Aggressive marketing through branding and visibility of product has been identified as one of the major techniques of Rufaidah Yoghurt, a new drink brand in Kano, used in penetrating the market in a record short time, Daily Trust on Sunday reports.
Rufaidah Yoghurt, a product of Rufaidah Drinks Ltd, with origin in Kebbi State, has become a household name in Kano, Nigeria’s commercial centre and other neighbouring states, as far as the country’s capital city, Abuja, in recent times.
In Kano, for instance, there is hardly a major street the company does not have a branch or franchise office, with a big signpost.
This is also in addition to several advertisements on billboards in strategic areas in the commercial centre, a city with a market that supplies the everyday needs of not only Nigerians but also several other neighbouring African countries like Niger Republic and Chad.
A consumer of the product, Sani Bilya, attested to the impact of the company’s advertising in making him and several others loyal customers.
“Before now, I was not a fan of these yoghurts and drinks, but since my five-year-old daughter saw Rufaidah’s advert on television and compelled me to buy it for her, I have also started taking the yoghurt. I have become addicted to it. Almost every time I travel, she will ask me to buy Rufaidah yoghourt for her, so one day, I decided to buy for myself too; and I enjoyed it. That was how I found myself addicted to the product,” Bilya said, with a smile on his face.
Also, Bahijja Sadik and Nusaiba Idris said their loyalty was informed by the product’s “unique taste,” while Zainab Idris describes herself as an “addict” of the product.
The chief executive officer of Rufaidah Drinks, Alhaji Tukur Yusuf, 42, who is originally from Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State but now considers himself a ‘Kano man,’ told Daily Trust on Sunday that he started the company 10 years ago with the production of sachet water.
Like its other products, the yoghurt chain of the business also started in Birnin Kebbi and later expanded to Sokoto and Zamfara states.
“Actually, we never thought of coming to Kano State, but the people we have in the state know our products and like them. So they gave us suggestions to come and establish a branch in Kano because the product is well known amongst the people that travel to that axis of Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi,” he said.
The suggestion to expand to Kano also became a no-brainer because of the status of Kano as the commercial centre of not only Nigeria but some African countries.
But the expansion to Kano brought many losses to the company at the early stage. For instance, because of the weather, most products transported from Kebbi to Kano, a journey of eight hours and above, got spoilt. Also, being a new product in the market, the sales were not as encouraging as expected, he said.
“Consequently, people started liking the product and the market started booming after the adverts we had. And we have been sharing the products to attract market.
“We are every where the North. We have more than 10 branches in all the states in the North and some states in the South, like Calabar (Cross River State), Port Harcourt (Rivers State) and Lagos.
“In Kano, I cannot tell you how many branches we have for now because many of them are not owned by the company. We do franchises with dealers based on certain agreements. That is why the branches are all over the state,” he said.
He said that while he could not put a specific figure to the worth of the company, it is worth billions of naira.
According to him, the branding alone is capital-intensive, not to talk about sales. “To start up a particular branch in an area might cost about N9million, according to our standard. In fact, the branding comes from Lagos, while some are from Dubai. If you can go to some of our branches like Sharada, Kabuga, Kurna and Zoo Road (all in Kano), their branding was all from Dubai. So it really requires a lot of money.
“Our factory is big because of demand and supply. We are always expanding and buying machines. We were initially buying machines from China, but now, we are buying from Europe for our standards. That is why some of our dealers are finding it very difficult to franchise and partner with us. And we cannot lower our standard. With all these, I can say the business is worth billions of naira,” Yusuf said.
Also, with over 700 members of staff across the country, the company believes it is contributing positively to reducing unemployment in the country.
Some of the staff members said they were satisfied with the company because their welfare is being well attended to.
It was gathered that the company adopts three methods of payment for its staff – weekly, monthly, incentives at the end of the year, as well as a welfare package for staff members getting married or those with new babies.
On how Rufaidah Drinks has been able to survive and excel in the highly competitive market, Yusuf said the company started without bothering about outshining any competitor.
“When we started, we knew that in this business we must have competitors, so we needed to come up with something new into the market and gain acceptability. We just wanted to come up with something that would quality for people’s satisfaction.
“So we have never considered competition as something challenging, but we know we are into business with different companies that make different varieties of yoghourt.
“We are not only into yoghourt; we have ice creams, snacks and bread, which will enter the market before the end of this year. These are parts of the things that make us excel in the competition; there are other things we do to support the business,” he said.
On the challenges the current economic crisis in the country has posed to the operation of the company, Yusuf hopes the government would come up with stimulus packages to assist them.
“Another challenge is managing to maintain the market price for your consumers despite the increase in prices of the goods you buy for production. If we decide to keep increasing our prices too, then our consumers might not be able to afford our products and the rate of complaints will increase.
“I think that since the beginning of this economic crisis, we have only increased prices twice. We have been able to survive by minimising our expenses and have a turnover that can be able to help the business survive and keep serving our esteemed customers,” he added.
With its continuous spread in the country, the company is eyeing the global market.
“We are trying to see ourselves globally. We want to see Rufaidah Drinks everywhere in the world. We have already started expansion across Nigeria. We are now in Niger Republic. Ghana is coming by next month, and other countries to follow, from Africa to the Middle East and Europe,” he further said.
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