Jingguantai (ID: jingguantaicn) original.
Text |Spare it.
EdRao Xiafei.
Nostalgic snacks are becoming more and more expensive.
Nanjing duck, Brazilian barbecue, fattening, fruit dan peel, figs. These snacks worth 5 cents a bag when I was a child now cost 10 yuan to choose any 7 pieces. In front of the price tag with a clear price, the post-90s girl who has been drifting north for many years silently feels "ridiculously expensive".
Of course, Silent is not the only one who has been "backstabbed" by **snacks. On Xiaohongshu, many notes that talk about nostalgic snacks are also accompanied by words such as "a bit of a pit", "lightning protection", "not cost-effective", and "sky-high snacks".
Although there are many people on the Internet who have issued the advice of "whoever buys is wronged", according to the observation of Jingguantai, there are still people who are willing to pay for their feelings and childhood, and most of the consumer groups who enter the store are mainly young people born in the 90s or even 00s.
This is not surprising.
In 2022, Crowley did a survey on young people's living and consumption Xi. According to the survey data, there are 947% of young consumers will buy snacks and drinks from their childhood because of nostalgia, and if the food they buy coincides with the taste in their memory, they will even repurchase it for a long time.
Zhou Hong is one of the consumers who have been buying nostalgic snacks for a long time. Although she is already a mother, she revealed that until now, she still often buys snacks that she ate when she was a child, and her two favorite foods are baby raccoon crispy noodles and Brazilian barbecue (a type of spicy strip), "In the community supermarket downstairs of my house, these childhood flavors are still being sold, and after so many years, the taste has not changed." ”
Nostalgic childhood flavors resonate, and more and more young people are looking for familiarity through food. According to a survey data jointly conducted by Giant Arithmetic and 36Kr Research Institute, it is shown thatNostalgia, trying new products from old brands and reliable quality have become the three most important driving factors for consumers to buy snacks and beverages
This has also given birth to the development of nostalgic snack shops.
In recent years, many places across the country have opened nostalgic snack theme stores. Taking Beijing as an example, recently, on the B1 floor of a business district in Beijing, a new store called "Lao Tianqiao Li Kee Department Store" opened, which mainly sells nostalgic snacks and drinks, and also sells glass balls, slingshots, sandbags (also called pockets in some areas) and other products that were common when I was a child, and the business is very prosperous.
Picture: Old Tianqiao Lee Kee Department Store nostalgic snack shop.
* December 11, 2023.
The Mirror Observatory was photographed at the Hopson Hui Shopping Mall in Chaoyang District, Beijing.
In addition, a number of nostalgic snack brands such as childhood shops, reminiscences of childhood, time grocery stores, and childhood have risen, and the number of stores is growing at the same time, and they are also constantly enhancing their "sense of existence".
And Wu Changfu, who is far away in Shou County, Huainan City, Anhui Province, also smelled the business opportunity of a nostalgic snack shop 3 months ago. Now that he has opened a franchise store, he emphasized that this is not only a snack shop, but also a stable small business.
However, the nostalgic snack track with traffic and income is not as smooth as it seems
On the one hand, nostalgic snacks are criticized by consumers at one end of the high premium, and at the other end are the most sensitive and picky post-90s consumer groups.
On the other hand, under the background of the attractive prospects of the snack track, many Internet celebrity nostalgic snack shops have tasted the sweetness of both traffic and revenue. This also makes more and more brands with sentimental cards enter, and the product categories are mostly focused on food and beverages, and the product homogenization competition is fierce.
In order to win the hearts of consumers and stand out in a competitive environment with the same positioning and homogeneous products, nostalgic snack shops need to spend more thought.
Offline recovery
Nowadays, with the rise of offline nostalgic snack stores, snacks and toys that have been "eliminated" by the market have returned to the public eye.
As soon as I walked into the childhood shop, I silently felt that my childhood had returned.
In Beijing's famous check-in landmark, Gui Street, I silently walked into this small store by accident, and the left and right rows of shelves are densely packed with small snacks full of childhood memories. "I really didn't expect to see snacks such as Mai Lisu, small crabs, drooling, and big oh candy. Silently sighed to the shopkeeper.
Standing in front of the shelf, silently holding the basket and selecting for a long time, most of the snacks in the store belong to the "10 yuan 7 pieces" level, which can be combined and matched at will. On the dazzling snack cabinet, I silently saw candies such as weird hand candy and CC music, as well as fried foods such as foodie spicy chips and Condor Heroes.
Figure: In-store product display and**.
* December 11, 2023.
The Mirror Observatory was photographed at a childhood shop on Gui Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing.
As I've gotten older, it's been a long time since I've eaten this kind of unfamous snack. One is that because of health concerns, I haven't eaten this fried snack in the past few years after hearing the rumor that this food is made from gutters. In addition, my current diet is more inclined to be less oil and less sugar, so I will not buy this kind of snack to eat. Said silently.
Silently is a native of the Northeast, a person has drifted north for many years, and friends who grew up together since childhood have stayed in their hometown in the Northeast, and can only occasionally maintain a salty and non-salty contact with the children on WeChat, and it is difficult to see each other. However, after seeing snacks such as Duo Tease, Sour Horn, and White Rabbit, it suddenly brought her back to when she was a child, and she remembered the little Fa Xiao who grew up together.
Although I felt that the price was a bit expensive and the snacks were not healthy enough, I silently still out of nostalgia, and finally selected 7 snacks, and excitedly patted the ** and sent it to Fa Xiao. In addition to being shocked that "these snacks are still being sold", he is also lamenting that the price of nostalgic snacks is getting more and more expensive
Captured by offline nostalgic theme stores, it is not only consumers like Mo Mo who "want to remember their childhood", but also younger groups like Tata, who has just entered the third year of junior high school, who simply want to try it, "There are many snacks and toys that I have never seen before, and I don't know how they taste, so I bought them and tried them." ”
Obviously, nostalgic snacks are not only popular with older loyal fans, but also have a tendency to expand to a younger audience.
In addition, consumers can also clearly feel that the offline nostalgic snack business is recovering. "Before, I could only buy these nostalgic snacks on **, but I didn't expect to see them sold in offline physical stores. Bai Ling said.
In **, searching for nostalgic snacks, the monthly sales volume of a Mimi shrimp cracker is as high as 90,000 pieces, and the small master simply noodles also have a monthly sales of more than 50,000 orders. Many customers have given positive reviews in their reviews, saying that these snacks have given them the taste of childhood. And this year,The nostalgic business is not only booming, but also a "good business".
In many areas, nostalgic-themed snack shops are frequent. Taking Lanzhou as an example, only the "Childhood" brand has opened 5 stores, all of which are in popular business districts. And in Beijing and elsewhere, similar stores are on the rise.
into an investment outlet
Merchants are keenly aware of the enthusiasm of consumers.
Guo Lingling is an employee of the franchise headquarters of the "Childhood Nostalgia" snack store, responsible for the store franchise consulting business.
According to Guo Lingling, the "Childhood Nostalgia" brand has now developed into more than 500 stores, more than 100 directly-operated stores, and has more than 300 franchise stores since the opening of the franchise model in 2018. At the same time, she revealed to Jingguantai that many people have recently taken a fancy to the nostalgic snack outlet and consulted her about the franchise of the nostalgic snack store.
The simple way to join, high profits, short return on investment cycle, and self-contained traffic have become the reasons why many people invest in joining the nostalgic snack businessWu Changfu is one of the franchisees.
Wu Changfu, who has been working in Shanghai for nearly 20 years and is engaged in wedding-related work, has always had a dream, that is, he hopes to return to his hometown to have a career of his own, and no longer have to work for others.
However, Wu Changfu, who was interested in the "nostalgic snacks" business, did not choose to invest rashly, "The reason why I decided to open a snack store was because there were customers coming and going at the door of the nostalgic snack store. ”
Before Wu Changfu decided to open his first store, he squatted in several stores that were also in the snack industry, "Whether this line is good or not, I will squat in the store for 10 days, half a month, or even a month to observe the customer flow, roughly estimate the customer flow and customer unit price, and then decide whether to invest." ”
Wu Changfu ran more than a dozen stores, which is the basis for him to judge whether the snack business can be done. "Because not every store has a good business, but if every store has a good business, the industry can do it. ”
Although the store has only been open for 3 months, Wu Changfu has opened a lot of snack shops in his small county. "It's also important to choose a reasonable store location, because a good location to ensure customer flow can ensure revenue. "Wu Changfu's turnover on weekdays is not stable, it can reach thousands of yuan in good times, and it is even better on festivals or weekends.
Pictured: Wu Changfu's "Childhood Nostalgia" store.
* Courtesy of Wu Changfu.
Although such a turnover is not as good as that of first- and second-tier cities, Wu Changfu feels very content. But at the same time, there are not a few people like Wu Changfu who are eyeing the snack track
Within 3 kilometers of Wu Changfu's store, two nostalgic snack themed stores have been opened one after another.
The two newly opened stores, each with the same area as Wu Changfu's house, are about 50-60 square meters (square meters). The style of the shop decoration is relatively similar as a whole, showing a nostalgic style. Fortunately, in Wu Changfu's store, there are old objects such as 28-bar bicycles, black-and-white TVs, nostalgic radios, and nostalgic old objects that have helped the store attract a lot of customers.
Compared to the other two, "we have 2000+ SKUs, and we are constantly launching new products every year. Wu Changfu remains optimistic. At the same time, he firmly believes that "the snack track is still in the market dividend period, even if there are competitors, we can achieve a certain market share and get a piece of the pie." ”
There are still many difficulties
Although selling childhood snacks has become a wealth password for many online celebrity stores, nostalgic snack stores are also facing many difficulties.
On the consumer side, the phenomenon of serious premium prices for childhood snacks is causing disgust among many consumers
Yang Yang, who went to college in Guizhou, is one of them, "In my impression, the snacks 'beef and sheep with' and 'Amber brand millet pot' are all 5 cents a pack, when I was a child, I thought I could eat every day when I grew up, but now a small package costs 5 yuan, which is too pit." Even in a characteristic commercial block like Guiyang Qingyun Market, Yang Yang said that he could not accept such an expensive snack.
On social platforms, many consumers like sheep and sheep have been persuaded to quit, and complaints about nostalgic snack shops "selling feelings and cutting leeks" have emerged one after another.
However, nostalgic snack shops don't just face the problem of "how to win back consumers".
In fact, nostalgic snack stores have generally entered the homogenization competition
Even in a small county like Shou County, the competition for nostalgic snack shops is just as fierce. In the commercial street located in Shouchun Global Harbor, in addition to Wu Changfu's store, there are two brand stores named "Hello, Childhood" and "Childhood" that are also engaged in nostalgic snack business, and sometimes have to rely on low prices to grab consumers.
It is also a nostalgic style decoration of the era, and the product categories are snacks and drinks, toys, and handicrafts, and sometimes they have to be forced to get involved in the first war. Wu Changfu said.
Jianlibao, Sunrise, Zhenzhen and other drinks are priced at 5 yuan in my store, but the other two stores are according to 2Sold at a purchase price of 4 yuan, consumers will naturally be attracted by the other two stores, affected by them, in order to retain consumers, I had to apply to the head office to reduce some products. After Wu Changfu sighed, he said helplessly.
In recent years, the snack track market has broad prospects, and new and old competitors in the industry are working hard to seize more markets
According to the "2023-2024 Research Report on the Status and Consumer Behavior Data of China's Snack Food Industry" released by iiMedia Consulting, from 2010 to 2022, the market size of China's snack food industry continued to grow, from 410 billion yuan to 1,165.4 billion yuan, and the market size of China's snack food industry is expected to reach 1,237.8 billion yuan in 2027.
In this context, new brand players are rushing to stake their ground.
Looking at the national snack track brands, new players such as snacks are very busy, adding 2,000 stores in 2023 alone. Zhao Yiming's expansion rate has also been staggering, with the number of stores growing from 2,200 to 2,500 in just two months from August to October this year.
At present, the total number of stores of these two brands has exceeded 6,500, plus the snack wholesale brands such as Sichuan and Chongqing Expensive Snacks Youming, Love Snacks, Hao Xiang Lai, and Hao Sale, the number of stores in the entire track has already exceeded the 10,000 mark.
In order to cater to the nostalgia of more and more consumers, many old brands have also been actively seeking changes in recent years, so that consumers have more choices。For example, snack and beverage brands such as Ovaltine, Jianlibao, Dayao, Weilong, and White Rabbit, which consumers are familiar with, should increase marketing efforts, or explore new use scenarios through existing products to meet the diverse needs of increasingly discerning young people.
Among them, there are also many players who have withdrawn from the mainstream market stage. "The misalignment of Shanghaojia's market positioning, the loss of China's Internet development dividends, and the lag in product updates are the main reasons for being slowly forgotten by consumers. Retail analyst Wang Yuan said.
Accurate market positioning, grasp the development dividend, update aging products...If any brand wants to "stand out" in the increasingly fierce market competition, it must climb these three mountains.
Undoubtedly, at the moment when marketing and products are becoming more and more homogeneous, the marketing method with the theme of "nostalgia" is no longer new.
For "Wu Changfu", if the nostalgic snack shop wants to develop in the long run, it can't just stare at the feelings in front of it, and good quality and fairness are the long-term ways.
Title image** in Visual China.
In the article, Mo Mo, Zhou Hong, Wu Changfu, Tata, Bai Ling, Yang Yang, and Guo Lingling are all pseudonyms.
Disclaimer: Under no circumstances does the information or opinions expressed in this article constitute investment advice to any person.