Hite Beer conducts product renewal amid fierce competition

Hite Jinro is set to introduce a new beer with modified taste and alcohol content while keeping the product name, seeking to regain its market share. The company will introduce renewed product of its flagship Hite Beer on Thursday. According to the brewery, the beer is almost a new brand product because it has been changed so significantly in all different aspects ranging from production process to trademark and to design, except the name.

With the introduction of the renewed product, Hite Jinro will seek to regain its "leadership" in the Korean market. Hite Beer ranked first in market share for 15 years (1996-2011) until 2012, when Oriental Brewery’s ‘Cass’ brand took as the market leader.

New Hite Beer succeeded in moderating its bitterness by readjusting the mix among hop, malt and carbonic acid to allow for milder drinking experience. For its freshness, the beer has lowered alcohol content to 4.3 percent from the current 4.5 percent. The rival brand Cass has alcohol content of 4.5 percent. “In order to remove impurities and unwanted tastes, the entire production process is conducted in sub-zero environment,” a source at Hite Jinro said. “We believe that consumers can enjoy milder taste and freshness than its predecessor.”

The new product also features a revised brand identity. The font of brand identity has been replaced with classical font style, and graphic images depicting characteristics of new Hite Beer have been printed on the product.

Industry sources say that Hite Jinro has conducted comprehensive renewal of the product in order to cope with its falling market share, and solidification of the brand’s image as an “aged product.” A source at Hite Jinro said, “Competition is growing fiercer in the Korean beer market as Lotte Liquor is poised to enter the beer market and foreign beers are recently increasing popularity.”