"Why the ice cream is more expensive and more expensive." Behind the sky -high price ice cream: How far can the 100 billion track giant Lin Lili unicorn?

In the hot summer, the "cooling artifact" ice cream that eliminates the summer is hot.

"Why the ice cream is more expensive and more expensive", "Ice cream has to eat fruit flavor", "How delicious is the ice cream below five dollars" ... From the taste discussion to the price, this summer, consumers push ice cream to social media topics center.

The topic is hot and the business is hotter. The Foresight Industry Research Institute recently said that since 2015, with the rapid development of China's food industry and the improvement of people's living standards, the market size of the ice cream industry in my country has also increased year by year. According to the statistics of the China Green Food Association, in 2021, the market size of the Chinese ice cream industry was about 160 billion yuan, which was compared with 2015.

Picture source: Foresight Industry Research Institute

For a long time, the small items of ice cream are all oligopoly markets. Mengniu, Yili (SH600887, shares at HK $ 38.29, market value of 245.06 billion yuan), Nestlé, and Lu Xue are in a leading position in the market share. However, in recent years, with the rise of the new consumption trend, some "unicorn" that cannot be underestimated have broke into this 100 billionth road and occupy a place.

Zhong Xuegao's latest war report shows that 3 hours before the opening of 618 this year, Zhong Xue Gao Tmall's flagship store broke the sales of tens of millions, and won the first category of Tmall Fresh and Ice Cream. With the rise of new domestic consumer brands such as Zhong Xue Gao and 1946 in Zhongjie, the domestic ice cream track has shown the state of international giants and local brands.

On the one hand, it is a traditional giant who occupies an opportunity for offline channels, and on the other hand, it is a small and refined new "unicorn". How does my country's ice cream industry have evolved to this day? Why can these "unicorn" show their sharpness in the giant Lin standing? The rise of the "unicorn" brings to the ice cream track?

"Unicorn" that breaks into the track

The old domestic dairy companies, foreign brands, and strong regional brands -a strong and stable and balanced iron triangle, which once constituted the "three -legged" situation in the ice cream market in my country for a long time.

The "China Ice Cream/Ice Cream Industry Trend Report" released by the China Green Food Association and several institutions shows that four leading companies of Mengniu, Yili, Nestlé, and Lu Xue are in a leading position in the market share. In 2021, the four companies of Yili, He Luxue, Mengniu, and Nestlé accounted for 19%, 15%, 9%, and 8%, respectively. At the same time, as a strong regional brand, the market share of Bazhi, Tianbing, De of De of, and Guangming was 6%, 3%, 3%, and 1%, respectively.

Photo source: Photo Network-500461217

However, the situation of these three points changed due to the break of a group of "unicorn".

Founded in 2016, the Chinese ice cream brand "Zhongjie 1946" aimed at the high -end ice market occupied by foreign brands for a long time. Because of its differentiated natural raw materials and limited tastes, Zhongjie 1946 quickly attracted a number of new middle -class consumers. In the "Double 11" in 2017, only 4 minutes after launch, Zhongjie sold 100,000 ice cream in 1946.

After a year of spring, "Dark Horse" Zhong Xue Gao emerged. Although the average price is about 16 yuan, this tile -shaped ice cream has won new and marketing. It has made enough attention on the major social platforms, but also attracted more consumers to place orders to try. Essence

In May 2021, Zhong Xuegao launched a box of ice cream "Zhong Xue Gao's cake". This new product with a net red attribute was snatched on the day of the launch and sale. Many netizens joked that "a cake is difficult to find" on social media. Lin Sheng, the founder of Zhong Xue Gao, also mentioned this hot product in an interview with the media.

For a while, Zhong Xuegao, who had a rapid development momentum, had a place in my country's ice cream market.

Related data show that Zhong Xuegao achieved a revenue of 100 million yuan in only 16 months. In 2020, "Double 11", he defeated Hagens Das in one fell swoop, became the first sales sales sales at that time; the following year Double "11", Zhong Xuegao won the championship again. During the 618 pre -sale of this year, Zhong Xue Gao Tmall flagship store exceeded 10 million in the first three hours of the pre -sale, winning the first sales sales of ice cream category and Tmall fresh category.

At the same time, the capital was moving. Qixinbao showed that in May 2021, Zhong Xuegao announced the completion of 200 million yuan in Series A financing. The investors were Yuansheng Capital, H CAPITAL, and Wanxu Capital. Earlier, Zhong Xuegao also obtained the Angel round financing participated in the Zhenge Fund, Fengrui Capital's participation in 2018, and the PRE-A round of financing participating in Tiantu Capital.

It can be said that the arrival of "Zhongjie 1946" and Zhong Xue Gao, like catfish, changed the pattern of my country's ice cream track, and once again stirred the 100 billion market.

In response to the changes in the pattern of the ice cream track over the years, Zhu Yue, a CIC Burning Consultation Partner, told each reporter that before 2018, the domestic ice cream market occupied the middle and high -end markets by foreign brands, such as Lu Xue, Nestlé, Bazhihe Hahaha, Hahahe Haha. Gandas, etc., the overall market share accounts for about 25%; domestic dairy brands represented by Mengniu, Yili, Guangming, etc. are mainly medium -end products, accounting for about 45%; It is mainly based on low -end products, accounting for about 30%.

"After the rise of Zhong Xue's new consumer brands, it is mainly to seize the mid -to -high -end market led by foreign brands." Zhu Yue said. According to Yu Yuan, an analyst of MOB Research Institute, the top five brands in the total retail sales of China's ice cream market in 2021 are Yili, Menglong, cute, Mengniu, Wufeng, and in the most popular ice cream brand in my country, Zhong Xuegao , Zhongjie 1946 and Malline, three local new consumer brands, successfully entered the top five.

"Breakout" of new domestic brands

From the perspective of the industry, this pattern is not easy. This is related to the characteristics of the category of ice cream.

Li Yingtao, a senior analyst of brand retail, said in a written interview with a reporter that before the rise of Zhong Xue's new brand, there were also special ice cream brands on the market, but it was difficult to make bigger. "Because ice cream is indeed a small category, the size of the brand focusing on this category will be limited, and it is a category of imbalanced four seasons. For example, summer is the peak season for ice cream sales, but in winter, the operation of enterprises may have problems with problems. ","

Li Yingtao revealed that such four seasons that are difficult to balance, if the market size is not large, it will be difficult to become a category for enterprises to deepen.

This is why the ice cream track giant Lin stands.

Li Yingtao said that before, as far as the category of ice cream is concerned, it is often categories that are expanded when the enterprise has a certain strength foundation after a certain strength basis. "The reason why Yili and Mengniu can occupy such a large share of the ice cream market are mainly based on the strong and large -scale category of milk, which has achieved coverage of the ice cream market."

Li Yingtao believes that in addition to the advantages of milk categories, these dairy companies can also collaborate on channels. "Whether it is a supermarket or a convenience store, milk and ice cream are based on this channel."

In this background, a brand focusing on ice cream categories wants to rise, and he has to play a unique "breakout war". In recent years, the new domestic brand has seized the opportunity and started to take advantage of it.

"Before the rise of Zhong Xue Gao, the domestic ice cream track had formed a relatively stable competitive pattern. Therefore, it is very difficult for the new ice cream brand to enter the public vision if you want to enter the public vision with the original business model." Zhu Yue said, "Zhong Xue Gao used the Internet platform to break the original stable business model and industry pattern. Zhong Xuegao was attracted to the high price and was well known to everyone. The distance, after that, many new consumer brands have emerged with the rise of Zhong Xuegao. "

In June 2021, Zhou Bing, the co -founder of Zhong Xue Gao, said in an interview that Zhong Xue Gao changed the traditional ice product from the scene of random consumption and contact consumption to the scene of the family refrigerator directly into the family refrigerator. The brand has a lot of targeted transformations of the quality, safety, quality, and shape of the product.

Image source: Each reporter Lan Su Ying (data map)

Li Yingtao analyzed the five key factors of Zhong Xuegao's new domestic consumer brand.

"First, accurate positioning meets new consumer needs; the second is to focus on demand and create new products; third, it is a full -scale attack to create a omni -channel marketing method. There are no traditional advertisements. In addition, cross -border joint marketing is also actively carried out; fourth is that in terms of channels, emerging retail channels such as Tmall and Hema are built, focusing on the construction of new retail channels. Finally, it is based on cold chain technology technology Breaking the environment of seasonal restrictions, creating a new scene such as home refrigerators and warehousing. "Li Yingtao analyzed.

In Yu Yuan's view, the rise of new consumer brands in domestic goods is inseparable from the mature development of mobile Internet, the innovation of retail channels, and the outbreak of consumers' personalized needs. "The second is that these brands themselves can conduct fast insights on the consumer group, and meet their needs with appropriate products from corresponding channels."

However, while admitting that these new domestic brands have ignited the market heat, there are also some calm sounds in the industry. You can easily discover that the unit price of Zhong Xue Gao ice cream is between 13 yuan and 22 yuan. In June 2021, Zhong Xue Gao's related topic#在 在 在 The most expensive 66 yuan#once rushed to the hot search.

Yu Yuan believes that the rise of new domestic brands is a good way to break through, but on this road, what the brand needs to do is to make the product well. Purchase the mentality of early adopters.

"Because early adopters and repurchase are actually two concepts, the brand's" halo 'is not a long -term plan. After the freshness retreats, it will eventually return to the essence. It will really be valuable and cost -effective. "Yu Yuan said.

Behind the sky -high ice cream: new melee starts

At the same time, the intuitive feeling of consumers is that the price of ice cream has risen straight, and from time to time, "Where is the cheap ice cream?"

The reporter found that with the rise of the new consumer brand of Zhong Xue, other players in the track felt a sense of long -lost crisis, and major brands frequently made new tricks. roll".

In May this year, Mengniu Dairy (HK02319, HK $ 35.05, a market value of HK $ 138.6 billion) and Guizhou Maotai (SH600519, stock price 1951 yuan, and market value of 2450.84 billion yuan) launched three Moutai ice cream jointly created by both parties. Every reporter saw on the I Moutai APP that the three ice creams sold simultaneously online are classic original, vanilla, and green plum -boiled wine. Among them, the specifications of green plums are 78g/box, and the price is 59 yuan; the other two specifications are 75g/box, and the price is 66 yuan. Image source: "i Maotai" app screenshot

Regarding the phenomenon of higher and higher the price of ice cream, Yu Yuan told reporters that first of all, the production process of ice cream has improved, the cost of raw materials continues to rise, and the price will rise; The seasonal attributes of ice cream also determine the characteristics of low -frequency consumption. Traditional marketing methods are not applicable. Therefore, major brands will work from product design, packaging to raw materials, to brand joint names, social marketing and other directions. Some "halo" blessings, the unit price naturally increases.

"Of course, in addition, the rapid development of China's economy in recent years has also made consumers' purchasing power significantly improved. More people are willing to buy high -priced ice cream." Yu Yuan said that consumers have also taken place in the purchase concept of ice cream A certain change.

Hema said to each reporter that the survey results of the "Box Area" users show that 81%of consumers say they like to eat ice cream, 65%of them will buy them all year round, and ice cream has been used in simple summer summer heat. Ice products become one of the daily desserts. "Prices, clean ingredients, healthy and low fat" have also become more and more concerned when buying ice products.

In addition to the divergent phenomenon of "sky -high ice cream", undoubtedly, the rise of new domestic consumer brands has brought a profound impact on the ice cream track.

In Zhu Yue's view, the ice cream track has become more and more flowers. "The new brand must have its unique brand and product concept into the ice cream market. This will provide a steady stream of motivation for the update iteration of ice cream products, and also provide consumers with a broader choice space."

Negative effects also exist at the same time. Zhu Yue said that the rise of new domestic brands has increased the average price of ice cream products. Consumers may switch to other alternative products due to the high price of ice cream, such as milk shakes of milk tea shops, ice drinks, and homemade ice cream.

At present, after Zhong Xuegao holds the "traffic password" to the rise, the competition of the ice cream track is still continuing. Recently, Hema launched a box of hemp potato ice cream with a unit price of 24.9 yuan, combining net red roasted hemp potato and ice cream. Zhu Pei, a buyer of the Hema Dingdo team, introduced that in order to make this creative land, Hema found many factories in China to require both baking and cold drinks. Ice cream is injected into, ensuring that the shape of the hemp potato is unchanged and the appearance is round.

Yu Yuan predicts that ice cream will make breakthroughs in health nutrition, social attributes, edible scenes, and cultural collisions. At the same time, taste and price will still be the decisive factor for consumers to attract consumers. "While using taste as the first consideration, consumers will value more brand attributes, health consumption, and more packaging and conceptual attractions of ice cream."

"There will be more and more cross -border players of ice cream track. The wine company Moutai, vinegar company Hengshun, and car company Wuling have joined in. Whether the track will change tremendous changes in the future." Yu Yuan said.

Daily Economic News

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