Brand strategy for Tealive

Marketing Essential (National Economics University)

Most recently, Tealive, a rookie from Malaysia, entered the market as if it were saturated by opening two stores in just half a month. Despite being a latecomer, Tealive still invested violently and even announced it would open 100 stores within the next 3 years. Ambitious tealive will rise to No. 3 in the list of milk tea brands that are most popular among young people.

Through an interview with the founder of Tealive – Mr. Bryan Loo was confident about the potential of Tealive development in Vietnam. He also added about the outstanding business results of Tealive in Malaysia.

“In Malaysia, Tealive now has 165 stores, of which 80% are directly managed and 20% are franchised. In 2011, when we entered the market in Malaysia, we were pioneers. After we achieved impressive results, nine months later, the market had 50 more brands from Taiwan. But how many brands exist in this market now? Only we and Gong Cha. Tealive currently has 165 stores and Gong Cha has only 12 shops, which is a huge difference. Maintaining such growth rate, next year we will be among the top 3 favorite brands in Vietnam and that is the goal that we are aiming for. ”

According to Mr. Loo, Vietnam has a culture of enjoying drinks, tea and coffee quite close to Malaysia, so he believes that this is a potential market for Tealive to penetrate and develop.

When asked, “What makes you believe that Tealive will succeed in Vietnam – a market that seems to be saturated with milk tea?” Do you think “fever” of milk tea will soon “cool down” as many other imported trends (eg Korean spicy noodles). “

Mr. Loo is optimistic about the potential in the Vietnamese market and takes the example of Taiwan – a country with a history of milk tea up to 60-70 years, with nearly 500 brands but milk “fever” of tea not only does it not “cool down” but on the contrary becomes a culture of the people of Taiwan. He also shared about Tealive’s marketing strategy:

“In Vietnam, in the first phase, we will focus on developing in big markets like TP. Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang. In addition, we are always researching to market new products and we offer 5 new flavors especially suitable for Vietnamese people, exclusively for Vietnam market. It is the understanding of consumers ‘taste, quick response to changes and especially the trend of young consumers’ consumption of tea to help us achieve the goal of 100 stores within the next 3 year and will expand to 300 stores within 5 years. ”

In order to compete with the available milk tea brands, Tealive chose a new direction with the support of technology to reduce labor costs, increase productivity and product quality.

“In the future we will have a vending machine instead of having to queue for a purchase. We expect to open 2-3 to the auto shop. There customers can choose drinks by taste and pay via bank card or cash. “

Tealive claims to make a difference for itself with modern and advanced technologies. Since then create your own “Blue Ocean” for yourself.

“We will bring more advanced technologies into Tealive stores, which will make a difference between us and our competitors. We want to bring new experiences to customers. And technology is a new trend, but is being supported and strongly developed in Vietnam. ”

Thanks to the advantage of the scale, Tealive has a competitive price compared to its competitors. Not only that, the brand also provides Tealive card for customers to conveniently pay. Thanks to the prepaid app or swipe card technology, customers do not need to pay cash.

With all these advantages, despite being a new brand, the Tealive is confident to break out in a short time and lead the most favored milk tea brands.