The Thai government has launched a shop-within-a-shop on Ocado.com to promote its nation’s food brands.
In its first UK supermarket partnership, Thailand’s Department of International Trade Promotion has launched a page dedicated to the ‘Taste of Thailand’ featuring 15 new products from the country.
The range includes ambient and refrigerated essentials such as curry pastes, high-grade Thai Jasmine rice and premium cooking sauces that “empower the home cook, affording the confidence to deliver a Taste of Thailand culinary masterpiece from scratch”.
The new products join the more than 50 Thai brand products already available from the online pureplay grocer.
“We hope to shift Thai dishes away from simply special treat occasions into fresh, vibrant and relevant weekday mealtime menu choices,” said Jirakarn Bejrajati, minister at the Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy London.
“We are keen to promote the versatility of these products – which goes far beyond the creation of some of the much-loved traditional comfort dishes associated with Thai cuisine – by demonstrating how to embrace the bold, punchy flavours, fresh herbs and aromatics associated with our culture, to conjure up dishes that are a genuine pleasure to cook and eat,” Bejrajati added.
The department is launching a PR and social media campaign to promote the shop, and an influencer partnership programme. Featured brands will be making their own direct promotional and media spend.
Bejrajati said Ocado was the “natural retailer of choice for this collaboration” given its “reputation for quality, its established engaged and discerning customer base, and strength as a platform for introducing premium and authentic international ranges to UK shoppers”.
The department said it views the UK as a “key focus market” due to Brits’ desire to seek out “bold, authentic flavours, and the popularity of the sweet, sour, salty and spicy notes, which are the hallmark of vibrant Thai cuisine”.
It is anticipating a 2% value growth rate of Thai food brands in the year ahead.
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