On May 18, the China International Food and Beverage Exhibition (SIAL China) opened smoothly in Pudong, Shanghai. As one of the world's top three food exhibitions, it has penetrated the entire industry chain of the food and beverage industry and is known as the bellwether of the global food and beverage industry. This year, it attracted 4,500 exhibitors from around the world.

It is worth mentioning that Orion, a brand that rarely participates in exhibitions, made its debut this time with 7 major categories of hit new products.

As an international food company, Orion's debut at SIAL China undoubtedly became one of the highlights of the exhibition. At Orion's booth, a large number of distributors and purchasers came to learn about and discuss cooperation, making the booth crowded. This phenomenon has also drawn significant attention from industry insiders.

It is important to note that Orion has been in the Chinese market for 25 years and, after years of development, has become one of the most familiar international food brands to Chinese consumers. However, while focusing on product R&D and continuous quality optimization, it has not participated in many large exhibitions. It was only at last year's CIIE that it began its journey of large-scale exhibitions, and this is its first appearance at SIAL China.

This raises the question: what is the "ambition" behind Orion's recent frequent appearances at international conferences with new products such as its high-end imported packaged water Jeju Lava Water, Dr. You Nut Bar, and other new categories, as well as multiple hit new products across 7 categories like Song Song Cake?

-01- Hit New Products Unveiled, Orion Expands Its Strategic Blueprint

Orion has developed in China for many years with a rich product portfolio, successfully creating multiple billion-yuan single products, among which Orion Pie and others have become category representatives. Even so, the products Orion showcased this time are still worth looking forward to, especially the multiple new category products. These products clearly demonstrate Orion's diversified product layout, its determination to expand its strategic blueprint, and its ambition to enter the global market.

So, among the products Orion brought to SIAL China, which ones are particularly eye-catching and worthy of attention? From the booth design, several products with themed background walls and promotion areas are clearly the core products Orion is focusing on.

Orion Jeju Lava Water

First, the author noticed a high-end drinking water product—Orion Jeju Lava Water.

It is understood that Orion Jeju Lava Water is imported from Jeju Island, a world-renowned rare water source. The water originates from deep underground at 130 meters, naturally filtered through volcanic lava formed 400,000 years ago. It contains beneficial minerals such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium, and is weakly alkaline.

It is often said that the water source is the decisive factor in drinking water quality. This quality not only benefits health but also greatly affects taste. At this year's World Water Day, at a drinking water tasting event held by the Korea International Water Tasters Association, Orion Jeju Lava Water ranked first in a blind tasting of 74 bottled waters sold in the Korean market.

As is well known, with consumers' increasing demand for high-quality life, and the pandemic further accelerating the rapid awakening of health awareness, people's demand for drinking water is gradually becoming more high-end.

According to Nielsen survey data, as early as 2017, the growth rate of China's high-end drinking water market reached 46%-50%. Meanwhile, according to Tmall's 2018 "Water Category Consumption Trend White Paper," online growth of high-end drinking water in China was 27%, far higher than the 5% for ordinary drinking water. This trend has become even more pronounced now.

With high-end water becoming a trend, the launch of Orion Jeju Lava Water not only gives consumers pursuing high-quality life a new choice but also marks Orion's accelerated entry into China's bottled water market.

This has given the industry new expectations for Orion's performance growth, especially since the bottled water market has produced multiple Chinese billionaires, demonstrating the market's enormous potential.

Dr. You Nut Bar

It is said that the rapid development of the high-end water market is due to the domestic health awareness trend. Clearly, in response to the health trend, Orion has launched not only drinking water but also another category. Dr. You Nut Bar is another masterpiece by Orion in the "golden age" of the health industry.

The product itself uses high-quality natural ingredients as the main raw materials, focusing on the exquisite combination of nuts and rich ingredients. With years of product R&D experience and technical accumulation, it successfully achieves a perfect combination of balanced nutrition and delicious taste, meeting consumers' multiple needs for nutrition, energy replenishment, and tasty snacks.

After China elevated "Healthy China" to a strategic height in the past two years, coupled with the impact of the pandemic, driven by both policy and market demand, consumers' enthusiasm and attention to nutritious and healthy food have reached unprecedented levels. Dr. You Nut Bar, with its advantages of balanced nutrition and delicious taste, has quickly become a bestseller. Experts point out that Orion is expected to leverage this nut bar to tap into a hundred-billion blue ocean market.

Song Song Cake

Orion's newly launched Song Song Pork Floss Cake has also become a hot item attracting attention from many merchants at this SIAL China. The product contains 7% chicken floss and 20% eggs, rich in nutrition, and its savory flavor is more in line with Chinese consumers' dietary habits and tastes, making it easy for breakfast or afternoon tea.

In recent years, with the accelerating development of national strength, the pace of life for domestic people has also been accelerating, which has catalyzed the rapid development of pre-packaged foods. The baking meal replacement field has expanded to a hundred-billion scale.

Song Song Cake was born in response to this. This product, developed for Chinese consumers, combines high-quality pork floss and eggs, making it not only rich in various nutrients but also relatively low in calories, becoming the best meal replacement and snack choice for many consumers.

In addition, new products such as Banana Milk Flavor Orion Pie, Jiu Ai Qiao Ke Su Cookies also attracted a large number of distributors to stop and take notice.

It can be seen that Orion's product system is continuously enriched and comprehensive, able to meet different consumption scenarios and needs, and is steadily advancing towards becoming a comprehensive food and beverage enterprise.

But in today's Chinese food and beverage market, both new and old brands are facing increasingly fierce competition. Orion's launch of these new categories must be driven by confidence in capturing more market share. So where does Orion's confidence come from?

-02- What Is the Purpose of Launching New Categories? Precise Insight into Consumer Needs

It can be seen that the categories of the multiple products Orion showcased at SIAL China are quite diverse. It may seem like a complementary move to perfect the product system, but in reality, the launch of these product series is, without exception, based on Orion's deep insight into real consumer needs and its in-depth interpretation of industry trends.

After 25 years in China, Orion can truly be considered a "China expert" after years of development.

According to a set of data, on the 11th, the Korean food industry reported that, on a consolidated basis, Orion's total sales last year were 2.2304 trillion Korean won (approximately RMB 12.826 billion), of which overseas sales were 1.4612 trillion Korean won, accounting for 65.5%. Sales in China were 1.0909 trillion Korean won, the highest among all countries.

In such an environment, Orion has long regarded the Chinese market as a top priority. Orion's success in China also benefits from its brand localization strategy.

From a product perspective, whether it is Orion Jeju Lava Water, which meets the high-quality life needs of Chinese consumers, or Song Song Cake, launched to meet the needs of the fast-paced domestic life while balancing nutrition, taste, and convenience, all reveal Orion's deep understanding of the Chinese market.

In terms of branding, Orion is also making efforts to integrate into the new generation of main consumer groups. From accompanying the "Hero Jiu Jing" team to win the King of Glory KPL League in 2018, to appearing at ChinaJoy in 2019, and this year partnering with young automobile brand Lynk & Co to break the circle at the Shanghai International Auto Show, Orion continues to break into younger groups, maintaining brand vitality and huge potential for future development.

Of course, as the brand continues to develop, the audience expands, and product categories increase, the market also poses new requirements and challenges to Orion. Can Orion continue to develop smoothly? Can its path to becoming an international comprehensive food and beverage enterprise succeed? What are the key points? These are all worth discussing.

-03- Success or Failure Depends on Channels

In the author's view, at least in the Chinese market, channels are the key factor in Orion's continued development and success.

A comprehensive analysis shows that Orion's advantages in brand and product are relatively obvious:

As an international food enterprise group with 65 years of history serving the world, its years of technical accumulation have long established a quality moat. Similarly, brand power is an irreplaceable advantage that requires long-term accumulation of time and reputation. Even in China, Orion has deeply imprinted its brand image into Chinese consumers' minds over the past 25 years.

Secondly, a professional team is also an important factor in measuring a company's hard strength. Orion has successively created many billion-yuan single products such as Orion Pie, Ya! Potato, Shuyuan, and Haoduo Fish. With such visible strength, many distributors have grown and become wealthy by following the brand.

Orion's operations and product teams are well-versed in how to provide value to consumers through differentiated products while meeting different consumption scenarios and personalized needs.

Despite its many advantages, rapidly developing Orion still faces an important challenge that all enterprises face: channels.

Whether channels are smooth is the key to success for FMCG companies. Although Orion has been continuously optimizing and improving its distributor team, with the expansion into new business areas such as packaged drinking water, nut bars, and seaweed, Orion also lacks dedicated distributors in related fields, and the demand for high-quality distributors has increased significantly.

However, this is both a challenge for Orion and an opportunity for capable distributors. If distributors self-assess and find that their resources and operating models align with Orion's needs, then representing its products is undoubtedly a huge business opportunity.

On the one hand, Orion's recent performance data is very impressive, with rapid development in the domestic market; on the other hand, the new products showcased at SIAL China include high-end products that follow trends, and their profit margins are likely not low.

Having developed in China for many years, Orion knows well the principle of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation with partners. With the continuous emergence of new trend opportunities in recent years, it will inevitably reorganize its channels to build a more complete channel system.

In today's Chinese market, brand owners need distributors who focus more on the local market and have a more specific understanding of it. In fact, distributors often have a better understanding of local consumer characteristics, consumption levels, and upgrade trends than brand owners. These are the unique advantages of distributors and one of the important reasons Orion participated in this SIAL China.

Overall, Orion's current new products can be considered "everything is ready, only the east wind is needed," and the east wind is precisely the high-quality distributor partners it urgently needs. At the same time, the "east wind" that can help Orion succeed will inevitably benefit and achieve success together with Orion. This is a mutual opportunity for both parties.

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