Text|Win the Intelligence Station now.In 2023, as the first year of the recovery of the consumer market, product innovation and group competition in various categories have also returned to the "fast lane". What are the product innovations and changes in the development of the beverage market in the past year?In the midst of change, which brands are taking advantage of the momentum and which brands are standing?
Based on the data in the offline retail monitoring network, we will conduct a survey of the beverage market in the past year (2022.) this week and next week12-2023.11) The performance of new products and the pattern of hot categories are inventoried. This week, we will sort the sales of new beverage SKUs launched during the period from December 2022 to November 2023, and take the top 100 SKUs for classification, market share, and product characteristics. Next week, we will take stock of the group pattern and category highlights of hot categories.
It should be noted that:
The inventory of new products is not the same, so the inventory of SKUs on the list has a long time on the market, high sales, short time to market, low sales of the objective situation, inventory more hope to show the new SKUs in various categories, not to the actual sales between products and categories and the scale of comparison for the purpose;In the list, there is a single product with multiple barcodes (69 yards) on the list, and the reason for the emergence of one product and multiple codes may be different sales channels and sales methods. We will treat products with the same product name, the same specifications, but different barcodes as the same product. Therefore, although the list of TOP100 new products pulled is 100 SKUs (barcode dimension), a total of 94 products actually participated in this inventory after deduplication and mergerAll the data of this year-end inventory are from the offline retail monitoring network, which currently covers hypermarkets, supermarkets, small supermarkets, convenience stores, grocery stores, and in-depth coverage of core urban agglomerations across the country, with a total coverage of more than 60,000 points. At present, the retail database contains more than 300,000 brands on sale, more than 14 million product barcodes, and more than 5 billion orders per year.
Annual New Product OverviewFor food and beverage, the product may have several years or even decades of development process from the market to become a large single product, and today's categories and group patterns are precipitated by years or even decades of accumulation, and similarly, today's innovative products may also become a "new trend" that affects the future category and group pattern.
Judging from the distribution of new products on the list for various purposes, the hottest new category of the year is undoubtedly ready-to-drink tea. Ready-to-drink tea ranked first with the number of 25 products on the list, which means that ready-to-drink tea is in an absolute leading position in terms of the number of product innovations, as well as the performance and activity of innovative products. Non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice and milk drinks are in the second echelon, and the number of products on the list is new, and there are many innovative products and a certain degree of activity. The third echelon is composed of ready-to-drink coffee, ready-to-drink milk tea, sports drinks, and carbonated drinks, and the number of new products on the list is around. The rest of the categories are relatively ordinary in terms of the number of innovative products and the activity of new products.
From the perspective of specifications, among the TOP100 new products, the number of SKUs with 400 555ML has reached half of the total, reaching 47, of which 500ML occupies an absolute advantage. Secondly, in the category of 100 360ml small size packaging, there are 24 SKUs, and there are 23 corresponding 600 2300ml large size packaging new products. Although there is little difference in size and size in terms of quantity, the distribution is quite different when you look closely. As can be seen from the figure, most of the new large-scale products are 1000ml, but the concentration of small-sized specifications is lower, only within the range of 250ml, there are 12 different specifications, compared with conventional specifications and large specifications, small-sized products show stronger diversity and possibilities.
From the group's point of view, Coca-Cola still retains its superior innovation vitality, and has successfully launched 16 TOP100 new products in the past year, including a series of new products such as Costa, which have achieved excellent results. Command.
1. Enterprises such as Yuanqi Forest, Pepsi Cola and Master Kong have continued to make efforts in the launch of new products, and have also performed well with their multi-track layout. And if, Yingbeijian and other companies rely on the explosion of a single product to successfully make the list. In the beverage innovation in 2023, it can be seen that innovation above scale is more willing and attractive to traditional beverage brands, and traditional beverage brands have their own rhythm for metabolism, as well as a more feasible and stable mechanism.
Judging from the distribution of the annual TOP100 new products, there are still a considerable number of products in the ** band of more than 5 yuan due to the inclusion of large-scale products. Consumers' acceptance of beverage products is still in the range of 3-10 yuan. Compared with the "** products" that have repeatedly hit new highs under the new consumption wave in previous years, the ** products in 2023 are more difficult to run out of scale, and there are only 8 new products on the list in the 10-20 yuan ** band, accounting for less than 10% of the overall 100 SKUs. At the same time, limited by the cost of raw materials, labor and channel costs, the number of products below 3 yuan is only 8, accounting for less than 10%.
Judging from the launch time of the annual TOP100 new products, most of the new products have chosen to be launched in the first half of the year, and are concentrated between February and April, with the intention of catching up with the upcoming summer, which is also the peak season for beverage sales in the traditional sense. From July to November, most of the new products are products with good hot drink characteristics, such as ready-to-drink milk tea, tea and plant-based beverages suitable for hot drinks, traditional Asian beverages, and ready-to-drink coffee, etc., in preparation for the hot beverage retail market in the coming winter.
The first echelon: ready-to-drink tea categoryIn the ready-to-drink tea category of the first echelon of new products of the year, all groups with mature ready-to-drink tea products have new products on the list. The innovation of the three groups in ready-to-drink tea this year, with 4 products entering the list. As a relatively "cutting-edge" brand, it has shown its strength in product innovation and product operation, and it is not easy to stand out from a group of traditional players. Suntory has 3 products on the list, and Coca-Cola, Heytea, Chaxiaokai, and Yuanqi Forest have 2 products on the list.
Another point that can be seen is that although the sugar-free and unsweetened products in ready-to-drink tea are in the limelight this year, there are still a large number of sugary products in the list of new products, such as lemon tea, fruit tea, etc., which are traditionally more mature. Under the prevalence of sugar-free and sweet-free products, the improvement of sugar-free products is still valued by consumers and concerned by brands. In the future, after the trend of sugar-free and sweet-free ready-to-drink tea tends to level off, the improvement of high-sugar products such as traditional iced tea and fruit tea may become one of the future growth points of the category.
From the perspective of new product share, most of the new products on the list are listed in the month and reach the peak of new product growth in the summer. It can be seen that the market share (sum) of the annual new products in the ready-to-drink tea category was stable at about 5% when the beverage market first entered the peak season in June, and continued until November.
The second echelon: non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice and milk beverage category In the second echelon, the first is also one of the hot categories this year, and the new products in the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice category are on the list. From the group's point of view, Huiyuan has the largest number of new products on the list in this category, with three products on the list, all of which are 100% compound juice products, and all of them are large-scale products. The second is Coca-Cola and Master Kong, which have two new products on the list, Master Kong is on the list with the large and medium specifications of the innovative vitamin C concept product Citrus C Storm, and Coca-Cola is on the list with the new specifications of fruit oranges, providing diversified choices in specifications is also one of the demand trends of consumers in recent years. The second group on the list includes Haifan's compound juice, IF's new coconut water, NEVER Coffee, two lemonades of Uni-President, as well as products from Hengtai and Cestbon. Last week, we introduced Yingbeijian prune juice 100ml, which was the only new prune flavor on the list.
From the perspective of the market share of new products in the category, compared with the ready-to-drink tea category, the new products of the non-refrigerated ready-to-drink juice category were launched later in April-May, and the market share of the new products was not as good as that of the ready-to-drink tea category, which was only stable at about 3% of the category share.
In the dairy beverage category, Mengniu topped the list with three new products, namely the new flavor of Youyi C and the two new flavors of real fruit grain flower and fruit milk. Wahaha, Yili, and New Dairy (New Hope) each have two products on the list, and Junlebao and Generation Ecology each have one product on the list. Among them, New Hope's new products this year are more typical, and the two milk drinks are based on taro paste as the core selling point of the product. Taro paste flavor used to be more active in freshly made milk tea and freshly made pastries, and now new products that perform better in pre-packaged foods have appeared, and there may be room for further growth in the future.
From the perspective of the market share of new products in the category, the overall market share of new products in the dairy beverage category is relatively low, and the peak in May is less than 2% after the launch of new products in March and April.
The third echelon: ready-to-drink coffee, ready-to-drink milk tea, sports drinks, and carbonated drinks compared with the various items of the second echelon, and the number of new products on the list of ready-to-drink coffee, ready-to-drink milk tea, and sports drinks in the third echelon is mostly in 6-7 products. In the ready-to-drink coffee category, Coca-Cola's Coca-Cola series products this year have achieved very good performance, and the excellent results achieved by this series of products in China have been "named and praised" by the CEO of Coca-Cola Company at the third quarter of this year's financial performance meeting, which is indeed true from the perspective of new product data. Of the seven new products in the ready-to-drink coffee category, five are from the Coca-Cola Casena series, with latte and mocha products ranging from low-sugar and regular products, as well as mixed flavors such as nuts, coconut and vanilla. In addition to the Costa series, Nestle and Weiquan each have one product on the list.
From the market share of the new product category, we can also see the development trend of the new product series represented by Costa in the category. It can be seen that the growth of new products has started in February 2023, and will basically remain in the range of 2%-3% of the category share in the summer. Due to the strong adaptability of ready-to-drink coffee to hot drinks, as the temperature across the country cooled in August and September, the share of new products in the category ushered in a new peak, and reached a peak of more than 6% in October. Although it fell back in November, it also remained above 5%. Although the Costa series will no longer be a "new product" in the next year, its strong market performance is still worth looking forward to.
In the ready-to-drink milk tea category, the Coca-Cola family series also topped the list with three products, all of which are light milk tea, with fruit + tea + milk as the core component of the product. After this year's renewal, Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea not only lowered the product belt from about 10 yuan to about 6 yuan, but also adjusted the whole series of products to low-sugar formulas, and the Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea has also achieved good results after the adjustment of the product and the first belt. In addition, Master Kong made the list with a new Dahongpao milk tea.
In terms of the market share of new products, similar to ready-to-drink coffee, the new products of the ready-to-drink milk tea category basically maintained a market share of about 2% in the summer, and due to the adaptability of hot drinks, it has ushered in rapid growth since September. As of November 2023, the market share of the category accounted for by the new products has reached about 9%, which has formed a certain scale in the category, and some changes have been formed to the traditional pattern of the category, making people look forward to the performance of the new products in the following months this winter.
In the sports drink category, the most popular concept is still electrolyte products, and the products on the list are basically electrolyte concept-related products. Among them, Dongpeng and Suntory each have two products on the list, namely Dongpeng's new electrolyte drink series products this year, Dongpeng Hydration, and Suntory's water power electrolyte series productsGatorade and Haizhiyan are two large-scale products with 1L on the list. In contrast, after the launch of the pulsating electrolyte drink this year, the market feedback was relatively average, and the products on the list were only grapefruit-flavored electrolyte sports drink products.
In terms of the market share of the new products on the list, the new products started from about the month, got a great growth in the summer from April to August, and reached a peak of more than 6% market share in September. It is worth noting that from September to November, the share of new products did not decline significantly, which shows that in sports drinks, the efficacy and functionality of new products in the category dominated by the concept of electrolytes are becoming stronger and stronger, and the influence of the season is also lower than that of traditional summer ice drinks.
Among the new products on the list in the carbonated beverage category, Liangle still occupies an absolute advantage in the number of new products on the list, with three products on the list each. Among them, Coca-Cola is on the list with strawberry flavor, League of Legends co-branded limited flavor, and Sprite's 1982 retro flavor, all of which are new flavor extensions of the traditional Coke and Sprite product lines. Pepsi is on the list with the new sugar-free product line "Raw Cola" series launched this year, as well as the 900ml large-size product of traditional Coke. Another product on the list is Maxx Super Carbonated Drink, which belongs to the Yuanqi Forest Group, which has a place in the more traditional and cured carbonated beverage category with ultra-stimulating and ultra-icy sensation as its core selling point.
From the perspective of the market share of new products in the category, the new products are listed in May and June, with a peak of less than 2%, and the overall category pattern is relatively traditional and solidified, and there is little room for new product growth.
Other categories: Asian traditional beverages, chilled ready-to-drink juices, sparkling water, energy drinks, soy milk, lactic acid bacteria drinks, nutrient drinks and others are different from the previous paragraph.
I. Second, the third echelon of the more vigorous new products. In the categories of refrigerated ready-to-drink fruit juice, sparkling water, soybean milk, and traditional Asian beverages, the new products are basically based on the local innovation of old products, or are still in a relatively early stage. Although the proportion of new products in the category has obtained a peak proportion of 3%-15%, the number of SKUs entering the TOP100 in the first few categories is small, basically only 1-4;Secondly, it is basically an extension of the specifications or flavors of the old products, and there is basically no layout of each group in terms of new product lines or new functions
Through the new products of several categories, it can be seen that the innovation of Lemon Republic in the form of refrigerated ready-to-drink juice products of juice + bubbles has achieved good results after the product is launched. As the latest flavor extension of its large-scale sparkling water, Genki Forest's lemon-flavored sparkling water has also performed very well after its launch, achieving a peak of nearly 15% in the category together with Minute Maid's lemon-flavored sparkling water, and has good sustainability. Another point worth paying attention to is that in the traditional beverage category in Asia this year, Yuanqi Forest innovated with plant concepts such as red beans, red dates, barley, wolfberry and other plant concepts as the core of raw materials.
In the categories of energy drinks, lactic acid bacteria drinks, and nutrient drinks, no large-scale new products were released in the year, and the number of new products on the list in several categories was 1-2, and the number of new products on the list as a whole was very smallOn the other hand, the performance of new products during the year was also relatively stable, and the market share of several new products in their categories peaked at about 1%, which had little impact on the category pattern
Conclusion & PreviewBased on this week's inventory of new products, we have seen the distribution and innovation of new products above designated size in the past year. In the next week, we will take stock of the existing group pattern of several hot categories, as well as the group and product highlights in the market and categories in the past year, so stay tuned!