GIVING VOICE TO BIRDS - THE MELODIOUS SYMPHONY OF NATURE AT EVERY SUPERMARKET
2024/08/05
PX Mart Eco-Friendly Products Helping the Rehabilitation of Bird Habitats
PX Mart Liu Hongzheng (center), deputy director and spokesperson for the Marketing Department of PX Mart, along with members of the Product Department and Marketing Team.
Since its establishment 25 years ago, there are now more than 1,160 PX Mart supermarkets. To fulfill the important responsibility of promoting sustainability in Taiwan at the customer-facing front lines, the company established its Sustainability Committee.
"In the beginning, sales of the 'dorayaki' pancake generated an annual revenue of over NT$100 million.Unexpectedly, after using 'Eagle Red Bean' for its filling, sales soared, and annual revenue surpassed NT$300
million. This not only added value to the product, but also contributed to the idea of bird conservation, striking a balance between market acceptance and environmental protection," said Liu Hongzheng, Marketing DepartmentDeputy Manager of PX Mart. As a result, this highly popular product also promotes ecological harmony with the selection of eco-friendly ingredients, allowing consumers to contribute to environmental and economic objectives simply by eating.
Crisis often leads to opportunity, however. As the leading supermarket chain in Taiwan, PX Mart excels in product development and marketing strategies directly targeting consumers. To expand on the usage of Eagle Red Beans And to enhance consumers’ willingness to purchase, they decided to introduce affordable red bean desserts. "The market response was quite positive, and we ended up transforming over 20 red bean products to exclusively use ‘Eagle Red Bean’. The area of friendly cultivation gradually increased to over 200 hectares," said Liu, while pointing out the crucial role retail channels play. With These efforts, PX Mart further established a business model of "solving ecological issues through the consumer market".
Contributing Marketing Expertise toSolve Ecological Issues Through the Consumer Market
After reading a 2015 report titled "Vanishing Eagles" inBusiness Weekly, chairman of PX Mart, Lin Ming-Hsiung,began to turn his attention towards the crisis facing bird ecosystems caused by the use of pesticides. Hein structed his colleagues to trace production areas inPingtung and seek collaboration with red bean farmers
committed to eco-friendly cultivation. The following year, PX Mart gradually began introducing the “EagleRed Bean” product line, which refrains from using pesticides and herbicides, and established production and sales traceability. Despite the environmentally friendly intentions behind both production and sales,however Liu states that the greatest challenge lay in market acceptance.
Seeing the positive response towards Eagle Red Bean, PXMart subsequently launched various product lines, such as: "Jacana Chestnut" cultivated in water chestnut fields with protected water pheasant habitats, "Black Kite Rice"planted in rice fields with erected black kite perches, and"Owl Pineapple" grown in pineapple fields equipped with owl nesting boxes.Furthermore, as PX Mart's stores began to sell more eco-friendly products, a ripple effect has led to the internal formation of a corporate culture along with an external drive for green consumption.. Additionally, the introduction of the "Naked Shopping Peace of Mind And Affordable” section in some stores, coupled with discounts for buying more, will not only help reduce plastic packaging, but also boost sales
Initiating a New Wave of Revolution in Retail Channels - Accelerating The Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture
Deeply knowledgeable about retail channel trends, Liu Hongzheng specially emphasized. We are not seeking
the disappearance of traditional markets. Instead, we aim to guide supply-side transformation from the demand side and implement changes in agricultural techniques.
" Looking at Taiwan, PX Mart expects only itself to achieve this goal and is determined to do so. "By controlling costs, we can make eco-friendly fruits and vegetables affordable. And, with widespread consumer acceptance, we can continuously expand sales and cultivation areas, driving everyone towards change together." Indeed, only with products, such as Eagle Red Bean, Jacana Chestnut, Black Kite Rice, and Owl Pineapple, it is still difficult to demonstrate the urgency of environmental sustainability and ecological balance. There must also be other rands that demonstrate care for the land. Every PX Mart store offers a wide array of tens of thousands of products, and is gradually increasing the proportion of eco-friendly food items.