At first glance, the majority of consumers will be attracted by its cute packaging. It is very hard to find another brand that uses a personal name as their name-brand on the Chinese kiwi market. ''Actually, Zhao Jiayi is not the name of a real person, only the name of our product. However, just as Taiwan's 'Little miss Zhang Junya', our Zhao Jiayi was also modeled after a real person - Zhao Ping,'' says KK, the co-founder of Shanghai Yi Kai Long Internet Technologies Ltd.
I am ''Zhao Jiayi"
Taking up KK's recommendation, we took a look at the model for ''Zhao Jiayi'', a cheerfull girl from Guizhou province called Zhao Ping.
I am a Xiuwen county native, raised on local kiwi fruits, but I actually didn't know too much about them, neither did I have any understanding of the kiwi market. Later on, I switched from being a dancing teacher to this kiwi company and was put in charge of promotion and sales of Wenxiu County kiwis for the whole of China. It was only then, that I properly started understanding our product and saw a gap in the market. I even stayed at a kiwi farm for some time and took part in everything from planting the seeds to picking the fruits, all through packaging and storage. Taking part in this process took lot of my effort, but the experience proved valuable, since it is how I came to find out all about the peculiarities and advantages of our Xiuwen county kiwis, and it made me even more determined to bring our product to the attention of Chinese consumers. Also, it is only because of Wenxian county kiwis that I have met KK� says Zhao Ping.
Most famous of Xiuwen county kiwis is the long Gui� variety, recognizable by its hard hair, jade-green flesh and sweet taste and getting its name from the unusually long shape.
A kiwi farm in Xiuwen County
Why Zhao Jiayi?
When we were consulting the brand-name, I wanted it to be something new and easy to remember. Inspired by 'Little Miss Zhang Junya' I instinctively thought this would be a good choice. I used the surname Zhao because Zhao Ping is a Wenxiu county local, Jia is how her generation is marked in their family tree and the character for Yi resembles the Chinese character for 'to eat'. When pronounced together, it comes to memory very easy, so I took it," explains KK.
The reaction to this brand-name from our consumers was very good. A lot of kids remember it instantly, because it sounds like a persons name, like it could be the name of one of their classmates.
Made for children
When we were interviewing KK and Zhao Ping last week, it was the middle of January, already three months after the common period for picking kiwis (which is in the middle of October). What we did not expect to see was that the kiwis straight out of the warehouse were still hard, and after a couple days softened up, their taste oh so sweet.
These fruits are able to tolarate prolonged storing because the enviroment in which they were planted exceeds the industries' standard and are only harvested after ripening naturally. We use no preservatives, so after our customers place them at room temperature, they will naturally start germinating. Everyone tries to be the first one on the market these days, so they take the 'long Gui' variety, which ripens in the middle of October, and is picked in in the middle of September, thus the taste is a bit sour. Furthermore, if preservatives are added, the fruit cannot soften up at room temperature and you need to have special technology to force it to ripen.�
"My original intention was to create a healthy, tasty and energetic brand of kiwis that would be suitable for children, a fruit without any additives or conservatives. This high quality of our product is the reason we are not afraid of using children as our testers when promoting in shops, even though they are the most sincere of consumers,"� says KK.
Wanting to remain "the new player"� in the future
Even though the season of 2016 was the first time that Zhao Jiayi kiwis went on the market, the reaction was remarkable. At this moment, sixty thousand boxes of kiwi fruits were delivered to the customers through re-sellers. This season, we are planning for about 120 thousand boxes of product, that should be enough until March next year. Next year, we plan to add ever more varietes.�
When talking about plans for future developement, KK says: "Our main goal is to increase the quantity of how much we can supply and prolong the time when we are able to do so. However, because we want to stick to our high standards of quality demanded of by our youngest customers, the increase in supply will come a bit slow. We can still work hard on prolonging the time when we are able to supply through adding new varietes of the kiwi fruit, though."
To check on the quality of his product, KK flew to Xiuwen county 5 times in this season and inspected the whole process from picking, through batching, storing, packing and to distribution
When we were interviewing KK and Zhao Ping last week, it was the middle of January, already three months after the common period for picking kiwis (which is in the middle of October). What we did not expect to see was that the kiwis straight out of the warehouse were still hard, and after a couple days softened up, their taste oh so sweet.
These fruits are able to tolarate prolonged storing because the enviroment in which they were planted exceeds the industries' standard and are only harvested after ripening naturally. We use no preservatives, so after our customers place them at room temperature, they will naturally start germinating. Everyone tries to be the first one on the market these days, so they take the 'long Gui' variety, which ripens in the middle of October, and is picked in in the middle of September, thus the taste is a bit sour. Furthermore, if preservatives are added, the fruit cannot soften up at room temperature and you need to have special technology to force it to ripen.�
"My original intention was to create a healthy, tasty and energetic brand of kiwis that would be suitable for children, a fruit without any additives or conservatives. This high quality of our product is the reason we are not afraid of using children as our testers when promoting in shops, even though they are the most sincere of consumers,"� says KK.
Wanting to remain "the new player"� in the future
Even though the season of 2016 was the first time that Zhao Jiayi kiwis went on the market, the reaction was remarkable. At this moment, sixty thousand boxes of kiwi fruits were delivered to the customers through re-sellers. This season, we are planning for about 120 thousand boxes of product, that should be enough until March next year. Next year, we plan to add ever more varietes.�
When talking about plans for future developement, KK says: "Our main goal is to increase the quantity of how much we can supply and prolong the time when we are able to do so. However, because we want to stick to our high standards of quality demanded of by our youngest customers, the increase in supply will come a bit slow. We can still work hard on prolonging the time when we are able to supply through adding new varietes of the kiwi fruit, though."
To check on the quality of his product, KK flew to Xiuwen county 5 times in this season and inspected the whole process from picking, through batching, storing, packing and to distribution
Zhao Ping says: "To be frank, the area where kiwis are grown in Guizhou province increases by the year. Even though there are not yet many farms which already produce fruits, following some incoming capital, future yields are sure to be high. There is already a great amount of kiwis produced in China now, so the competition will get even more fierce in the future. Still, I hope that when that time comes, Zhao Jiayi will still be the same, retaining the "suitable for children" mark of quality. By that time, still more of our customers will become regulars and we will maintain our place on the market - not blindy following, but still remaining "the new player"� in the kiwi world."�
To contact Zhao Jiayi: