Major tea maker partners with Internet giants in new marketing strategy

The Guangzhou Wanglaoji Great Health Industry Co, a major Chinese herbal tea maker, unveiled an Internet marketing strategy based on its big-data base, aiming to boost its sales amid a fast-growing market.

Under the strategy, the company has cooperated with several big Internet companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Seasun Entertainment to develop tailored service for consumers.

In cooperation with Alibaba, Wanglaoji developed the world's smallest QR code on its can body, which allows a more efficient mobile scan.

Moreover, consumers are allowed to play mobile games after scanning the QR codes, which enables a quick access to the games and online lucky draw events, thanks to its cooperation with Seasun Entertainment, a major online game provider.

"The small QR code, or the so called visual code, will help facilitate the market expansion of traditional Chinese herbal tea," said Zhang Kuo, general manager of Alibaba's business cooperation division.

Wanglaoji, based in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, has an annual sales volume of more than 6 billion cans of herbal tea. Nearly 100 million cans will include the new QR code technology, according to Zhao Min, deputy general manager of Wanglaoji.

Zhao says consumers of Chinese herbal tea were mainly born after the 1980s, and have developed strong capabilities in consumption.

"Cooperating with Internet companies will help provide a more tailored service for our users, who have already developed a close connection with the mobile Internet industry," said Zhao.