Yuanyang

　　Recently, Nai Xue's Tea, the "first share of new tea drinks", issued a profit warning. Although its revenue has increased significantly, it is expected to lose money for the fourth consecutive year.

Almost at the same time, some media said that HEYTEA may lay off workers on a large scale.

The new tea drink, which seems to be a high-growth track favored by capital, has not been easy.

　　Obviously, the industry is expanding rapidly, and it has expanded to more than 300,000 stores across the country within a few years. Why is it still stuck in development?

There are two main reasons.

　　First, the homogeneity is obvious and the threshold is lacking.

Freshly-made teas are highly reproducible. From raw materials to processing, there is no absolute secret recipe, and it is easy to be imitated by peers. Even if the recipes are different, it is difficult to form distinct taste differences.

Because of this, the top brand launched a new product in less than two weeks, but it still could not resist the problem of product homogeneity.

Homogenization affects the brand loyalty of consumers and is not conducive to the increase of customer orders.

　　The lack of corresponding industry entry standards and technical barriers has intensified the market fight.

In individual cities, new tea drinks are saturated with excessive competition, and there is even a milk tea shop every few hundred meters.

Big brands are afraid of being imitated, and small brands struggle to survive.

In the future, those small brands with limited financial resources and lack of characteristics will have less and less living space.

　　Second, the cost is high and profitability is difficult.

The reason why the new tea drink is "new" is that it says goodbye to powder preparation, and uses tea, fresh milk, fruit and other ingredients to make it fresh. While the quality is improved, the cost is also greatly increased.

At present, the cost of raw materials, labor, and rent of top brands generally accounts for more than 70% of the total cost.

According to the operating net profit rate data disclosed by relevant companies, sometimes a 30-yuan drink can earn less than 1 yuan in profit.

　　However, what really makes it difficult for top brands to make profits lies in their business models.

Compared with franchise operations, major leading brands adopt a direct sales model with better quality control, and make money from the difference at the retail end.

It is difficult for this business model to reduce costs through scale, and the more frequently stores are expanded, the more dispersed the customer flow, and the greater the possibility of a single store losing money.

　　In the past few years, the influx of capital has ripened the entire new tea industry.

Under the "protection" of capital, the primary consideration of many companies is not profitability, but how to increase market share and brand recognition.

There is of course some validity to this.

However, the tide of capital will eventually recede. If there is no strong internal driving force, how long can the prosperity be sustained only by the blessing of capital?

Now it seems that the mines that had been planted by the quick extension store have been revealed little by little.

　　The pace is fast, and the physical fitness must be able to keep up.

New tea beverages should focus on cultivating "internal skills", make efforts to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and focus on refining the "true fire" of supply chain, digitization, and differentiation to form a new growth curve.

　　to the supply chain to grow.

Cost reduction and efficiency increase are inseparable from efficient supply chain management.

At present, many leading brands are trying to build their own tea gardens and orchards, but direct harvesting from the origin is not enough.

Tea and fruit from the origin, how to use the shortest route, the lowest transportation cost and the least loss, arrive at the store as soon as possible, and even how to purchase by sales, need a more complete warehousing system and more refined management and control .

　　Efficiency from digitization.

The construction of digital and automated equipment can liberate manpower and improve operational efficiency on the one hand, so that manpower can be better used to serve consumers, and on the other hand, it can also reduce labor costs.

The ideal digitization does not require employees to rely on memory to complete operations, but only needs to implement system reminders, which can reduce human errors and food safety hazards caused by mistakes.

　　To differentiate to survive.

For new tea drinks, it is difficult to form a differentiated advantage, but this is still the fundamental way to build a brand moat and enhance user stickiness.

Keep your products updated because one of the best ways to innovate is to keep trying.

In addition to worrying about the raw materials, you can also consider adding functionalities on the basis of the leisure of milk tea, such as refreshing, health preservation, etc., to reduce the substitutability.

　　It is difficult to make a profit from new tea drinks. One of the most important points is that companies are unwilling to reduce raw material standards and store quality control, thus raising costs, which just reflects the original intention of relevant companies.

On the basis of maintaining the original intention, enterprises should also better handle the relationship between Gu Changyuan and Gu Jianxian, the relationship between fighting for success and expansion, and the relationship between internal repair and external extension.

Only in this way can we hope to become a future tea brand in China.