Sharpens product portfolio to meet the needs of Thai consumers at all life stages, based on business strategies for sustainable growth
Wednesday 24 April 2024 – Nestle Thailand announced its 2024 business direction, following the company’s Good for You and Good for the Planet strategies to drive sustainable growth. The company has sharpened its product portfolio to ensure it meets the needs of Thai people at all life stages, offering tasty and more nutritious products that are affordable and sustainable to help Thais achieve a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. For this year, Nestle launched the “Every Little Bite Matters” campaign to promote balanced diet choices that are good for the body and mind and sustainable for long-term wellbeing.
Mr. Victor Seah, Chairman and CEO, Nestle Indochina, said, “This year, Nestle Thailand will continue to drive our two strategies, Good for You and Good for the Planet, which are fundamental to our strong business growth as they serve the demands of consumers, today and for generations to come. Nestle Thailand will continue to drive the growth for every product category, which has long offered Thai people’s favorite choices for food and beverages. We are committed to providing high-quality, tasty, and more nutritious products that are affordable and sustainably produced to meet the needs of Thai people in all life stages. We also continually sharpen our product portfolio to support a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle while encouraging and inspiring people to achieve balanced consumption by making small and sustainable changes for a healthier body and mind.”
From consumer trend to promoting balanced diet
According to global consumer research conducted by Nestle and Kantar in 2022, 91% of Thai respondents want to eat well and feed their families a balanced diet. However, only 42% of Thai respondents can achieve the ideal balanced diet. The top three barriers preventing Thai people from doing this start with affordability, as they perceive healthy food as too expensive. Another barrier is the need to treat themselves and leave room for small pleasures. Lastly, they have no time to prepare or cook healthy food because of their daily routines.
Sharpened portfolio with two strategies to promote balanced consumption
With consumer needs at the heart of Nestle’s focus, the company sees the role of food as a foundation for good holistic health and, therefore, has arranged its product portfolio to meet various consumer needs.
The first of these categories is Everyday Goodness, covering the majority of Nestle Thailand’s product portfolio such as NESCAFE, MILO, BEAR BRAND, NESVITA, NESTLE Pure Life, Minere, Fitnesse, and MAGGI. The second is Tailored Nutrition, offering products tailored to the needs of specific consumer groups. This category includes all products from the Nestle Health Science Business Unit and Infant Nutrition products under many brands such as S-26, BEAR BRAND, Carnation, and NAN. The third category, the Mindful Indulgence product group, features products that can be enjoyed in moderation as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. They include Nestle ice cream, KITKAT, Nestle Coffee Mate, and beverages in out-of-home channels.
Nestle accelerates growth for every product category with two key strategies
The first strategy is to “Grow a Healthier Portfolio,” which includes the Everyday Goodness and Tailored Nutrition product groups. Nestle will continue to provide healthier options, increasing the number of products certified with the Healthier Choice Logo by continually reducing the amount of sugar and sodium they contain while enhancing taste and nutrition. The company currently has over 100 products that feature the Healthier Choice Logo, the highest number of products certified among all F&B companies in Thailand. Nestle is also fortifying products with micronutrients including Infant Nutrition products, dairy products, and some products for adults. In addition, the company focuses on offering affordable solutions. By developing nutritious products at affordable prices, Nestle supports Thai people to have good health and wellbeing.
The second strategy is to “Guide with Balanced Choice” for the Mindful Indulgence product group. Nestle is reformulating its indulgent products and guiding people towards a balanced diet so they can enjoy these products in moderation. For example, all children’s ice cream products are 110 kilocalories or less, and all multi-serve products from this category will have clear front-of-pack portion guidance.
To provide more products that are Good for You, Nestle has increased its production capacity with the investment around 8,000 million baht to expand its manufacturing facilities during the period of 2021 to 2026. This includes an expansion of UHT manufacturing lines for all UHT products including MILO, BEAR BRAND, S-26, and Carnation brands. The company is also expanding both of its Nestle Purina Petcare manufacturing facilities to produce dry and wet super-premium cat food to meet the growing demands of cat lovers in Thailand and abroad. These factories will use advanced technology to offer a wider variety of tastes and product formats for pet lovers to choose from.
Campaign of the year: “Every Little Bite Matters” to drive balanced consumption
This year Nestle is launching the “Every Little Bite Matters” campaign to encourage balanced consumption and make a healthy lifestyle achievable for everyone. Nestle believes that every little bite has the power to make a big impact. The campaign’s holistic communications aim to promote a better understanding of the benefits of a balanced diet while inspiring people to make small changes in their daily food choices. Making balanced adjustments each day will lead to a significant difference over time. Consumers can adopt a simple approach starting with any meal by considering food pairing, portion control, and meal planning.
Nestle will also conduct on-ground educational activities to widely promote health and nutrition knowledge to Thai consumers through the Nestle Health Missions and Nestle Healthy Family Caravan. These initiatives aim to reach around 120,000 individuals in 200 communities nationwide in 2024.
Nestle drives its strong commitment to protecting, renewing, and restoring the environment through its Good for the Planet strategic focus. The company is making significant progress in all key areas of its sustainability roadmap. As of now, 96% of Nestle Thailand’s packaging is designed for recycling. All coffee beans and fresh milk the company uses are 100% responsibly sourced. In addition, the company continues to support coffee farmers and dairy farmers. Its water stewardship efforts have achieved a remarkable outcome, with 100% water regeneration at its Ayutthaya water bottling factory. Nestle Thailand is also on track to achieve its carbon reduction targets as planned.
“With our Good for You and Good for the Planet strategy, Nestle will continue to offer tasty and more nutritious products for Thai people at all life stages while taking sustainability actions to deliver on our Net Zero goal by 2050. We will continue to make positive contributions based on ESG principles of Environmental, Social, and Governance to benefit Thai society and Thai consumers today and for generations to come,” concluded Mr. Seah.
