Yakult - The Perfect Healthy Drink!
Name: Felicia Lee (1703389E) Class: TB05 Company: Yakult (Fast Moving Consumer Goods)
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Ever heard of the popular probiotic cultured milk drink, Yakult?
Do you contribute to the 35 million bottles of Yakult drank worldwide daily?
Here’s a short video about Yakult!
Yakult was very first launch in Japan, way back in 1935! So, this means that Yakult has been around for its 83th year! Yakult has been consumed by people in 33 countries and regions around the world.
Yakult was first introduced in Singapore in 1979 under the industry, Food & Beverages. Specifically, Yakult is under the category, Dairy - Yogurt. Yakult is part of the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).
Although Yakult was originally started in Japan, Yakult is also manufactured at the multi-million dollar ultra-modern plant at Senoko Avenue in Singapore! There is also factory tour available where the public will be able to see the process of how Yakult is made with your very own eyes!
Fun fact: They are able to produce 300,000 bottles of Yakult in a day!
Yakult is founded by Dr. Minoru Shirota, a Japanese scientist, in 1930. He was the first to isolate and culture a probiotic strain, Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) which is used in Yakult. Dr. Shirota and his colleagues founded Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. in 1955.
The Yakult contains more than 6.5 billion LcS which has been proven to have many health benefits such as improving our digestive system as well as building and improving the immunity of our bodies. It is also found that it helps to reduce the chances of developing colon cancer. (Carlyle,2015)
Yakult has 2 main products in Singapore, namely Yakult and Yakult Ace Light. Yakult is made from fermented skim milk powder, sucrose, glucose and the probiotic, Lactobacillus Casei strain Shirota(LcS).
Yakult comes in 4 different flavours, Original, Orange, Grape and Green Apple.
Meanwhile, Yakult Ace Light only comes in its original flavour. It has the Health Promotion Board’s Healthier Choice Logo as it is 25% less sugar compared to other cultured milk! It is also lower in Saturated Fat!
Yakult has received the Reader's’ Digest Platinum Award for the category Culture Milk in 2017. Yakult has been voted by their customers through the Reader’s Digest Singapore Trusted Brands survey. This shows that Yakult is popular and is well liked by their consumers!
KEY TARGET MARKET
Yakult’s key target market is families with young and old health conscious, from low to middle income family and wants to lead a healthy lifestyle.
The key target market of Yakult is family as it can help everyone in the family to aid digestion and improve their digestive system. It is targeted to middle to high income as it is not priced too expensive and is about $3.20 for a pack of 5! So, 1 bottle of 100ml is about $0.60 and is packed with many beneficial ingredients for the body!
COMPETITORS
Yakult’s main competitor is Vitagen. Vitagen is in product form competition with Yakult as they both offer similar products to the similar set of customers at similar prices.
Vitagen products are Vitagen Less Sugar and Vitagen Collagen Less Sugar.
For Vitagen Less Sugar, it comes in 4 flavours - LB Original, Apple, Grape and Peach.
For Vitagen Collagen Less Sugar, it comes in 3 flavours - LB original, Rose and Elderflower.
Yakult’s main competitor is Vitagen as they are also selling similar cultured milk which contains probiotics and are of similar flavours.
Both Yakult and Vitagen are catered to similar set of customers who are families and are not only health conscious but are also benefit sought such as to improve their digestive system. They are also sold at the same price of $3.20 for a pack of 5!
Another close competitor of Yakult is Meiji Paigen Culture Drinking Yoghurt. It is also a cultured milk which is made from probiotics.
They come in 6 different flavours - MIxed Fruits, Blueberry, Less Sugar, Original, Orange and Strawberry. It is sold at around $1.20 per bottle of 160ml.
Another competitor is yogurt smoothie drinks from Magnolia. They are in the form of product category competition as they provide similar class of products which yogurt to maintain healthy digestive system.
SWOT ANALYSIS
The strength of Yakult is that it is recognized in many countries. In fact, it first started its overseas venture in 1964 and is now has expanded to over 38 countries! With Yakult becoming more well-known around the world, more people are getting to know the product and there will be an increase in amount of consumers for Yakult. This will help create brand loyalty and generate more customers especially when Yakult has a good overall brand image all around the world. There is also an increase in customer equity which is the total combined lifetime value of all current and potential customers of Yakult. This happens when a person grew up with Yakult and have good experience with Yakult due to its good health benefits, they will purchase Yakult to feed their children and it will continue, generating more and more customers as the years go by. Based on good impressions of the product, more people will be more willing to buy it.
The weakness of Yakult is that they only have 2 type of drinks, Yakult and Yakult Ace Light. Yakult only has 4 flavours and Yakult Ace Light only has 1 flavour. This shows that with only 4 flavours, it will not cater to everyone’s likes and preferences. This will thus cause some people to not want to purchase Yakult as they do not have their preferred flavours and are limited to only choosing from 4 flavours. This is a weakness of Yakult as other brands from their competitors have more flavours as compared to Yakult thus it is a disadvantage for them.
The opportunity of Yakult is that there is a growing number of millenials who are becoming more health conscious. (Laura, 2017) As more people are becoming more and more health conscious, they will change their lifestyles and diet in order to be healthier. When they modify their diets to be healthier, they will seek for healthier food options. By doing so, Yakult will have a bigger consumer base as Yakult is one of the drinks that are considered healthier, thus will be able to sell more of their products to more people.
The threat of Yakult is that the patent for the probiotic, Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) may expire soon. Patent is the exclusive rights granted to the organization or company of the inventor for a specific time period. This means that for now, Yakult is the only company which is allowed to use the probiotic, Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS). This ensures that Yakult is the monopoly in the industry with no other company using the same probiotic to create their cultured milk. This is currently a privilege for Yakult at the moment. However, if the patent expires soon, which is not controllable by Yakult, Yakult would be competing with many competitors in the industry as other companies will be allowed to use the probiotic, LcS, for their products. This is a threat to Yakult as their consumer base will become smaller with more competitors entering into the industry with similar products using similar ingredients.
SPONSORSHIP
Yakult has sponsored in multiple events which are mainly in swimming competitions which are both international and national. Swimming competition includes the FINA Airweave Swimming World Cup Singapore in 2014 and 2017. This is an event where there is an international competition among the some strongest swimmers and was held in Singapore.
Another swimming competition that Yakult sponsored is The TYR 2nd Southeast Asian Swimming Championships 2014.
By sponsoring the swimming competitions, supporters and audiences who came to watch the swimming competition will feel that Yakult is a healthy drink which are also meant for swimmers or athletes to drink. This will allow them to have a impression that Yakult is good for the body and helps to keep them fit. This also helps to reach out to more people as usually at such competitions, not only are there the participants, there is also family, friends and public supporting. Therefore, this helps Yakult to increase the brand awareness.
Yakult has also established a sponsorship agreement with Singapore Swimming Association. (Hermes, 2018) Yakult has recently renewed their sponsorship on 26 January 2018.
The reason for such sponsorship is to showcase that Yakult is actually a healthy drink which is also suitable for athletes as it will remain as Singapore Swimming Association’s official healthy family drink. By using athletes as ambassadors for Yakult, people will view Yakult as beneficial for their bodies as it helps the athletes to gain muscles and be strong. This will help to build and enhance Yakult’s brand image due to its advantages for the body and immune system. This would also change the various mindsets of the public since Yakult is being consumed by the “fit” people, which will attract the public to change their lifestyle by adding Yakult into their diets.
Yakult also sponsored health related events such as the Public Health Forum at National Foundation for Digestive Diseases (NFDD) Day on 19 Nov 2017 and the Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month 2014. The Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month is to encourage all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents aged 50 years and above to get screened for colorectal cancer through Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT).
This is as part of Yakult’s spirit of contributing to the health and the holistic well-being of the society, Yakult takes part in many events and activities of Singapore Cancer Society to help promote healthy lifestyle and the importance of health. This is part of Yakult’s Corporate Social Responsibility which was the reason for Dr. Minoru Shirota and his colleagues to found Yakult in 1935 to show the concern for the community’s health and nutritional well-being. The objective of Yakult taking part in such events is to promote the fact that Yakult is a healthy drink and can help to improve the immune systems and to promote the fact that Yakult cares for the society. Also by sponsoring such events, it helps to improve Yakult’s brand image that Yakult actually cares about everyone’s well-being.
Another type of event that Yakult sponsored were races that helps to promote cancer as well. Some of the races were the Singtel-Singapore Cancer Society Race Against Cancer in the years 2014, 2015 and 2017.
The event Race Against Cancer is where people come together and run to show support and to keep a healthy lifestyle by running together to fight against cancer. With Yakult sponsoring such events as the Official Healthy Drink, it helps to spread the message that health is very important and healthy lifestyle habits and choices are needed to fight against cancer. Also, by sponsoring such events, it helps to show that Yakult cares for the society and that Yakult is a healthy drink and is good for the health and immune system. Another reason for Yakult to take part in such events, Yakult will also be able to reach out to more potential customers who took part in the event and also to build a better brand image that Yakult cares for the society.
Some suggestions for Yakult is to take part and sponsor events that are held by Health Promotion Board. As the Health Promotion Board is a government organization which started in 2001, it is well-known and the motive of this government organisation is to promote healthy living in Singapore. An event that is annually held by the Health Promotion Board in Singapore is the Healthy Lifestyle Festival SG at the Singapore Sports Hub and Kallang Wave Mall. This event was held originally to promote a healthy and fun lifestyle to everyone using games and roadshows. At this event, participants get to learn ways to make their life healthier while enjoying life to the fullest! As people are heading down to find out more about healthier lifestyle and to have fun, Yakult would be able to promote their products as a healthier choice product to everyone including the young and the old. The public will also be more likely to purchase Yakult if Health Promotion Board is the one advertising for Yakult as the public will more likely trust a government organisation to promote healthier choices.
SUGGESTIONS
What else can Yakult do in the future?
Some suggestions for Yakult is to take part and sponsor events that are held by Health Promotion Board. As the Health Promotion Board is a government organization which started in 2001, it is well-known and the motive of this government organisation is to promote healthy living in Singapore. An event that is annually held by the Health Promotion Board in Singapore is the Healthy Lifestyle Festival SG at the Singapore Sports Hub and Kallang Wave Mall. This event was held originally to promote a healthy and fun lifestyle to everyone using games and roadshows. At this event, participants get to learn ways to make their life healthier while enjoying life to the fullest! As people are heading down to find out more about healthier lifestyle and to have fun, Yakult would be able to promote their products as a healthier choice product to everyone including the young and the old. The public will also be more likely to purchase Yakult if Health Promotion Board is the one advertising for Yakult as the public will more likely trust a government organisation to promote healthier choices.
Yakult can also sponsor events held by National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) to show support. An example of an event is Run for Hope where families can run together for 3.5km around Singapore Sports Hub to show their support, raise awareness and to help to raise funds for research regarding cancer. With Yakult participating in such events, they would be able to reach out to many people as the event is quite well-known in Singapore as 2018 would be their 25th year holding this event!
Yakult has also been shown that it can help quench thirst and cool off participants in a run. It is also shown that Yakult is one of the top 14 healthy drinks that are more suited for sports.(Chin, 2015) This will help to promote healthy and active lifestyle for participants. This will help to reach out to more people as there are many participants who will go for Run for Hope as it is a well-established event in Singapore.
Hope you have learnt more about Yakult and do not forget drink drink it often to maintain a healthy digestive system and improve your immune system! Do try it out if you haven’t!
REFERENCES:
Newspapers:
Hermes. (2018, January 27). SSA drinks to Yakult tie-up extension. Retrieved May 12, 2018,
Hill, L. (2017, October 24). New Report Highlights Rise Of Health-Conscious Millennials.
Retrieved May 9, 2018, from https://www.welltodoglobal.com/new-report-highlights-rise-of-
P. Chin (2015, May 16). Perform to Your Max with These 14 Healthy Drinks in Singapore!
Retrieved May 12, 2018, from https://www.runsociety.com/food-nutrition/perform-to-your-max
Magazine:
R. Carlyle (2015, January 29). Do probiotics work? Understanding "friendly bacteria".
Retrieved May 13, 2018, from https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/health-wellbeing/treatments/
Company Websites:
About Yakult Singapore. (n.d.). Retrieved May 6, 2018, from https://yakult.com.sg/yakult-
Contributing to the health and happiness of people around the world. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13,
2018, from http://www.yakult.co.jp/english/
News & Events. (n.d.). Retrieved May 9, 2018, from https://yakult.com.sg/yakult-news-events-
Yakult History, Founder- Dr. Minoru Shirota, Japan in 1930. (n.d.). Retrieved May 6, 2018,
Event Websites:
Festivals and Events. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2018, from https://www.hpb.gov.sg/community
Healthy Lifestyle Festival SG. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2018, from https://www.healthhub.sg
Run For Hope Singapore. (n.d.). Retrieved May 12, 2018, from http://www.runforhope.sg
Others:
Health Promotion Board. (n.d.). Retrieved May 14, 2018, from https://www.hpb.gov.sg/
VITAGEN Less Sugar. (n.d.). Retrieved May 9, 2018, from http://www.vitagen.com.sg/product
Yakult Cultured Milk Bottle Drink - Ace Light | FairPrice Singapore. (n.d.). Retrieved May 9,
Yakult Cultured Milk Bottle Drink - Assorted Flavours | FairPrice Singapore. (n.d.). Retrieved
Yakult Singapore's Factory Tours are back! (2017, September 26). Retrieved May 13, 2018,
Very nice blog yakult is good health drink you can also Buy health drink online there are numerous type of health and energy drinks available online
ReplyDeleteThank you for your articles that you have shared with us. Hopefully you can give the article a good benefit to us. Probiotics Singapore
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