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SUNSHINE KINGDOM
A. Brand / Company Profile
Sunshine Kingdom, a truly home-grown Malaysian company, was established in 2014 by Aesos Lai and Eddie Wong who are strong in branding and operations respectively. They set up the first "Durian Cafe" in Central Market with durian products and local delicacies sourced from suppliers.
In the same year, they created their own product brand, “Durian Kingdom” (Xiao Yang in Chinese), targeted at tourists.
Sunshine Kingdom identifies durian products as a fast- growing business segment that can be key to the Company’s growth and success.
In the first two years of operations, the main sales were from product distribution to airports, particularly KLIA and KLIA2. Subsequently, with strong commitment to brand building, the Company expanded its product range significantly and business began to increase tremendously in 2017-2018, with sales growth of over 50% within 2 years.
From just six products in 2014 (four Durian-related Products), Sunshine Kingdom has expanded to 85 products (60 Durian-related products) in 2019, and is still expanding continuously. Today, Sunshine Kingdom is the brand leader in durian down-stream products with a distribution network of approximately 260 outlets throughout Malaysia.
Over the years, Sunshine Kingdom has invested substantially in marketing and brand building, and has won numerous awards for its excellent performance in different areas.
B. Popularity
Sunshine Kingdom’s Vision is to create and promote a reputable “Food Souvenir” Business, with special focus on attractive-packaging, great-tasting and good-quality edible gifts for tourists – making it a “MUST-BUY Brand” of food souvenir from Malaysia.
In line with the Company’s vision to be the Preferred Food Souvenir and Gifting Products Distributor through its exclusive range of durian products, with aggressive advertising and promotional activities, the brand has gained a high level of public awareness and acceptance in the domestic and overseas markets.
From a small distribution network of 4 airport shops in Peninsular Malaysia in the first 2 years, the Company’s distribution network has expanded to over 260 outlets in major airports and tourist areas in the whole of West and East Malaysia by 2019.
In May 2018, Sunshine Kingdom opened a flagship outlet in Central Market, Kuala Lumpur, under its brand name “Durian Kingdom”. The objective is to
have a one-stop Complete Durian Experience shop that offers a vast variety of durian products directly to the consumers.
In the recent 2 years (2018 and 2019), Durian Kingdom products have also entered into major supermarkets, departmental stores and retail chain operators in the country, namely Cold Storage, Jaya Grocer, Village Grocer, Max Value, Isetan, Aeon Big, Urban Fresh, Robinson, 7-Eleven, KK Mart, Caring Pharmacy, Big Pharmacy and MyNews.com.
The Company marked the first overseas expansion in Southeast Asia by appointing a distributor in Singapore and an agent in the US in 2018, followed by Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Vietnam in 2019. In the pipeline are negotiations for further expansion, namely to Indonesia, Cambodia, Australia and South Korea.
The rapid expansion of distribution network implies that the brand is popular and well accepted by consumers, and that has directly translated into significant sales growth.
C. Marketing Strategies
To build a popular and sustainable brand and to promote sales of products, Sunshine Kingdom adopts multiple communication plans, advertising and promotional activities:
• Print media advertisement in AirAsia’s In-Flight Magazine: Duty Free Magazine / Santan Magazine and GoAsiaPlus;
• Product Videos and Corporate Videos were produced and posted on social media platforms to promote the brand further;
• On-site promotions at airport shops and supermarkets offering consumers “Buy 4, Get 1 Free” deals, etc., which increases sales incrementally by 30% to 50% during promotion period;
• In-store promotions during all major festivals in Malaysia;
• Offer of special ‘durian’ gift items, such as durian mug, durian teapot and durian coin-bank, for customers to bring home as unique premium gifts;
• Penetration into online market by selling products online through online platform.
The Company aims to offer tourists from all over the world a “Truly Malaysian Durian Experience” – whereby everyone who visits Malaysia will take home a piece of the local flavor in the form of the very unique Durian Products as “Souvenirs”.
This “tourist-focused” marketing strategy has been successful as Sunshine Kingdom is recognized as a key food souvenir player in the market.
Evidence and quantitative measures of effectiveness:
► Current Market Share of Sunshine Kingdom is about 20% for durian- related products, of which 95% of customers are tourists, mainly from China. Given that the “Food Souvenir” (Gifting) trend has been growing steadily over the past few years, and that the Durian Trend is envisaged to grow even further in the near future, Sunshine Kingdom hopes to capture a 40% market share within the next five years.
► Award(s) and Nominations
Sunshine Kingdom has been awarded a number of accolades as shown below:
o Superbrands Award (2019)
o World Top Gourmet Award 2019 – Durian Food Souvenir
o Branding Association of Malaysia 2019 – the First Durian Company to be
invited as Member of this Prestigious Organization
o Best Consumers’ Choice 2019 – Platinum Award (voted by consumers)
o SOBA 2018 (Star Outstanding Business Award) – the only company in Malaysia to be awarded Best in Marketing for companies under RM25 Mil sales turnover
o Malaysia Tourism Council 2018 – Gold Award Brand in Food Souvenir
o World Excellence Tourism Awards 2018 @ World Travel Market, London
o Malaysia Book of Records for the Most Number of Durian Related Products in 2018 - Sunshine Kingdom is the first company to be given such a recognition
o Superbrands Award (2018) - First Durian Company in Malaysia (and also
1st in the World) to be awarded Superbrands Status.
o The BrandLaureate Award (2017/2018)
o SMEs Best Brands Award @ Retail (Snacks and Confectionery).
o Asia’s Top Leaders’ Award - Top Awards 2018
o Asia’s Top 100 Honesty Brand Award (2017)
o Sin Chew Business Award (2017) – Business Excellence Award
o Asean Outstanding Business Award (2017)
▪ Asean Most Recognised Brand in Durian Made Native Products.
o International Prestige Brand Award (2017)
▪ Best Brand in Packed Durian Products
o World Top Gourmet Awards (2017) – Top Brand Excellence Award
o Malaysia-China Silk Road Award (2016) – International Entrepreneur
Excellence Award
D. Customer Knowledge
Knowing and understanding customers’ needs and wants is the center of every successful business, whether it is selling directly to end-users or through other business channels.
One of the objectives of Sunshine Kingdom in establishing its own flagship store in Central Market is to have direct contact and interaction with customers in order to understand their needs and wants. Understanding that foreign tourists may not accept the taste of durian, Sunshine Kingdom offers food and drink samples for customers to try out before buying.
The customer service team is well trained to communicate with customers in order to understand their needs and to cater to their requirements in a friendly manner. The founders of Sunshine Kingdom, Aesos Lai and Eddie Wong, themselves visit the store regularly to have close contact with customers and keep abreast of market trends.
As for other distribution network, Sunshine Kingdom has designated managers to provide regular support though field visits in order to understand customer’s needs and requirements from different regions domestically and internationally. Through these field visits, the Company has the opportunity to have direct contact with customers from all walks of life.
From the feedbacks and qualitative data collected from all the selling points, Sunshine Kingdom is able to understand its customer profile in more detailed, such as the demographic data, preferences in taste, preferred shopping methods, buying behavior, and etc.
For collection of quantitative data, Sunshine Kingdom has participated in the Consumers' Choice International Recognition Nominees' Customer Satisfaction Survey in Year 2019. There were a total of 616 respondents participated in the
survey and Sunshine Kingdom has proudly won the Platinum Award of The Consumers’ Choice Award with a 4.75 star rating.
Based on the collected customers’ feedbacks, Sunshine Kingdom has launched initiatives to address customers’ needs and enhance customer relationship. Some of the initiatives undertaken were:
• The launch of Durian Teh Tarik Musang King in 2018 as proposed by customers;
• The expansion into online business platform to enable customers to make online purchases with delivery service 24/7 in March 2019;
• The launch of Nanyang Black Coffee Series in May 2019 as proposed by customers;
• The introduction and launch of “Sunshine Kingdom Parents’ Day” on the 8th of August 2019, including a Short Film contest based on “Filial Piety” Concept, which is a key business theme and a core value of Sunshine Kingdom.
Additionally, to build on the ‘theme-based’ concepts and to further stimulate sales growth momentum, Sunshine Kingdom introduced two new concepts in 2019 – i.e.: the Happy Cookies to promote “Happiness” as a positive influence in life, and the Sunshine Cookies to promote “Motivation” as a stimulating force of life.
In 2020, the Company intends to introduce the Friendship Cookies & Friendship Candies / Chocolates to celebrate the joys of “Friendship”.
Moving forward, in addition to generating interest via its’ ‘theme-based’ products, Sunshine Kingdom will be actively involved in CSR activities and Charity events, targeting particularly at Senior Citizens, Single Mothers and Orphans, as a sincere gesture of giving back to society.
E. Brand Differentiation
With strong branding and marketing background, the founders of Sunshine Kingdom put in great efforts to ensure that the Company offers Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) that differentiate its’ brand from other brands in the marketplace:
✓ Own house-brand, “Durian Kingdom” – a brand built from scratch that comprises products of superior quality and taste, which is marketed as a “MUST-BUY Food Souvenir Brand” from Malaysia. Having a house brand is a key success factor in brand building as it reinforces brand recognition,
leading to brand loyalty – and this has been proven through high repeat purchase rates from local as well as overseas customers. Ever since Sunshine Kingdom introduced its own house brand, the Company has greater flexibility in pricing and better control in product development and distribution.
✓ Exclusive and unique product designs and packaging – the designs on its product packaging feature distinctive landmarks, lifestyles and culture of Malaysia. The colorful and vibrant designs of its product packaging further enhance the ‘quality’ of Sunshine Kingdom’s products, making it a premium gift and a must-buy food souvenir item from Malaysia.
✓ Embracing “Filial piety”, a value from the East Asian culture – the uniqueness of Sunshine Kingdom’s products is the feature of the founders’ parents and parents-in-law in the packaging of the coffee products. The objective of the founders in doing so is to honor and respect their parents / parents-in-law, and ‘filial piety’ thus became a key value embraced by everyone in the Company.
In 2019, to further strengthen the “filial piety” theme, the Company reached out and engaged the public by launching a filial piety ‘theme-based’ short film contest, and introducing a dedicated special day to Parents, “Xiao Yang Parents’ Day”, on 8.8.2019. This short film contest and Parents’ Day celebration will henceforth be an annual event.
✓ A niche “tourist-focused” business with relatively low competition for durian downstream products, and strong support from the Government for the tourist industry – the Company aims to offer a “Truly Malaysian Durian Experience” – whereby everyone who visits Malaysia will want to take home a piece of the local flavor in the form of the very unique Durian Products as “Souvenirs”.
In this regard, Sunshine Kingdom works closely with the Malaysian Tourism Agency to build the country's brand value, image & identity.
✓ Well-recognized and have won numerous prestigious awards – within a short span of 5 years, Sunshine Kingdom has been awarded numerous awards, such as Superbrands, Malaysia Book Of Records, Star Outstanding Business Award, The BrandLaureate Award, Sin Chew Award and these recognition has further enhanced and added value to its brand, making it a preferred food souvenir, particularly durian-related products.
✓ Halal-certified products – many of Sunshine Kingdom’s products are Halal-certified which appeal to the Muslim market, and going forward many more products are in the process of obtaining halal certification approval.
The global Halal market size is expected to reach USD 9.71 trillion by 2025 – as a leading food souvenir brand in an Islamic country (Malaysia), Sunshine Kingdom foresees the huge potential in venturing into the global Halal market in the coming years.
✓ Dedicated and aggressive management team who works enthusiastically to grow the Company with full commitment. Through regular meetings and discussions, the team has introduced many improvements and innovations to the Company’s products, operations, systems and marketing.
The valuable human resources have contributed to the rapid growth of the Company and will continue to be a key factor in bringing the Company to greater heights each year.
F. Creativity and Innovation
All the product designs, packaging, marketing and communication of Sunshine Kingdom come from the creativity and innovative ideas of the founders of the Company. In order to differentiate itself from others, Sunshine Kingdom has introduced the following product innovations:
✓ The first Company to design attractive packaging featuring local attractions, landmarks, lifestyles and culture. Starting with real photos of Iconic Landmarks like the PETRONAS Twin Towers, and subsequently converted to Graphics Illustrations and Original Watercolor Paintings by 2 different local artists to depict lifestyle, culture and iconic buildings in its packaging.
✓ The first company to adopt a “filial piety” approach in its coffee design packaging that features the founders’ parents and parents-in-law. This concept was the brainchild of one of the founders, Aesos Lai, who firmly believes that filial piety is an expressed deference of “Gratitude & Respect”, and such conception can help the Company build a strong foundation in business management ethics and values moving forward.
✓ The first Company in the world to introduce Musang King Kopi Luwak
✓ The first Company to display “Giant Durian in cardboard and 2D Fiberglass” in most of its retail outlets to strengthen ‘brand identity’ (so that customers can identify its retail selling points easily).
✓ Use of different media channels to enhance and optimize marketing initiatives, including branding efforts, advertising, merchandising, ground promotions and events, etc.
G. Brand Sustainability
The brand was created in May 2014 and has been fast growing in the past 5 years. Today, it has gained wide acceptance from customers locally and internationally. To ensure brand sustainability and to promote sales of products, Sunshine Kingdom uses multiple channels:
- Ongoing effort to develop and produce Product Videos and Corporate Videos and post them on social media platforms to promote the brand.
- Conduct in-store promotions regularly in airport shops and supermarkets offering consumers value buy deals such as “Buy 3, Get 1 Free”, “Buy 4, Get 1 Free” and “Buy 5, Get 1 Free” deals.
- Participate in Awards whenever there is any opportunity for nomination and work towards achieving the Award in order to further strengthen the brand.
- Run on-going promotional activities to further enhance the brand’s image and strengthen brand position as the No.1 Durian Brand in Malaysia – e.g.: conduct multiple consumer promotions offering unique premiums like Durian Mug, Durian Teapot & Durian Coin Bank in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2020 – Visit Truly Asia Malaysia. In the pipeline are also plans to have instant Wheel-Of-Fortune campaigns in selected airport shops.
- Run on-going campaigns involving customers’ participation – one of the upcoming campaigns in 2020 is conducting a simple Q&A about Durian Kingdom for customers, whereby customers stand a chance to win free trips to Malaysia or get special discount vouchers.
- Conduct on-going Research & Development to expand product range, including running a campaign for customers to come up with new products. Going forward, the following new range of products will be introduced:
➢ To expand the Mango product range to at least 10 items – to cater to a wider range of consumers as Mango is a universal fruit that is preferred by a wide majority;
➢ To introduce a premium chocolate range to cater to high-end consumers with the objectives of expanding customer-base, providing customers with more choices and also increasing sales turnover;
➢ To increase more durian-related products, such as cookies, biscuits
and Durian kaya;
➢ To expand into non-durian related products such as biscuits and
cookies in order to penetrate a wider consumer-base.
- Ongoing Advertisement in print media and custom-made products to reach out to tourists – AirAsia’s In-Flight Magazine: Travel 360 and GoAsiaPlus.
- Currently supplying 9 items with special packaging to AirAsia. Ongoing
efforts will be made to increase the product range.
- To offer special ‘custom-made’ packaging designs – to cater to different markets. Currently Sunshine Kingdom already started to custom- make packaging designs for the Singapore and Vietnam markets, and efforts will be made to further expand this to other markets in the near future, particularly Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, Russia and Middle-East countries.
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