APAC Brands Expand: Haleon Replicates China VMS, Doctor's Best Targets Anti-Ageing
Major supplement and functional beverage brands are strategically expanding across Asia-Pacific, leveraging localised market insights and targeted product developments. This intensifies competition and offers new market entry points for manufacturers and ingredient suppliers.
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Singapore, Singapore — 09 May 2025
Haleon is expanding its Vitamins, Minerals, and Supplements (VMS) business model into the Philippines and South Korea, replicating strategies proven successful in China. Keith Choy, Haleon's APAC president, confirmed the introduction of a program similar to 'Bone Up China' in the Philippines to bolster its Caltrate brand. While China's focus remains on the ageing demographic, the Philippines strategy targets pregnant women, a demographic requiring significant calcium and bone support. This tailored approach underscores the need for market-specific product positioning and communication in APAC.
Simultaneously, Doctor's Best, a US subsidiary of China's Kingdomway, is focusing its 2025 new product strategy for China on anti-ageing and liver care. Key launches include NMN, liver care tablets, and ergothioneine, an ingredient gaining substantial popularity in China over the last two years. These plans, announced during Kingdomway's FY24 financial results, highlight a concentrated effort to capture high-growth segments within the Chinese health supplement market, driven by specific consumer preferences for longevity and organ support.
The functional beverage sector is also seeing significant expansion. Singaporean start-up hue is carving a niche with mood-focused functional snacks, developing products for 'uplifting', 'energising', 'calming', and 'fulfilling' moods using botanicals such as tiger milk mushroom, moringa leaf, and wild Alaskan fish oil. Their innovative formats, including liquid-filled gummies and popping boba, aim to differentiate in a crowded market. Concurrently, iPRO is strengthening its presence in Saudi Arabia through a strategic partnership with Al Rabie Saudi Foods Company, following four years of Middle East exports. Their participation in Gulfood in Dubai signifies broader regional expansion, targeting functional hydration opportunities. Similarly, Shake Your Plants (SYP), founded in 2022, is targeting dehydration and nutrient deficiencies in the UAE with products like Kombucha+, while actively pursuing global expansion.
What this means for Asia Pacific
Manufacturers in the Philippines and South Korea must prepare for intensified VMS competition from Haleon, requiring robust marketing spend and differentiated product innovation. Brand owners targeting China should prioritise R&D into anti-ageing and liver support ingredients, particularly NMN and ergothioneine, to capitalise on Doctor's Best's projected market growth for 2025. Ingredient suppliers can anticipate increased demand for botanicals such as tiger milk mushroom and moringa leaf as Singaporean brands like hue seek novel mood-focused formulations. Contract manufacturers should prepare for higher MOQs and specialized production requirements for innovative formats like liquid-filled gummies. Regulatory teams must monitor region-specific claims substantiation for mood and functional hydration products as these categories expand across multiple APAC markets.
This trend is being actively addressed by UK manufacturing partners including Supplement Factory.