Leveraging the power of the Internet to "reverse growth", the young generation of "circle fans", a century-old brand

  During the National Consumption Promotion Month "Time-honored Brand Carnival" and the 15th China Time-honored Brand Expo, Shanghai Zhonghua Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. delivered live broadcast of the goods.

Photo courtesy of Visual China

  Not only can we not lose the cultural connotation and historical heritage of our own brand, but we must also successfully occupy a position in the cognition of young consumers. The breakthrough of time-honored brands must find the delicate balance between inheritance and innovation.

  Liang Zining

  Director of E-commerce of Lingnan Xinbaotang

  Tmall’s “Double Eleven” this year announced a set of sales figures about time-honored companies-sales of 220 time-honored companies doubled year-on-year.

  Cui Chen, general manager of Shandong Dezhou Braised Chicken Co., Ltd., revealed that the sales of Dezhou Braised Chicken on Double Eleven were nearly four times that of last year. Its new brand Lu Xiaoji’s Orleans chicken drumsticks and self-heating chicken pot have been affected by the “post-95” generation. Consumers’ favorite.

With the efforts of many parties, the time-honored brands are refurbishing their golden signs.

  According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Commerce on the operating conditions of 1,128 Chinese time-honored enterprises in 2019, 84% of them are profitable and the overall development momentum is good.

  Some time-honored companies, like Dezhou Braised Chicken, are on the Internet, a track where they do not have an inherent advantage, and relying on the Dongfeng of Chinese culture that has attracted attention, and strive to make themselves "sweet" among young consumer groups.

  The dilemma of established brands: a long history has become a burden of reform

  Cui Chen was born in 1989.

In 2017, he returned to China from Australia.

The mission of this young man is to help his father inject new vitality into the time-honored Texas Braised Chicken.

  "The main dilemma at the time was the aging of brand image, aging of products and aging of channels." Cui Chen told a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that in consumers' perception, the so-called traditional time-honored brand is a bit awkward, and there is a feeling of "relying on the old and selling the old". ——Too much emphasis on one's own glorious history and past honors, but it is relatively lacking in the exploration of consumer demand.

  Even with a century of history, the brand cannot "lie down and win" today.

This is not a problem unique to Texas Braised Chicken.

  This year, the Circulation Industry Promotion Center of the Ministry of Commerce released the "Report on the Development of Time-honored Digital Transformation."

The report pointed out that with the rapid development of the market economy, consumers have more extensive choices in the commodity market, and time-honored products are becoming more and more substitutable.

However, some time-honored companies refuse to adopt new processes and technologies, and the quality and packaging have remained unchanged for decades; there are also some time-honored companies that do not pay enough attention to product innovation and development, and cannot keep up with the needs of consumers, and cannot meet the diversification and personality of consumers. It is difficult to form a strong appeal to consumers due to the demand for globalization.

  Facing the development of the times and market changes, how the new generation of inheritors of time-honored brands can innovate on the basis of sticking to the "old" quality is a serious problem faced by time-honored companies.

  Cui Chen's choice is to "touch the net".

In terms of channels, Dezhou Grilled Chicken has opened a flagship store on Tmall to expand online channels; in terms of marketing, Dezhou Grilled Chicken has opened accounts on major social media platforms; in terms of brand image, since 2017, Dezhou Grilled Chicken has carried out Two visual upgrades of the brand have made it more in line with the aesthetics of contemporary young people.

  An important change is that Dezhou Braised Chicken has hatched a sub-brand-casual braised snacks "Lu Xiaoji".

For contemporary young people, whole chickens are not often eaten, but lo-mei snacks can be kept.

  Refurbishment of time-honored brands: business insights supported by technology

  These changes were not made by Texas Braised Chicken alone.

  Cui Chen talked about their partner-Tmall.

  In April of this year, the two parties reached an in-depth cooperation, and Tmall came to help "renovate" the time-honored Dezhou Braised Chicken.

  On the product side, Cui Chen focuses on innovation. The Tmall team analyzed the trends in the lo-mei food industry generated on the platform and gave them some practical suggestions.

For example, the product packaging of Dezhou Braised Chicken can be switched to low-temperature short-term protection products and self-heating products.

Texas Braised Chicken did the same.

"Our new 60-day low-temperature short-term protection brand rooster series has a more tender meat, richer juice, and a taste closer to the characteristics of fresh chicken than the room temperature product." Cui Chen said.

For the sub-brand Lu Xiaoji, Tmall also made an overall plan for the product, suggesting three main directions: traditional local flavor series, surprise snack series and healthy food series.

"We also have this idea, and their analysis makes us more clear, our idea is correct." Cui Chen said.

  Doing innovation can not allow the brand to be "bred in the ignorance of the boudoir."

Now that new packaging and new products have been launched, there must be some momentum to let consumers know.

  Dezhou Braised Chicken was invited to participate in many national events organized by Tmall.

It has received traffic blessings, exposure and key recommendations, and the new product has also entered the live broadcast room of the head anchor.

In May, Texas Braised Chicken cooperated with Wei Ya and sold more than 60,000 braised chickens in a live broadcast.

  Cui Chen knew that it would be too difficult and costly to rely solely on the Dezhou grilled chicken companies themselves to "make their faces" in front of consumers across the country.

"Our own resources and influence are limited, but after being embedded in the Tmall system, we have embarked on the fast lane of transformation and development." Cui Chen said sincerely.

Tmall back-end data shows that the proportion of Texas braised chicken sales from the southern region has increased year by year. In 2021, the proportion of southern regional sales has increased from 49.3% to 55.7%-this part of the increase is actually derived from the original line New customer groups that cannot be reached by traditional channels.

  Similarly, Lingnan Xinbaotang, a century-old brand, has successfully transformed its own products with the help of e-commerce platforms.

  Liang Zining, director of the brand's e-commerce, told a reporter from Science and Technology Daily that the traditional consumer group of tangerine peels is between 30 and 50 years old.

But to keep up with the development of the times, brands have to reach younger groups.

  Tmall made a horizontal and vertical comparison for them, and suggested that Xinbaotang could launch some tangerine peel tea bags.

It is convenient and healthy, and it can be favored by young people.

  Tea bags have made tangerine peel consumption more daily, and it has also harvested young customers from 20 to 25 years old.

Liang Zining said frankly that the biggest help that e-commerce platforms provide them is to let the brand see further and think more comprehensively.

  Similarly, the old intangible heritage store in Tianjin, "Xianghe 饽饽pu", has also completed the brand rejuvenation transformation on Tmall. The main consumer group of pastries has gradually transitioned from the original middle-aged and elderly group to the post-90s.

  Time-honored brand breakthrough: find a balance between inheritance and innovation

  Now, Texas Braised Chicken has become the “benchmark” for the transformation of the time-honored brands on Tmall.

But when asked about the feeling of transformation, Cui Chen blurted out: "It's too difficult."

  The prerequisite for the transformation of the enterprise is to change the mindset of the employees.

In terms of organizational structure and personnel capacity building, adaptive changes must be made.

  Prior to this, Tmall brought experts to the Dezhou Braised Chicken Factory for field investigations, and found that its slow new product iteration is ultimately due to the too traditional organizational structure, and the approval process alone takes more than one month.

In order to speed up the product update, the e-commerce department of the Dezhou Braised Chicken Department operates independently and manages flatly.

In this way, the new product research and development link is reduced by half, and it can be launched in 20 days.

  Lingnan Xinbaotang entered Tmall in 2007, and it took a long time to expand the consumer population.

Liang Zining said that not only cannot lose the cultural connotation and historical inheritance of its own brand, but also can successfully occupy a position in the cognition of young consumers. The breakthrough of time-honored brands must find the delicate balance between inheritance and innovation.

  Liang Zining feels more and more that the external environment is changing and that consumers' recognition of domestic brands is getting higher and higher; the Internet platform has given time-honored resources a tilt, and the most difficult days have passed.

  "All the time-honored brands today are the most successful new brands that year." said Chu Xue, vice president of Alibaba and vice president of Tmall business group.

In June of this year, Tmall announced the launch of the time-honored brand expansion plan: 5 years of continuous investment of 1 billion, in terms of brand marketing, consumer operations, new product development and other aspects to help the revival of the time-honored brand.

  The recommendations of the “Report on Digital Transformation and Innovation Development of Time-honored Brands” mentioned above can encourage time-honored companies to strengthen cooperation with third-party platforms, and support platforms to help time-honored companies expand customers, build brands, and carry out digital upgrades.

Time-honored enterprises can try to introduce external forces, improve the digital level of internal organizations, and improve the supply chain.

The time-honored brands themselves must also innovate products, cross-border integration, and lead and drive the development of domestic products.

  In addition, relevant departments can increase policy support, improve the promotion and service system for time-honored brands, and give time-honored brands a helping hand.

  Lin Jian, deputy director of the Circulation Industry Promotion Center of the Ministry of Commerce, urged that no matter how innovative, the quality of craftsmanship, high-quality service, honest management, and history and culture are the magic weapons of time-honored brands.

Persevere in these four points, and can do better.

  Liang Zining sighed to the reporter of Science and Technology Daily, the transformation of time-honored brands must not forget the original intention and not lose the core of the product.

Cui Chen also believes that in order for time-honored brands to win in market competition, the core is still quality first, and at the same time, they must be connected with the needs of contemporary consumers.

"We are a time-honored brand, but what we do is also food, fast-moving consumer goods, so we must follow market laws and follow consumer trends." Cui Chen said.