KIDO Group to re-enter the Snacks Segment after a 5-year hiatus

KIDO Group (KIDO) has recently announced its major comeback to the snacks segment 5 years after selling its business to Mondelez International. The move is part of KIDO’s strategy to resurrect its core business and develop local brands for Vietnamese people.
The company will launch its new snack and brand confectionery brand, Kingdom in the 3rd quarter of 2020. Tran Le Nguyen, CEO of KIDO said that the company will change its development strategy for this comeback. Instead of diversifying its product portfolio, the company will research and develop new products in high demand with large market capacity to quickly achieve efficiency.
KIDO has more than 20 years experience in the snacks industry, and with its existing distribution networks, it is all set to become the 2nd largest player behind Mondelez in the next 2 years.
Nguyen said that in the past 5 years, the snack and confectionery market has undergone massive changes with rapid development of the gift segment, and a growing demand from the middle aged to elderly consumers. KIDO aims to focus on developing key product lines such as gifts for Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lunar New Year.
With the comeback to the snack segment, KIDO will effectively operate 4 business divisions which include vegetable oil, frozen foods, beverages and snacks.
Vietnam is one of the most developed snack markets in ASEAN joining Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia in the US$3.5 billion industry, according to a recent report from Japanese consultant Corporate Directions. This has attracted many foreign brands to capitalise on the market growth. Among them, snacking heavyweight Mondelez Kinh Do is taking the lead in the market. Other foreign snack brands such as Oishi (Liwayway), Poca (PepsiCo), and Choco Pies (Orion) have also invested heavily to capitalise on the booming demand in Vietnam. Most recently, Japanese confectionary company Morinaga has joined forces with DKSH’s Business Unit Consumer Goods, a market expansion services provider to expand their existing partnership in Asia to Vietnam.
Vietnam has an insatiable appetite for high quality innovations, a segment where Japanese brands are particularly doing well. Meanwhile, affordability remains a must in Vietnam but those who manage to combine price points and high-perceived quality will continue grabbing market share. The great successes of Kit Kat and Fisherman’ Friend are a testament to this winning recipe.