Vimto set for China launch

Jun 5 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

VIMTO is preparing to launch in China in its centenary year.

Parent company Nichols, based in Newton-le-Willows, has appointed a general manager to take charge of its operations in the country, and says it will launch its soft drinks there later this year.

The brand is already sold around the world from Australia to Yemen, but this will be Nichols’s first push into the booming Chinese market.

Chief executive Brendan Hynes said: “We’ve recruited a general manager for the Chinese operation. We’re currently looking at launching probably in quarter 3 of this year. We’ve pretty much got everything in place and we’re going to give it a shot.

“It’s going to be a restricted range of products – probably traditional Vimto, orange Vimto and cherry Vimto.

“We’ve picked a local manufacturer and a local marketeer and we’re ready to move.”

Mr Hynes said Nichols would focus on Beijing and Shanghai, and would use its links with companies already operating in China to help build its presence.

He said: “The market itself is increasingly Westernised. Tesco and Carrefour are there – the big supermarkets have a presence there.

“We have some market links that will help us.

“But the more difficult bit is distributing to non-urban locations. It’s complicated and time-consuming, so we’ll probably focus on the multiple retailers.”

Vimto was created in 1908 by John Noel Nichols. The company bearing his name is holding a series of centenary celebrations, including a party at the Imperial War Museum North, in Salford, that will see the building lit up in purple.

Vimto is bottled around the world by local manufacturers using Vimto’s own “magic formula”. The drink is particularly popular in the Middle East where it is predominantly sold during Ramadan, when Muslims fast during daylight hours.

International trade is key to Nichols’s expansion plans. Last year, the company started selling the drink for the first time in the African state of Senegal, and it is also looking at moving into the Turkish market.

alistairhoughton