You've likely seen this pale yellow dressing with the logo of a naked Cupid in supermarkets, restaurants, or bakeries—it's Kewpie salad dressing. Its producer, Kewpie Corporation, was founded in Japan in 1919 and began selling salad dressing in 1925, still focusing on various sauces today. This year marks its 21st year in China. According to Kewpie's 2013 financial report, sales reached 530.54 billion yen. Among this, the overseas sales ratio increased by 1.2 percentage points from less than 5% to 5.6% compared to the same period last year. The main reason for this is growth in the Chinese market. Its sales in China grew from 5.8 billion yen in 2012 to 8.1 billion yen in 2013, and Kewpie expects a growth rate of 127% this year, reaching 10.7 billion yen in sales. Recently, Kewpie gave an interview to a Japanese financial media outlet, revealing its long-standing strategy in the Chinese market. Following in the footsteps of KFC in 1987 and McDonald's in 1990, Kewpie salad dressing entered China in 1993. Initially, they tried to sell the sour mayonnaise, which pairs with fish, shellfish, and vegetable cans, directly to Chinese consumers, as they did in Japan. However, Chinese consumers were not accustomed to eating such canned goods, nor did they have a habit of eating raw vegetables at that time, so its promotion in China was very slow. Then they thought of potato salad, a popular way of eating in Japan, and crucially, potatoes are cooked, which fits Chinese eating habits, so they decided to try it. "We actually implemented this strategy for six years," Kewpie told business media. In today's context, six years seems somewhat incredible, but because it entered China early, six years seemed a tolerable waiting period. In 1999, after six years of promoting potato salad, it launched a sweetened mayonnaise for the Chinese market, although for Japanese customers, sweetened mayonnaise is unimaginable. But in Kewpie's view, this was a localization strategy that matched Chinese taste preferences. They found that Chinese consumers prefer sweet foods over sour ones. "There are many fruit shops on Chinese streets. Many people eat fruit, and they always add something sweet to it," Kewpie said. However, sweet salad dressing did not bring explosive growth. What truly drove Kewpie's development was the expansion of international chain restaurants in China. By hitching onto them, Kewpie salad dressing achieved rapid expansion. In fact, Kewpie's initial market strategy targeted families, so it preferred channels like supermarkets, but cultivating this market took a long time. Chinese consumers more often tasted salad-dressed food when dining out, which then generated demand for home purchases. Only later did Kewpie salad dressing increasingly appear on supermarket shelves. Today, vegetable salad has become a symbol of a healthy lifestyle, and Kewpie salad dressing is very common in China's first-tier cities. Its next strategy is to enter more inland cities, with a 2015 target of 13 billion yen in Chinese sales. -END- Content Selection Reply with the following keywords to categorize and read related articles: Sales Supervisor, Second-Tier Management, Regional Manager, Distributor Management, New Channels, City Manager, Competition, 2015, Manufacturer-Dealer Game, Product Stagnation, Terminal Visit Management, Route Management, Deep Distribution, Internal Management, Sales Skills, Profit Enhancement, Recruitment, Distribution, Daily Management, Team Motivation, Trade Promotion, Sales Misconceptions, New Product Launch, Township Market, New Product Pricing, Sales Target Achievement, Closing, Market Visit Inspection, Baijiu, Beer, Sales Increase, Agency Products, Channel Crossing, KA, Terminal Merchandising, New Market, Market Operation, Learning, Book Recommendations, Inventory Management, Sales Novice, Consumer Promotion, Execution, Old Products, Expired Product Handling, Model Market, Investment Attraction, New Media, Distributor Development, Performance Appraisal, Assessment, Annual Planning, Shopping Guide, Morning Meeting, Display, Transformation, Stock Pressure, Holidays, Distributor Cost Control, Channel Operation, Marketing Theory and Laws, Brand Truth, Order Meeting, Team Management, Training, Debriefing, Debriefing Report.