Without plugging in or using fire, you can eat a hot little hot pot.
As a convenient and fast food, self-heating hot pot has been sought after by many consumers, behind which is the fast-paced life, the gradual rise of the "lazy" group and the home economy, so that self-heating hot pot once became a new outlet.
However, the Red Star Capital Bureau has noticed that the industry heat of self-heating hot pot has continued to cool down in recent years. Not only has the growth rate of the industry begun to slow down significantly, but the performance of leading enterprises has also shown difficulties.
All signs show that self-heating hot pot is gradually "falling out of favor", and what is the reason behind this?
Colder than**? Self-heating hot pot (meat)** is mostly around 30 yuan box, which is enough to order a steamed vegetable or spicy hot. It is also a convenient and convenient "lazy diet", and takeout may be more attractive to many young people than self-heating hot pot.
Cold to taste? Self-heating hot pot needs to go through multiple links such as production, packaging, and transportation, and food additives and other related substances will be added in the production, which will affect the taste of food to a certain extent. In addition, self-heating hot pot cannot prepare ingredients on site like traditional hot pot restaurants, so the freshness of the ingredients will also be affected.
Cold to safety? The heating of self-heating hot pot relies on self-heating packs, which mainly contain roasted diatomaceous earth, iron powder, aluminum powder and other chemicals; When these substances react with water, they quickly produce high temperatures and large amounts of gas. If not handled properly, such as a broken self-heating drum or a blocked vent hole, it can lead to gas leakage and ** risk.
1 Smash hit capital bet.
Self-heating hot pot comes from the evolution of military self-heating rations, and in 2015, self-heating hot pot began to appear in the circle of friends of micro-businesses and was sold to consumers. Around 2018, self-heating pot fire became an Internet celebrity delicacy under the multiple promotion of celebrity endorsements, variety show advertisements, and live broadcasts.
With the rise of self-heating hot pot, more and more enterprises are also involved.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently hundreds of self-heating hot pot brands on the market. It mainly includes traditional hot pot enterprises such as Haidilao, Xiaolongkan, etc.; emerging brands such as Zihai Pot, Mo Xiaoxian, etc.; Leisure snack companies such as BESTORE, Three Squirrels, Baicaowei, etc.
According to Toubao data, on Double 11 in 2017, self-heating hot pot sold millions of copies on Tmall; On the day of Double 11 in 2018, the sales volume of self-heating hot pot exceeded 4.5 million copies, a year-on-year increase of more than 2 times compared with 2017.
In addition, on the day of Double 12 in 2019, Zihi Pot removed all the treasures of Tmall*** from the shelves because all the product inventory was sold out, which shows the enthusiasm of consumers for self-heating hot pot at that time.
Who's buying self-heating hot pot? According to the data on the Tmall side, the consumer groups of self-heating small hot pot are concentrated in the post-00s and post-95s, of which the 18-24-year-old people account for 475%, college students and white-collar workers who have just entered the workplace account for nearly 5 percent.
"lazy economy" and "one-person economy" have allowed capital to "smell" the opportunities.
From the perspective of the entire financing environment, the financing of self-heating convenience foods reached its peak in 2020, and in a week in mid-May 2020, three self-heating hot pot brands received a total of more than 100 million yuan in financing.
Among them, Shizu got the A round of financing invested by Zhonghui Capital; Zihai Pot announced the completion of more than 100 million yuan in Series B financing; Mo Xiaoxian completed tens of millions of yuan in Series A financing, which was invested by Jinding Capital. In October 2020, Zihai Pot received another $50 million in financing in Series C.
2 Corporate performance is gradually stalling.
However, just as a group of players are ready to make a big splash, the industry is gradually entering a "slow pace".
According to data from the China Food Industry Association, the size of China's self-heating hot pot market in 2021 will be 103700 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1851%, compared with the high growth rate before 2020, the revenue growth rate has slowed down significantly.
The business conditions of enterprises are also beginning to show signs of fatigue.
For example, the data shows that the operating income of Zihai Pot in 2019, 2020, and 2021 will be nearly 800 million yuan and 95.8 billion, 99.2 billion yuan, operating income of 8 in 2022200 million yuan, down nearly 20%.
In terms of net profit, the disclosed financial data shows that in 2020 and 2021, Zihai Pot lost money for two consecutive years, with a loss of 15.2 billion and 31.8 billion yuan, turning losses into profits in 2022, with a net profit of 1993850,000 yuan.
However, a large part of the reason why Zihihuo will be profitable in 2022 is that the company's brand promotion expenses and operation promotion expenses in that year have decreased by 2 compared with the same period last year1.6 billion yuan. In other words, the profit of the self-hi pot is "saved" to a certain extent.
Let's look at the Yihai International (01579.) behind the self-heating pot fire HaidilaoHK), the financial report shows that from 2020 to 2022 and the first half of 2023, the revenue of convenient fast food products will be 15400 million, 17300 million, 18700 million, 57.3 billion; In 2022, the business growth rate slowed down significantly, and in the first half of 2023, the revenue showed negative growth, a year-on-year decrease of 3612%。
In addition, judging from the data released by the e-commerce platform, comparing the data of major self-heating hot pots on the Douyin platform during the Double 11 event in 2022 and 2023, it is found that the growth rate of brands with self-heating hot pot products is almost declining.
For example, the sales volume of the Yuxin brand during the Double 11 period in 2022 is estimated to reach 250,000 copies, and the sales volume during the Double 11 period in 2023 will be 250,000 copies, down 90% year-on-year, and sales of Zihai pot decreased by 50% year-on-year.
In addition, there are some companies that have even given up the business of self-heating hot pot.
For example, Uni-President Enterprise China (00220HK) removed the "Cooking Time" self-heating hot pot from the shelves in 2022. It is understood that this product was launched in January 2018 by the unified enterprise China, and the small hot pot is positioned as a high-end product, with a price of 45 yuan and 370g when it was launched.
Another example is Weilong Delicious (09985.HK) launched the self-heating hot pot brand "Back Pot Man" in 2017, and in 2018, it launched the "Self-cooked" spicy hot pot product. However, at present, on the e-commerce platform, related products can no longer be queried.
3 Consumer enthusiasm is being tested.
Why is consumer enthusiasm for self-heating hot pot significantly reduced?
First of all, there is the question.
According to a 2021 questionnaire on "Reasons why consumers do not buy self-heating hot pot" by iiMedia Research, consumers believe that high ** is the main reason, accounting for 516%。
At present, most of the self-heating hot pot (meat) on the market is about 30 yuan box, although this ** can't eat a hot pot, but it is enough to order a dish or spicy hot.
Therefore, it is also a convenient and convenient "lazy diet", and takeout may be more attractive to many young people than self-heating hot pot.
The second is the issue of taste.
As a finished sales product, self-heating hot pot needs to go through multiple links such as production, packaging, and transportation, so self-heating hot pot will increase food additives and other related substances in the production, which will affect the taste of food to a certain extent.
In addition, since self-heating hot pot cannot prepare ingredients on site like traditional hot pot restaurants, the freshness of the ingredients will also be affected, which will also affect the taste of the food.
Therefore, "unpalatable" and "unhealthy" have become another reason why consumers gradually no longer choose self-heating hot pot.
Finally, there is operational risk.
The heating of self-heating hot pot relies on self-heating packs, which mainly contain roasted diatomaceous earth, iron powder, aluminum powder and other chemicals; When these substances react with water, they quickly produce high temperatures and large amounts of gas.
Therefore, if it is not handled properly, such as a broken self-heating drum or a blocked exhaust hole, it can lead to gas leakage and ** risk.
On January 18, 2022, the listed company Tianwei Food (603317SH) revealed on the interactive platform that the company launched self-heating hot pot products in early 2018. Due to the fact that the hot pot ingredients are all outsourced and there are certain food safety risks, after sufficient market research and evaluation, the product strategy was adjusted at the end of 2018 and the production and sales of the product were stopped.
In short, under various reasons such as not being so delicious, not cost-effective, and risky operation, the Internet celebrity products have failed to withstand the test of the market.
4 Where is the "Ultimate Battlefield" going?
Under the double test of industry pressure and market competition, self-heating hot pot players choose to actively save themselves.
For example, Yihai International has adjusted the expansion of relevant production capacity. Originally, the construction of the second phase of Yihai International's Bazhou project in Hebei Province began in June 2022 and is expected to be put into operation in the third quarter of 2023, with a planned production capacity of 820,000 tons to cover the North China and Northeast markets.
However, in the 2023 earnings report, the management mentioned: "Due to changes in the relevant market demand, the planned production capacity of convenience food products has been adjusted to 280,000 tons. "That's 66 percent of our production capacity.
For example, in addition to the original brand, Zihai Pot Company has also launched different brands in many fields such as new quick-cooking noodles, innovative rice noodles, compound seasonings, frozen products, etc., trying to enrich its own product matrix.
Subsequently, in March 2023, it was rumored that the parent company of Hi Pot would be replaced by Lotus Health (600186SH) acquisition.
However, on the evening of August 27, 2023, Lotus Health announced that it would terminate the acquisition of no less than 20% of the equity of Hangzhou Golden Antelope Enterprise Management Consulting, the parent company of "Zihai Pot".
In addition to self-heating hot pot, Mo Xiaoxian has also expanded self-heating rice, cups of hot and sour noodles and other convenient fast foods, and Mo Xiaoxian's related products are aimed at the sinking market. Enterprises hope to find new opportunities in the vast sinking market through cost-effective products.
In addition, according to a number of ** reports, Wang Zhengqi, the founder of Mo Xiaoxian, once revealed that the layout of overseas markets will be Mo Xiaoxian's next step.
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Liu Mi.