"Cloud Shelves", nitrogen lock fresh transportation, and old factory areas are open to tourists——
How to change the old brand to a new way?
Beijing Huguosi Snack Soybean Juice was changed to canned food, leaving the store for the first time and entering the supermarket; Tianjin Laomeihua shoe store opened a "smart store", "cloud shelf", 3D foot measuring instrument and other "black technology" gathered; Zhang Fei beef is sold nationwide in the form of nitrogen-locked fresh packaging for the first time, making more young consumers fall in love with the "old taste"...
Our reporter found in interviews that in the face of escalating consumer demand and the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, many time-honored companies have begun to actively seek changes, research new products, go to the "cloud", expand channels, and become more "live" in their transformation and development. The younger.
In the memory of Chinese people, a time-honored sign is a legend, recording social changes and the prosperity of the market.
Statistics show that in the early 1950s, China had more than 10,000 time-honored enterprises.
With the continuous economic and social development, some time-honored brands have gradually "fallen out of favor" in the rapidly changing market in recent years.
At present, there are 1,128 Chinese time-honored brands recognized by the Ministry of Commerce, of which only 10% are booming, and many companies are in crisis.
Time-honored brand, it's time to consider a change of life!
There are 1,128 "China Time-honored Brands" recognized by the Ministry of Commerce, with a total of 12,000 registered trademarks.
According to the "China Time-honored Brand" big data report recently released by Qicha, in the national province rankings, Shanghai has 180 time-honored brands, Beijing has 117, and Jiangsu has 96.
From the overall distribution, there are 367 time-honored brands in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, accounting for nearly 1/3.
From the perspective of industry breakdown, the three types of “liquor”, “medicine” and “meal” account for the largest proportion of time-honored brands.
Among them, Beijing's time-honored brands are mostly commercial, while Guangdong, Yunnan, and Zhejiang have more time-honored brands in the pharmaceutical industry. Among Shanghai's time-honored brands, there are many with "industrial style".
(Data source: Worker's Daily)
Transformation: Soy juice enters the fresh supermarket
On the morning of November 4, Ms. Minwang of Beijing, who often goes shopping at the Hema Xiansheng Shilibao store, came to the store early to buy a "tasteful" product-the time-honored Huguosi snack bean juice.
Ms. Wang said: "It's not easy to buy bulk soy juice now. This canned soy juice is delicious. This is the second time I have bought it."
Soy juice, a traditional Beijing delicacy, is fermented with mung beans. It tastes sour and astringent. Customer reviews are divided: Those who love can't wait to drink it every day, and those who don't like it can't be swallowed.
Entering Hema this time, the soy juice has ushered in a new change: in terms of taste, the canned soy juice has a slightly tangy taste.
Packed in plastic cans, 500ml per can.
Why can soybean juice, a traditional snack, enter the Hema counter with the Internet's new retail attributes?
"We are also seeking change in the midst of difficulties and looking for opportunities in crisis." Kang Zebo, manager of Beijing Huguosi Snack Distribution Center of Jude Huatian Holdings Co., Ltd., told reporters that the main consumer of soybean juice has been middle-aged and elderly people, and it is sold in stores. Mainly.
After the outbreak, store operations were affected.
While Hema does not charge store fees and has strict quality control requirements, the company decided to jointly explore digital transformation with Hema to attract more young consumers.
In order to make young people fall in love with soybean juice, Hema Fresh Purchasing Manager Jiang Bo and his colleagues tested a variety of taste samples, and based on Hema's big data, formulated the principle of "reducing acidity and changing packaging".
To this end, Huguosi snacks changed the previous method of freshly cooked in large pots and sold in bowls. The production line was adjusted to reduce the sourness of soybean juice, changed to small specifications, sealed packaging, cold chain transportation throughout, and the freshness of soybean juice was adjusted from fresh drinking. It can be stored for about 15 days under refrigerated conditions.
“When the canned soy juice was the best-selling, the daily supply in Beijing was about 10,000 cans, which was nearly a hundred times higher than when it went on the market in May. Today, Hema and Huguosi Snacks have cooperated with 13 types of traditional snacks.” Jiang Jiang Bo said.
Soybean juice entering the supermarket is a microcosm of the time-honored brand's initiative to change.
Like Huguosi snacks, after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, traditional and time-honored enterprises have accelerated their pace of transformation.
In terms of “eating”, many time-honored brands emphasize quality and “face value”.
Since October this year, Meilin has launched a new series of "Pig Da Meng" luncheon meat, featuring a low-sodium and low-salt light taste, and its packaging resembles a pig's head, which is delicious and fun.
Bright Dairy has launched 7 different nutritional fortified milks, each rich in various nutrients.
Due to the packaging design that opens the lid and drinks, it is more in line with the development environment of the "home economy" and the "eyes" of young people.
Digital transformation has allowed many time-honored restaurants to find a new business rhythm.
The Digital Development Report of “Time-honored Catering Brands (2020)” released by Meituan-Dianping Consumer Promotion Center at the end of June shows that under the impact of the epidemic, many time-honored companies have established digital operations such as “contactless restaurants” and “safe restaurants”. The catering industry is at the forefront of resumption of work.
In terms of "use", many time-honored brands have become more "tide" and more fashionable.
At the beginning of the epidemic, Tong Hanchuntang developed herbal essential oil dragon ball masks based on ancient Chinese medicine. People pinched the dragon balls on the bridge of the nose when wearing them. The herbal fragrance lingers, which can play a certain protective role.
Wang Mazi recently launched a dual-purpose kitchen knife that can both cut and cut, and it has become a hit on e-commerce platforms.
According to data provided by the Tmall platform, nearly 80% of the more than 1,000 Chinese time-honored brands have entered Tmall this year; many new products are still being launched on the e-commerce platform simultaneously.
Innovation: Go to Pixian Douban Factory to "check in"
It is not easy for any century-old store to continue operating in ancient and modern times: innovation, worry about losing tradition; sticking to it, may not be able to grasp the incremental market.
How to balance inheritance and innovation is the question before every long-established company.
The factory of Douban Co., Ltd. in Pixian County, Sichuan Province, with a history of more than 300 years, is now very lively, receiving hundreds of tourists every day.
At the end of May this year, this time-honored brand completed the technical transformation which lasted more than two years.
The open-air drying yard has become a computer-controlled sunshine and intelligent drying yard. The automatic production, packaging, and conveyor lines have replaced manual labor. The Pixian Douban Intangible Cultural Heritage Skills Experience Base has become a must-see "check-in place" for tourists on the industrial tourism line in the factory. .
Some people think that the pace of such innovation has increased.
"This is a decision made after careful consideration." Xu Liang, chairman of Pixian Douban Co., Ltd., told reporters that two years ago, the company thought about increasing brand promotion from the height of cultural heritage, and on the one hand, through technological transformation, to create industrial tourism routes. , Connecting the intangible cultural heritage made by Douban with modern production technology; on the other hand, it continues to introduce new products that are popular with more consumers.
As the inheritor of Pixian Douban's traditional production skills, Zhang Anqiu, the company's technical director, pays more attention to people's consumption habits and changes in the market environment.
With the impact of the epidemic on the catering industry, he led his apprentices to develop instant small-package products such as Douban Beef Sauce, Douban Dipping Sauce, and Douban Dipping Water.
It used to be for restaurants, but now for suppliers and families, Pixian Douban has begun to walk out of the kitchen and onto the table.
However, it is not easy to grasp the "sense of measure" of inheritance and innovation.
On the one hand, the market environment is indeed changing rapidly.
The impact of the epidemic this year is an important reason for the decline in the performance of some time-honored catering brands; on the other hand, with economic and social development, people's consumer needs are becoming increasingly diversified.
The "2020 New Health Consumption Trend Big Data Report" released by the Business Data Center of China Business News at the end of October shows that 50% of consumers purchased health-related products in food consumption last year, and 83% of consumers took the initiative to adjust their diets to prevent diseases , The diet tends to be low fat, low sugar, less oil and less salt.
Hu Zuohao, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University, said that most young consumers are now pursuing high-quality, high-value consumer experiences, which is a manifestation of consumption upgrades.
"In the context of consumption upgrades, the market has bid farewell to'quantity satisfaction' and shifted to'quality consumption' and'emotional consumption'."
This means that the current consumer market is changing from a seller's market to a buyer's market, emerging consumer groups are rising, and new consumption habits are having an impact on the market.
And can time-honored brands that are hundreds of years old quickly adapt to this role change?
Escape: Young People Fall in Love with Pechoin
In September of this year, a Weibo blogger posted a comment video after visiting a long-established franchise store, summarizing his consumption experience in four words: unpalatable and expensive.
After the video was sent out, the Weibo account of the time-honored franchise store issued a statement saying that it had called the police.
This wave of operations caused netizens to complain about the time-honored brands, "relying on the old and selling the old", "arrogant and conservative" and "not paying attention to the consumer experience".
In the end, the incident ended with the time-honored head office dissolving the partnership with the franchise store and self-examination and rectification, but the bitter fruit of the word-of-mouth "turnover" has already occurred.
Coincidentally, some time-honored brands have continued to decline in operating income due to inaccurate positioning, which has recently attracted social attention.
Netizens left messages on social media: "Except for the brand, there is no point to attract customers."
According to industry insiders, some time-honored brands are still accustomed to emphasizing the brand origins of "century" and "Royal Gifts", but consumers do not feel the "must come" consumer experience in their purchases.
In general, outdated products, outdated services, and inability to attract young consumers are the main reasons for the continued decline in revenue of some time-honored brands.
Outdated organizational structure, lagging market response, lack of human resources, lack of Internet thinking, etc. have become common difficulties faced by the development of some time-honored brands.
Who can help these time-honored brands break through?
The care and support of government departments is of course indispensable.
Time-honored brands are related to the inheritance and development of many intangible heritage techniques. In recent years, governments at all levels have increased their efforts to protect and develop time-honored brands through a series of effective measures such as policy support and project funds, and many time-honored brands have been revitalized.
More importantly, time-honored brands should keep their brand core and culture while attracting consumer groups to return with innovation.
Pechoin is back!
This year's "Double 11" event pre-sale, the time-honored Pecho Ling got a good start: on the Tmall platform, the customized wonderful gift box was sold out in only 5 minutes after it went online, and the core items were well received.
Today, Pechoin has regained a prominent position on the shelves of major stores and e-commerce platform pages.
From the launch of China's first generation of skin care products in 1931, to disappearance a few years ago, and now it is selling again, Pechoin has experienced the "Phoenix Nirvana" of change and change.
Facing the blue ocean in the beauty market that has emerged in the process of consumption upgrades in recent years, after investigation, Pechoin has upgraded its products on the basis of the original "Kanfang herbal skin care" characteristics: making herbal natural skin care formulas for young women The product function focuses on moisturizing.
In order to get rid of the impression of "old-fashioned autumn", the packaging material of Pechoin has become more textured glass bottles, and various sub-brands such as "Sanshenghua", "Xiaoquexing" and "Bei Li" have been launched or reshaped for different consumer groups. People fell in love with this domestic brand again.
"When this generation of young people watched the domestic brands that accompany their growth reappear in a new way, the surprises they bring can evoke people's inner nostalgia." said Li Jin, head of the Pechoin Social E-commerce Division.
"The advantage of the time-honored brand lies in its rooting in tradition, and its flaw lies in its inability to keep up with the times." Xu Liang said that Pixian Douban spent more than two years and 180 million yuan in funds to carry out comprehensive technological transformation of the enterprise to increase production capacity and food hygiene. Safety; Improve corporate management capabilities through innovative thinking and strategic consulting; Vigorously introduce professional talents to achieve team renewal.
In his view, "All these require energy and time to do, and the courage and courage to self-revolution are more necessary."
The "newness" of the time-honored brand lies in its ability to capture the hearts of every generation of consumers.
Wang Rui, an associate professor in the Department of Marketing, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, said that many foreign century-old brands are very good at this. Whether it is product design, packaging, branding, promotion and marketing, people feel very "young."
Experts suggest that time-honored companies urgently need to speed up the upgrade of both brands and products, while constantly improving the innovation chain and leveraging digitalization to carry out transformations, before they can finally change their ways.
Reporter: Peng Xunwen