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Innovation is paying off
I Catherine Beard is Executive Director of ExportNZ, which serves its members via regional offices throughout the country. To find your nearest office go to www.exportnz.org.nz
caught up with Nic Wetere, CEO of Canary with our end users to identify exactly what they Enterprises Ltd, fresh off the plane from need. Our customer intimacy model means we Singapore where she had been attending the think like our customers do – e.g. forecasting Food & Hotel Asia Trade Show. for them, predicting when they’re going to run “It was an amazing experience – the buzz and out of stock. Things like that ensure they’re excitement of working with like-minded companies getting a full service, rather than simply being in the NZ Pavilion with NZTE, and seeing so sold a product.” many New Zealand companies doing amazingly One of their major segments is airlines, for innovative things. You wonder why you haven’t whom they make butter medallions. heard of them! It’s a great event for networking and “It’s pretty amazing when you actually stop showcasing,” says Wetere. and think about how our products literally end While you may have seen the Canary brand up all over the world!” says Wetere. clarified butter in New Zealand supermarkets, A lot of Canary’s hotel customers have their Canary’s products go beyond this to individual logos embossed onto the butter medallions, portions of butter medallions and rosettes. They and this USP is something they are working on were exporting from day with airlines too. “It’s a big one; now producing over focus for us to give customers 200,000 portions of butter a that level of customization so day to countries all over the we’re creating something they world, including their biggest can identify as their own. customers in Australia, Thailand “Our point of difference and the UAE. in our quality products As a food innovator and is our innovation and the WE WORK REALLY manufacturer of quality, New Zealand brand. Our CLOSELY WITH premium dairy products, medallions get delivered in Canary’s model is all about a carton, already on a line of OUR END USERS being in the niche market, paper. They’re then plated TO IDENTIFY premium product space. by the customer. A lot of our EXACTLY WHAT “We’ve been around 16 years, competitors’ products are and it all started with seeing in a plastic wrapper. By not THEY NEED.” an opportunity in the market packaging our butter this way, NIC WETERE, where we could deliver our customers can serve it premium butter products to how they choose, plus there’s CEO OF CANARY end consumers, while helping less waste, and more space ENTERPRISES LTD to reduce their cost and add from a shipping and storage value,” says Wetere. point of view.” “It’s a pure New Zealand butter product so The company has India and Vietnam in their customers have full traceability, plus as a further sights next, as well as new blended innovations processor we can customize. We work really closely to meet customer price point needs.
Nic’s Top Tips • If you have a distribution model like us, it pays to really do your homework and ensure you’re matching yourself with like-minded people. The culture’s got to fit. You can’t sell a product without the right people. • Utilize NZTE’s in-market research to help you find the right person. • Be flexible enough in your strategy that you can take up opportunities when they arise. We consider everything that comes our way. • Get in front of your customers. Our sales team are out every 2-3 months meeting with distributers. • Use your network for getting on-the-ground intelligence. We’re such a small community in the NZ food space, so share recommendations and utilize your contacts.
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FMCG BUSINESS - JUNE 2018
Hayley Horan NZ Trade Commissioner to Singapore and NZ Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters with Nic Wetere, Derek Bartosh and Matt Mountfort of Canary Enterprises.