Vinamilk was one of the keynote speakers at the Growth Asia Summit organized by NutraIngredients-Asia and FoodNavigator-Asia last week.
The summit was held in Singapore Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre on July 15 and 17.
Speaking to the floor on the first day of the summit, Vinamilk’s chief marketing officer Tri Nguyen Quang presented the company’s latest innovation in the infant formula space - a first-of-its-kind product that contains six human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in Vietnam - edging out multinationals like Nestle and Danone in this aspect.
Launched under the brand Vinamilk Optimum, the infant formula contains HMOs from the three main HMO groups.
They are the fucosylated HMOs 2’-FL, 3-FL, DFL, sialylated HMOs 3’-SL, 6’-SL, and non-sialylated HMOs LNT.
These six HMOs were chosen as they form about 58 per cent of the total HMOs found in breast milk.
In fact, about 40% of Vietnamese mothers lack the FUT2 gene needed for secreting two of the six HMOs above - namely DFL and 2-FL.
These mean that they are non-secretors of these two HMOs which play crucial health functions in the body. For example, 2-FL has been shown to reduce the growth of pathogens based on existing research.
More importantly, this is an example of how the company is differentiating itself from the increasingly competitive infant formula market in Vietnam, while meeting both babies nutritional needs and giving mothers who are unable to breastfeed a peace of mind.
“The competition in Vietnam, especially in the infant nutrition segment, is very tough for both local and foreign companies.
“If you watch the market trends closely, it is getting increasingly premium, with a lot of infant formulas fortified by advanced nutrients, like HMOs, human milk probiotics (HMPs), DHA and many more.
“You will be able to find many advanced ingredients from around the world included in infant formula products sold in Vietnam. As Vinamilk, we need to differentiate ourselves from the others, which is why we have launched Vietnam’s the first and only six-HMOs infant formula,” Nguyen Quang told NutraIngredients-Asia in an interview after his presentation.
Filling a vacuum
Prior to the launch, he pointed out that there was a vacuum in Vietnam’s infant formula market innovation - with the last innovative product containing five HMOs launched in 2023 by a competitor brand.
Vinamilk first dabbled in the HMO space in 2019, when it was one of the two companies to first launch an infant formula containing 2-FL.
Asked the priorities for infant formula research, he said that the aim was to develop products that resemble mother’s breastmilk as closely as possible, as that was the gold standard for infant nutrition.
In this case, mothers who are unable to breastfeed can be assured that their babies are well cared, alleviating their mental stress of taking care of babies at the same time.
“By communicating the science, innovation, and how the formula supports the immunity and digestion, we want to care for the mothers, because they are facing a lot of pressure if they can’t breastfeed their babies, and we want to ease their worries with the product,” he said.
He added that the awareness of HMOs among Vietnamese mothers had increased after the launch of the six-HMOs infant formula.
He said that before the product was launched, only nine per cent of the Vietnamese mothers know about HMOs, but this increased to 21% after the launch.
Ingredients innovation
Besides HMOs, Nguyen Quang pointed out that there was a variety of innovations that companies are working towards - which are all directed at mimicking the human breast milk.
“I’ve talked with supplier companies in this summit, who said that they were trying to provide ingredients closer to breastmilk lipids, fats, and proteins.”
Another aspect is to study the microbiome, as well as the probiotics and prebiotics composition, he said.
“There will be a lot happening in the infant formula space with the goal of closing the gap between breast milk and human milk.
“And so, I think there’s still a lot of opportunities for this very exciting infant nutrition segment, and we will try to be the pioneer and go ahead of the competition in the market.”
Retail smart
Vietnam has one of the most robust infant nutrition and care retail ecosystem in the South East Asia region.
Mother-and-baby chain store Concung is a dominating player in this space, fast rising against the traditional go-to option of grocery stores.
Vinamilk itself is also a believer in the brick-and-mortar model, while making its products available in omnichannel at the same time.
“For Vinamilk, we distribute our products almost in all channels, in traditional stores, modern trade, including mum and baby stores, convenience stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and especially in our own store channel, where we have a network of about 700 stores,” said Nguyen Quang.
These stores owned by Vinamilk itself play several roles, such as giving consumers the opportunity to experience the products, especially for new products and brands where consumer awareness is low.
“Our main objective is first to display our whole product portfolio in the stores and improve the shoppers’ experience, so that they can experience Vinamilk’s nutrition solutions and our new products.
“With our own Vinamilk store channel and online channel, we can launch new innovations in our chain store first, instead of having a full launch into every channel.
“By focusing on our stores and e-commerce platform, the early adopters can try our new products first, and from there, the products might become more well-known from the word-of-mouth, and when the new products become popular, we can then introduce it into the other sales channels,” he explained.
These Vinamilk stores could also serve as a hub for e-commerce product distribution, allowing consumers to receive the products faster.
Vietnam is Vinamilk’s largest infant formula market. Outside of the domestic market, the company also distributes its products primarily in Asia and the Middle East, and the company practises product localization to suit local needs.
