"39 yuan, Maotai ice cream. Would you like to try it?" Brand crossover occurs every year, but this year is especially wild. After Li Ning opened a coffee shop, the first Maotai ice cream flagship store was officially opened recently. A virtual image spokesperson of Maotai ice cream, Xiaomao, who looks like the "Snow King" of honey Snow Ice City, holds ice cream and stands at the entrance of Maotai international hotel.
"Maotai flavor?" "Is it drunk driving after eating?" "Can the price of this ice cream rise after it has been kept in the refrigerator for several years?" "Maotai can't afford to drink, can we realize the freedom of Maotai ice cream"... When such a national Baijiu brand crossed the border into the ice cream field, it immediately set off a discussion on the social platform.
In Maotai's official introduction to this ice cream, it has also been mentioned many times that this is its first breakthrough close to young consumer groups, hoping to show consumers the other side of Maotai's innovation, vitality and trend in a fashionable and young form.
Is Maotai ice cream positioned at the high end a gimmick or will it become another phenomenal online popular brand?
Together with Mengniu, Maotai has been planning to sell ice cream for a long time
According to various signs, selling ice cream in Maotai is not a fad, but has been planned for a long time. Maotai has initially launched three flavors of ice cream: original flavor, vanilla and tiramisu. On site, its staff can also interpret and make various forms of products such as hard ice, soft ice, stick ice cream, ice cream cake and ice cream coffee. The tasting price is 39 yuan / share.
Maotai also plans to sell pre prepared ice cream on May 29, with three classic flavors: original flavor (light milk), vanilla and green plum. According to its official disclosure, the R & D personnel are still experimenting with Maotai ice cream of other flavors. Maotai will also open ice cream stores in many places across the country in the future.
For the applicable population, because Maotai ice cream contains a certain alcohol concentration, its official tips are that minors, pregnant women and people with alcohol allergy should not eat it, and motorists should eat it with caution.
Remarks: some products of Maotai ice cream flagship store source: Guizhou Maotai official account
According to the dialogue between Zhongxin finance and the customer service of International Hotel, the ice cream in the store is made according to the proportion of 50g 53 degree Feitian Maotai per 1kg of milk, and the specific measured degree may fluctuate. At present, there are no purchase restriction measures in the store. The ice cream sold can be eaten normally by minors and will not affect driving. It's OK to drink some water after eating or wait half an hour before driving.
It is understood that Maotai ice cream has a faint taste of Maotai wine, which is the product of its strategic cooperation with Mengniu. On May 20, the two sides also signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to carry out in-depth cooperation in ice cream and other fields.
Maotai introduced that wine and ice cream belong to two systems, and product development is a complex process. Together with the R & D strength of Mengniu and other dairy professional manufacturers and scientific research institutes such as Jiangnan University, it experimented with this "Maotai flavor" ice cream.
According to the cover news report, consumers can place orders on "I Maotai" after May 29. At that time, cold chain distribution will be opened, and consumers in other cities will also have the opportunity to taste Maotai ice cream. In the future, Maotai dealers can open franchise stores.
Tianyan check shows that as early as April 26, China Guizhou Maotai distillery (Group) Co., Ltd. has applied for the registration of the trademark of "Moutai ice cream Maotai ice cream", which is internationally classified as convenience food, and the current trademark status is waiting for substantive examination.
This is not the first time Maotai has set foot in the field of ice cream.
Cloud hunting found that the notes on Maotai ice cream in Xiaohong book had reached 2400 +. As can be seen from the blogger's notes, as early as the end of 2019, Tianjin local brands "tianku" and "vist Zui Bing" jointly launched a limited flash ice cream mixed with Maotai liquor and 3% alcohol. Last year, a blogger punched in the Italian ice cream gelato located on Wukang road in Shanghai, which introduced Feitian Maotai, Yamazaki whisky and other flavors inspired by "wine".
Source: Little Red Book
The combination of ice cream and wine has been tried by wanghong ice cream in the past. For example, Zhong Xuegao and Luzhou Laojiao launched "broken ice cream", Mengniu Suibian and jiangxiaobai cooperated to launch white peach flavor wine heart ice cream and caramel flavor wine heart ice cream, and Haagen Dazs launched seven flavors of spirits ice cream.
But this time, the "Lord" came to an end in person. In particular, the traditional, stable and business stereotype of Maotai products makes this ice cream more concerned. In addition, recently, Li Ning, China Post and other enterprises have sold coffee one after another. The second growth curve explored by traditional enterprises is not the wildest, only Wilder.
Hundreds of billions of Maotai began to "please" young people
According to the annual report of Moutai, Guizhou, in 2021, the total operating revenue of the enterprise reached 109.464 billion yuan, an increase of 11.71% year-on-year, exceeding the annual revenue target of 108.3 billion yuan; The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 52.46 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.34%.
In the first quarter of 2022, Guizhou Maotai achieved a revenue of 32.296 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.43%; The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 17.245 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.58%.
However, Maotai has troubles for hundreds of billions of people. According to the 2020 youth alcohol consumption report, the post-90s and post-95s young people are an important driving force for the growth of the liquor market. However, from the perspective of demand scenario, domestic Baijiu is the best choice for young people to honor their elders and give gifts to leaders on New Year holidays.
The low alcohol liquor represented by Helen's rose rapidly under the prevalence of night economy and slightly drunk economy. Low alcohol liquor usually refers to the liquor with alcohol content between 0.5% - 20%. It is mainly sweet wine. Its rich taste, high appearance design and cost-effective price all meet the social needs of young groups and capture many female users.
According to Chuancai securities, the growth rate of alcohol consumption dominated by liqueurs and pre mixed cocktails is expected to reach 16% from 2020 to 2025.
This also has a certain impact on the brands of traditional wine enterprises. According to the data of the National Bureau of statistics, the output of Baijiu in 2021 decreased by 47.3% compared with the peak in 2016, almost halving in five years.
Maotai has also been trying to get close to young people. In 2019, Maotai launched umeet · blueberry brewing, cut into the low alcohol liquor track, and implanted it into the film and television drama Ode to joy, causing the audience to frantically seek the same style.
In 2020, the Maotai culture night light Carnival opened in Ningbo by the inheritors of Maotai in Zhejiang Province has become an innovative attempt. More than 400 "Maofen" entered the moutai-x Lab (Maotai future laboratory) in the shape of a huge flying saucer to immerse themselves in the Maotai interstellar journey made by holographic technology.
In February last year, the official wechat official account of Maotai released oh it's Moutai, the "divine song above", which quickly came out of the circle with the extremely sensitive rap.
Maotai also wants to start with the popular NFT digital collection. Maotai originally planned to release the NFT digital collection of "Maotai in solar terms" series on May 21, including 53 digital collections, which is consistent with the 53 ° classic degree of Maotai. It is divided into two categories: 24 solar terms series and traditional festival series, with a total of 9605 copies.
However, this series of activities has been suspended. Its collaborator "No. 1 collection" platform found a large influx of "virtual accounts" and the use of plug-ins to participate in the lottery in batches, which infringed on the rights and interests of normal users.
Now, Maotai wants to please young people and doesn't stop at ice cream.
Tianyan inspection shows that since this year, Maotai has also applied for trademarks such as fitness equipment, convenience food, furniture, clothing, shoes and hats. Some are in "trademark application" and some are "waiting for substantive examination". In the future, is it possible to drink Maotai milk tea while holding Maotai fitness equipment?
Source: tianyancha
In addition, the younger generation is more accustomed to online shopping, which is also the weakness of high-end Baijiu.
On the same day of the launch of Maotai ice cream, the closely watched Maotai e-commerce app platform "I Maotai" was officially launched 49 days after the trial operation. The core product "Feitian 53 degrees 500ml Guizhou Maotai", but Feitian 53 degrees 100ml Guizhou Maotai and other products.
In contrast, the e-commerce platform has been in full swing in the fields of sparkling wine, low alcohol wine and affordable Baijiu in the past two years. The cool packaging and novel taste continue to attract the curiosity hunting psychology of generation Z. Live wine selling has also become an important part of Tiktok, Kwai and other platforms.
Is ice cream a good business
Although Maotai ice cream has enough gimmicks, the Red Sea market has been rolled to the extreme from raw materials, creativity and price climbing.
It is reported that in 2018, the number of ice cream online brands in China was only about 60, and by August 2021, it had increased to more than 300.
Before 2018, the domestic ice cream industry was in a situation of "three pillars". Foreign brands such as heluxue and Haagen Dazs occupy most of the domestic high-end market and some of the middle-end market; Mengniu and Yili are mainly middle-end products, accounting for about 45%; Regional old brand ice cream enterprises such as Zhongjie, Wuyang and a large number of small and medium-sized local private enterprises are positioned at the middle and low end, accounting for about 30%.
Online popular brands have been stirring up the situation in the ice cream market since 2014. Brands such as northeast Daban, middle street 1946, Zhong Xuegao and Aoxue's Salted egg yolk ice cream have become popular on the Internet.
From the original taste of "double yellow egg" and "coconut grey", to last year's Zhizhi peach and the joint brand of "three-year simulation of five-year college entrance examination", the ice cream market exhausted its imagination and grasped the taste of this young people.
The ice cream industry trend report puts forward that people's consumption concept of ice cream has been upgraded and changed. Ice cream is no longer a simple cold drink to quench summer heat and thirst, but has become a carrier for social sharing and comfort soul and emotion, and the products are also tending to be healthy.
Now, in the whole process of idol endorsement, live delivery, online bombing, offline flash, combined with CO branding and limited quantity, the new brand tries hard to make an article on packaging and concept in order to get out of the circle.
In the summer of 2022, the "inner roll war" of major ice cream brands started earlier. Yili's ice cream brand must launch 3D round fan fresh milk ice cream as much as possible, while Guangming's Xiong Xiaobai launched a minimax crispy cookie ice cream, adding biscuits and chocolate to make a snack style.
Recently, the parent company of American ice cream brand Dairy Queen (hereinafter referred to as "DQ") announced that it plans to cooperate with Fangyuan capital, the parent company of CFB group, one of the Chinese franchisees, to open 600 new stores in China by 2023, including 100 stores this year.
According to the data of the prospective industry research institute, from 2018 to 2021, the market scale of the ice cream industry increased from 124.1 billion yuan to 147 billion yuan, and the scale of China's ice cream market ranked first in the world. It is estimated that the market scale of ice cream in China will reach at least 160 billion yuan in 2021.
However, the "sky high price" ice cream has also been questioned because of its high price and product quality. In the final analysis, the ice cream market still needs to rely on product strength, which is the long-term strategy. Whether Maotai ice cream can "roll" a place remains to be seen by the market.