By Miao Bei

‘Despite the tariff fluctuations, the company’s export orders in the first five months of this year increased by 10% year-on-year.’ In the office area of Jiangsu Winnie Food Co., Ltd. on level 8 of Nantong Foreign Trade Center, Wu Minli, the Chairman of the Board, were searching for real-time data. In front of rows of computers, salesmen stared at the screens to process orders from all over the world.

Jiangsu Winnie was founded in 2009. In the past 16 years, it has focused on jelly candy. All the products are exported. The company ships more than 900 containers overseas every year. In 2024, the output value reached 180 million yuan.

The United States used to be the largest market of Jiangsu Winnie, which accounts for 40%. Since the start of this year, Jiangsu Winnie has actively adjusted strategies: include European and new emerging Southeast Asian markets into the core territory, to decrease dependence on the United States as a single market.

As early as 2009, Jiangsu Winnie joined Alibaba’s international platform, and became an ‘experienced online merchant’. Its overseas independent website has also been operating for nearly 10 years. The company has also introduced 3 foreign cooperation partners, participated in-depth in market research and channel development, and further enhanced the global operation abilities.

Opening the independent website of Winnie Food, cute Barbie pink, bouncing jelly, cheerful background music...all these page designs that are very different from those of domestic websites, were specially designed for foreign markets by overseas designers hired by the company, to reach target customers accurately.

‘Life is sweet.’ Accompanied by laughter and cheerful voices, the advertising slogan of Jiangsu Winnie echoed from the screen. Wu Minli said that in 2013, the company created a vodka-flavoured jelly for the U.S. market, and after it attracted customers, other flavours including rum and cocktail were launched also. Now, the cocktail product has also successfully entered the markets in countries including Belgium, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands.

In response to the European market’s focus on natural and healthy products, the company has recently developed new products such as Himalayan salt candies and additive-free vegetable and fruit jellies, which have quickly gained popularity in countries like Germany and the Netherlands.