On the sales list of "Double 11" beverage stores in 2023, in addition to familiar old players such as Nongfu Spring, C'estbon, and Huiyuan, as well as the ripe fruits we have studied, a new player who surpassed Suntory and Genki Forest on the list for the first time has attracted our attention. 
Who is Tmall Yingbeijian?According to its official website, the Inbejian brand is a dark horse of China's local health functional drinks. Further understanding found that it took functional prune drink as its core product, and quickly stood out and entered the consumer's field of vision. What is the development of the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice category to which prune fruit drink belongs?How is the development of prune flavor products?What is the development history, products, and channels of Inbejian?
Weibo @英贝健This week, based on the relevant data in the offline retail monitoring network and the public information of Tmall and other platforms, the information station will read the "efficacy" of the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice track for you - Yingbeijian.
Overview of the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice category
According to the data of the offline retail monitoring network, the proportion of non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice in the overall beverage category has always remained at about 10%, and there will be little change in 2022 and 2023. Another noteworthy is that non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice has a certain festive attribute, and the Spring Festival is the peak of non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice sales that year, and the highest market share can reach about 15% in the festival month. 
In the group proportion of non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice categories, the CR10 (top 10 market share) group has a total market share of about 70%, and the category concentration is in the middle position in the beverage category. According to the actual business situation, the CR10 group can be divided into three tiers:Coca-Cola, Nongfu Spring, Tong.
1. Master Kong and Wahaha, this kind of group is a comprehensive beverage group with multi-category operation, which produces and sells multi-flavor and multi-type juices through its own first-class chain, channel and brand advantages
Huiyuan and Leyuan are groups focusing on the category of fruit juice and beverages, mainly carrying out the extension and innovation of a variety of fruits and product forms within the category
In the juice category, large single product groups with representative flavors or product forms as their core products, such as hawthorn drink under the hawthorn tree, apple cider vinegar under the hawthorn tree, apple cider vinegar for Tiandi No. 1, and coconut water for if;
It can also be seen from the CR10 situation that whether it is to form its own large single product through a single taste, or to extend it with the group's overall ** chain, channel and brand advantages, there are opportunities to run to the head of the category. IF is a good example, through the popularity of coconut water, IF has only run into the CR10 with the single flavor of coconut, and it is still in a growing trend from the perspective of share changes. Tomorrow's prunes, who can say that it must not be yesterday, today's coconuts?
Fast-growing "prune flavor".
Based on the relevant data in the offline retail monitoring network, we pulled the market share of each flavor product and the number of SKUs contained in the flavor type in the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice category in November 2023. Although the number of apple flavor SKUs is large, the market share of its flavor products is not as good as that of the previous flavor. 
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Although the market share of prune-flavored products cannot be ranked in the top 10 in the category**, the market share and number of SKUs of its own flavors have increased significantly from January 2022 to November 2023. At the same time, through the trough of market share in January 2023, it can also be found that the related products of this flavor do not have many festive attributes, and are more suitable for daily drinking rather than festive gifts. In November 2023, the market share of prune-flavored products in the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice category was close to 09%, compared with the market share of more than 5% of the top 10 flavor types, there is still a big gap. 
From the perspective of product innovation, prune products are also one of the most important innovation directions in the category. It can be seen that in 2023, its market performance will be quite active, both in terms of the number of new SKUs and the proportion of new SKUs in the category. In the summer of 2023, the market share of prune-flavored products is only about 0In the context of 5%, the number of new SKUs on its SKUs can account for about 5% of the category, and brands are more optimistic about the investment in this flavor product and the outlook for future market prospects. 
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The three steps of Inbejian: community, e-commerce, and physical retail
In March 2023, at an event called the National Conference of Heads of Youth League held in Hangzhou, Cui Jianjian, co-founder of Inbejian, shared the "three steps" of Inbejian's development so far: our Inbejian's savior prune juice, recommended by Wanda people on Douyin, and the sales of healthy functional drinks ranked first. In fact, this product has just been launched, we launched it in the community, and after the community got a good amount and real user feedback, we quickly pushed it to Douyin. On Douyin, we are popular on Douyin through the way of short ** matrix and big anchors bringing goods, such as Dongfang Selection, Ulala, Xiaobei Hungry, these big anchors have brought our goods. After Douyin became popular, we quickly distributed our products to chain stores and offline supermarkets across the country through the nationwide dealer system last summer. In fact, our popular style of play is relatively stable, and we will invest resources to lay down a track after we have exploded in one channel, and we will quickly invest more. When the prune juice of the big meal savior exploded, we quickly launched this family-oriented packaging and launched similar products, such as our grapefruit juice, blueberry juice and a series of family-owned products. According to the company's major events on the official website of Inbejian, the Inbejian brand was founded in 2016 and created the first best-selling product in 2018, sounding the clarion call for market attack. In 2019, in the hottest stage of live broadcast e-commerce, Yingbeijian devoted itself to live broadcast e-commerce. In 2021, its e-commerce system has begun to take shape, with more than 50 online sales stores, and the brand has also been upgraded in this year. In 2022, the company is officially positioned as "committed to becoming a leading brand of professional health functional drinks in China". Also in April 2022, Inbejian launched the current popular prune fruit drink. Win the data in the offline retail monitoring network, and you can also see the growth of Inbejian products in the retail channel. Since April 2022, when Inbejian-related products first landed on the offline retail monitoring network, except for January 2023, when the sales of Inbejian Group's products were in the same month due to the impact of the Spring Festival on the overall category**, the overall market share of Inbejian has basically been a growth trend. As of November 2023, the market share of Inbejian in the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice category has exceeded 1%.
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As the saying goes, "three years old is young, seven years old is old". The Yingbeijian fruit drink series that started in 2019 has just turned four years old, but it already has its own genes, playing methods, and market parties, and it has gradually begun to appear in products and channels.
Products: Around the core, one horizontal and one vertical
Based on the relevant data in the offline retail monitoring network, as well as the relevant data of the SKUs on sale in e-commerce and Daojia platforms such as Tmall and Meituan, we have pulled the current product matrix of Inbejian fruit drink series products on sale.
As you can see from the information station, around the popular product of 500ml bottled prune fruit drink, Yingbeijian has carried out the development of the product matrix in a horizontal and vertical way. Horizontally, as the founder of Inbejian said, it has developed a family style with "fruit + efficacy addition", forming six family flavor functional products of grapefruit + fiber, apple cider vinegar + fiber, blueberry + lutein ester, cranberry + iron, pomegranate + red ginseng. Vertically, it is carried out by elements such as specifications, packaging methods and sales channel needs, and there are currently six specifications of prune fruit drink including sets. Lutein blueberry, cranberry iron-rich, and pomegranate red ginseng are currently only available in bottled and bagged formats, which may be that the products are in the stage of just completing online verification and turning to offline retail channels. Further research on the prune fruit drink series products of Inbejian, we pulled the sales of SKUs with prune flavor as the core in the category of non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice from January to November this year, and we can see that the 500ml bottled products and 100ml bagged products of Yingbeijian prune fruit drink occupy the top three. Among them, the third-ranked 500ml bottle of Yingbeijian prune fruit drink occupies two positions in the name because of the different product names and barcodes. From the group's point of view, with the No. 1 Inbejian 500ml prune fruit drink as 1, the sales of Inbejian series products and other group's prune products have opened a big gap in the retail scene.
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This gap, on the one hand, comes from the sales of the product, and on the other hand, it depends on the quality of the product. Compared with other prune juice products, Inbejian 299 yuan 500ml, 12The price of 5 yuan and 100ml makes other products unreachable. Step by step, from the community to e-commerce and physical retail, Inbejian has become more and more mature in the polishing of prune fruit drink. In addition to products, in the physical retail channel to achieve results, Inbejian has also found its own effective "routine".
Channel: prune drink, or "health supplement"?
In fact, for the beverage category, the laying of offline distribution channels is the largest business scale, the slowest growth and the most difficult step, especially for the community, e-commerce to start with the Inbejian. Based on the relevant data in the offline retail monitoring network, the first is the overall city level composition of Inbejian. Contrary to the assumption, the price of Inbejian, which is not low, is more competitive and advantageous in the downline market, which may also be related to the background of its starting in social channels. It can be seen that in the category of non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice, the market share of Inbejian in November 2023 is ranked as: fifth-tier cities, fourth-tier cities, second-tier cities, third-tier cities, new first-tier cities, and first-tier cities, and this pattern has been basically formed. A concentrated decline in market share in January 2023 may be caused by the surge of festive factors in the category during the Spring Festival, which once again confirms that Inbejian-related products do not have strong festive attributes, which is also contrary to the traditional Xi of non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice products that attach importance to festive sales.
In the observation of the proportion of the composition of the business format, it can be seen that the proportion of Yingbeijian in each business format is in the rising range as a whole. Among them, convenience stores are in a leading position among the five business formats. When observing the changes in the business format, the share and rate of change of grocery stores are worth paying attention to, especially from February to May this year, after a very stable cycle, the rapid decline may be related to the adjustment of the distribution system and the change of mode of some regional distributors.
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In the convenience store format that Inbejian currently has advantages, we also found some details on the display. In a 711 store in Beijing, the products sold in the store are 100ml bags of prune fiber fruit drink and eye diary blueberry fruit drink, which are priced at 10$9 bag. The display location is the side shelf of the paid display (the brand pays the store in exchange for the display position), and is next to the health food sales area that needs to be independently set up for sale as required by national regulations and relevant standards. In a follow-up visit to several 711 and other convenience stores, we found that this kind of display close to the health food sales area is not accidental. In the product display of several convenience stores, the products of Inbejian are not displayed in the beverage or juice display position, but are displayed and sold next to the health food sales area. The basis for the state to set up a sales area for health food sales comes from the "General Principles of Health Food Circulation Services", which clearly points out that the business premises should be divided into health food areas (counters), which should not be mixed with ordinary food or drugs for sale, and set up a "health food sales area (counter)" reminder board, which should be white on a green background (bold), and the reminder board should be placed in a prominent position on the shelf for consumers to view. At an address in Beijing, through the Meituan takeaway app, search for keywords such as "Inbejian" and "Inbejian prune juice", and a large number of sales stores related to the product are pharmacies. According to the relevant national laws and regulations, pharmacies can also sell general food under the premise of having a food business license.
During the visit, we saw that on the beverage cabinet or beverage room temperature shelf, the net content of 500ml of fruit juice products is generally priced at about 5-6 yuan, and the refrigerated ready-to-drink juice in the low-temperature cabinet is generally priced at about 8-10 yuan. For Inbejian 10For 9 yuan 100ml products, if they are also sold on the shelves of fruit juice drinks, their abrupt ** can easily make consumers lose their willingness to buy. At the same time, whether it is the establishment of relevant standards, laws and regulations, or the notification of clear boundaries in the sales scene, the original intention of the special area and special store for the sales requirements of health care products and drugs is to help consumers accurately understand the nature of the product and choose the product that suits them. From the perspective of the brand, although it can indeed help the brand to continuously strengthen the mentality of "efficacy" and "brand premium product premium" through the in-depth connection with the health food sales area and even with the pharmacy, for general food, the behavior of "concept arbitrage" is undoubtedly a heavy harm to the brand for consumers who know the truth.
Left effect, right drink?
Through the study of non-refrigerated ready-to-drink fruit juice categories, the study of prune-flavored beverages, and the observation of the development process of Inbejian. A brand opportunity with prunes as the core, efficacy as the mind, and the lower line market has indeed been formed, and the brand is growing rapidly with the wind of taste and efficacy. However, prunes seem to be hindered at both ends as a fruit juice drink or as a functional product. We have pulled some prune fruit drink products from Tmall that have been on the market for a long time and above designated size for comparison of products, selling points, and unit prices. It should be made clear again that although all prune fruit drink products are using "puff and smooth", "unblocked", "high dietary fiber" and so on for efficacy implications, up to now, all domestically produced prune fruit drink products (including but not limited to the products in the table below) have implemented national standards for beverages, fruit and vegetable juices, etc., and are general food. According to the results of the special food information inquiry platform of the State Administration for Market Regulation, there is currently no prune fruit drink that implements the health food standard ("blue hat").
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As you can see from the table above,Prune fruit drink products have been divided into two directions in terms of ingredients, packaging methods, and unit price of 100 ml: fruit juice drinks, or functional drinks. It can be seen that in addition to the imported tiq NFC prune juice, the packaging of the two products of Inbejian and Jiangzhong is similar to that of emergency syrup or similar products, which can be taken multiple times in a single bottle, diluted with water, measured by measuring cups, etc., to limit the amount of single drinking, and strengthen the mind of efficacy. In terms of ingredients, Yingbeijian and Jiangzhong mostly complete the improvement of their efficacy by adding sugar alcohols and prebiotics, and prune juice is only a part of the efficacy. On the other hand, Huiyuan's products, whether they are concentrated reduced products or non-concentrated reduced products (NFC), only prune juice and water, and the efficacy hints in the detail page are only based on prunes themselves. For prune fruit drink, it seems to be at a crossroads between fruit juice and functional products, but for consumers, with the growth of the scale of the category and the deepening of consumer education, the product will eventually move towards one of the poles. There is both correlation and mutual exclusion between the strength of the concept of efficacy, the frequency of consumption, and the acceptance of the product.
This may be a core problem that prune products are now facing: more like drinks, losing the concept of ** belt and efficacy, consumers lack the reason to buy, and also lose the premium space for efficacy;It is more like an efficacious product, which is lost in frequency, and it is difficult for consumers to enjoy it immediately. In the retail distribution environment, a large number of health care products are displayed close to each other, and sold in special scenarios such as pharmacies, all of which are constantly strengthening its efficacy. However, as a beverage produced based on the national standard, can it carry these functional minds?If the future of the product is health food, with efficacy as the core, can it be possible to go through the compliance of the product and the filing and registration?All this will need to be tested by time.
Where is the brand equity precipitated?
The same confusing situation as the choice of functional beverages is the precipitation of brand equity of Inbejian. Inbejian only has a series of core products, prune fruit drink, and there are nearly ten kinds of packaging in the short two or three years on the market. For FMCG products to which beverages belong, the product can be continuously rebranded through seasons, festivals, ingredient upgrades, co-branding, etc., to arouse consumers' curiosity, but the core message of the product, core slogan and other brand assets should be stable to ensure that consumers can identify the product. Behind the frequent change of packaging, it may reflect the helplessness of Yingbeijian in the precipitation of trademark registration and the core brand equity of the pursuit of efficacy. Based on the trademark online search system of the China Trademark Network of the Trademark Office of the State Intellectual Property Office, we have inquired about the trademark registration of the company to which the brand belongs, Guangdong Imbejian Biotechnology *** and the related company Shandong Imbejian Health Food ***, which belongs to the company, can be seen behind the frequent change of packaging.
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Through the trademark registration, it can be clearly seen that the trademarks such as "Meal Savior", "Yijian Light Smooth", "Meal Diary" and "Light Drink" that once appeared on the prune juice of Yingbeijian have all been invalidated, and the "Meal Free Water" and "Meal Companion" used in the products still on sale at this stage are also facing the problem of rejection review.
The dilemma of the Weibo @英beijian trademark may only be an obvious problem, but what may be revealed behind it is that in the process of the brand moving from the community to the e-commerce and then to the offline, the core brand equity and effective brand "routine" have not been completed. For community products, changing packaging and even brands may be the agility and advantage of brands, but it is undoubtedly a "nightmare" for frequent packaging replacement in channels that circulate in traditional retail channels, rely on shelves, and even rely on distributors for product circulation. The high frequency of offline retail channels, high shelf capacity, and the existence of a large number of similar products have high requirements for the stability of brand core assets, and consumers need to accurately identify the product and establish a connection between the shelf and the mind, so as to be interested in the product and buy the product. Especially for Inbejian, its price is much higher than that of general fruit juice drinks, which will put forward higher requirements for brand premium support. Brand equity is essential to create a strong connection between the brand and the product, the efficacy mind, and shelf visibility.
Conclusion: The road is long and resistant
In the study of Imbejian, the most profound feeling is that this brand, backed by the ebb of the new consumption tide, still clearly knows who it is and what it wants. Although in the process of how to get it, there are some path dependence and confusion in the brand gene, but it is better not to do it than not to know what to do, and the success rate and value of "trial and error" are always higher than that of "trying the right one". Of course, there are still some critical issues that need to be addressed urgently, and time and growth may be the only answer.