Wen | Deer Ming
In this era where everything can become a Netflix, a slice of ice-cream being among them doesn't seem to be big news.
However, this net red on May 20, 2018 only on the Tmall platform, two weeks jumped to the top of the ice category; Xiaohongshu platform notes 4,000, sitting in the head of the food category; last year, "double eleven", which beat the foreign brand H?agen-Dazs, jumped into the Tmall ice category sales champion throne. The company's sales of ice products are the highest in Tmall. The annual out of 34 million pieces of ice-cream Zhong Xuegao, really counts as a "phenomenon".
Recently, only three years after the establishment of Zhong Xuegao was revealed to have completed 200 million yuan A round of financing. In fact, as early as July and August 2018, Zhong Xuegao obtained angel round financing with the participation of Zhenge Fund and Fengrui Capital respectively. It has also received a Pre-A round of financing with the participation of Tiantu Capital and Toujou.
With the support of capital, Zhong Xuegao's sales have increased by 300% year-on-year in the last four months. In the recent month, Zhong Xuegao also took the Tmall Super Brand Day and Jingdong Super Brand Day, respectively, became the two platforms S-level activities of the ice category sales champion, which is so far the only two super products to take the national ice cream brand.
"Being a netizen" seems to have become the way of survival for many products and brands.
How to find the right position and realize the "long red" after the popularity has become a serious and serious subject for the vigorous Zhong Xuegao.
After all, a lot of netroots companies have the same starting point, but the end is very different.
China's ice cream market, in a long time, are in a "three worlds" stage.
According to market data released by the relevant organizations, and road snow, H?agen-Dazs and other foreign brands occupy most of the domestic high-end market and part of the mid-range market; Mengniu, Yili and other mid-range products, accounting for about 45%; regional veteran ice cream enterprises, such as the street, Wuyang, as well as a large number of small and medium-sized local private enterprises to position in the low-end, accounting for about 30%.
In 1993, Unilever's Hershey's brand entered China and invested in a factory to develop ice cream production and marketing business.
The first entry into China and the snow and the use of "freezer strategy", quickly into the eyes of Chinese consumers, 6000 units of freezers to the Chinese market each year. At that time, the convenience stores and small supermarkets in the streets of China were all occupied overnight by freezers with the "WALUXUE" logo on them. The iconic red heart-shaped logo and the three Chinese characters "和路雪" underneath the heart made many consumers mistake it for a local brand.
Only six months after entering China, HERSHEY's ice cream sales exceeded 3.5 million liters, setting a record for the first year of operation for Unilever's new global ice cream company. Currently, HERSHEY's three main products in China are Kauai, which is a youthful and purely loving product, Menglong, which is a high-end and fashionable product, and Makul Lion, which specializes in the children's market.
It is the same as the foreign brands such as H?agen-Dazs, which entered China later, **** occupy the domestic market of middle-end and high-end products.
After the millennium, due to the ice cream industry products with high gross margins, China's dairy companies emerged, relying on their own milk, sugar and other raw material advantages, the use of their own sales channels and brand advantages, cut into the ice cream in the low-end market competition, and quickly among the national ice cream brand.
Yili, Mengniu, the two dairy giants in the ice cream industry has become a "rival". As long as Yili ice cream, Mengniu will certainly have the same model: Yili launched the ranch pudding, Mengniu launched pudding ice cream; Yili launched the Ice Factory, Mengniu launched the Ice +; Mengniu launched the Green Mood, Yili launched the mood of the Yili ......
The same as Inner Mongolia out of the Mengniu, Yili Ice cream has seized most of the market in the central region. Mengniu 2020 annual report shows that its ice-cream ice cream products annual revenue reached 2.6337 billion yuan, an increase of 20.6%; Yili 2020 financial report shows that the revenue of cold drink products is 4.979 billion yuan.
Subject to the constraints of cold chain logistics factors before upgrading, the domestic veteran ice cream enterprises mainly rely on offline dealers to promote, price pro-go low-end sinking route, so the regional characteristics are more obvious.
In the gap between the two giants, Mengniu and Yili, the Northeast of the Middle Street Ice, Hongbaolei and the old Dingfeng by virtue of the "milky" taste, but also seized a place. Northeast is China's raw milk production area, Heilongjiang's raw milk production once in the country's provinces ranked highest. "To do ice cream to put enough milk" this feature is y rooted - glutinous rice cake, tsar dates, in the street fruit, Harbin ice cream and other ice cream star products in Northeast China, most consumers have left a delicious and inexpensive impression.
In the hot southeastern region, Shanghai and Guangdong also have their own choices: New China's first cold drink brand Bright at that time in the Yangtze River Delta status is important, Shanghai people with Bright brand "small milk brick" pour Sprite, developed a sweet and salty salt water ice, once popular. In Guangdong, there is a saying that in summer, the lives of Cantonese people are given by Wuyang ice-cream. The parent company, Guangzhou Frozen Foods Co., Ltd. became a Nestle holding company in 1999, and the Five Sheep brand was retained for a long time as a dominant player in the Pearl River Delta region.
As a result, Bright and Five Sheep, the two representative companies of the localization route, have become the dominant players in their corresponding regions by giving inexpensive and quality products while catering to local tastes.
Looking at the growth of the ice cream giants, we can see that the brands they operate have served at least two generations. In other words, these ice cream giants have accumulated experience and knowledge based on consumer insights - which have been tested in the marketplace for a long time.
Over the past few decades, the ice cream giants have basically unchanged paths to greatness, which is to find a good product to enter the market, and then run it well. With the development of the brand, the enterprise chain shows a change from light to heavy. It is also because of the heavy assets of the barricade, became the moat of the giants.
The traditional ice cream consumption scene, appeared in offline retail stores or supermarkets wholesale. The development of cold chain logistics, on the other hand, has promoted the road of new retail ice cream. Data show that from 2012 to 2017, the market scale of China's cold chain logistics industry has grown year by year: in 2012, the market scale of China's cold chain logistics has exceeded 100 billion yuan. 2017 China's cold chain logistics market scale reached 255 billion yuan, an increase of 13.33% year-on-year. Major e-commerce platforms and logistics companies compete to increase the cold chain logistics track. 2017, Tmall helped brands basically solve the ice cream distribution problem through cooperation with cold chain transportation providers.
The gradual improvement of cold chain logistics has promoted the online consumption of ice cream, and a batch and batch of net red ice cream came out.
The veteran Middle Street Ice Point's brand Middle Street 1946 has become a net red ice cream in the past two years. Last year's 618 promotion, Middle Street 1946 ranked second only to Zhong Xuegao on the ranking of hot brands in the entire fresh food category, and ranked second in the Tmall Supermarket, with sales of 5.8 million.
Middle Street 1946 is produced and branded by Middle Street Ice Point, and the brand operator is Shanghai Shengzhi Advertising Co. Shengzhi had imitated the mode of Mardiell, planning the middle street offline store, but the effect is not ideal. 2016, it launched the middle street 1946 this new brand, focusing on the middle and high-end market, taking advantage of the east wind of consumer upgrading a hit. With the "fresh zero-added" positioning, Middle Street 1946 product pricing ranging from 5 yuan to 28 yuan, of which 13-18 yuan products are the mainstay of its sales, slightly higher than the average price of ice cream on the market.
Currently, the online Tmall flagship store of Middle Street 1946 has 1.06 million fans, and through the establishment of a "front warehouse", it has realized a 2-hour delivery service after placing an order on Tmall in Shanghai. The offline layout is mainly for the CBD of first-tier cities, focusing on thematic design, with more than 50 stores of different thematic styles.
It is worth mentioning that Zhongjie 1946's previous operator is Zhong Xuegao's founder Lin Sheng. And Zhong Xuegao is also the brand that Lin Sheng's team created in early 2018 after the expiration of the consulting agreement with Middle Street 1946.
At the same time as the big red brands seize the ice cream market, the traditional brands choose to play high. The "net red" Zhong Xuegao, who killed the "net red", has skillfully avoided the marketing barriers of traditional brand giants:
First of all, cross-border co-branding : Zhong Xuegao has co-branded and launched cross-border products with a number of brands such as three squirrels, Luzhou Laojiao, Rongwei Automobile, Xiaoxian Stew and Naixue.
The company's mission is to create a social network that is memorable for consumers.
Second is to emphasize the "sense of scarcity" : Zhong Xuegao in a very small number of Ecuadorian pink cocoa, then launched a limited edition of 20,000 "Ecuadorian pink diamonds", the same day the sale of the snapped up! The wave of social platform KOL has become the focus of discussion.
The third is to utilize the stacking effect of "healthy brand + star": Zhong Xuegao's three brand spokesmen are TF family Ao Ziyi, actress Tong Liya and Zhou Yiwei. The image of the three artists is positive and healthy, which is in line with the main health route of Zhongxuegao. In particular, the use of 17-year-old Ao Ziyi to do endorsement, but also for 00 after the market development.
Lastly, the use of KOL grass strategy : Zhong Xuegao in the early stage of the creation of the ice cream truck directly to the headquarters of Xiaohongshu, inviting the platform KOL to taste test reviews. According to public data, 83% of young consumers' purchasing decisions are mainly influenced by the grass sharing of netroots celebrities around them and on various platforms.
In this process, netroots KOLs, by virtue of their own network influence, drove the discussion of netroots products to continue to rise, and ultimately, in the overwhelming "seeding" and evaluation into the consumer's purchasing action.
Lin Sheng, the founder of Zhong Xuegao, defined 2019 as "the first year of Chinese ice cream" in an interview. In this year, big brands are constantly moving, new brands are emerging, and consumers are highly enthusiastic, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for China's ice cream industry.
According to statistics, there are more than 60 online ice cream brands in 2019. By 2020 it has increased to more than 140.
In 2020, 1.4 million lollipops were sold in the first hour of Tmall 618, and two of the TOP3 sales in the fresh food category were ice cream brands; in the same year, ice cream sales increased by 123% year-on-year on the double eleven; the total volume of China's ice cream market amounted to 123.937 billion yuan, and production and sales volume was as high as 5.0642 million tons.
From the children's market to the national snack, from the "summer companion" to the "four seasons", from 20 years ago, 20 cents a stick to today's 20 yuan a stick, the ice cream industry in 2020 has developed to a hundred billion scale, China has also overtaken the United States to become the world's largest ice cream consumption. The first time in the history of the world, the world's largest consumer of ice cream, the United States has become the first country in the world.
A few years ago, the domestic milk tea store robbed the coffee shop of a large piece of cake, and now the ice cream store also raised the knife on the battlefield. The social scene in ice cream stores gives consumers more choices. Zhong Xuegao, the ice-cream brand from the Internet, has also begun to extend its tentacles to the offline physical stores. It has entered the offline in the form of stores, flash stores and other forms, and is stationed in more than 100 cities across the country in the supermarket, convenience stores and other third-party sales channels.
The big Zhong Xuegao began to hesitate to try to break the circle. Lin Sheng has said, Zhong Xuegao 2020 online and offline have achieved relatively balanced development, "When Zhong Xuegao began to be recognized by the majority of users, we think we can go to do our refrigerator expansion work, so we took a step outward, launched the Rixiangguo, the Rixiangguo may include frozen buns dumplings pasta and so on, it is not only dumplings."
However, Lin Sheng's decision was met with skepticism from the market.
The price of a bag of dumplings was labeled at 40 yuan - 90 yuan, a positioning beyond the regular price, it is clear that Rixiangguo follows the light luxury route of Zhong Xuegao. But this time, Zhong Xuegao's new product has not attracted much attention on social media platforms - it has been on the shelves for more than a week, and the total sales volume of the official Tmall store is only more than 100 copies.
In addition to Rixiangguo, at the end of March 2021, Zhong Xuegao also launched two new products called "Apricot Year" and "Zhimei Longli", named "Zhong Xuegao's cake".
Finance Wuji believes that Zhong Xuegao's hasty entry into frozen dumplings with an ice-cream template is a sign of his eagerness to run in circles, find a new track, harvest the same wave of young people, and replicate the next success story.
But Netflix brands are most afraid of being forgotten, as one Zhong Xuegao channeler said: "Although young people like to be new and different, but there is no loyalty to the brand, you don't continue to polish the topic, they immediately turn around and go away."
Today's Rixiang country is only expensive, not new.
Whether Zhong Xuegao is creating high-end dumplings Rixiangguo or entering the dessert world, the essence is to find new traffic and incremental market. Zhong Xuegao marketing for the king's figure is still visible, which is both an advantage and a challenge. After all, not all products rely on marketing. Reducing marketing, doing a good job with the product, and reading the real needs of consumers is the more serious challenge facing Zhong Xuegao.
There is a famous theory in marketing circles about the "ice cream effect", which means that selling ice cream must start in the winter - because winter is the off-season for ice cream. The reason for this is the fact that it is the winter season that is the best time to start selling ice cream. If you can survive the extremes of winter, you won't be afraid to compete in the summer.
So how do you sell ice cream in the winter for the "Internet famous" Zhong Xuegao?
Finance Wuji believes that the concept of "health" on the article may be worth paying attention to the direction. According to the report of the relevant organizations: 85%, 76% and 65% of consumers surveyed were willing to pay for the ice cream health, quality and commodity experience upgrade. This means that consumer demand for products in terms of health and quality has taken over.
In recent years, consumers have become more and more health-conscious about their food, and even the ingredient lists of ice creams are getting a lot of attention - not only are they 100% healthy, but they're also low in calories and low in fat.
In the U.S., Van Leeuwen, which centers on vegan ice cream, recently announced $18.7 million in Series B financing. Targeting this healthy market. Netroots brand pree's "guilt-free low-calorie" series of ice cream, also used "natural 0-calorie sweetener erythritol" instead of sucrose, to reduce calories, reduce consumer guilt. With the health, low-fat ice cream market fire, the eight happy and other traditional ice cream brands also quickly followed, the launch of "0 cane sugar coconut flavor" ice cream.
Today's domestic ice cream market has been in the mode of chaos. The involvement of capital has accelerated the development of the ice cream industry, while the favor of capital is also reflecting the development potential of the ice cream industry.
Looking back at the rise of the various brands, it is not difficult to find that the net red ice cream at the product level is often more than insight, not enough standards: On the one hand, the product is not enough precipitation in technology and scientific research; on the other hand, the product production scale is small, and the quality standards are still in the groping period.
For the netroots brand Zhong Xuegao, which is already at the head of the ice cream category, the product level is still in the stage of constantly cultivating internal strength. In other words, in order to realize the long red, it must obtain the "infinite trust" of consumers.
Jiang Fan, president of Taobao, once said, "Trust is the foundation of business behavior on the Internet."
But trust is not formed instantly, and the most important thing to build trust is "time".
Netflix brands are often embarrassed when the craze dies down, and that's because they are too "trusting" that consumers will realize "all-around trust" in the brand. If the brand can focus on one point, there may be an opportunity to "turn net red into long red".