Moutai launches new marketing channel

Kweichow Moutai Group, China's leading high-end liquor maker, has started promoting sales via prepaid cards.

The cards?- titled General Xi Welfare Cards - are designed for Moutai's General Xi product series, and prices range from 106 yuan ($16.85) for a bottle with 39 degrees and 500ml to 19,999 yuan for a bottle with 52 degrees and 3 liters.

Zhang Zhiguo, president of the North China sales center of the Moutai Group, said the card?- which can be kept for investment and converted to cash at a later date - offers customers, distributors, and investors a wider chance to benefit from Moutai's growth and brand value.

The company recently reported a 58.62 percent year-on-year growth in net profit to 10.42 billion yuan in the first three quarters of the year, a figure that has overtaken last year's total net profit.

Moutai's performance was boosted mainly by an increase in sales, and 20 to 30 percent price hikes in September.

The Guizhou-headquartered company had previously raised its prices by about 20 percent on Jan 1, 2011, which resulted in net profit growing 73.48 percent to 8.76 billion yuan that year.