Freedom Foods is planning to fast track its expansion in China following better than expected sales during a Chinese New Year promotion on Alibaba’s Tmall International.
Freedom Foods launched its flagship store on Tmall in November 2015 with its Arnold’s Farm Full of Fruit, Freedom Foods Porridge and oat cluster products in an effort to promote its portfolio to the Chinese consumer. During the Chinese New Year sales promotion Freedom Foods’ Arnold’s Farm cereal brand was the top selling cereal product on Tmall, and one of the top three selling products on the website.
The Australian food manufacturer and Tmall International are now planning to fast track the joint business venture and accelerate product development over the next 12 months for a number of key lines within cluster and oat porridge category.
This will include focused promotional activity to coincide with key promotional periods including Australia Week, Tmall International’s first anniversary and traditional promotional times including June 11/11 and Chinese New Year. Joint marketing and promotional activities will be developed with Tmall including expansion of product range to other online distributors within the Tmall online portal.
The expansion is inline with the growth strategy outline by Freedom Foods in October 2015, when it announced a $65 million equity raising.
The funds were used to purchase snacks manufacturer, Popina Foods, and begin construction of a new UHT processing facility at Ingleburn, in Sydney’s south west, which is expected to be installed from July 2016.
Freedom Foods is expected to release its FY 2016 results on February 29, 2016.