With competition heating up in the nascent kombucha drink market in Malaysia, a flurry of new brands and product launches are happening and reaching the retail shelves.
These new product launches are addressing the pain points that have been restraining the mass market adoption of the fermented beverage. Given the positive consumer perception of kombucha, the market is on the cusp of being dominated by a healthy functional and expectedly bestseller beverage, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company.
Kombucha drink is made by fermenting tea and sugar with a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) and it is supposed to have digestive benefits. This appeals to 42 per cent of Malaysian respondents, who find ingredients that claim to aid digestive health to be very appealing.
The market is also poised to benefit from the strong interest in probiotic drinks. This is corroborated by GlobalData’s 2021 consumer survey, wherein 59 per cent of Malaysian respondents in the same survey showed a positive perception about probiotic drinks. Moreover, kombucha was exempted from the Malaysian government’s tax on sugar sweetened beverages in 2019.
“However, GlobalData’s Q1 2022 consumer survey reveals that just over one-third (35 per cent) of Malaysians perceive kombucha to have a positive impact on their health. This positive perception of kombucha has also not translated into mass retail sales primarily as most kombucha products are priced at a premium,” said Bobby Verghese, Consumer Analyst at GlobalData.
