The return of Morinda

"We ran into challenges." That was how Thierry Sorhaitz explained the dramatic drop in sales of Morinda Inc.’s Tahitian Noni Juice for the past two years. Sorhaitz is Morinda general manager for the Philippines, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

At the height of Tahitian Noni Juice’s Philippine popularity in 1999, Morinda had 45,000 distributors actively pushing the brand. Today, that number is down to half, many of whom sell the product as one in a basket of unrelated products from various companies.

"In network marketing, people move from one product to another, from one money-making fad or opportunity to another," said country manager Daniel Custodio. "The outlook of most network marketers is short-term."

Sorhaitz, who recently had the Philippines included in his area of responsibility, however, wants a return to Morinda’s glory day. "We need to build the brand and to retrain our people," he said, using his fingers to emphasize his two-pronged comeback strategy.

Building the brand

Last month, Morinda locally unveiled its new bottle design. Green in color and textured, the bottle is a far cry from the generic looking original container which was easily copied by other companies selling beverages with names similar to Morinda’s trademark name.

"The new design also sends a strong message to the market: that we’re back and we’re serious about protecting the business." Sorhaitz said.

Hand-in-hand with the new bottle design Morinda is re-growing its network market of distributors to its 1999 level. "We’re encouraging them to think of the business as a long-term opportunity," said Custodio. "We’re here to help them in whatever way to sell the product and to earn as much as they can."

To get into Morinda’s active list, a marketer must buy an initial case of four one-liter bottles of Tahitian Noni Juice at a distributor’s price of P6,200. The marketer, in turn, builds up his or her own network, getting a share of the commissions generated by the network.

"It’s misleading to say that whoever is ahead or who has signed up first in the network is the biggest earner. We’ve had distributors who’ve earned more than the people who recruited them," Sorhaitz said. "If a distributor doesn’t meet the quota, we look at the roll up or the next person who meets the quota and we happily pay the commission."

Morinda redistributes 53% of total sales as commissions. Commissions are given weekly, instead of the usual industry practice of monthly, to help the cash flow of its marketers. Last year, Morinda’s worldwide sales totaled $350 million.

Expansion

Morinda started out in 1996 as a one-product company. It produced a health supplement beverage made from morinda citrifolia, a fruit found all over the tropics. In the case of Morinda, it sources its fruit exclusively from French Polynesia.

"We control the product from tree to bottle," said Sorhaitz. "We know from which tree and which island the juice in a particular bottle comes from."

Because morinda citrifolia has a bitter taste, it is first pureed in French Polynesia and then shipped to the United States where it is blended with other fruit juices. Bottling is done in the US and Japan, Morinda’s two biggest markets.

Aside from Tahitian Noni Juice, Morinda currently produces nutritional and personal care products which use morinda citrofolia as the main ingredient. The personal care products are sold in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan where consumers are willing to pay a premium for good skin care.

"We’ve got incredibly good products. Now, all we need is the timing," Sorhaitz. Morinda is hoping this is the right time to launch a comeback in the Philippines.