On December 20th, NutriNest Nutrition Food Joint Stock Company held a ceremony to announce the official export of a batch of bird's nest products to the Chinese market. This marks NutriNest's implementation following the signing of a memorandum on the export of Vietnamese bird's nest products to the Chinese market by the two countries.
According to information from NutriNest, the first officially exported batch of bird's nest products to China carries two brands: Green Bird - bird's nest water from organic bird's nests and NutriNest - pure bird's nest water. These are also two popular bird's nest water brands distributed in nearly 20,000 retail points nationwide, including supermarket chains, pharmacies, convenience stores, and traditional grocery stores.
Focusing on branded consumer products such as processed bird's nest water instead of raw bird's nests reflects NutriNest's long-term strategy in this populous market. The company registered the Green Bird and NutriNest brands in China five years ago before actually entering the market. This is a lesson learned from the experience of Vietnamese brands that faced many difficulties when their intellectual property rights and product differentiation were exploited by foreign partners.
The Road for Vietnamese Bird's Nest to the 1.4 Billion Market of China
One fact to be acknowledged is that Vietnamese bird's nest products are just starting to enter China and have to compete fiercely with similar products from Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, which have long been popular in this market. Generally, Chinese consumers do not differentiate the origin of bird's nests as long as they are from Southeast Asia. In pharmacies and health food stores, the origin of bird's nests is also not specified. This leads to competition mainly based on price with raw bird's nest products. Therefore, profit margins are not as high and fluctuate like most raw agricultural products.
Unlike raw bird's nests, bird's nest water is a processed product with more stable profit margins. When a ready-to-eat food product is accepted by consumers in terms of taste and quality, consumption tends to be stable and less dependent on local distribution partners. However, efforts to establish a foothold in a huge market like China also require much more resources and time.
By 2022, China's per capita income had reached nearly $14,000 per year, surpassing Eastern European countries and nearly equivalent to Southern European countries. Therefore, Chinese consumers are no longer easygoing but demand very high quality and appearance. In addition, the characteristic of the consumer goods distribution system in China is that over 90% is through large modern retail chains. Traditional small-scale distribution channels only account for a small proportion and are in remote rural areas. Penetrating these giant retail chains requires a high level of professionalism from manufacturers and excellent quality.
To prepare for meeting these high demands in the global market, NutriNest has taken basic steps such as adopting international hygiene standards HACCP, practicing organic farming standards ASEAN in bird's nest farming, and investing in modern production lines at 2 factories in Ho Chi Minh City. As one of the first companies in Vietnam to implement indoor bird's nest farming since 2005, NutriNest also has many advantages in proactively sourcing high-quality raw materials for production on the path to penetrate the world's largest bird's nest product market.