Vietnamese-owned instant coffee surges past foreign brands at home

Trung Nguyen’s G7 instant coffee is leading the Vietnamese instant coffee market, with a 38 per cent market share, according to the latest Neilson data. Trung Nguyen announced on 4 July the results of Nielsen and Kantar Worldpanel studies, that confirm the Vietnamese privately-owned company’s market-leading position in instant coffee. Trung Nguyen’s G7 market share was well over Nescafé at 27 per cent, and the formerly state-owned Vinacafé’s at 31 per cent. The Nielsen data showed that throughout all of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, Trung Nguyen’s G7 coffee led the instant coffee market both in market share and volume.  The Kantar Worldpanel data found that from 2009 to 2011, Trung Nguyen Coffee was the favoured purchase among Vietnamese households, with 10 million out of Vietnam’s 17 million households buying Trung Nguyen Coffee products to consume at home. A further look at household consuming practices found that 18 per cent of white-collar workers chose Trung Nguyen Coffee, and that 40 per cent of workers over 30 years old chose Trung Nguyen Coffee. The research found that a preference for domestic products contributed to Vietnamese purchasing decisions, with 65 per cent of Trung Nguyen Coffee consumers saying that they prefer Vietnamese brands in buying their goods.      Trung Nguyen Coffee consumers were also found to purchase a higher than normal amount of coffee. While 50 per cent of coffee consumers of other  brands purchased over 2.6 kilograms a year, 58 per cent of Trung Nguyen Coffee consumers purchased more than 2.6 kilograms. Trung Nguyen consumers reported drinking coffee six times a week, while other coffee brands said they drank coffee five times per week. “We want to use small coffee packets as a tool to send out our message of building a passion to change the mindset of our people in the new context,” says Trung Nguyen’s Dang Le Nguyen Vu, on the company’s market success. “Understanding of coffee is the necessary condition for an enterprise in our industry. But, daring to take responsibility for the industry, for our nation and our people is indeed the vital condition for us to be trusted and chosen by our consumers.” Vu, was featured on the cover of the March/April 2012 edition of Global Coffee Review. In the interview, Vu discusses the potential for coffee growing countries to improve their positions by promoting their own coffee brands like Trung Nguyen. For full interview, see << Resolving the coffee paradox>>