Yangcheng Evening News reporter Sun Qiman intern Yan Siyun
"In 2008, a total of 300 million cups were sold, and the cups connected together can circle the earth once." This is the copy displayed when entering the official website of Xiangpiao Piao Milk Tea to load the animation.
In the past, this brewing milk tea giant company has become a well-known brand familiar to the public with this advertising slogan.
When China's milk tea market was just starting, Xiangpiaopiao seized the opportunity and defeated competitors such as Youlemei in the same period, and became a well-deserved leader in the brewed milk tea industry.
However, through the performance report, it seems that this former "milk tea king" is not having a good time now.
Recently, Xiang Piao Piao released the first quarter results announcement, saying that the revenue in the first quarter of this year was about 496 million yuan, down 28.28% from the same period last year; the net profit loss attributable to shareholders of the listed company was about 59.68 million yuan.
According to the 2021 annual report released the day before, Xiangpiao Piao will achieve operating income of 3.466 billion yuan in 2021, a year-on-year decrease of 7.83%; net income attributable to the mother is 223 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 37.9%; deducted non-net profit dropped sharply by 59.31% year-on-year.
Emphasis on marketing and light research and development, no longer favored by young people?
The myth of Xiang Piao Piao milk tea started from capturing the hearts of a generation of young people.
At the beginning of the millennium, the milk tea craze began to spread to the mainland from Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the milk tea shops on the street began to line up.
At that time, offline milk tea shops still had the problems of small number of stores, low cost and poor taste. In contrast, Xiangpiao Piao's portable brewed milk tea was cheap, easy to carry, and tasted as good as those that needed to be bought in line. Freshly made milk tea has quickly been widely praised by the market.
From 2008 to 2011, the sales of Xiangpiao Piao’s milk tea increased from more than 300 million cups to more than 1 billion cups in just three years.
In 2017, Xiang Piao Piao successfully landed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and became "the first milk tea stock in China".
However, after the listing, Xiang Piao Piao ushered in not once and for all.
According to the financial report data, since 2018, Xiangpiaopiao's performance has gradually declined, and will usher in negative growth in 2020.
From 2017 to 2021, Xiangpiaopiao's operating income will be 2.64 billion yuan, 3.251 billion yuan, 3.978 billion yuan, 3.761 billion yuan, and 3.467 billion yuan respectively.
The reporter combed the operating cost data in the annual report and found that "focusing on marketing and ignoring R&D" has become a strategy of Xiangpiaopiao for many years.
Relevant data show that in the ten years from 2012 to 2021, Xiang Piao Piao invested a total of 6.634 billion yuan in sales expenses.
In recent years, Xiang Piao Piao has continuously increased its investment in marketing. In the major films and variety shows for young people, there has never been a lack of its title and implantation, and it has also introduced many traffic stars such as Wang Yibo and Zhu Zhengting. as an image representative.
From 2019 to 2021, the sales expenses invested by Xiangpiao Piao are 967 million yuan, 714 million yuan and 740 million yuan respectively, while the research and development expenses are 31.03 million yuan, 23.42 million yuan and 28.05 million yuan respectively.
Although Xiang Piao Piao will significantly increase the cost of research and development in 2021, a total of 20.85 million yuan will be invested in research and development, an increase of 19.74% over the same period last year, but it will only account for 0.81% of operating income, far less than the 21.34% of sales expenses.
Undoubtedly, the image of Xiang Piao Piao's milk tea has been deeply implanted in the hearts of a generation and has become a common memory.
However, the overly profound brand image has actually "dragged down" for Xiang Piao Piao, which needs to be transformed now.
When it comes to "Xiang Piao Piao", most people can think of its popular solid brewed milk tea, which used to be a cheap ingredient for marketing "trump cards", which runs counter to the healthy tea drinks pursued by today's young people.
Under the impact of freshly made tea
How far can industrialized tea drink go?
Under the predicament, Xiang Piao Piao also began to enter the liquid tea market segment, launching two series of MECO and Lan Fang Yuan.
In 2021, Xiang Piao Piao launched the liquid milk tea "roasted milk tea" for the first time, and launched a number of new flavors of liquid cup tea in both the MECO brand and the Lanfangyuan brand.
Although Xiangpiaopiao is actively entering the liquid tea market, the annual report shows that the operating income of brewing products in 2021 will be 2.78 billion yuan, accounting for 81.2% of the company's operating income, while ready-to-drink products only account for 18.8%.
Liquid tea is still in the growth period, and the banner of fragrance has to be carried by traditional brewed tea.
On the evening of January 4th, Xiang Piao Piao issued an announcement saying that due to the continuous increase in the cost of main raw materials, labor, transportation, energy, etc., it has decided to adjust the price of the company's solid brewed milk tea (including classic series and good material series) products. The price range ranges from 2% to 8%. The new price will be implemented according to the price adjustment notice of each product from February 1 this year.
Under the price increase, Xiangpiao Piao's revenue anxiety may be temporarily relieved, but compared with the rising raw material prices, the more important problem facing Xiang Piao Piao is the countless fresh tea brands that have made a comeback.
The reporter searched for milk tea shops within 1 km of Shipai Street on the map software, and the search results were as many as 22 brands and 32 stores.
Young people who once chose Xiangpiao Piao have turned to new tea brands with more varieties, richer tastes and healthier ingredients.
Xiang Piao Piao's old road of "one explosive model goes all over the world" is no longer easy to walk.
According to data from Zhiyan Consulting, from 2014 to 2020, the growth rate of the domestic ready-made milk tea market has been stable at more than 20%, but the compound annual growth rate of the solid milk tea (brewed milk tea) industry market size is only 5.29%, and even negative growth.
At present, the current tea drinking track is competing for hegemony, and the industry is constantly subdivided. At the high-end price of more than 30 yuan, there are teas from Heytea and Naixue, and the low price of less than 15 yuan has Mixue Bingcheng, and the middle price range is made. There are countless milk tea brands.
Industrialized tea drinks will face challenges from existing tea drinks in terms of pricing and taste.
Xiang Piao Piao, which once relied on convenience and speed to quickly grab customers from offline milk tea shops, no longer has an advantage in convenience. On the contrary, industrialized solid brewed tea drinks and liquid tea drinks have a single taste and too few choices.
In the context of serious homogenization of a large number of milk tea brands, various brands are looking for a way to break through.
According to Jiuqian Zhongtai data, from 2018 to 2020, Hi Tea and Nai Xue’s tea have launched 300 and 200 new products respectively in three years.
Industrialized tea has no advantages in terms of R&D cycle and R&D cost.
From brewed tea to liquid tea, Xiangpiaopiao has taken the first step in breaking the game, but the pace of the milk tea industry seems to have come to a more intense era of ready-made tea.
Under the heavy pressure, traditional brands such as Wahaha have also opened offline milk tea shops, and Xiangpiao Piao, who once said that it insisted not to open offline stores, has to face the challenges of existing tea drinks, and may need more changes.