China's ice cream rivers and lakes are getting more and more chaotic

Big brands such as Yili, Mengniu, He Luxue, and Nestlé have competed for many years, and have formed a relatively stable market pattern. In recent years, Zhong Xue Gao's endless Internet celebrity brands and cross -border brands have made cold drinks change. With the help of social grass and traffic dividends, the new brand relying on the concepts of "high -priced and high quality" and other concepts, on the one hand, it will cause the peers to be jealous, and on the other hand, it should also face the more discerning eyes of consumers. It became the top priority.

Author 丨 Qi Minqian

Edit 丨 Zhang Xiangyang

As a flat daily consumer product, this summer, ice cream set off a wave of huge waves.

First, the "ice cream assassin" was spit, and then netizens began to "protect" low -cost snowdrops. Soon after, Zhong Xuegao was searched by netizens because of the next hour of 31 degrees room temperature and burning.

According to the differences in protein, fat content, and form, my country's frozen drinks mainly include ice cream and ice cream. Throughout my country's frozen drink industry, since the 1990s, it has become more and more rolling. In a round of competition, the industry has gradually entered the "Giant Age", and some of the local companies that accompany us have become foundries, and some have fallen directly.

In 2018, the wind of the Internet celebrated in this industry, Zhong Xue Gao's brand appeared successively; the scenic spot began to launch cultural and creative ice cream. This year, even Moutai, Hengshun Vinegar and other companies have begun to make ice cream and ice cream cross -border.

While they brought their vitality to this traditional industry, they also became more and more chaotic.

01 The simple age of cold drinks

When it comes to my country's freezing drink industry, the "Guangming brand" cold drink produced by Shanghai Yimin Food Factory is the originator of the originator. In 1950, the Yimin Food Factory officially launched the "Light" brand of cold drinks, becoming the first national brand in my country's cold drink market.

The predecessor of the Yimin Food Factory was Haining Ocean Xing, founded by American merchants. The ice cream and other products produced by this factory have a quite unrestrained name- "Beauty card". Relying on the advantages of technology and funds, the "beauty card" once occupied 70%of my country's cold drink market.

When the bright cold drink was launched, in order to open the popularity, Yimin Food Factory not only advertised in the newspaper, but also took the employees to open the street with a large truck with a large horn to promote the "Guangming card" on the streets of Shanghai. Singing a big show is also a means of publicity they have used.

Relying on the profit -making and closer of the mass line, the Guangming brand became the brand with the highest cold drink market in my country at that time.

With the "Guangming" cold drinks, there are a large number of state -owned cold drink factories. At that time, because the cold chain and transportation were not well developed, and the ice cream regional was obvious, almost every place had its own brand.

For example, the five sheep cards in Guangdong, Beijing's Arctic Ocean Double Stick Ice Cream, etc. Among them, the 504 ice cream in Gansu is more special. Its producer is not a cold drink factory, but a nuclear factory that produces nuclear fuels.

In the age of state -owned cold drink factories, there are not many varieties of ice cream, ice cream, and beef on the market. People eat ice cream mainly to cool down the heat. Both products and marketing are relatively simple.

However, with the entry of foreign brands such as Wheeline and the development of the market economy, my country's ice cream and ice cream industries have begun to survive, and then become more and more rolling.

02 Giant's victory

In 1994, the convenience stores and small supermarkets at the streets of Shanghai and Beijing suddenly used the snow -white ice cabinets printed with "Hexue" and "Wall's". Some places even had the same parasol. He Lu Xue is gradually becoming familiar with Chinese consumers.

The "freezer strategy" successfully opened the market and Lu Xue opened the market. In 1996, Hetu Xue, who entered the Chinese market for only two years, has a market share of 18%.

How hot was He Xue at that time? Li Wei, the actual controller of Qianwei Central Kitchen, and the founder of the food, rely on the total sales of Henan, who made Henan, and Lu Xue. In 1996, he earned the first 1 million in life.

When He Xue developed rapidly, it was the time when my country's market economy was gradually active, and the income and consumption capacity of residents were rapidly increasing. The ice cream and ice cream industries are no longer the world of state -owned cold beverage factories. A large number of brands such as Tianbing in Henan, Jilin's Hongbaolai, etc. began to show.

In Inner Mongolia, Yili also began to force the ice cream market. In 1996, the Illi Group's frozen food company appeared to be greater than that. Niu Gen Sheng, then the general manager of the frozen food company, thought of expanding the market outside the country.

(Niu Gen Sheng)

Niugen Sheng's strategy is to use the fist product "Yili Bud Coffee" to drive the sales of other products, and the northeast of the popsicle in winter is his best market. In order to open the market, Niugen Sheng proposed to invest 2 million yuan in advertising fees. This was simply incredible at the time, and even his subordinates felt that it would be unknown whether sales can reach 2 million.

Next, Yili not only advertised in TV stations in Heilongjiang Province and Harbin, but also engaged in promotional activities and expanding channels. Those who are unwilling to sell Yili products will leave 5 ice cream in the store for free.

After this set of movements, Yili Bud Coffee naturally became hot. The price increased 3 times a month, from 0.65 yuan to 0.85 yuan.

In addition to He Xue and Yili, Nestlé is also the "big player" of the ice cream and ice cream market in my country. Since 2000, the competition between the three companies and the entire industry is becoming more and more fierce, and a number of local small companies have gradually been eliminated.

Price, products and channels are the focus of competition between cold drinks. In addition to advertising, the price war is also used to it. Foreign -funded brands like Lu Xue and Nestlé have followed high -end routes. Since 1998, these two companies have played a big price war than "price reductions".

At the same time, the demand for ice cream with the drums of pins has also changed from the original simplicity of cooling heat to leisure. This requires manufacturers to have more new products, whether it is taste or color and shape, it must be enriched.

The competition for channels is a "blood battle" of swordsmanship.

From the perspective of large -scale, only large enterprises have the capital strength to build factories nationwide or to merge small enterprises directly in various places to lay their products to a wider market. At that time, He Xue and Nestlé had merged many cold drink brands in our country. One of the more famous one was Nestlé that merged Wuyang, which was very influential in Guangdong, and directly caused Ho Lu Xue to become the sales boss of the Guangdong market.

Specific to smaller channels, dealers and retail stores are also the focus of each competition. With the siege of the two major brands of Heli and Luo Xue and Castle, Yili has become the number one ice cream and ice cream brand in my country's market share today. To a certain extent, it depends on channel advantages.

Li Liang is the dealer of Yili ice cream. He told the city that Illi has more discounts to dealers than other brands. "Products for activities, dealers get more than 200,000, return to 80,000, and gifts."

Not only that, and Lu Xue's "freezer strategy" was also "learned" by Yili "blue is blue". According to Li Liang, his city, retail stores rarely see He Lu Xue's freezer now, which are basically used by Yili for free to merchants.

It is difficult to develop new products and expand channels. Around 2000, Hetu Xue spent more than 100 million yuan a year for new product R & D and promotion. After entering the Chinese market for 9 years, He Xue lost 1.2 billion, which is a typical example of losing money to change the market.

For some small companies, it is not enough to develop new products for selling low -cost ice cream, and naturally it is slowly eliminated by the market. Even the Yiminyi Factory couldn't hold it. Before 2009, due to the layout of the national market and other reasons, the annual average loss was 50 million yuan.

Taking the Shanghai area as an example, there were more than 130 cold drink manufacturers in Shanghai in 1994 to only 26 in 2012. Under the fierce market competition, the giant came to the end.

According to the "China Ice Cream/Ice Cream Industry Trend Report (2022)", Yili, He Luxue, Mengniu, and Nestlé's offline ice cream market share reached 19 %, 15 %, 9 %, and 8 %, respectively, occupying the top four positions in the industry, respectively, occupying the top four positions in the industry. Essence

What did the 03 net celebrity brand bring?

In 2018, Zhong Xuegao was established. At that time, the "Ecuador Pink Diamond" ice cream of the 66 yuan "Ecuador Diamond Diamond" of Zhong Xue Gao came out.

Zhong Xuegao stimulated the entire industry. Internet celebrity brands have emerged endlessly, and cultural and creative ice cream has now become the standard of many attractions; brands such as Maotai and Hengshun Vinegar have also begun to make ice cream and ice cream cross -border; in the summer, many brands have piles with cold drink companies.

The flat and unpretentious ice cream has changed, becoming an Internet celebrity and traffic.

Big brands such as Yili and He Luxue have been competing for many years, and they have formed a relatively stable market pattern. Foreign brands such as Helu Xue have an advantage in high -end markets and Illimon cattle have advantages in the public market; low -end markets are mainly local brands that survive.

The endless Internet celebrities and cross -border brands stirred the cold drinks and lakes, making the relatively calm lake began to rush.

In the opinion of Dairy experts Song Liang, the entry threshold for ice cream and ice cream industry is low, coupled with the high growth of the industry in recent years, and the high gross profit margin of the industry itself, it is the main reason for attracting online celebrity brands and cross -border brands.

According to the statistics of the China Green Food Association, the market size of my country's ice cream/ice cream industry in 2015 was 83.9 billion yuan, and it is expected to increase to 160 billion in 2021.

From the changes in Yili's cold drink business income, it can also be seen that the rapid development of the cold drink market can be seen.

From the perspective of gross profit margin, the gross profit margin of Yili Cold Beats is basically maintained between 40%-50%, while Yili's core liquid milk business gross profit margin is only about 30%. Zhang Huan, who runs an ice cream production factory, also told the city that the basic gross profit margin of the manufacturer is generally about 50%.

In addition to optimistic about industry prospects, big brands such as Moutai and Hengshun Vinegar industry have different purposes. "Moutai may be to attract young people. Other brands may want to use ice cream to attract traffic to promote, or test water fast -moving channels." Song Liang said.

These endless online celebrity brands bring the more and more serious inner rolls to the ice cream market, but the existence of Zhong Xue's high brands also allows them to achieve a high -end layout.

Li Liang has been an ice cream dealer for seven or eight years. More and more brands and products have not affected his sales and income. However, the competitive pressure that the brand feels has also brought him a lot of trivial matters.

For example, the freezer provided by Yili to retail stores. If Zhong Xuegao's goods appear, there must be Yili's high -end products. This forced a dealer like Li Liang to inspect the retail store himself.

Although the competitive pressure is high, with the role of Zhong Xuegao's "role model" in the high -end market, Yili and Mengniu have launched high -end and ultra -high -end products.

For Zhang Huan's small factory, many foundry models used by cultural and creative ice cream and net red ice cream, which provides him with opportunities. "In recent years, our orders have been significantly more." Zhang Huan said. Compared with the impact of ice cream and ice cream industry, the appearance of Zhong Xue's high -end high -end brand has a greater impact on consumers. Among them, the price is getting higher and higher, which is the most obvious change in consumers.

Ice cream dealer Dai Sheng believes that the ice cream bought by consumers is getting more and more expensive. It is not because the manufacturer does not produce cheap ice cream, but because retail stores are unwilling to sell cheap ice cream.

"The profit margins of low -end ice cream and high -end ice cream are actually similar. Channel vendors earn 20%, retailers earn 30%, so channel vendors goes volume, so all products need to be, retailers are relatively fixed, and they can only pursue profit on a single root more. Make money. Selling a high -end ice cream may earn 3 yuan, and even one piece of low -end can not make a profit. "Dai Sheng explained.

From the perspective of production, Zhang Huan believes that ice cream is becoming more and more expensive. On the one hand, various costs are rising; on the other hand, consumers' requirements for quality are also rising, and the more small factories, the less factories can rely on production of low -end products to survive. "The production cost of small factories is definitely higher than the large factory, and there is no advantage in naturally.

When high -end products occupy more and more production factories and channels, low -cost ice cream is naturally not common.

In fact, it is no longer a new topic for ice cream. This year's "ice cream assassin" and Zhong Xuegao aroused consumers' dissatisfaction, nor because of the price.

In 2019, Zhong Xuegao was punished twice by the market supervision department for false propaganda, once because of a product that claims to "not add a drop of water", in fact, it contains drinking water. Bullet/level.

"The price is just one aspect. The more important thing is that Zhong Xue Gao is so expensive and promotes his own raw materials so well, but before the raw materials such as red titles over the car, it made me feel that there was a deception, the IQ tax was received. Feeling. "Consumer Qian Meng said.

Lin Sheng, the founder of Zhong Xuegao, was born in advertising marketing. Like all new consumer brands, Zhong Xuegao is also very good at marketing. For brands, marketing is a good thing, but it is also a double -edged sword. In the past few years, Zhong Xuegao has been hit hard by the concept of "high quality, high price". On the one hand, it will cause the peers to be jealous. On the other hand, it should face the more picky attention of consumers. At this time, the quality of the product becomes the quality of the product. The top priority.

Li Liang told the city boundary that after Zhong Xue Gao's frequent search, some of their local supermarkets were preparing to get off the products of Zhong Xue Gao. A series of incidents this year also counted the alarm bells for the fiery Zhong Xuegao and the cold drink industry.

(Li Liang, Dai Sheng, Zhang Huan, and Qian Meng appeared in the article are all pseudonyms)

Main reference materials:

"The Glory of Ice and Snow -Yili Bing Cream Northeast Marketing Miracle Review", grassland taxation, Han Ming

"Hetu Xue: Open the Mystery of the Chinese Market", international market, Lu Jing

"Analysis of the Development of Bright Cold Drinks", Ma Ying

(Except for the sources alone, the above pictures are from Visual China)

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