Zhongxin Jingwei Client, March 21st (Changtao Intern Lin Tuisi) Mid-March is a new time for tea before Ming Dynasty. However, due to the impact of the epidemic this year, spring tea that had relied heavily on offline channels suffered. unsalable. A tea farmer told a reporter from Sino-Singapore Jingwei that due to the epidemic situation and cold air, fresh tea that had been sold at a discount of 50% could only be sold at a discount of 25%.

The live broadcast was working at this time. Ali said that this year 70% of the tea merchants on the platform have opened a live broadcast, and Hu Zhengru, the third generation of Lu Zhenghao tea, even invited Li Jiaqi to bring her goods. "The decline in sales due to the epidemic situation has been made up through live broadcast channels, which is very difficult." Hu Minru said.

Photo courtesy of Chaocha Live

"50% off black cow and 25% off early"

The tea farmer Yu Xinsong lives in Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province. Her tea garden planted about 200 acres of black cattle early. At this time in previous years, the 200 acres of new tea will be shipped to cities such as Songyang, Xinchang, and Hangzhou, and even to Yunnan, Hainan, and Guizhou. However, affected by the epidemic this year, tea merchants could not enter, new tea could not be shipped out, and Yu Xinsian fell into anxiety.

Yu Xinsong introduced to the reporter from China and Singapore Jingwei that the price of this year's first picking black cattle early new tea is half the price of last year, but even if the price is discounted, the sales volume is still not good.

"An acre of black ox leaves sells for about 5,000 yuan, and the 200 acres of new tea can sell for 1 million yuan, but less than a third of this year." Yu Xinsian said.

The cold air during the epidemic made the already unsatisfactory tea leaves hit again. Yu Xinsian introduced: "Cold air froze fresh leaves to yellow and grow old. Originally 50% off fresh tea, now only 25% off for sale."

Therefore, among Yu Xinsong and other tea farmers, a special phenomenon appeared: the sales of tea have decreased, and the number of tea categories has increased.

According to Yu Xinsian, Yongjia County used to make only green tea and rarely made other teas. However, due to the outbreak, Yongjia County government department issued an initiative this year. In addition to green tea, black tea, white tea, and black tea are also made to ease the market impact of the epidemic on a single green tea category.

Yu Xinsong said that at this time of the year, they will hire more than 30 tea pickers and tea workers to help, and this year only recruited one or two people. "In the past years, tea was basically sold the next day, and 200 pounds of fresh leaves could be picked. This year, it can't be done at all."

Similar to Wu Niu, West Lake Longjing was also listed before the Qingming Festival. Lu Zhenghao Tea is mainly engaged in West Lake Longjing. The third-generation descendant of the brand, Hu Yanru, told reporters from Sino-Singapore Jingwei that affected by the epidemic, tourists from West Lake have decreased sharply this year, and sales of West Lake Longjing have been affected. In addition, the Spring Tea Festival ground promotion activities originally planned to invest several million yuan have also been suspended.

Lin Qi is a tea shop owner from Guangdong. Every April, she goes to Fenghuang Mountain, Chaozhou to buy premature single-bunch tea.

She said that because the tea business was greatly affected after the epidemic, sales fell by about 70% compared with previous years. At present, the plan for spring tea to be listed has also been disrupted, and sales in the first half of this year have been greatly affected.

Live rescue

Zhang Cong, the person in charge of the Tmall tea industry, said that at the end of February this year, the Tmall platform has received feedback from some merchants, saying that traditional offline channels are currently blocked and whether they can think of ways online. As a result, the popular live-streamed goods were pushed to the stage.

Data Map for Respondents

On March 15th, Gong tea participated in the "head pot tea" spike activity, attracting tens of thousands of tea visitors to snap shots. In about 4 hours of live broadcast time, a total of more than 60,000 viewers flooded into the live broadcast room, watching the process of turning Aoba into a finished product. In the end, 4 copies of Longjing Longjing were snatched out within 1 second, and 1,200 pounds of Longjing were ordered.

"Originally, it was expected that this year would be the same as last year. From the current situation, business has increased without a decline, and has increased by 40% year-on-year." Zheng Dianxiang, the operation manager of the Gong brand e-commerce department, told reporters at China New Economy and Trade Co., Ltd. The industry is highly dependent on the offline market, and in the past years selling Mingqian tea through live broadcast was not their focus. However, new sales channels like live broadcast are becoming more and more powerful, so Gongcha will do live broadcasts for four hours every day. "

Hu Yiru also told the reporter of Sino-Singapore Jingwei that Lu Zhenghao started to do live broadcasts in 2016, and the effect was not obvious at first. But now, Hu Yanru has become a veritable "Internet celebrity" in the live broadcast room.

On March 15 this year, Hu Yunru invited Mei Nawu Village Director Zhu Naihong to broadcast live together. In addition, Hu Biru also invited Li Jiaqi to bring the goods for him. "The decline in sales due to the epidemic situation has been made up through live broadcast channels, which is very difficult." Hu Minru said.

Can the live broadcast drive the transformation of tea consumption?

The "2019 China Tea Industry Market Big Data and Benchmark Business Model Research Report" released by Ai Media Consulting shows that in 2019, the online tea market in China reached 23.5 billion yuan, an increase of 14.6% compared to 2018. It is expected to increase to 29.8 billion yuan in 2021.

The China Tea Circulation Association's "2019 China Tea Consumption Market Report" shows that among market channels, the proportion of sales revenue of tea companies in the wholesale market, counters, and supermarkets has declined, and the franchised store channels are relatively stable, and the e-commerce channels has seen an increase.

The report also pointed out that under the background of the continuous increase in e-commerce penetration, the channel construction of branded tea companies is closer to the trend of social consumption upgrade. At present, online sales of tea are about 10% of annual sales, and e-commerce contributes sales. Behind the substantial growth is the increase in investment in e-commerce channels.

Today, live streaming is a booster for online sales in the tea industry.

Sun Cong said that through merchant self-broadcasting, the current turnover of the platform's spring tea has increased by 15 times compared with last year, attracting nearly 90 million netizens.

Sun Cong said that this year can be said to be the first year of live broadcast of the tea industry, and 70% of tea merchants on the Ali platform have opened live broadcasts. "The pre-sale of West Lake Longjing Tmall has increased by nearly 40% year-on-year, and the growth rate of core production areas and key brands has been even higher, with a year-on-year increase of about 60% to 70%." Sun Cong said. (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)

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