New data reveals key opportunities for fresh produce marketers targeting consumers across Indonesia, China, Thailand and Vietnam
Health and digitalisation trends were the key focus of the opening session of the Asia Fruit Knowledge Centre programme held at Asia Fruit Logistica on 2 September.
To open the session Forward Insight’s Carlo Magni presented an updated look at what the modern Asian consumer is looking for in fresh produce brands.
Magni drew on data sourced by Forward Insights from interviews with 1,200 consumers across China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, as well as AI web scraping of official databases, shopping platforms and industry reports.
He found that health and digitalisation are some of the key trends driving consumer behaviour in Asia.
“Now these are not the only drivers of change, but they are very important for marketers wanting to win in this region and engage with consumers in Asia,” Magni said.
Health in focus
Health and wellness have been trending for some time now but, according to the Forward Insight consumer interviews, this is now to leading to increased consumption of fresh produce.
“Consumers are telling us they’ve been consuming more produce and veggies in the past year than ever before,” Magni said. “When we ask them openly [about this] they talk about health.”
And not just with broad strokes either. According to Magni, consumers are now citing the specific ways individual fruits and vegetables contribute to health and wellbeing.
“They talk about nutrition, vitamins, digestion, aging, and weight and diet management,” he said.
This specificity opens up new opportunities for targeted marketing approaches.
Digital connection
Magni is also seeing an increasing level of digitalisation among Asia’s consumers, growing beyond the use of social media and ecommerce to now include the use of AI tools.
“In South-East Asia, one in four millennials say they use AI for researching fresh produce before buying online,” Magni said. “In China, four in ten consumers shop for products online using apps and e-commerce regularly, and one in five is doing that using AI.”
The top reason consumers report using AI is to summarise product details and compile seller reviews to gauge freshness and quality before purchase. This second is researching discounts, promotions, and price comparisons across platforms and sellers.
The Forward Insight research also showed that across the board, consumers in Indonesia, China, Thailand and Vietnam are searching for information on freshness and quality when looking to purchase fresh produce online. This is followed by pricing and promotions in Indonesia and Thailand and origin and safety in China and Vietnam.
This information provides a clear pathway for content messaging when marketing across the region.
“It is crucial for brands to match searches with the content that consumers are looking for to maximise visibility and relevance,” Magni said.
Succeeding at this won’t just reach consumers directly.
“The beauty of it all is that people are not just looking for information, but they are helping us share this information.” Magni added. “They comment, they post videos, they write reviews [themselves].”
This user generated content has the potential to provide targeted and specific marketing to an already primed audience.
“It means that if we hit the market, then we can move a consumer to become a promoter of our brand,” Magni said.
