While prices remain high and markets grow in awareness, heath food lovers demand transparency and they get it from HEALTH AIMS.
“The company was set up as a food importer in 1993. Owing to the shareholders’ personal life style, the product portfolio gradually became more involved with organic, health and functional food products,” says Duncan Ko, Managing Director, Health Aims. “A decision was made in 1998 to specialize in the retailing of organic and functional food products in response to good feedback from consumers. The marketing of organic food and functional food requires a set of different skills than the conventional food industry, says Ko. The health food and functional food market grew steadily since the economic downturn after 1998. It was believed people in Hong Kong started to value good health, body and spiritual well-being and a balanced life.
The market enjoyed rapid growth after the territory was hard hit by SARS in 2003. Since then, Health Aims gradually expanded the product ranges and number of shops. The popularity of consuming organic food also grew when the Hong Kong government began encouraging and supporting local farmers to practice organic farming.”
“Our product portfolio is more comprehensive and we are able to supply a wider range of organic products from head to toe,” says Ko.
“Our suppliers are all experts in their respective fields and all our shops are located at handy locations, most of them are accessible by MTR. Our staff are well trained for giving the right recommendations to our customers.”
Challenges Overcome
Up to this point, there are still no legal regulations on organic food. In fact, anyone can claim their products, organic which indeed confuses the consumers. At Health Aims, we screen every product and ensure corresponding organic certification is available b4 we label these products organic on the price tag. We firmly believe it was the confidence that the consumers have built up in our brand due to our self-regulating and the clarity of supply sources. No competitors in the market are able to provide the level of clarity to customers like us.”
Growing to Serve
The market for organic food and functional food is still relatively small in comparison with the mass market. Consequently, the lack of economy of scale continues to hold the high price of organic food in Hong Kong. Ko says consumer education will be a constant process to build up their trust and confidence in organic market as a whole.
“We currently run 15 shops and our plan is to gradually expand the number of shops to be in line with the market growth. Since the retail market has evolved in such way that online sales is a must in the future, we will pump in more resources to improve our website and the visibility over the social media. Meanwhile, our motto is — Be professional with a caring heart!!
For additional information, please visit www.healthaims.com.hk
Hong Kong’s Business Leaders share market and interest intelligence in the pages of HKMVC 2017
