Visual China.
Text |Wine Zhouzhi.Isn't the product power of Qinghua 20 a little too strong?
Three quarters, more than the whole of last year.
The 2023 Fenjiu Global Distributor Conference has just ended, and as the big brother of fragrance, the remarkable results of Shanxi Fenjiu's market expansion have been highlighted again: in the first three quarters of this year, Fenjiu's overall revenue was 2674.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2078%；Net profit 943.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3268%, both exceeding the 2022 annual report card. At this conference, Qinghua Fenjiu, which shoulders the burden of climbing "high", has a new formulation for next year's strategy: blue and white 50 is high, blue and white 40 is solid, blue and white 30 is stronger, and blue and white 20 is bigger.
However, Jiu Zhouzhi visited Henan, Beijing and other markets, and noticed that "high-end is not high" is still the general impression of consumers on Fenjiu. After communicating with a number of dealers and consumers, it was found that as the main force of the sprint to the thousand-yuan ** belt, the biggest enemy of Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition is actually Qinghua 20.
Especially since the beginning of this year, in the context of China's liquor industry's ** upside down, high inventory, performance differentiation, and frequent stock price halving, the road from 20 to 30 has not been smooth sailing.
After all, this is a battle that must be won by Fenjiu from the mid-to-high-end to the real high-end.
Jiu Zhouzhi visited terminal stores in Henan, Beijing and other places and found that on the shelves of the blue and white series, the number of blue and white 20 occupies an absolute advantage.
In the analysis of Fenjiu's 2023 interim report, Shanxi ** Research Institute pointed out that the current blue and white series has exceeded 10 billion, of which the sales of Fenjiu Qinghua 20 and Qinghua 25 have exceeded 8 billion, which also indirectly proves that Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition is still far from high-end 10 billion-level large products.
After communicating with a number of distributors and wine friends, Jiu Zhouzhi concluded that since Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition did not make obvious differentiation, among the fragrant liquors, Qinghua 20 was more popular with wine lovers because it was cheap enough and of good quality.
Most drinking friends generally react that there is not much difference between the two products except for obvious differences in packaging and **. "In terms of taste, Qinghua 20 is a typical fragrant taste, and Qinghua 30 has a thicker taste, but the former taste is not crushed by the latter. ”
In China's largest liquor wholesale market - Henan Zhengzhou Bairong Market, a Fenjiu ** merchant revealed to Jiu Zhouzhi, "At present, the first transparent, for the distillery, the higher the profit, but for the distributors, the profit of these two products is about the same, but Qinghua 20 is a big currency, selling more, mainly relying on it to make money." ”
In this regard, many dealers have a similar view. A Fenjiu ** merchant in Beijing Tiantongyuan said that although Bofen sells well, there is almost no profit, and he still relies on Qinghua 20 to make money.
A Fenjiu businessman in Henan said that Qinghua 20 is used on more occasions, such as drinking, gifting, wedding banquets, etc., as the big brother in the fragrant liquor, he can take his hands, and Qinghua 30 mainly relies on high-end business banquets.
However, in the scene of business banquets, the blue and white 30 revival version of more than 1,000 yuan is embarrassed to be applauded in the high-end bureau, and the differentiation is more serious.
In the financial and university circles, the 'serving rate' of Qinghua 30 is very high", a staff member of a commercial bank told Jiu Zhouzhi, in terms of taste, compared with the sauce flavor type and strong fragrance type, the acceptance of the light fragrance type wine is higher.
However, when Jiu Zhouzhi consulted a number of relevant persons in charge of the marketing lines of the real estate and Internet industries, they said that Fenjiu is rarely used in the spare liquor list, "unless it is the reception leader and the customer prefers this sip, Qinghua 30 will be used."
It is worth mentioning that Jiu Zhouzhi observed that the current blue and white 30 revival version is seriously upside down, with a guide price of 1199 yuan, and the transaction price can be 800-850 yuan, which can even be lower than the dealer's payment price.
From 2021 to 2024, GF***'s high-end liquor revenue is expected to increase from 166 billion yuan to 259 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of 16%. Driven by the upgrading of product structure to improve performance and compete for brand position, Junpin Xi Wine, Qinghualang, Yanghe Dream 9 and other thousand-yuan ** products have entered the market one after another.
However, when Jiu Zhouzhi visited the market, he noticed that in the current high-end liquor market, the status of Feitian Moutai, the eighth generation of Wuliangye and Guojiao 1573 is difficult to shake, and it is not easy for the new generation to climb "high".
A number of distributors told Liquor Zhouzhi that among the liquor products in the thousand-yuan price range, Pu.
Fifth, Guojiao 1573 is still a bestseller, even Moutai 1935 is almost meaningless.
To buy this ** wine, is to look at the brand, no need to recommend is the national cellar, Wuliangye, Moutai 1935 also declined, and when it first came out, it can't be compared", a famous wine ** merchant in Zhengzhou mentioned, "Jun Pin Xi wine is also OK, Qinghualang, Qinghua 30 these are slightly behind." ”
It can also be corroborated that the person in charge of the above-mentioned marketing line said that in the high-end bureau, most of them chose Wuliangye and Guojiao 1573, and Moutai 1935 was relatively embarrassing, "Everyone generally thinks that since Moutai is on, why not Moutai Feitian." ”
According to the data of Huaxin** research report, the high-end liquor "Mao Wulu" CR3 exceeds 90%. The building of brand power is not overnight, and it is not easy for Fenjiu to break through the situation at the high-end.
First, high-end liquor has the dual attributes of luxury goods and consumer goods, but the brand power of Shanxi Fenjiu is currently difficult to support the luxury attributes. Xiao Zhuqing, a wine analyst, said that the essence of high-end liquor is social attributes, but also the carrier of face consumption, and in China to form a carrier of face consumption, which requires a long-standing cultural foundation, this brand appeal requires consumer opinion leaders to continue to actively interact with the promotion, and need to promote the recognition of brand culture by the majority of consumers, so the performance growth of today's high-end brands is the realization of the value of its cultural accumulation over the past decades.
It is also an old liquor brand, and since the 90s of the last century, Moutai and Wuliangye have chosen to raise prices and go high-end, thus forming the brand value and influence of high-end liquor. Fenjiu chose to take the route of people's liquor, which has the advantage of laying a good mass foundation for low-end products, but it also leads to the fact that everyone does not have much understanding of Fenjiu's high-end products.
The Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition has just entered the market, and Fenjiu has a firm label of "people's liquor" in the hearts of consumers.
Second, limited by the process of fragrant liquor, in the eyes of some consumers, the collection value of Fenjiu is not high.
In Xiao Zhuqing's view, high-end liquor with collectible value needs to meet four criteria: the complexity of the process, the scarcity of ecological resources, the limited production capacity, and the heaviness of culture.
A liquor practitioner told Jiu Zhouzhi that unlike the process of sauce aroma and strong aroma, the fragrance process is not constrained by the cellar pool, and is usually fermented in the ground tank and porcelain cellar, with a short production cycle, low cost and high wine yield. These characteristics are advantages from the perspective of capacity expansion, but there is no scarcity.
In emphasizing the characteristics of scarcity, Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Fuxing Edition proposes the "1022" process - the base liquor stored in Yixing pottery jars for more than 10 years has a fermentation cycle twice that of ordinary Fenjiu, and is only produced in the two oldest workshops. It's just that judging from the upside-down situation, the market doesn't seem to be buying.
It is worth mentioning that there is a school of opinion in the industry that if the fragrant wine is stored for a long time, it will reduce the ester and increase the acid, which will affect the quality, so many people have doubts about whether the Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition will maintain and increase its value, which will also affect its collection value.
Third, due to the volume, the consumer groups of the fragrance type in the national market are still few, and the depth of cultivation still needs to be improved.
According to Nielsen data, a research agency, from 2020 to 2022, the proportion of light-flavored liquor in the sales of supermarket liquor in the country was .2%。It can be seen that there is still a lot of room for growth in the market of fragrant liquor.
In the eyes of many industry insiders, in the high-end liquor market of 1,000 yuan, the quality of liquor is no longer important, and for liquor companies, it is the brand power and consumer recognition, mainly the recognition of high-net-worth people such as leaders and bosses.
As the main product of Shanxi Fenjiu to sprint to the high-end market, there is still a long way to go whether the Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition can break through. First, it is necessary to strictly regulate the market, put an end to the chaos of cottage Qinghua Fenjiu cottages, and protect the brand moat of Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition.
Liquor Zhou Zhi noticed on various e-commerce platforms that some merchants sell the so-called blue and white Fenjiu 30 revival version, the similar appearance makes it difficult to distinguish between true and fake, a box of ** is only three or four hundred yuan, the above-mentioned Tiantongyuan dealers said that there are indeed some copycats on the market, if the ** is too low, you must pay attention to the authenticity of the problem.
In the liquor industry where the brand is the moat, the brand value can be said to be the "lifeline", and Shanxi Fenjiu should pay attention to the above-mentioned copycat phenomenon. After all, the fake liquor and OEM chaos of the year not only made it fall from the identity of "Fen Boss", but also seriously damaged the brand of Fenjiu, "The trust system of consumers has been impacted, although Fenjiu has continued to develop the high-end market over the years, but it will take time to repair the brand." An industry insider said. Second, the high-end road of Fenjiu is broken, in fact, it is necessary to tell the story of the high-end value of fragrance.
Compared with the financial characteristics of soy sauce liquor, the higher the vintage, the more valuable it is, and the strong aroma liquor emphasizes "thousand-year-old cellar and ten thousand years of dregs", Shanxi Fenjiu needs to sort out the technological connotation and historical connotation of Qinghua Fenjiu 30 Revival Edition. Xiao Zhuqing told Jiu Zhouzhi that China's major high-end famous liquors continue to cultivate and consolidate consumers' psychological price expectations, continue to cultivate the brand awareness of designated high-end liquor among target consumers, and attract more high-net-worth individuals to become fans of designated brands. Consumers are willing to spend more money to enjoy more brand value, and realize the need to realize self-worth through face consumption.
Third, with the help of the comprehensive operation and marketing of the circle, high-net-worth individuals and brands will be formed.
Xiao Zhuqing believes that the core of building a brand is to form resonance and empathy with the brand in the hearts of the target consumer group, and establish or consolidate trust with the brand in the hearts of the target group. The strong resonance between the core value of the category and the mainstream consumer demand is an opportunity for the development of liquor brands.
Ma Fei, a brand management expert and chairman of Jiudu Intelligence Group, once pointed out that the marketing of high-end fragrance products should follow the core circle marketing, focusing on scarcity, and working high-end experience, tasting, and membership system; Make a fuss about the high-end resource communication of the brand that focuses on breaking through the high-end crowd, occupy high-end communication resources, and do cultural communication.
In the competition in the stock market, improving profitability by promoting high-end is the same problem facing wine companies. For Shanxi Fenjiu, it may only be possible to carry out a major change from top to bottom and from the inside to the outside in order to establish a high-end image.