Ice cream, a small category that was not very eye-catching, has gradually become a big industry
Hot summer: ice cream is becoming more popular
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Not long ago, the China Ice Cream Market Research Center announced: In 2019, the total national market reached 138 billion yuan, and consumption ranked first in the world. Nevertheless, my country's per capita level is still significantly lower than developed countries such as the United States and Switzerland.
Not long ago, the smart ice cream self-service terminal brand ice Jimoren completed a 10 million yuan A+ round of financing, which is mainly used for product research and development, brand promotion, and company operations. Prior to this round of financing, ice machine had also received tens of millions of yuan in A round of financing and ten million yuan in angel round financing, a total of 50 million yuan in accumulated financing.
In the hot summer, after the freedom of cherries and bayberry, the freedom of ice cream has become a hot topic of discussion. Quietly, a wave of ice cream brands ushered in a wave of price increases. The reporter visited the Chongqing ice cream market and found that many brands this year are 1 to 2 yuan more expensive than in previous years.
"There are not many ice creams under 4 yuan." said Liu Xingxing, a Chongqing post-90s beauty who likes to eat ice cream.
Not long ago, the China Ice Cream Market Research Center announced: In 2019, the total national market reached 138 billion yuan, and consumption ranked first in the world. Nevertheless, my country's per capita level is still significantly lower than developed countries such as the United States and Switzerland. This shows that the market still has a lot of room for development.
Why does the Internet celebrity ice cream disappear?
Last summer, my country's ice cream market ushered in a collective outbreak. In addition to Zhongjie 1946, Zhong Xuegao, Tian Mu, Orange Planet and other network infrared, offline channels such as convenience stores also gave birth to popular products such as Aoxue "Double Yellow Eggs"... For a time, the sales of ice cream market rapidly increased.
From the data point of view, there were only more than 60 online ice cream brands in 2018, and more than 100 last year. The number has now increased to more than 150. Behind the market enthusiasm is the overall upgrade of the ice cream industry in terms of products, prices, channels and marketing methods, which not only broke the low impression of "1 yuan" of domestic ice cream, but also attracted capital attention. But despite this, most Internet celebrity ice creams are difficult to grow.
Last year, the "coconut ash" ice cream produced by Jiangxi Tiankaile Food Co., Ltd. entered more than 1,800 FamilyMart convenience stores, attracting young people to "check in". However, after a lapse of a year, various brands of "coconut ash" have not only emerged on the channel, but their online celebrity titles have also been replaced by "double yolk eggs".
The reporter found that now Internet celebrity products basically rely on fan marketing and social marketing to rise, and live streaming has increasingly become an important distribution method for Internet celebrity ice cream. For example, "Zhong Xuegao" once spent high prices as Luo Yonghao's first live broadcast of the first batch of products. On April 1 this year, Luo Yonghao's live broadcast of Zhong Xuegao's fresh ice cream series sold a total of 22,000 copies, with a sales volume of 2,275,100 yuan.
The reporter visited the JD Convenience Store and Xiejiawan Community Convenience Supermarket near Yangjiaping, Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, and found that traditional brands such as Cutie Duo, Menglong, and Baxi had more stocks, but currently there are few popular Internet celebrity ice creams on the market.
“Because I tried to sell online celebrity coconut ash ice cream last year, but the sales were not good. In addition to the limited spending power of community residents, 1 yuan ice cream is the best seller, and ice cream below 3 yuan is basically OK, but the price is higher. It’s very difficult to sell.” said Wu Hong, the owner of the Xiejiawan community commissary. Although the profit of 1 yuan per stick of ice cream is only two or three cents, it wins in small profits but quick sales. The brand is hot.
At the same time, some Internet celebrity ice creams have also attracted a lot of controversy on food safety issues. Not long ago, Aoxue double yolk egg ice cream was found to be unqualified in the total number of colonies and coliforms, which in turn caused the industry to pay attention to the cold chain problem of retail terminals. Since then, the product has faced a cliff-like decline in sales. Especially after the epidemic, the new crown virus is easy to survive in the cold and humid environment. Some companies have begun to develop long-term antiviral coatings to ensure the safety of cold chain transportation.
Behind the industrial explosion is the driving force of capital
Liu Liuyin, the co-founder of ice Jimoren, who completed the 10-million-yuan A+ round of financing not long ago, said: “Investors in industries such as Jiaranjia and Jinjiu are optimistic about our ability to build high-quality brands in the ice cream field. Chixing Ventures , Joseph Investment is betting on the growth potential of the team."
According to statistics from Tianyan Check, there are currently at least 17 ice cream brands in China that have received institutional financing. As early as 2016, Sanyuan shares acquired the "Baxi" ice cream brand Beijing Ailai Faxi Food Co., Ltd. for 1.305 billion yuan, which has become its most profitable business. In December 2018, Bright Dairy acquired 100% of Shanghai Yimin Food Factory Co., Ltd. for 143 million yuan. Currently on the e-commerce platform, Guangming Cold Drink has achieved cold chain distribution in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui. In the future, it intends to develop the national market.
Lin Sheng, the founder of "Zhong Xuegao", believes that ice cream has surpassed the category of summer heat and becomes part of the family's "snack basket". The high premium brought by high quality has also left a larger margin for the channel and promoted the channel to rise in the market. In the role of "gatekeeper", it is now difficult to buy products below 3 yuan nationwide.
"The logic behind this is that Internet brands such as Zhongxue have raised the upper limit of China's ice cream market, and offline brands such as double yolk eggs have raised the lower limit of the market. The entire industry is upgrading, and the market cake is being enlarged, regardless of online or offline. Brands are growing.” Lin Sheng said that traditional ice cream companies have low gross profit and easily fall into a vicious circle of price wars, and there is no money for brand and supply chain optimization. Capital intervention can just solve these problems.
What opportunities are there for the ice cream industry with more than 100 billion yuan?
"The ice cream market has come to a period where monopolistic competition in the national market and monopolistic competition in the regional market coexist. With the continuous penetration of foreign giants in the ice cream market, the competitive landscape of the ice cream market has undergone fission, from small brand disputes to big brands. The industry threshold will increase rapidly.” said researcher Mo Yuanming from the Chongqing Yangtze River Upstream Economic Research Institute.
From the perspective of product structure, foreign brands such as Heluxue, Nestlé, Baxi, Haagen-Dazs and other foreign brands occupy most of the domestic high-end market and part of the mid-end market; Mengniu, Yili, and Guangming mainly focus on mid-end products; Regional established ice cream companies such as Deshi, Tianbing and a large number of small and medium-sized local private enterprises are positioned at the low-end.
Mo Yuanming believes that the current "three-part world" pattern of many foreign-funded, local dairy companies and regional established ice cream companies has basically taken shape, but ice cream consumption is escalating and there may be opportunities to challenge the giants. Ice cream, a small category that was originally not very eye-catching, has gradually become a big industry.
Some experts said that from the perspective of the overall development trend of ice products, the price will continue to rise in the future, and it is an important trend to ensure product quality and quality as a main appeal point, which can improve product appearance and IP attributes.
In addition, he believes that in the future ice cream products will also develop into natural, health-care, functional, and snack-oriented. In recent years, health foods have put forward the "three lows and one high" health requirements of low fat, low sugar, low salt and high protein. This will also be the development trend of ice cream products.
It is understood that ice machine is an intelligent self-service terminal brand for ice cream. Its equipment has a degree of automation comparable to that of the world. The software and hardware are managed through the cloud, and the whole process is unmanned self-service, creating a DIY of "100 flavors, free mix and match" Options. This may be another "new outlet" in the ice cream industry, and the development of functional products in the ice cream industry has broad prospects.
Li Guo