Text |Hickory.
The seemingly inconspicuous small thermos cup is becoming a hot big business overseas.
Recently, with the popularity of thermos cup brands Yeti and Stanley in North America, the overseas business of thermos cups has also attracted people's attention.
Not long ago, Yeti released its latest financial report data, and the growth momentum is very strong. As of December 30, 2023, Yeti's full-year revenue reached 16US$5.9 billion, an increase of 401%, net profit reached 17 billion US dollars, an increase of 89 percent year-on-year54%。Among them, the revenue of cup and pot products exceeded 1 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 8%, of which the growth rate of new products in the fourth quarter was as high as 12%.
China is the world's largest exporter of stainless steel vacuum mugs. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, from 2017 to 2023, the export value of China's stainless steel vacuum insulation utensils increased from 12$7.3 billion rose to $2.1US$3.7 billion, showing a rapid growth trend.
From the demand side, Europe and the United States are also one of the main consumer markets for stainless steel vacuum insulation utensils in the world. According to the data of the China Business Research Institute, the per capita ownership of stainless steel insulation utensils in developed countries represented by Europe and the United States is about 068, which equates to two out of every three Americans owning stainless steel vacuum insulated utensils.
It is no accident that small cups and pots have ushered in a big explosion overseas.
According to Hua'an ** data, the compound annual growth rate of China's thermos cup exports in the past five years has reached 221% is a consumption growth track with excellent growth. On cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, thermos cups have also become a popular potential category. According to the observation of Stanley's sales in the past month, Stanley's average monthly sales in the United States have exceeded $7 million, and some products are out of stock.
Different from the Chinese demand for "goji berries soaked in thermos cups", there are two major reasons why thermos cups can become a "dark horse category" overseas. First, thanks to the high maturity of the foreign outdoor industry, whether it is a family picnic, a camping party or a leisure fishing, Americans usually use thermal insulation equipment to load food and drink, so it has also driven the sales growth of "must-have" thermos cups and other products.
Second, in recent years, overseas brands such as Yeti and Stanley are also actively exploring rejuvenation, so that the use of thermos cups is not only limited to outdoors, but into daily life, showing a trend of fast digestion to meet people's social and emotional needs. In recent years, for example, Yeti has adopted a direct-to-user DTC model, maintaining a close connection with consumers in 15 targeted active fan communities, and with the innovation of product categories, Yeti has also established a more diverse target audience through categories such as coffee, cocktails, health, wellness and travel.
A number of brokerages expressed optimism about thermos cup export companies in the report.
The continued popularity of thermos cups overseas has also driven a number of Chinese companies to usher in a "good start".
Taking Hals, the Chinese company behind overseas giants such as Yeti and Stanley as an example, according to reporters from Lin'an News Network and Yongkang Rong ** Center, during the Spring Festival in February this year, more than 1,000 employees of Hals Yongkang and Lin'an factories worked overtime to complete overseas orders. By the end of February, the attendance rate of Hals employees had exceeded 95%. Hu Weihui, Human Resources Manager of Hals, said: "This year's efficiency has been significantly improved compared with last year. ”
Some investors also recently asked Hals on the interactive platform: "Since entering the first quarter, has the order situation improved year-on-year, and what is the level of capacity utilization?" Hals responded: "The company is currently full of orders".
The number of orders determines the growth of export sales of Chinese OEM enterprises. But behind the figures, it is a test of the hard power of foundry enterprises, an industry insider mentioned that enterprises with in-depth layout overseas are more worthy of attention, among which the stability of the first chain, product quality and manufacturing capacity are the key.
According to public information, Hals is Yeti's largest cup and pot business, and has maintained a good and stable cooperation. At the same time, Hals has also cooperated with Stanley for more than ten years, and it is worth mentioning that Stanley has highly recognized Hals in terms of order operation, R&D empowerment, quality delivery, etc., and Hals is the only company in the world that has been awarded the "2023 Best Business Award" and "Best Sustainable Development Award" by StanleyThis means that Hals has a certain advantage in securing orders at a later stage.
At the same time, Hals has also carried out a comprehensive layout at the end of the chain. In terms of overseas layout, in order to further enhance production capacity and better collaborate with customers, the second phase of the Hals Thailand project has been laid. In terms of domestic layout, in 2024, Hals plans to build the "Hals Future Intelligent Innovation" project to build an advanced digital, intelligent and standardized factory, enhance the company's core competitiveness, and accelerate the realization of intelligent manufacturing and industrial upgrading.
It is foreseeable that benefiting from the continuous growth of overseas demand for thermos cups, the domestic cup and pot chain has also entered a new round of growth cycle, and Chinese companies like Hals are also worthy of long-term attention.
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