Red Bull to pour additional $120 million in energy drink in Vietnam

Red Bull will disburse the $120 million over three years

Saravoot Yoovidhya, managing director of Thai TCP group, the owner of the Red Bull brand, released at a recent conference in Ho Chi Minh City that the group will invest $120 million in Vietnam in the next three years to expand its distribution network.

“Establishing an office in Vietnam is part of the company’s five-year development plan published in 2017,” Saravoot said.

He said that at present, TCP’s energy drinks make up 42 per cent of the Vietnamese energy drink market and the group expects to acquire $300 million in revenue from this market by the end of this year. TCP plans to increase its market share to 50 per cent in the next five years.

“Vietnam is one of the fastest growing countries in the ASEAN as well as the Trans-Pacific area. We have seen a sales volume increase of 25 per cent each year in the past three years. The Vietnamese energy drink market is estimated at $757 million with the average increase of 6 per cent per year,” said Saravoot.

Originated in 1981, Red Bull Beverage Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of TCP, quickly became a successful and popular energy drink in its home country of Thailand. In 1987, Red Bull broke into the international market, creating a totally new product category. From the very first can sold until today, Red Bull has been energising and inspiring people in more than 167 countries, being the leading energy drink brand all over the world.

The world-famous energy drink officially entered Vietnam in 1999. Over the almost 20 years since then, Red Bull has been inspiring consumers with the spirit “Dare to conquer your goal.”

Energy drinks is a big soft drinks category in Vietnam, with off-trade volume sales higher than still natural mineral water and cola carbonates. Even though manufacturers direct their marketing activities towards people who need more energy, energy drinks are consumed by many different consumer groups.

The trend of using energy drinks started in Vietnam in early 2000 with Red Bull, Number 1, and Lipovitan. To date, Vietnam has approximately 20 energy drink brands.

In 2017, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage Co. was the market leading energy drink retailer with Sting.