“Nigerians are Health-Conscious”

Victor Beri, managing director, Chi Limited, makers of Nigeria’s most popular range of fruit drinks

– Victor Beri, managing director, Chi Limited, makers of Nigeria’s most popular range of fruit drinks
By Bayo Bernard
You already have some juice products in the market, don’t you think the release of the Orange Nectar will lead to an intra-competition among these products?
We have different orange juice and people really like them. Indeed, what we have is a system whereby we go to find out the preference of our numerous customers. So we go out to Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, et cetera, to ask the people what is their liking. It is never from Chi, it is from independent sources. During this consumer research, we discovered that orange juice is the most preferable in the country. The consumers said they like juice but like in other parts of the world whether we can have variations? They said we needed a variation of orange juice, that is the real pulp, not addictive. And that is the reason why we came out with the new product. For example, that is also the reason we have also introduced Chi Ice Tea into the market. Initially, I said we did a consumer research. People are asking, is it lipton? Do we need to heat it? We said no, you need to drink it chilled. And it provides more satisfaction when you are thirsty. It quenches your thirst quickly. There are imported Ice tea available in the market, but we say Chi Ice Tea is just N150 and it has more quality than imported ones which go for higher prices. And similarly, Nigerians are becoming more quality conscious, they are asking for healthy products, that is why we introduced this Soya milk into the market. It has all the vitamins. And while imported soya milk of one litre goes for between N400 and above, Chi Soya Milk is cheaper, with more quality that anyone can take. Anybody can take it because it also contains less cholesterol. And it is only N250, as against N400 or N450 for imported ones. So, we are thinking of giving what is right at good prices, for our Nigerian consumers. You know that the House of Chi is an embodiment of health. We also want to give value to our customers.
Talking about giving value to your customers, what particular market are you targeting with this new product?
Well, if you say what market, or what segment, our target market is the Nigerian consumers, who basically love juice drinks, whether he is an adult or teenager, our target is all the family.
Over the years, Nigerians have seen some products disappear with time, inspite of good impressions which they create at the initial stage. Do you think these products will stand the test of time?
Yes, if a product does not give the consumer value for their money, it is bound to loose acceptance and will disappear with time. Chivita, I think for close to two decades now. And it is growing stronger, and it is still a market leader. Even Chi Yoghurt or snacks have been there for so long and they still remain market leaders in their various categories or market segments. Chi products are produced from state of the art machine, untouched by human hands.
Even the Muff, the Muffing that we introduced, people are saying is the best, not only in Nigeria but all over the world. So we carry out our survey, two or three times a year, to know what our consumers desire. For example, Nigerians are very conscious of hygiene and we have a big market in Nigeria and Nigerians are big consumers of evaporated milk which are mostly available in tin, which means you have to perforate this side and that side before you can use the content, which is considered most unhygienic. We are the first to use this pack the tetra pack of 215g to package milk in Nigeria. And it was accepted by Nigerians whole-heartedly. And when we wanted to launch the 70g evaporated milk, which we called Cap and keep, we went to the market to do research, Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and since we launched it has become the favourite of Nigerians. So we are very conscious of the needs of our Nigerian people. So before we release any product, we make sure it is the right craving of the people and it accords with the right attitude of the people.
Now, do you use price as a strategy against your competitors, considering that your products are relatively cheaper, inspite of its high qualities?
No. We use quality and services as strategy, not price. If you see most Chi products, they are not lowly-priced. They are rightly priced. There are many products that are lowly or highly priced in the market, but our products are rightly priced because we maintain the right quality.