Japan’s Calbee downsizing its potato chips for the Philippines

Japan’s Calbee has introduced a potato chip product about 70% cheaper than what’s already on sale in the Philippines. The chips will be sold at sari-sari stores, very small mom-and-pop shops that deal in a variety of daily products, a company source said. The new strategy is to focus on middle-income consumers. The snack maker has set a sales target of 4 billion yen ($34.8 million) in the year ending March 2021, up an ambitious sevenfold from fiscal 2015. Since it entered the Philippines in 2014, Calbee has targeted its snacks mostly at high-income earners. But it is refocusing on the country’s expanding medium-income bracket. With the Philippines achieving economic growth rates of around 6% in recent years, consumer purchasing power has increased — and the snack market along with it. The new chips are sold in 14-gram bags, smaller than the 28-gram bags that are now common. More