Su Wei stated, "In the Chinese market, consumers are beginning to widely accept new beverage brands and some niche products. New beverage categories such as bottled water, sports drinks, and sugar-free tea are also being embraced by consumers. Therefore, we need to accelerate the development and expansion of new products." The 2019 milk powder market was full of uncertainty. "If you look closely at the regions where Swire Coca-Cola operates, you will find that China is the leader in business growth," Su Wei, CEO of Swire Coca-Cola, told reporters. "It is for this reason that we see the prospects of the Chinese market and have placed our China headquarters in Shanghai, where we will continue to increase investment in assets, personnel, and products." Recently, Su Wei, CEO of Swire Coca-Cola, one of Coca-Cola's two major bottlers in China, accepted an interview with a reporter from 21st Century Business Herald. She stated that thanks to the Chinese government's effective control of the pandemic, sales of Coca-Cola series products in China recovered quickly after the low point in February and March. Swire Coca-Cola is a business division of Swire Pacific Limited and is the fifth-largest bottling group by sales volume in the Coca-Cola global bottling system. Formerly known as Swire Beverages Limited, it was renamed Swire Coca-Cola in March 2019. It is reported that the company covers 12 provinces and municipalities in mainland China (other provinces and municipalities are served by COFCO Coca-Cola), the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Taiwan region of China, and four markets in the western United States, serving 736 million consumers. "We are very pleased to see the introduction of the Foreign Investment Law. As an international investment enterprise, this means that the Chinese government is striving to provide us with a better business environment," Su Wei said. "Especially for newly established or expanding enterprises, they can enjoy tax reductions and exemptions, giving us peace of mind." Sales of Coca-Cola series products in China recovered quickly after the low point in February and March Image: VCG -01- Rapid Business Recovery "Actually, due to the pandemic, some raw materials need to be imported from abroad. But now there won't be any problems; our domestic inventory is very sufficient." According to the 2020 interim results already published by Swire Pacific, Swire Coca-Cola's business not only recovered but also showed a certain degree of growth. The financial data shows that Swire Coca-Cola's profit for the first half of 2020 was HK$946 million, an increase of 26% compared to the first half of 2019. Excluding the withholding tax in the first half of 2019, the increase was 14%. For Swire Coca-Cola, the biggest changes brought by the pandemic are reflected in two aspects. First, the change in product categories. "During the pandemic, we were hit particularly hard, but health-oriented beverages were hardly affected," Su Wei said. "For example, sugar-free Coca-Cola maintained high growth both during and after the pandemic. In particular, the 200ml mini-can Coca-Cola had very high sales during the pandemic, reflecting changes in consumer demand for products and packaging." Second, the change in sales channels. During the interview, Su Wei mentioned that the pandemic prompted Swire Coca-Cola to more actively use big data analysis to help decision-making and increase revenue. Specifically, the pandemic greatly promoted the development of e-commerce and home delivery businesses, with fresh food e-commerce and supermarket O2O developing the fastest. "Channels such as community physical stores, home delivery services, and fresh food e-commerce grew very well during the pandemic, and we also accelerated closer cooperation with these O2O fresh food supermarkets," Su Wei said. "We have dedicated teams to interface with these fresh food supermarket platforms to ensure that more resources can be provided." At the same time, this also promoted Swire Coca-Cola to further strengthen its digital strategy. Su Wei stated that through IoT (Internet of Things) technology, the company has made all more than 700,000 freezers in the market intelligent, achieving online connectivity and turning traditional freezers combined with big data into a productive force for business growth. On the product side, in order to make promotions reach consumers directly, Swire Coca-Cola added QR codes inside bottle caps, allowing consumers to conveniently scan and participate in the company's digital interactions. "Through digitalization, we can also clearly know what kind of products are favored by what kind of consumers, thereby discovering more sales opportunities; in the future, when developing and launching new products, we can also find the market and consumers more accurately and quickly," Su Wei said. -02- Sustainable Development In May this year, Swire Coca-Cola released its "2030 Sustainable Development Strategy," publicly disclosing its commitments and goals in seven core areas: water resource management, energy efficiency management and climate change response, packaging and waste management, product selection, sustainable procurement, diverse and inclusive corporate culture, and community care. Among them, a major theme related to product transformation is "sugar reduction." According to the report, by 2025, the average sugar content per 100ml of beverages will be reduced by 20%; no products will be advertised to children under 12; 100% of product packaging will have clear nutritional labels; and 100% of operating factories will achieve food safety certification (FSSC22000). "In the Chinese market, topics such as 'sugar reduction' are highly concerned. Now we are working closely with The Coca-Cola Company and continue to expand our product portfolio, which includes more low-calorie and zero-calorie beverages. In addition to the well-known Diet Coke and Coke Zero, we also have zero-calorie Sprite and Fanta. In 2018, the company launched the 'Honest Tea' series to respond to the emerging trend of sugar-free tea," Su Wei detailed. According to the "2019 Global Beverage Industry New Trends Report" released by Kearney China Competition Research Institute, the beverage industry is currently facing significant changes in consumers, products, brands, and distribution models. "In the Chinese market, consumers are beginning to widely accept new beverage brands and some niche products. New beverage categories such as bottled water, sports drinks, and sugar-free tea are also being embraced by consumers. Therefore, we need to accelerate the development and expansion of new products," Su Wei emphasized. Among all of Coca-Cola's product categories, the most representative and potentially promising product—carbonated drinks—has become one of the key points for future growth. "In the past two years, carbonated drinks have been a relatively leading category in the Chinese beverage market, with the category growing faster than the overall beverage growth," Su Wei said. "During the pandemic, carbonated drinks were also the category with the slowest decline, which shows the future potential of this category." Su Wei stated that the entire Chinese beverage market is a very diverse, all-category market, where beverage categories from around the world appear. At the same time, the market is relatively fragmented, with no single category dominating; the highest share, tea, is only 14%-15%, making it a relatively fragmented market. "From the perspective of the carbonated drinks category, our advantage lies in having brands such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Fanta, and our market position is unquestionable," Su Wei said. "The Coca-Cola brand has a very long history. We will strive to give consumers more choices within this category, expanding in areas such as sugar-free and fiber+." Another category is tea drinks. "In the past two years, we can see that the development trend of the tea category in China is very good," Su Wei said. "If our sugar-free tea products can achieve relatively rapid growth, it will greatly reduce our average sugar content." Source: 21st Century Business Herald (ID: jjbd21) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.