S'pore food aisle in Jakarta supermarts

S'pore food aisle in Jakarta supermarts

Over 100 food products from 14 Singapore food and beverage (F&B) companies will be available in three Jakarta supermarkets this year, on the Tasty Singapore Food Aisle.

The project is the result of a partnership between International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and The FoodHall, one of Indonesia's largest gourmet supermarkets.

IE Singapore said yesterday that the project aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the F&B sector gain a foothold in Indonesia's highly competitive retail scene.

"Branding and promotion are critical activities for Singapore companies in the consumer sector when venturing overseas," said Mr Tan Soon Kim, assistant chief executive officer at IE Singapore. "By clustering our F&B companies and working with premium supermarkets to create exclusive shelf space for their products, we are allowing them to collectively market to Indonesian consumers."

He added that the Singapore companies are also being helped to overcome challenges in identifying retail channels and distributors.

"This will be particularly useful for SMEs that are interested in Indonesia's consumer market but do not have the channels for market entry," Mr Tan said.

Since the soft launch of the food aisle in January, Singapore companies have chalked up a 46 per cent increase in sales.

Nine Singapore companies have had new food products listed in The FoodHall as a result of the promotion.

Five of them are new to The FoodHall.

Gryphon Tea Company's executive director Lim Tian Wee said it has been present in Indonesia since 2012 and has been successful in penetrating the food service channel.

"I am confident the Tasty Singapore Food Aisle project will give us additional exposure in a growth market such as Jakarta," he said.

IE Singapore is also working with Singapore SMEs to help them better understand Indonesia's F&B landscape and business environment, and plan for their market entry.

Missions and export workshops have been held to help these companies develop effective distribution, retail and e-commerce strategies for the market.

Within ASEAN, Indonesia is the third-largest food export market for Singapore.

Singapore F&B exports to Indonesia have grown at a compound annual rate of 11.5 per cent over the past five years, reaching $781.1 million last year.

hphyllis@sph.com.sg


This article was first publisheda on Mar 21, 2015.
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