Vietnam’s domestic packaged coconut water market remains underdeveloped. This is despite the country being the 8th biggest producer of coconut-related products in the world. Moreover, the country’s share of high valued added coconut products like coconut water is small as most suppliers receive their coconut water from Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia.
Fresh coconut rules
Vietnam faces the same issue as the rest of Southeast Asia, a region that has an abundant of fresh coconuts. Consumers have grown up accustomed to the taste of fresh coconuts but this can change. We have seen this happening in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand where consumers are becoming receptive to packaged coconut water.
Common positioning
The most common positioning of coconut water is as a hydrating drink to replace lost fluid to support the active lifestyle. This puts coconut water in strong competition with sports drink as coconut water is marketed as a drink for “natural hydration.”
Cocoxim bringing packaged coconut to Vietnam
A lot of coconut water producers in Vietnam focus on the export market. For Bertimex, the leading manufacturer and exporter of coconut water in Vietnam, the company not only taps the export market but is also working to grow the packaged coconut water domestically.
Image above from packagingoftheworld.com
Its packaged coconut water Cocoxim is made with Tetra Pak TetraPrisma Aseptic packaging. The packaging is produced with 6 material layers with the DreamCap closure to lock in the benefits of the coconut. The coconut water comes from Ben Tre, lauded as the “coconut capital” of Vietnam.
Cocoxim is also the first coconut water in Vietnam infused with tropical fruit flavor. The range comes in four flavours – original, orange, lotus seed and kumquat.
Widely available
Cocoxim is available at Shop&Go, Aeon, Aeon Citimart, Auchan, BigC, CricleK, Co.op, CoopFood, Emart, FamilyMart, Guardian, LotteMart, Văn Lang and Vinmart.
Marketing of Cocoxim
Bertimex is promoting Cocoxim by harnessing the provenance appeal with the coconut water sourced from Ben Tre. The marketing materials feature stories of local coconut farmers sharing their experience about coconut cultivating.
Uncle Mười – a coconut farmer from Bentre – sharing his experience about coconut cultivating. Image above from Cocoxim
Apart from highlighting the natural, purity and healthy credentials of Cocoxim, the brand is also localising its marketing message to tie in with the different celebratory occasions such as Women’s Day.
Women’s Day. Image above from Cocoxim
The marketing message is also crafted to make the product relevant to the lifestyle of millennials who the group that is most willing to try new beverages.
Preparing for exam. Image above from Cocoxim
Organic coconut water
The latest development is the organic version of Cocoxim will debut soon, according to the latest post on Cocoxim Instagram on 27 April 2017. The organic coconut water is not added with sugar.
What Mini Me thinks
As packaged coconut water is still a nascent category in Vietnam, Cocoxim’s move to establish itself as a leading brand in the segment is laudable. As the saying says, the early bird gets the worm, Cocoxim can carve for itself the leadership position in packaged coconut water. However, there is still a lot of work laying ahead, which requires strong marketing effort to localise and spread the product benefit message to consumers who prefer fresh over packaged coconut water.
