Australian-owned Nuchev has inked a multimillion-dollar deal with supermarket Coles to stock its Oli6 goat milk formula brand in stores and online.
Nuchev founder and chief executive Ben Dingle said the company’s expansion into Coles followed a deliberate strategy to first establish the Oli6 brand in the pharmacy channel.
“When we launched Oli6, the goat milk formula segment was not as well recognised. To help parents understand the benefits of Oli6, we used the pharmacy channel to build direct engagement and highlight the benefits of our Oli6 goat milk formula brand,” he said. “Pharmacy for many parents is their first source of credible advice. The results have been outstanding, with Oli6 not only the fastest growing infant formula brand in the pharmacy channel, but also the largest Australian goat brand,” Mr Dingle said.
“On the back of this success, we are delighted to bring the benefits of Oli6 to more mums and dads through our partnership with Coles. We know parents will want to purchase Oli6 as part of their regular weekly shop.”
Goat milk formula has grown significantly over the last three years as consumers increasingly see the benefits of goat’s milk and today it represents around 10 per cent of total Australian formula sales, with an annual turnover of more than $100 million.
Oli6 has also experienced strong growth on major ecommerce platforms such as TMall, where it is the largest selling Australian goat milk formula brand. This, combined with the success in the pharmacy channel, has resulted in a five-fold increase year-on-year as awareness increases about the brand’s natural health and digestive benefits.
Coles senior category manager, Karly Oranin, said the Oli6 distribution partnership reflected the growing popularity of goat’s milk products, which are widely recognised as having natural health benefits.
“Demand for goat milk formula continues to grow at a rapid pace and we are excited to have partnered with Nuchev, so that we can make their premium Australian-made goat milk formula available for our customers,” Ms Oranin said.
[i] Food Science & Nutrition Discipline: Harsharn Gill RMIT University
[ii] Nielsen MAT Data 15.1.19