location
High-end supermarkets push "tasting" to attract customers
The reporter of Beiqing Daily recently visited the beef area of Carrefour, Wal-Mart, BHG and other ordinary supermarkets, and found that there were basically no traces of imported beef from the United States, mainly Australian beef and domestic beef. American beef is only available in some high-end membership supermarkets.
Taking Wal-Mart's Sam store as an example, the reporter of Beiqing Daily found that the price of American beef varies from 69.8 yuan to 225 yuan per catty according to different parts, which is much more expensive than domestic beef and Australian beef. Among them, the price of American sirloin steak is 199 yuan/kg, Australian sirloin steak is 155 yuan/kg, and the price of American beef is 25% more expensive. American Shangnao beef is 79.8 yuan/kg, and Australian Shangnao beef is 39.9 yuan/kg. The price of American beef is twice that of Australian beef.
Last Sunday afternoon, the reporter of Beiqing Daily saw in an interview with Yizhuang Store in Sam that the store was carrying out on-site steak tasting promotion activities. "Eight boxes of American steaks were served this morning and six boxes in the afternoon." The salesman is spreading butter on the hot baking tray, frying the large steak and cutting it into small pieces, and then distributing it to customers.
The reporter of Beiqing Daily noticed that the boxed steaks that were tried were all labeled with price tags. Each box was around 200 yuan, and the trial only lasted 15 minutes. Six boxes of steaks were tried out, that is to say, only for one trial, Sam Store provided American beef with a value of 1.200 yuan for free. However, the reporter of Beiqing Daily noticed that the experiment did not immediately drive the sales of American beef, and several American beef items on supermarket shelves were almost unattended. During the two-hour stay in Sam Yizhuang Store, only one customer took a 580g steak. This boxed steak has three pieces wrapped in plastic wrap, and the price is 235 yuan.
According to the staff in the store, in order to increase the sales of American beef, they regularly launch tasting activities, and at the same time teach customers cooking methods to attract customers to buy. "We believe that consumers still need a period of acceptance. After all, Australian beef was the dominant factor before. Once some high-end customers recognize the taste of American beef, they shouldn't care about tens of dollars more, right? " A shopping guide told the reporter of Beiqing Daily.
Regarding the sale of American beef, the person in charge of Sam member store said that at the end of June this year, Sam, as the first physical store selling American beef, took the lead in selling selected American beef in Beijing and Shenzhen, including eye meat, brisket, upper brain, steak, brisket and other best-selling parts, and the sales volume in the store was gradually increasing.
Although the person in charge of the Sam store did not directly disclose the specific sales volume of American beef, its market share of only two stores in Beijing is still not enough to show that the sales volume of American beef in the whole city has increased greatly. Text/reporter Li Jia
survey
The high price of American beef has become the main "threshold" for consumption.
The high price is undoubtedly the biggest consumption threshold for American beef after it enters China. Earlier, some insiders predicted that American beef would start a "price war" with China beef and beef from other countries after returning home. However, since American beef entered the China market, it is not the rumored lowest 10 yuan/kg, but as high as 225 yuan/kg in 70 yuan, so this uncompetitive price positioning has not made the prediction of "price war" come true.
In an interview with reporters, Ms. Huang, a consumer who has lived in the United States for many years, said that in the United States, the price of beef varies with the quality, but the average price is 3 to 4 dollars a pound, which is equivalent to about 20 yuan to 26 yuan. Moreover, she carefully compared the American beef imported from China, and it was really superior in meat selection, so the cost price was naturally high.
The information found by the reporter of Beiqing Daily from the commodity inspection department also confirmed Ms. Huang's statement. According to the requirements of China-US commodity inspection, beef exported to China by American beef producers must have independent ear tags, which can be traced back to the birthplace of cattle. At the same time, beef must come from cows that are not more than 30 months old. Cattle exporting beef to China must have perfect records, which can guarantee that they can be traced back to American-born farms or arrive at American ports for the first time. According to the analysis, a series of strict requirements made the selection cost of American beef suddenly rise, which really became the main reason for its high price.
However, does "high price" necessarily mean "high quality"? Or is it to the taste of China consumers? The fact is not so simple. The reporter of Beiqing Daily learned in the interview that the storage mode of American beef in the sales stage and the feeding mode in the production stage are also important reasons for its coldness in the domestic market. First of all, American beef is frozen and transported, which is inferior to domestic fresh beef in quality. As a high-end beef, Australia exports live cattle to China, which are slaughtered after entering the country and are fresher. "Frozen beef can only be sold separately in China after import, and the shelf life suddenly drops to 7 days, which puts great pressure on retail and the consumer experience will not be too good." The person in charge of a fresh e-commerce purchasing department revealed.
Secondly, in terms of feeding methods, Australian beef, as the main high-end market in China, is mostly grass-fed for 36 months, which is better than American beef for 30 months, and its price is about 30% to 40% lower than American beef. Therefore, it is reasonable that American beef is cold in China. Text/reporter Li Jia
visual angle
American beef is unwilling to give up the China market.
It is understood that after 20 10, China's beef market began to blowout. According to the data of the Ministry of Commerce, China imported 825,000 tons of beef in 20 16, amounting to about 2.6 billion US dollars, which was 654.38+073 times of the total import in 2003.
China food industry analyst Zhu pointed out that the beef market in China is developing to scale, brand and industrialization, because with the deepening of western-style living in China, the whole beef market in China is developing at a high speed. At present, the overall proportion of domestic beef market is that imported beef accounts for 65% and domestic beef accounts for 35%. It is understood that the main beef importers in China in 20 16 were Brazil, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Zhu believes that the beef market has great growth potential in China. With the fashion of consumption, especially the consumption of steak, imported brands are still competitive. Therefore, no matter the price reduction or variety adjustment, American beef will eventually be listed in large quantities.