Bord Bia has hosted an interactive workshop providing insight to 30 Irish food and drink exporters on China’s number one mobile messaging app, WeChat, according to a recent statement.
WeChat is a cross-platform messaging service similar to WhatsApp, which has over 700 million active users.
Speaking at the workshop, Karen Tyner, Bord Bia’s Food and Beverage Manager, said, “With a steadily-increasing population, China offers huge growth potential and is set to become the first billion euro market for Irish food and drink exports outside of the UK within the next three years. This workshop builds on Bord Bia’s strategy to help Irish food and drinks producers gain a foot-hold within this competitive market and WeChat has become an essential tool to become a success in the region.”
Reportedly, the popular app is growing at a rate of 35% each year and therefore is considered to be an ideal platform for Irish food and drink companies to target Chinese consumers.
The workshop was delivered by WeChat expert, Matthew Brennan from the EU SME, a China based EU-initiative that provides support services to companies getting them ready to do business in the market. Addressing the participants, he said, “WeChat is China's number one mobile app controlling over 35% of all time spent on mobile in China. The platform has a unique and powerful combination of payments, social and content that simply doesn’t exist outside of mainland China.
According to recent Bord Bia figures, Ireland exported over €869 million worth of food and drink to China in 2016, an increase of 31% on the previous year, primarily driven by dairy, pigmeat and seafood.
© 2017 - Checkout Magazine by Donna Ahern
