Dare to tell stories!"Ice Cream Assassin" develops: cost three or four yuan markets of hundreds of billions

"Ice Cream Assassin" is the hottest topic in this hot summer. "Don't take the ice cream you don't know", it becomes another consumption pain point to hit young people.

According to the statistics of the China Green Food Association, the market size of the Chinese ice cream industry in 2015 was only 83.9 billion yuan, which increased to 160 billion yuan in 2021, which was directly turned and ranked first in the world.

Among them, a large number of high -priced "ice cream assassins" have greatly emerged. According to data from the third -party agency Ou Rui International Consultation, from 2015 to 2020, the average unit price of China's overall cold drinks rose by 30%. Among the ice cream wholesale department that the media visited randomly, there were about 145 species of ice cream, of which about 42 were more than 10 yuan, accounting for nearly one -third.

However, how do these high -priced ice creams that are more than ten yuan or even tens of yuan, why dare to sell high prices? The upstream news revolved around the "ice cream assassin" and made a comprehensive review.

Zhong Xue Gao I freezer network map

"No matter how good the ice cream, the cost is three or four yuan"

From the perspective of China's huge ice cream/ice cream market, "ice cream assassin" is obviously not mainstream.

According to the "China Ice Cream/Ice Cream Industry Trend Report (2022)", the four ice cream/ice cream brand offline ice cream market share of Yili, He Luxue, Mengniu, and Nestlé has reached 19%, 15%, 9%, and 8%, respectively. It reached 51%, and the 5th Eighti Ice Cream ranked 6%of the market share.

According to Meituan data, in June 2022, the price of cheap ice cream on the platform exceeded one million orders, and orders below 3 yuan accounted for 70 %. In the first week of July, the proportion of ice cream below 3 yuan continued to increase, from 71%in June to 75%. According to a survey by Hubei Daily, the sales of ice cream at low -end price accounts for about 60 %.

This is because the cost of ice cream is determined. This is not a kind of consumer goods that can set up high prices.

Song Liang, a senior dairy analyst, said in an interview with the media: "The production cost of ice cream is not high. No matter how good the ice cream is added with pure cream and high -power cheese, the production cost may be three or four yuan."

He said, "We have calculated the average production cost of an ice cream. If comparison in 2020 to 2019, it will increase by about 10%to 15%from production costs, but the increase is within a normal range. The price will not rise significantly. "

Ma Zhongyuan, the person in charge of the R & D research and development of Guangming Cold Drink, said that the cost of ice cream reaches a certain level, and it is difficult to rise. Basically, high -priced ice cream has a large price premium. There will be no positive correlation. "

This means that in order to create a "ice cream assassin" and increase the average price of about 10 yuan to more than 20 yuan, more reasons for premiums are required to make consumers have the motivation to pay.

Ma Zhongyuan said that now the ice cream is not only the attributes of quenching thirst, but also assumed the needs of some desserts and new tea. Furthermore, more and more ice cream also has functions such as online celebrities, social exposure, and gift rewards.

This also allows companies to load stories into ice cream and find more reasons to raise premiums.

Consumer behavior of ice cream/ice cream. Figure: "China Ice Cream Ice Cream Industry Trends Report"

Three secrets of creating "ice cream assassins"

Secret 1: "High -end ingredients" create an exclusive temperament

For an ice cream, the basic ingredients are nothing more than milk, milk, sugar, and food additives. After all, the price of these raw materials has ceilings. If the name is unfortunately packaged and storytelling the material of the ice cream, it is difficult to convince consumers to buy an ice cream with an average price of more than 100%.

The easiest way is to add some rare and almost unknown name names, so that consumers not only feel high -end atmosphere, but cannot easily track the truth of these ingredients.

Taking Zhong Xue Gaowu Dorin Diamond Ice Cream, which is up to 66 yuan, as an example, according to Zhong Xue Gao, the chocolate shell of this ice cream uses natural pink cocoa beans planted in Ecuador. Japanese lemon pomelo. This ice cream is said to only produce a total of 20,000.

Zhong Xue Gaowu Duer Powder Diamond Ice Cream Publicity Weibo Screenshot

Lin Sheng, the founder of Zhong Xue Gao, said in a video interview and said: "The cost of Ecuador Diamond (ice cream) is 40 yuan ... The entire formula came out, and I was told that it was 1.2 million tons of grapefruit. A kind of grapefruit, he is the price, do you want to love? "

Zhong Xue Gaowu Duer Powder Diamond Ice Cream Publicity Weibo Screenshot

Although there is no evidence at present, it shows whether Lin Sheng said whether the "1.2 million tons" grapefruit is true, but it is clear that this passage has endorsed the high price of Ecuador Drilling ice cream: this is an extremely rare ingredient, which is worth the price.

Upstream news review found that Zhong Xuegao was not the first company to use pink in food. In September 2017, the world's largest processor Berlielbao announced that they made ruby ​​cocoa beans into pink ruby ​​chocolates. On January 19, 2018, the world's first pure natural pink chocolate was listed in Japan, with a price of 400 yen (about 23 yuan).

Taking a net red ice cream, the grape -flavored ice cream as an example, the product publicity stated that the raw materials include "natural Qingwang grape juice", and the retail price of the network is about 10 yuan/branch. Upstream news search found that on a online shopping platform, the price of Japanese Qingwang grapes planted in Yunnan is about 90 yuan/catties. In this way, the price of this ice cream is not high. Online sales of Japanese Qingwang Grape Promotion Map

But if you look closely, this ice cream packaging will find that there are two large characters "Qing Wang" on the front of the package, suggesting that consumers are connected between this ice cream and high -end Qingwang grapes, and the small characters above are clearly stated. This is just a one. The "Qingwang Grape Taste" ice cream; in the ingredients table on the opposite side of the packaging bag, there is no thing to find something related to "Qing Wang", only the word "grape jam".

A clear king of grape flavor ice cream packaging

This simple text game greatly enhances the premium space of ice cream and has become the most commonly used packaging method of "ice cream assassin", but it also has a "inconsistent name" flaw.

On April 3, 2019 and August 8, 2019, Zhong Xuegao was punished twice by administrative penalties of 3,000 yuan and 0.6,000 yuan. The Shanghai Huangpu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau stated in the administrative penalty decision that Zhong Xue Gao promoted a light beef milk ice cream product "without a drop of water and pure beef milk". Contains drinking water ingredients, which is a misunderstanding false propaganda.

Not only that, Zhong Xuegao also promoted a red -breed ice cream product "does not contain a sucrose or sugar, and the fructose brings a more rich aroma. "It is not greasy, but the market supervision department has found that the red raisin specifications are bulk/first, and the propaganda red mention constituted false propaganda.

Secret Two: Change a mold is "cross -border joint name"

Cross -border joint names are another simple and rude way to increase product premium.

According to titanium media surveys, in the past two years, only 13 mainstream ice cream brands have at least 34 cross -border joint names. From the perspective of cross -border fields, from drinking (such as Moutai), games (such as League of Legends), tea drinks (such as Naixue's tea), coffee (such as Costa), to the scenic area (such as Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower), retail stores (retail stores (such as Wuhan), retail stores ( For example, Rosen), then go to the university (such as Renmin University of China), museum (such as the Shenyang Palace), and the "cross -border" pattern of ice cream brands open again and again.

A cross -border cultural and creative ice cream product network map

There are two main ways to cross -border joint -name "ice cream assassins". The first is the cross -border of non -food companies, mainly from major scenic spots, well -known cultural and creative brands.

Such ice creams generally do not make large articles on taste and raw materials. They mainly adopt mold innovation methods to make the buildings and characters of well -known cultural IP into unique ice cream shapes to obtain premiums. The more successful are the Forbidden City ice cream cooperated with the Forbidden City of Shenyang, and the yellow crane tower ice cream in cooperation between Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower.

Forbidden City ice cream network map

For this kind of cross -border, ice cream companies generally only need to pay an authorization fee and mold design fee, which can easily increase the price to more than two or three times the same formula taste ice cream. For example, the chocolate -flavored yellow crane tower ice cream net is priced at about 20 yuan/support. In contrast, the price of Dream Dragon Chocolate Cream is less than 7 yuan each.

Huanghelou ice cream network map

The second is the joint name of other food companies with ice cream companies. For example, Hengshun, a century -old company in Zhenjiang, has launched cultural and creative ice cream and ice cream. It has three flavors: soy sauce cheese, vinegar and rice wine. At the China Vinegar Culture Museum, these three ice cream are priced at 18 yuan/branch. The formula tables are added with 7%of rice wine, 6%vinegar and 5%brewed soy sauce. The rice cream packaging also reminds that "this product contains alcohol, please do not eat it."

In February of this year, the Six Brites of the Chinese Stock Exchange also launched two "dark" flavored ice cream, black garlic ice cream and black sesame ice cream, priced at 18 yuan each. Among the Liubangju Museum in the front gate of Beijing, these two flavors of ice cream occupied four freezers. Although the weather was not hot at that time, consumers had enlightened to check in.

So far, the most "big name" cross -border ice cream is Moutai ice cream.

On May 19, Moutai officials announced the military ice cream track and will launch Moutai ice cream. Ice cream is divided into three flavors, including green plum boiled wine, classic original flavor, and vanilla flavor. Each ice cream contains 2%of Feitian Moutai, ranging from 59 yuan to 66 yuan. On May 29, Moutai Ice Cream offline flagship store was officially opened. The sales of 7 hours of sale exceeded 200,000, and a total of more than 5,000 Moutai ice cream was sold. On the same day, in the Moutai APP, it was sold out for 51 minutes after the sales were launched. The sales volume exceeded 40,000 and the sales amount exceeded 2.5 million.

Moutai Ice Cream Network Map

It is worth noting that Moutai Ice Cream is not only selling high in itself, but now there is a phenomenon of "price increase". At present, some e -commerce platforms have derived the "purchasing" Moutai ice cream business, and the price of a cup of Moutai ice cream can reach hundreds of yuan. Upstream news saw on Taobao that in a shop showing the shipping place as Guiyang, the price of 3 cups of classic original Moutai ice cream was purchased, the price was 410 yuan, which was 233 yuan higher than the original price.

Screenshot of a purchase of Moutai ice cream product link

Secret 3: Ice cream must also be "0 sugar and 0 fat"

According to the "222 China Ice Cream & Ice Cream Industry Trends Report" released by the China Green Food Association, post -90 and 95 groups have accounted for 30 % of the overall online ice cream/ice cream consumers. In recent years, green food and healthy foods have become popular, and ice cream companies have also keenly noticed that playing healthy cards is another effective way to increase the premium of ice cream. According to the "Online Ice Consumption Trends Report", last year, the sales of low -fat products in the online ice cream market increased by 131%year -on -year, and sugar -free products increased by 128%. Xu Weisheng, an associate researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the China Disease Prevention and Control Center, said that based on the people's longing and pursuit of health, healthy ice cream with low sugar, low -fat, and clean labels will be the future research and development direction. Enterprises should develop health raw materials for research and development.

Upstream journalists search found that on an online shopping platform, a 0 sucrose ice cream is cost 158 ​​yuan, a zero -fat ice cream is 69 yuan, and even a popsicle labeled "0 sugar 0 fat 0 card" The price is more than 4 yuan/branch, "low sugar, low fat without add" is almost equivalent to "selling more expensive."

Screenshot of the link to sell 0 sucrose ice cream products

However, for ice cream/ice cream, its main ingredients are milk, milk fat, sugar and additives. Is a "low sugar and low -fat" ice cream really delicious?

Or change the way of thinking, nominal "low sugar and low fat" and delicious ice cream, is it really healthy?

In June 2022, the Consumer Daily commissioned Beijing Nutrition Source Research Institute Co., Ltd. to test the six low sugar and low -fat ice cream products including Zhong Xue's high and low sugar velvet cream cream. The test results show that whether it is low sugar or sugar -free products, it is measured that it contains 5 kinds of sugar, and even the products that are labeled as sucrose are also detected. The total sugar content is higher than that of low sugar products.

Wu Jia, a registered nutritionist and a well -known popular science writer, explained: "Sugar is a particularly large type, such as glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, and maltose. 0 sucrose is not equal to 0 sugar. "

For the "low sugar and low fat" marked on the outer packaging of ice cream and ice cream, Wu Jia said that according to the current standards, as long as the sugar content is below 5.0g/100g, it can be claimed to be low sugar products. The fat is below 3.0g/100g. It belongs to low -fat products. "Fat is a very important ingredient for ice cream. Advanced ice cream and ice cream, the first ingredients are milk, raw milk or cream. road.

In addition, titanium media once made a rough estimation of the TOP1 single -product ice cream heat data of 13 ice cream flagship stores found that the average calories of 13 kinds of ice creams included in the statistics of the statistics were about 1009.3 thousand thousands of iliac. The definition of low -calorie foods in the Rules of Diet and Food Labels, that is, is not more than 170 thousand thousands per 100 grams.

Behind the high price: many interest chains act as pushing hands

After the label of a clever name, cross -border joint name, and healthy health, a "ice cream assassin" has begun to take shape and has a high premium space in terms of price. In fact, the retail price of "ice cream assassins" is generally only about 20%-25%of the profit. In the whole process of "ice cream assassin" from design, production, propaganda, transportation to sales, all parties must be divided into a cup, and the "ice cream assassin" is further raised.

According to Yili's 2021 financial report, its cold drink business revenue was 7.16 billion yuan, and the gross profit margin was 40.27%, which was also the highest gross profit margin among its three main business. Song Liang, a senior dairy analyst, said that Zhong Xuegao, who sells for about 15 yuan, has a production cost of only four or five yuan, and the gross profit margin can be as high as 70%.

If we calculate the average gross profit margin of 50%, we can roughly see what parts of a "ice cream assassin" are composed of.

Cultural and creative ice cream cost analysis map: People's Cultural Tourism

Assuming that the production cost of a "ice cream assassin" is 4 yuan, the authorization fee is 2 yuan, the promotion fee is 2 yuan, the cold chain logistics fee is 4 yuan, and the total cost is 12 yuan.

If the gross margin of the ice cream reaches 50%, the terminal retail price is 24 yuan.

It can be seen that the cold chain logistics occupies a large part of the cost, which is determined by the special product attributes of ice cream/ice cream. The quality of the cold chain directly affects the final taste of the product. It also puts forward higher requirements for the cold chain. It can be obtained through Yili's latest financial report. The average loading and unloading fee of its cold drink products is 861 yuan/ton, which is twice that of 443 yuan/ton close to liquid milk. Zhong Xuegao also revealed before that the cost of cold chains in ice cream accounted for 46%, which was far higher than the analogy of the industry.

In addition, among the gross profit of 12 yuan, the dealer usually divides 20%, and terminal retailers must take 30%. I wonder if you find that high -priced "ice cream assassins" generally appear in convenient stores with large traffic and high rent.

Zhu Danpeng, an analyst at Chinese food industry, believes that the expensive high -priced ice cream comes from the product itself expensive, and some of them come from channel costs. For example, some convenient stores with high flow of people have high rent and labor costs themselves. Naturally, it must choose high -ping and high -turn products.

On the Douyin, there are bloggers who have developed and developed. The ice cream selling 4 yuan on the market is about 1 yuan; ice cream with a price of 11 yuan, the purchase price is 5 yuan; the ice cream price of 49 yuan, the purchase price is only the purchase price is only the purchase price of only 49 yuan. 19 yuan, a single gross profit of up to 30 yuan. Many wholesalers sell a box of old middle street pops a gross profit of only 5 yuan. The gross profit of a net red ice cream is equivalent to 300 old middle street popsicles. Low -priced ice cream is disappearing from the supermarkets and convenience stores from first -tier cities. Beijing's large supermarkets and convenience stores are basically difficult to find ice cream products under 3 yuan. According to data from the Foresight Industry Research Institute, my country's ice cream market reached 147 billion yuan in 2020, and it is expected to exceed 160 billion yuan in 2021. The market size ranks first in the world. GlobalData data pointed out that in 2021, Chinese per capita ice cream consumption is expected to reach 2.9kg, which is still gap compared with the per capita consumption of 4.5kg worldwide. This means that China's ice cream consumer market still has room to play.

The reporter learned from Tianyan that from the perspective of the registration trend of ice cream -related enterprises (all enterprises), in the past five years, more than 5,000 related companies in China have been established each year. Since 2022, my country has added more than 3,000 ice cream -related enterprises. It is foreseeable that "ice cream assassins" will not disappear, only more and more. What we look forward to is that high -priced ice cream can be renamed, rather than using some inferior text games and false propaganda. While piercing consumer wallets, we also pierce consumer emotions.

Upstream news comprehensive Red Star News, Surging News, Hangzhou Daily, Hubei Daily, Hyundai Express, Information Times, Consumer Daily

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