People Go Wild 🤤 For This Thorny, Pungent Smelling Fruit Every Year
The lovely King of Fruits - Durians, according to South East Asians.
In Malaysia 🇲🇾, durians are the rage. It has become a cultural activity to eat and buy 💵 a durian anywhere during its season. Malaysian durians have topped fruit and vegetable presales at a big Chinese retail festival, showing the pulling power 💥 of the pungent delicacy.
The top-selling variety at JD.com’s 618 festival - China’s second-largest shopping 🛍 event after Alibaba’s Singles’ Day - was the Sultan durian from Pahang state, according to local media that cited data from the e-commerce giant. Sales have even exceeded that of ice cream and peaches 🍑.
With its creamy, custard-like flesh and powerful odour 🤭, the thorny fruit has surged in popularity in China. According to United Nations data, imports of fresh durians quadrupled to $2.3 billion last year from 2017. In addition, they overtook cherries 🍒 to become the country’s number one fruit import by value in 2019. Here are 3 lessons marketers can learn from durian businesses:
1️⃣ Love your best customers with the 80/20 rule
80% sales comes from 20% of your customers cum regulars. They spend 💰 the most, and the margins are the highest. Some people are more than happy to pay for many durians, along with giving a tip to the seller to ensure the seller gives them priority ❗️.
In your business, you have to identify who are your core key 🔑 clients and give them priority service or privileges. Customers always want to be recognised 🔍 and pampered for their business to you, especially if they are regulars.
2️⃣ Product expansion
The humble durian has proliferated into so many types. 30 years ago, the best durian was D24. However, there are easily more than 10 types of all flavours and tastes 👅 today. The durian growers knew that the craze 🤪 for durian might die out if no product innovation was done. Hence, the many varieties - Cat Mountain King, D101, Red Prawn, King of Kings, and so on.
In your product that you have been building 📈, you need to create different sub-brands which you can target 🎯 a different clientele. Not only that, you can re-excite your client base to return and try your product in a different experience.
3️⃣ Customer Service Recovery
When you have a dissatisfied 😠 customer, you need to have quick 💨 customer recovery measures in place. Remember that when a person is unhappy about your business, they will bad mouth 👄 you to at least a handful of people. It can even get worse on social media 📱. Thus, having good recovery services help to stem the negative brand perception.
Do you like durians, and have you satisfied your durian cravings yet? Let us know in the comments below 👇👇👇😎!
References:
Quek, C. 2015, July 13. Marketing lessons from the durian trade. Tech In Asia.
Xu, S. 2021, June 16. Malaysian ‘Designer Durians’ Are Carving Out Niche in China. Bloomberg.
