of tea products in China.

Uni-President and Nestlé are the only two top 10 brands in 2012 Campaign Asia Pacific's Top 1000 Brands Report.

For example, just in the milk tea segment, according to a HSBC report on consumer and retail food products report in May, 2012, Uni-President’s milk tea products still have significant growth potential on the back of its leading market share of 60 per cent.

The report stated that from 2009 (when Uni-President launched its Assam Milk Tea) to 2011, the sales contribution of milk tea rose to 15 per cent from 6 per cent, while its market share in milk tea rose to 60 per cent in 2011 from 48 per cent in 2010.

In 2011, milk tea accounted for 9.5 per cent of all RTD tea in the China market, up from 4.2 per cent in 2010, while the ready-to-drink (RTD) tea market is slowing down, the milk tea market is still strong, having grown 140 per cent in 2011.