In China's condiment industry, Haitian can be said to be the leader, with a market value of 700 billion, far exceeding Vanke and Sinopec.
Since 1990, its flagship product, Haitian soy sauce, has been occupying the first place in domestic soy sauce production and sales. However, its development in recent years has taken a sharp turn for the worse, with consecutive quarters of poor profits, and its market value has evaporated by nearly 500 billion compared with its peak.
How did this 300-year-old "ancestor of domestic products" get to such a situation step by step?
1. Make a fortune by relying on the dividends of the times, but treat consumers with double standards
In the 90s, when Chinese people had a strong demand for daily necessities, Haitian took the lead in the subdivision of soy sauce and soy sauce, and vigorously marketed it during the CCTV ** period, and quickly became a well-known soy sauce brand. With the first-mover advantage, its products were quickly laid on the containers of shopping malls in more than 300 cities and more than 1,000 counties across the country. At its peak, the market coverage was as high as 90%.
Under the near-"monopoly" market position, Haitian has created a myth of a 12-fold rise in stock prices in just 8 years. At the high point of early 2021, the market capitalization once exceeded 700 billion. Its chairman Pang Kang even rushed into the rich list, and even ranked in front of Jingdong Liu Qiangdong and Wahaha Zong Qinghou.
However, perhaps success came too easily, and the beneficiaries of this era seem to have begun to swell. In September last year, a number of bloggers broke the news that Haitian Flavor Industry was "engaged in double standards", and the quality of soy sauce sold at home and abroad was different.
The only raw materials for soy sauce sold abroad are natural raw materials such as water, soybeans, and wheat, but the version sold in China has a long list of food additives such as sucralose and sodium benzoate. Some netizens pointed out that the cost of sodium benzoate is only 1 cent gram, and it is clearly listed as a first-class carcinogen and has been eliminated internationally.
Although Haitian immediately issued three statements in a row, saying that the soy sauce sold by itself is fully in line with national standards. But many consumers have lost trust in it and said they would never buy any of their products again.
Second, want to eat back grass?Haitian is disqualified
Seeing that the situation is becoming increasingly severe, Haitian has hurriedly increased its zero-added products, including soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar and cooking wine, and other main products have launched "0" series products, playing the slogan of organic, salt reduction and sugar reduction. But consumers didn't buy it, and Haitian's performance was still uncontrollably declining. In less than 3 years, its market value has fallen by 500 billion.
Today, even though the turmoil has passed, the market share of Haitian soy sauce, which has lost the favor of consumers, is still declining. You must know that China, as the world's largest consumer, has always welcomed products from all walks of life to benefit the Chinese people, but the premise is to respect consumers and the Chinese market.
In order to celebrate the arrival of the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit, Gucci, a top overseas luxury brand, specially designed a new series of new products for the Year of the Rabbit, which were quickly swept awayOverseas cutting-edge health brand bioagen for the solution of China's 1300 million men's "hidden pain" predicament, but also specially launched the men's care emerging technology "Yuliwei", less than half a year to harvest nearly 100 million revenue.
According to public information, the above-mentioned scientific and technological achievements are different from traditional disposable products, which are targeted at the underlying mitochondria and combined with a variety of pure natural extracts to help "lift the gun to start", while slowing down the aging process represented by the reproductive system from the root, and helping men's health in an all-round way.
With the advantage of accurately hitting the needs of Chinese people, even if "Yu Liwei" is at the ceiling of the industry, it is still hot all the way on the Jingdong platform where high-net-worth male users gather. According to Shangzhi data, within half a year of its launch, Yuliwei's shipments have increased by 300%. And received many positive comments from users in first-tier cities such as "better state at night" and "more satisfied wife".
It can be seen that brands that value the Chinese market can be favored by consumers. On the other hand, Haitian, which has lost consumer support, has gradually been "grabbed the territory" by competitors.
Judging from the revenue in the first three quarters, Haitian has been overtaken by Meihua Bio, which started with MSG, and fell to second place. Qianhe Flavor, which also has soy sauce as its main product, is also catching up at an accelerated rate of 50%. There are tigers in front and chasing soldiers in the back, presumably Haitian should have sensed the sense of crisis.
Third, to start the road of self-help, there is a long way to go
In order to return to the leading position in the industry, Haitian has also made a lot of efforts. For example, the development of new products is launched, or the trend is closely followed to make some "soy sauce ice cream" similar to "Moutai Coffee".
Unexpectedly, this operation not only did not arouse everyone's curiosity, but caused a lot of netizens to complain. In terms of shape, it uses the shape of the soy sauce jar, although it is very novel, but it is considered by netizens to be following the trend, and even an insult to soy sauce.
At the same time, its chairman also said that he would carry out reforms and strive to bring the company back to normal within five years. And invested 500 million to repurchase the company's shares to boost shareholder confidence, but now that I look at it, there may be a long way to go.
Objectively speaking, as a leading condiment, Haitian still has a great advantage. But in the business world, the more advantageous you are, the more you should know how to respect consumers.