Localisation: The key to effective consumer relevance
The development of localised products may sound like a very basic strategy, but the implementation of this is often far trickier than it sounds.
This is especially so for big MNCs operating across different markets – but given a rising demand for localisation in the APAC region, companies have no choice but to adapt, and to do so quickly.
“The fact is that for brands to succeed today, we can remain global in identity but must act locally when executing product and consumer strategies,” Mars Wrigley Asia Regional Director of Strategy and Digital Commerce Sanjib Bose told us.
“Localisation is the main factor that can drive consumer obsession, which is key to drive brand growth in a market where consumers are exposed to various different choices and bombarded by new innovations, as this will determine how many people choose us to purchase whether new consumers, light buyers, or those in emerging occasions.”
Consumer obsession also determines market penetration, which is ever more important for a brand to stand out in a large and diverse market like Asia.
“Growing penetration here means becoming household names, ensuring consumer obsession via products that deeply resonate with consumers in order to both attract new ones while also serving our existing loyal base.”
This idea of localisation is not limited to snack brands either – alcohol major Suntory Global Spirits also established an APAC-specific division dubbed the Commercial Excellence team with an eye on accelerating local business growth as well as enhancing local consumer engagement.
“Suntory has our roots in Japan, but APAC is a critical growth region for us due to many factors such as favourable demographics and positive GDP growth in markets like ASEAN, which provide major growth opportunities,” Suntory VP, Commercial Excellence for APAC, Bruce Song told us.
“Regional growth in this region needs proper localised innovations and strategies, which requires deep consumer understanding – at Suntory we use a Japanese work ‘Gemba’ which translates to ‘where the action is’, and it applies closely here as we need to really understand what consumers are looking for in order to optimise innovation.”
Examples of the firm’s localisation have included adapting its highball recipes in South Korea by accommodating local palates with a sweeter recipe; as well as collaborating with local music stars and sports teams in South Korea and Taiwan order to make a stronger impact on consumers.
“What is key for us is to incorporate both the Gemba approach as well as local cultural aspects that are on-trend into our strategies in order to achieve the best localisation results,” he said.
The rise of AI: From food production to retail revolution
The growth of AI as a buzzword in the food and beverage industry over the last few years has been nothing short of meteoric, but despite all the hype it has yet to really take hold as an indispensable tool for most businesses.
Experts believe that 2026 could be a major turning point for the industry though, and especially in Asia due to increased receptiveness for technology in this region.
“One of the major areas that AI is set to make a difference is in the retail landscape where we see it as an obvious major disruptor, both online and offline,” NielsenIQ APAC Executive Director for Consulting and Insights Craig Houliston said.
“Our data has shown that 45% of APAC consumers are using AI tools to save time and money, such as with automatic purchasing – this is a high percentage, and we can see it’s not far-fetched to imagine consumers telling an AI platform: ‘I have X amount of money, make sure my shopping list has M&M’s but give me the best deal on everything else’.”
With such tools already available on platforms like AI chatbot Perplexity, there are very little barriers preventing consumers from passing decision-making and purchasing tasks that they consider arduous or time-consuming over to AI, in the name of convenience.
The power of AI-driven choice and convenience is also becoming increasingly evident in meal preparation, where AI vending machines are now able to provide freshly cooked meals – removing the need for any sort of ingredient prep or cooking.
An example of this is being piloted in Singapore where foodtech firm Aikit has developed its ChefGenie AI-powered machines, which can cook comparatively complicated cuisines such as curry laksa noodles and claypot chicken rice on the spot, then dispense these as RTE meals in four to eight minutes.
“The whole point of the ChefGenie smart kitchen system is to take care of the repetitive, technical execution of cooking, proving consistency, precision and efficiency in a convenient package,” Aikit VP of Business and Operations Sky Goh said.
“The recipes are still designed and controlled by human chefs who programme their recipes step by step into the system, ensuring the preservation of unique flavours and consistency in each dish – it’s just that now they can spend less time on the day-to-day operations and more time on innovation and new creations.”
Then there is of course the role AI is expected to increasingly play in terms of food product innovation and development, covering areas such as shortening product development cycles and time-to-market, identifying industry trends, ensuring consumer relevance, reducing food waste and more.
“Food product development goes through many stages, and each stage can take a very long time to complete, so traditionally the final product would take months to years to reach the market – AI can shorten this by screening and shortlisting concepts with the best potential results, an important tool in a fast-moving market like food,” Betagro Food Innovation Centre VP Photakorn Woncharoen added.
So although AI may not yet be playing a central role in the industry, its penetration into various sectors means that its growth is inevitable – and 2026 is set to see even more advancement in this area.
Innovating for Gen Z’s: The future belongs to the young
The APAC region has one of the largest concentrations of senior citizens in the world, with most markets such as Japan and Singapore already classed as ageing populations.
This statistic was what has driven many firms to focus on developing products targeting healthy ageing and senior citizens over the past few years, but more recently it has become apparent that a great deal of purchasing influence in fact lies at the opposite end of the spectrum: Gen Z’s.
In an age where social media is essentially marketing king, Gen Z consumers are playing an increasingly powerful role when it comes to product popularity, given that almost everything they eat or drink is broadcasted or recommended on social media, sometimes to millions of followers – so it is imperative for food and beverage brands to capture the power of this influence.
“In terms of snacking, Gen Z does not just focus on taste but also on experiences that feel authentic, fun and true to their values – it’s far more than just a treat but a way to express themselves,” Mars Wrigley Asia Regional GM Kalpesh Parmar said.
“As such, it’s not enough just to spot general trends that might appeal to them, but also to ensure our innovations and marketing resonate with what they want.”
For brands such as Suntory’s Roku Gin, this meant having to change marketing strategies to increase appeal.
“Younger consumers are more curious with preferences and consumption behaviours having shifted drastically - they are wither conscious about how they consume alcohol such as a low-to-no ABV preference, or seek to explore experiences that resonate with their own values,” Suntory Senior Brand Manager (Premium Spirits) for SEA Leanne Kee said.
“This is why we pivoted our marketing strategies to target new-age consumers such as these, in order to appeal to new curious drinkers or recruit alcohol enthusiasts and spur their appreciation of gin.”
Other brands are tapping on the modernisation of traditional products in order to attract younger consumers, with a lot of this innovation happening in China.
One example is China’s Herbal Player, which has rolled out a raft of modernised ginseng-based products such as ginseng sodas and effervescent drinks.
“We are targeting Gen Z and millennial consumers in their twenties to thirties, allowing them to approach this very traditional ginseng category without needing to worry about the bitterness or complicated preparations that ginseng is known to have,” Herbal Player GM Celia Xie told us.
“Formats like sodas were previously unheard of for ginseng products, and this is where we hope to offer both convenience and uniqueness to attract these younger consumers.”
Similarly, China’s Meta Liquor launched a modernised sparkling baijiu into the market this year, reinventing the country’s representative spirit traditionally known to be very strong and high in ABV.
“These are not characteristics that younger consumers, especially Gen Z’s are interested in today,” Meta Liquor CEO Ares Liao said.
“Our generation likes soft drinks with sweetness and the sensory enjoyment of fizziness, which is why we developed our sparkling baijiu – an RTD drink with just 10% ABV, made from the traditional 53% ABV baijiu.”
Low-to-no alcohol making a bigger splash
On the back of demand from younger consumers, the low-to-no alcohol category has expanded far beyond its previous presence in retail and conventional alcohol-focused foodservice, a trend that is expected to go even further this year.
One of the major growth areas here has been its visibility in sports events, greatly driven by brands strategically investing in sports sponsorship – with a major example being Heineken as a major sponsor of the F1 sporting event globally.
“Formula 1 is a powerful catalyst for change, including alcohol and drinking moderation – we have seen fans across APAC embrace this change like never before,” Heineken Regional Global Brands Director Agnieszka Gorecki said.
“Heineken 0.0 is seeing major growth potential in this region for this reason, with this cultural shift towards more mindful choices driven by Gen Z and diverse audiences.”
Data from a global Nielsen study also showed a significant change in sports fans’ drinking habits, with 25% actively reducing alcohol consumption or opting for alcohol-free alternatives.
Among these, some 56% of F1 fans were shown to regularly choose alcohol-free beer.
Heineken has committed strongly to its investments in sports sponsorships, both in F1 and UEFA football, hoping to be as closely linked with the moderation movement as possible.
Sporting events aside, other alcohol brands such as wine firm Brown Brothers also moved to expand its reach beyond traditional alcohol-linked foodservice e.g. bars by launching limited edition zero alcohol beverages in bubble tea stores.
“Collaborations are an important way for us to overcome the taste stigma around wine – we’ve worked with gelato companies and also partnered Gong Cha bubble tea chains in Australia to show how wine can be fun and flavoursome,” Brown Brothers Head of Innovation Emma Brown said.
“This is in tandem with global trends such as flavour-forward and fruitier wines – the key is really to identify key flavours that attract and interest consumers in an unintimidating way, lowering that fear of wine being sharp or astringent, and here zero-alcohol wine plays an important role in easing new consumers into the wine category by offering its flavour complexity without the alcohol effects.”
It however remains crucial for wine companies growing their low-to-no alcohol offerings to ensure that flavour complexities remain, in order to ensure consumers get an authentic experience.
“There is a difference between zero-alcohol wine and unfermented grape juice or water-based botanical infusions – the former offers consumers the full wine experience, and they will know the difference in what they are getting, especially as many are not abstainers but regular drinkers looking to moderate,” she added.
Suntory is observing the same trend afoot in the region, driven strongly by convenience and curiosity.
“There is strong momentum in the low-and-no ABV RTD options in this regions – Convenience is a key driver, as well as the ability to offer refreshing formats that resonate with local palates,” Song added.
“The segment is seeing rapid growth with more consumers keen to explore diverse drinking experiences that suit different meal occasions and preferences.”
Blended/Hybrid proteins: The next phase of alternative protein
Between the ongoing revamp of the plant-based sector in Asia and the long road towards mass commercialisation for cultivated meat lies the category of blended or hybrid proteins, which has increasingly gained recognition over the past year as a potential solution for many of the protein industry’s major challenges.
Among these have been issues such as taste and texture which plant-based products have faced, and the issues of cost and regulatory approvals which have been cultivated meat’s main hurdles.
“Hybrid products have a major opportunity to really stand out in terms of nutrition and other aspects – there is room to blend and fuse ingredients in order to overcome the shortcomings of any individual ingredient,” Singapore Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIFBI) Head of Nutrition Professor David Cameron-Smith said.
“This has always been considered the next generation of meatlike substances after plant-based meat [and can be an alternative to overcome the] challenges of the latter such as price, taste and digestibility factors.”
A recent sensory analysis study conducted by alternative protein non-profit advocacy group NECTAR already showed blended animal-plant protein burgers outperforming 100% beef burgers terms of taste, rousing hope for the category.
Many firms in the APAC region have already pivoted from previously solely plant-based or cultivated product focus areas to expand towards such hybrid products, including cultivated firm Umami Bioworks.
“At the end of the day, the product needs to taste good and also come in at a price that consumers can accept,” Umami Founder and CEO Mihir Pershad said.
“Some flavours from the animal cannot be mimicked using plant-based ingredients or flavours so cultivated protein can come in, but other areas such as scaffolding can be achieved with the plant ingredients [more cost-effectively], so hybrid solutions can give the best of both worlds.”
Other firms have emerged with a focus on solutions that can cater to improving hybrid protein development, including Australia’s Nourish Ingredients with its precision-fermented fungal product Tastilux made to mimic omega-6 fats that give meat a specific flavour and mouthfeel.
“The taste authenticity gap is widest in plant-based and hybrid protein markets, and Tastilux can help to overcome this gap,” Nourish Ingredients Founder and CEO James Petrie said.
“It provides an animalic experience, so is very different from plant-based fats or flavourings – when cooked, it facilitates a natural Maillard reaction that creates meaty flavours and tastes expected in traditional meats like chicken, beef or pork – plus it is a high-potency single ingredient making it highly cost-effective.”
Tastilux recently obtained its FEMA GRAS approval, indicating it has been Generally Recognised as Safe (GRAS) by the US Flavour and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), allowing it to move forward with commercialisation.
