Chao News client reporter Zhou Xialin.
During this year's Spring Festival holiday, people returning to their hometowns set off a consumption boom, and the popularity of bubble tea shops in the county skyrocketed. Mai, who worked in Hangzhou, returned to his hometown of Jinhua Wuyi, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Wuyi had opened a new Hey Tea, "Ancient Tea, Tea Baidao, and Meixue Bingcheng are also available, at least during the Chinese New Year, there is no need to go to Jinhua City to buy milk tea, and the 'milk tea freedom' is easily realized." Wheat said.
According to Geoq Data, from January to early December 2023, more than 9,000 new chain tea stores were opened in counties across the country. At the same time that the milk tea shop in the county is in full swing, several new tea brands in China are also competing with each other on the road to listing.
In 2024, there will be an extra "Shanghai aunt" in the milk tea queuing up for listing
On February 14, 2024, Shanghai Auntie submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, opening the road to listing in Hong Kong. It is worth noting that when Shanghai Auntie submitted the prospectus, the prospectus submitted for the first time by Chabaidao in August 2023 was already invalid and needed to be resubmitted.
On February 23, Chabaidao updated its disclosure data to "extend its life" in order to continue to be listed.
Previously, on January 2, 2024, Mixue Bingcheng, the "king of cost performance" in the new tea drink, submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, followed by Gu Ming. With the entry of Shanghai Auntie, she formed an IPO army with Gu Ming, Tea Baidao and Mixue Bingcheng to break through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The Shanghai aunt who chose to submit the prospectus on Valentine's Day started with an entrepreneurial couple from Shandong. In 2013, Shan Weijun and his wife Zhou Rongrong resigned from their jobs in a foreign company and moved their family south to start a business. By chance, the two discovered the business opportunities and market of milk tea, and the couple opened the first Shanghai aunt in Shanghai People's Square, opening the market through five grains and blood glutinous rice milk tea. This stall store, which is only 25 square meters, has sales of more than 400,000 yuan in the first month. After opening a few stores in Shanghai, Shanghai Auntie took the lead in expanding the Shandong market, and since then, Shanghai Auntie has gradually opened up markets in Northeast, Hebei, Tianjin and other places.
According to CIC, as of 30 September 2023, Shanghai Auntie operated the fourth largest network of freshly made tea shops in China in terms of the number of stores in the system, and has a large network in the sinking market. In the subdivision track, Shanghai Auntie is the third largest medium-priced freshly made tea shop brand in China, and the largest medium-priced freshly made tea shop brand in northern China.
Shanghai Auntie's prospectus disclosed that in 2021, 2022 and the first nine months of 2023, the company achieved operating income of 164 billion yuan, 21$9.9 billion and $253.5 billion yuan. It is worth mentioning that the GMV of Shanghai Auntie in the first nine months of 2023 is 718.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 577%。
Source: Dianping.
The county seat, another battlefield for new tea drinks.
At present, the four new tea drinks that are sprinting to the Hong Kong stock market have their own territories, and the county town is an important battlefield for the competition for new tea brands.
At present, the number of stores in the world exceeds 360,000, including more than 3 domestic stores20,000. There are more than 9,000 ancient tea stores, 7,801 tea Baidao stores, and 7,297 Shanghai aunts.
In comparison, Mixue Bingcheng has more stores than all the other three stores combined. In terms of geographical distribution, the prospectus shows that there are 569% of the stores are opened in third-tier cities and below, with the most in fourth-tier cities; In first-tier cities, it has the lowest proportion of open stores, only 45%。Mixue Ice City, which has the largest territory, is also one of the most uneven development of low-tier and high-tier cities.
Source: Mixue Bingcheng prospectus.
According to the prospectus of Shanghai Auntie, as of September 30, 2023, about 49% of Shanghai Auntie's stores are located in third-tier cities and below. In addition, according to CIC Consulting, among the brands of medium-priced freshly made tea shops in China, as of September 30, 2023, Shanghai Auntie ranked first in terms of the number of cities covered, and in terms of the number of provinces in the top three freshly made tea shops in terms of the number of stores, Shanghai Auntie also ranked first. Of course, the "mid-price restricted tea" here avoids the more low-priced Mixue Bingcheng, and compared with the same mid-range brands of ancient tea and tea Baidao, Shanghai Auntie's share in the sinking market is in a leading position.
Source: Shanghai Auntie Prospectus.
This is followed by Gu Ming, the new tea brand that started in Taizhou and focuses on the second-tier market, with about 79% of Gu Ming's stores located in second-tier cities and below by the end of 2023.
The distribution of tea Baidao stores is relatively high in first-tier cities, and the updated prospectus shows that the number of tea Baidao in new first-tier cities still accounts for the largest proportion, at 269%；The proportion of fourth-tier cities and below has increased significantly, from 19 at the end of 20227% to 222%。As for the strategy of store city distribution, Chabaidao mentioned in the prospectus, "While maintaining the status of first-tier and new first-tier cities to enhance brand awareness and keep up with changing market trends, it has been and will continue to penetrate into lower-tier cities with huge consumption growth potential." ”
Source: Shanghai Auntie Prospectus.
According to the China Tea Beverage Development Report 2023, in 2022, the number of tea stores in third-tier cities and below will account for 508%, of which the number of tea stores in third-tier cities accounted for 234%, an increase of 1 from 20218%。
In the past two years, with the sinking of the head tea brand, there are more and more trends in the milk tea shops in the county, and it is foreseeable that new tea brands such as Gu Ming, Tea Baidao, Mixue Bingcheng, and Shanghai Auntie will gather in the third, fourth and fifth tier cities and enter a new round of competition.
Whoever goes public first, who will break the game first?
From the prospectus of each company, it can be found that among the four new tea brands, if you want to talk about who is the most profitable, it must be Mixue Bingcheng according to the volume, but from the perspective of money-making efficiency, Tea Baidao is better. According to the latest data for 2023, the net profit margin of the four new tea brands is above 10%, of which Cha Baidao is the highest, with more than 20%.
Why is the most profitable tea Baidao so anxious to go public? Why are several new tea giants flocking to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange together? Liu Chang, assistant director of Huafu ** Research Institute and head of the large consumption group, said in an interview that the core reason why milk tea companies are now intensively listed is that they are now in the final window period of competition, which belongs to the last 20% of the 10,000-meter run, and must step up their efforts. If you don't go public or don't open stores intensively, you may be out of the market later.
The new tea beverage market has grown from the early savage growth to the increasing maturity, and there is not much room left in the market, and the new tea beverage brand wants to obtain more financing channels through listing, and at the same time have more room for maneuver in the development of the industry.
At this time, whoever can stand out will be able to grab the next round of expansion dividends, attract more consumers and investors, bring benefits to franchisees, and maximize the returns of the capital behind them.
What is the final result of the battle of new tea drink involution, and who will be the domestic "second share of milk tea"? The outcome of who will emerge victorious and who will be defeated will soon be revealed.
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