There are only five countries in the world where people can eat melon seeds skillfully: China, Russia, the United States, Türkiye and Spain. [1]
But there is such a melon seed brand, but unexpectedly, it sells melon seeds with shells to countries that do not eat melon seeds, allowing foreigners to learn how to eat melon seeds.
This brand is called "Qiaqia".
After 16 years at sea, now Qiaqia melon seeds are exported to nearly 50 countries and regions such as Southeast Asia, Europe and America, with overseas revenue of nearly 600 million yuan.
However, it is not easy for foreigners who do not know how to eat melon seeds to get their heads hooked.
Taking Japan as an example, people assume that melon seeds with skin are meant for hamsters to eat. To indicate that shelled melon seeds are pet snacks, they will have a big hamster printed on the packaging tape.
This kind of cognition is gradually being changed through harmony. Because the packaging of Qiaqia melon seeds is printed with the four steps of how people eat melon seeds.
In a Japanese business supermarket, there is a food instruction posted in the Qiaqia melon seed area that reads "Peel off the shell and eat the nuts inside." In addition, the salesperson also attached a feeling of eating melon seeds: Peeling off the shell and eating rice is indeed troublesome, but it is very delicious.
Now, Qiaqia has successfully entered the internal business supermarkets of Japan, and the presence of Qiaqia seeds can be seen in many business supermarkets such as "Business Supermarkets". On the large Japanese e-commerce platform "Lotte Market", the search results for "sunflower seeds" indicate that in addition to the seeds eaten by hamsters, they are also known as "chacheer" (also known as "chacha"), which is a type of edible melon seed.
The emergence of Qiaqia has gradually made Japanese people addicted to melon seeds. In the comments on Qiaqia Guazi at Lotte Market, a phrase that has appeared multiple times is "Say goodbye to the product" (a product that is irresistible and cannot be quit)
In addition to the Japanese market, Qiaqia has also sold melon seeds to more than 50 countries and regions including South Korea, Thailand, and the United States [2], and entered the mainstream channels in these regions, such as 7-Eleven in Thailand and E-mart in Korean food retailers.
In 2022, the export value of Qiaqia (including Thai factories) was 501 million yuan, and the export value to other member countries of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) was 359 million yuan, accounting for 72%. Among them, Thailand has the largest trade volume, accounting for 42%. [3]
In Thailand, Qiaqia has firmly established its position as the market leader. [3] What has Qiaqia done to change foreigners' perception of shelled melon seeds as "bird food", and to teach them how to crack melon seeds, resulting in overseas revenue of 600 million yuan?
Behind Qiaqia's sale of melon seeds to the world, a wave of Chinese snack brands going global has emerged. More and more snack brands are starting to expand overseas, attempting to push Chinese snacks onto the world stage. But how to make snacks with Chinese culture "go global", how to lay out supply chains overseas, and how to align with the standards of different countries and regions overseas are unavoidable issues for overseas enterprises.
Perhaps we can find some experience from Qiaqia's journey to the sea.
Qiaqia sets sail: Guazi evokes homesickness among Chinese and overseas Chinese
Chinese people have loved to eat melon seeds since ancient times. The earliest record of melon seeds can be traced back to the early Northern Song Dynasty, when "Taiping Huanyu Ji" recorded "melon seeds" for the first time in history.
In the daily gatherings and dinners of Chinese people, the figure of melon seeds is indispensable. During the Spring Festival, almost every household purchases New Year goods with melon seeds. Overseas Chinese also consider melon seeds as a "hometown flavor".
At first, Qiaqia did not sell melon seeds overseas. Some overseas Chinese who return to China for family visits and business trips will bring Qiaqia Guazi abroad to their relatives and friends who are far away overseas.
Later, Qiaqia embarked on a moment of "going out to sea". During the live broadcast of FBIF's dialogue with Lu Jie, the marketing manager of the overseas business unit, he shared several small stories:
The year 2000 was a crucial year for Qiaqia to go global. This year, Qiaqia has just been established for a year and has taken its first step towards going global.
Back then, an agent from Hong Kong participated in the government's overseas Chinese New Year symposium in Beijing. At the meeting, he accidentally tasted Qiaqia melon seeds and felt that they were very special and delicious, while also arousing a sense of homesickness.
This Hong Kong client ultimately became the first agent to negotiate overseas cooperation.
Among the early agents of Qiaqia in Malaysia, there was an old Chinese who regarded melon seeds as a "hometown flavor".
During the Spring Festival, this elderly Chinese relative brought him a pack of Qiaqia melon seeds. This bag of melon seeds has made the elderly Chinese taste the flavor of their hometown. At that time, such a group of overseas Chinese still held a sense of patriotism in their hearts. So, after the Spring Festival, this elderly Chinese sent his son to the headquarters of Qiaqia in Hefei to negotiate with Qiaqia about going abroad.
One small story after another, pieced together to form the initial "naive period" of Qiaqia going out to sea.
As Qiaqia gradually enters the right track in the domestic market, its approach to going global has gradually shifted from passive to proactive. In 2008, Qiaqia's revenue reached 2 billion yuan. [4] This year, Qiaqia established its first overseas office in Vietnam and officially expanded its presence in overseas markets.
The process of domestic brands going abroad has a stable path: overseas Chinese are more likely to accept Chinese products, purchase and use them through the Chinese community, and then spread them to other groups around them. [5]
The early target audience for negotiation was overseas Chinese. But as the matter of going out to sea changed from passive to active, Qiaqia turned its attention to the group of foreigners who do not know how to eat melon seeds - allowing them to all be addicted to melon seeds, that is how big the blue ocean market is.
But there is a prerequisite for foreigners to eat melon seeds, as different countries have different cultural backgrounds, packaging, product flavors, and food standards, which must be adapted to the local market. The corresponding process behind this is actually the localization of overseas products.
The earliest issue that arose in front of Qiaqia was that overseas products must comply with local standards. "At first, we entered different countries and regions through parallel imports, but soon we found that some countries have very strict requirements for food regulations, and the products we export must also comply with local food regulations," said Lu Jie.
Take Malaysia as an example. Malaysia is predominantly Muslim, and local consumers tend to accept the local Muslim food certification standards, namely HDC halal certification. Qiaqia spent a month conducting certification audits from raw materials to various production processes. And this lays the foundation for Qiaqia's products to enter the local market.
In addition, in order to cater to the tastes of foreigners, Qiaqia has also made corresponding adjustments to the taste of melon seeds.
In China, the well-known flavors of Qiaqia melon seeds include walnuts, sea salt, caramel, etc. This is because domestic consumers tend to have salty and sweet flavors, but not all foreigners may like these flavors.
Taking the Thai market as an example, in addition to the walnut and original flavors found in the domestic market, Qiaqia has added coconut juice raw materials to Thailand and launched a coconut fragrance flavor, which is very popular in Thailand.
In addition, in the Thai market, you can also see melon seeds with red dates and coffee flavors.
After the localization of the product, Qiaqia came up with many ways to make foreigners fall in love with "eating melon seeds".
Since foreigners don't know how to use drugs, write a "stupid tutorial". Qiaqia has made a special space on packaging in different countries and written tutorials on cracking melon seeds in multiple languages.
Pinch the melon seeds with your hands, with the pointed area facing upwards
Put the pointed area into your mouth
Bite lightly with teeth, separate the shell and kernel
Eat the kernel and spit it out
We will collaborate with Confucius Institutes abroad to use melon seeds as teaching aids in the classroom. In the classroom, teachers can not only teach students how to eat melon seeds, but also use them as a starting point to spread Chinese culture.
In the United States, Qiaqia deeply integrates melon seeds with Spring Festival culture, and holds New Year's goods festivals in New York, Houston, Los Angeles, and other places. Using melon seeds as a medium, it spreads Chinese New Year culture, allowing foreign friends to better understand the customs and taste of the year. [6]
Confucius Institute in Korea uses Chacha melon seeds as teaching aids
Image source: Xinhua Finance and Economics
In order to further penetrate the local market, Qiaqia will also conduct local promotion overseas. A harmonious push always accurately captures the hearts of the locals.
For example, during the Water Splashing Festival in Thailand, Thai people usually drive back to their hometowns and distribute tasting food at gas stations. On a long and boring journey, even Thai people who don't know how to eat melon seeds will think about researching and researching how to do so.
Qiaqia will also incorporate lucky draws into promotional activities, and prizes will follow the preferences of local people. For example, the prize for a promotion in Thailand is a genuine leather jacket; In Vietnam, the prize was replaced with a gold necklace.
In advertising and marketing, Qiaqia will also adapt to local conditions.
The trade fair will hire local celebrities as brand spokespersons. In 2022, Qiaqia officially announced the brand spokesperson for the Thai market - Sonny Suvarmeitanong.
It is understood that Sunni Suvarmeitanong is a Thai actor who has always appeared in the public eye with a positive and sunny image. The cooperation with Sunni Suvarmeitanong has been loved and recognized by Thai consumers.
Sunny Suvarmentano endorses Chaqiaguazi
Image source: chachafood.com
In addition, Qiaqia will also combine local scenes to shoot advertising promotional videos, carry out consumer activities during festivals in Thailand, conduct online and offline promotion in a three-dimensional manner targeting the life trajectory of young people in Thailand, and collaborate with Sunni Suvarmeitanong to appear on the MBK screen. [7]
"We firmly believe that eating melon seeds starts with being a child, so we constantly guide young people and some local consumers to eat melon seeds," said Lu Jie.
In addition to actively teaching foreigners how to eat melon seeds, Chinese international students and overseas Chinese are also the main force of Qiaqia's promotion. Lu Jie told FBIF that Qiaqia did not actually put in a lot of effort in cultivating the market in the early stage, because Chinese and international students will subtly influence the local consumer group to eat melon seeds, which is a testament to the inclusiveness and integration of culture.
The most important step in selling melon seeds to locals is to have Qiaqia place them on the shelves of local supermarkets.
Nowadays, in many mainstream channels in Australia, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, the presence of Qiaqia melon seeds can be seen, such as on the shelves of local supermarkets such as E-mart in Korean food retailers, 7-Eleven in Thailand, business supermarkets in Japan, and Big C in Vietnam.
All of this is related to the distribution system established by Qiaqia overseas. As mentioned earlier, many Chinese and overseas Chinese have gradually developed into overseas distributors after trying Qiaqia.
As the overseas market gradually showed huge demand, Qiaqia has been setting up offices in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Middle East and other regions since 2008. Through these offices, the trade fair will delve into the local market and establish connections with distributors and consumers.
Taking Thailand as an example. At the beginning of its entry into Thailand, Qiaqia was developed by distributors, who mainly promoted local mom and pop stores and regional retailers, but their influence was relatively small. [8]
At that time, the mainstream channel in Thailand was 7-Eleven, which was positioned as a community supermarket. It is understood that 7-Eleven in Thailand is operated by Zhengda Group, which owns Bufeng Lotus. As of June 2017, it has at least 10000 stores (while as of 2017, there were only over 2300 in China), accounting for almost half of Thailand's retail industry. Thai consumers almost enter 7-Eleven twice a day to purchase goods. [8]
The goal of Qiaqia is to place the product on the 7-Eleven container.
But the threshold for local products to enter 7-Eleven was already very high. At that time, Qiaqia had not yet gained foreign recognition, and as a foreign product, the entry threshold was even higher. In addition to meeting national standards, 7-Eleven also has additional requirements for product quality, packaging, and brand. In addition, at that time, 7-Eleven already had two local brands in the melon seed category, which was almost saturated for 7-Eleven. [8]
Despite such difficulties, Qiaqia has repeatedly contacted 7-Eleven with local distributors to promote its products. Since the entry threshold for 7-Eleven is high, Qiaqia invites them to personally inspect the factory in Hefei; If there are packaging requirements, then change the product packaging to comply with the 7-Eleven standard; Due to insufficient product awareness, Qiaqia constantly participates in local exhibitions to increase product exposure.
Under such circumstances, Qiaqia Guazi was finally successfully launched on the 7-Eleven shelf.
In Lu Jie's sharing, in order to promote Qiaqia Guazi and launch mainstream channels, Qiaqia will mainly promote through local distributors, but also impart "experience" to distributors. For example, when a new store opens, promotion personnel can distribute trial food to all supermarket employees.
After entering the local mainstream channels, Qiaqia Guazi embarked on a journey of frenzy. In Thailand, after entering 7-Eleven, Qiaqia gradually established itself. According to reports, Qiaqia has already launched 4 SKU products on 7-Eleven in Thailand, even squeezing out local big brother brand melon seeds. In 2018, Qiaqa Thailand's performance increased by 300%. [8]
In Vietnam, when Qiaqia has conquered the mainstream channels, many local supermarkets will actively seek cooperation. "A local green department store that mainly produces fresh products has also launched Qiaqia's products." Lu Jie explained that when your product is launched in a nearby supermarket, the store will actively find distributors to introduce the product.
At present, Qiaqia has established an export network and established cooperative relationships with nearly 100 foreign distributor customers. "In the future, Qiaqia will continue to expand its overseas distribution network in currently blank markets such as Western Europe, the Middle East, and South America," said Lu Jie.
In addition to establishing a distribution network, Qiaqia has also decided to move its supply chain overseas. In 2017, Qiaqia established a factory in Thailand and officially started production two years later. Lu Jie introduced that currently, the Qiaqia Thailand factory is centered in Thailand, covering not only the local market in Thailand, but also the entire Southeast Asian market with Thailand as the core, and even radiating to the European and American markets.
The 16 year negotiation of overseas layout has also achieved certain results. According to the financial report for the third quarter of 2023, Qiaqia's overseas market grew by over 10%.
On October 27, 2023, during an institutional survey, Qiaqia responded that the Southeast Asian market, especially Vietnam, has seen good growth, while the US market has also shown signs of recovery. In the future, it will actively expand in regions such as Indonesia and the Middle East. Overall, the growth rate of the company's overseas market is slightly faster than that of the domestic offline market. The current situation is good, with overseas market revenue accounting for about 10% of the company's total revenue.
Regarding the future, Qiaqia will continue to deepen its overseas channels, seek growth opportunities, enter the blank market of melon seeds, and create a second category of nut products.