Author: Shi Ge
"Now customers come to check out with ice cream, we will tell customers in advance that this ice cream is more expensive."
A clerk from a Lawson in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, has recently gained this little habit. When she sees customers holding ice cream with a unit price of more than 10 yuan, she will kindly remind customers to avoid the risk of consumers encountering "ice cream assassins".
Ice Cream Assassin — a term that has become popular this summer, refers to a type of ice cream that appears to be bland but is psychologically "thorned" by consumers due to the high price at checkout.
It mostly occurs in such scenarios: consumers randomly walk into a convenience store, grab an ice cream, and find out that the price is as high as ten or twenty yuan, or even more expensive.
Some consumers with thin face are too embarrassed to put it back in the original place, and can only buy it with pain.
As the temperature rises, so does the popularity of the term.
There are already more than 10,000 notes on Xiaohongshu, and the official created a topic with the same name as "Ice Cream Assassin" to encourage users to post about the "Ice Cream Assassin" they encountered.
According to the statistics of Xiaohongshu users, the price of Madiel sandwich ice cream, the German-style Forbidden City cultural and creative series, the Yili Xujinghuan series, the Northeast Daban and the daily Heiqiao co-branded ice cream are all close to 20 yuan. In addition, there are also A large number of products in the price range of 15-20 yuan.
The above-mentioned Rosen clerk has actually encountered a customer who was "stabbed". Faced with the customer's surprise and refund application, she and her colleagues will assist in the operation, "more understanding."
Bland but with a price beyond recognition, the "ice cream assassin" has sparked many discussions on whether the brand's marketing is excessive, and whether the product quality is worthy of the price.
As the first brand to popularize ice cream worth more than 15 yuan, Zhong Xuegao has also become the "target of public criticism" to a certain extent.
But pricing is essentially a market behavior, and the price of a commodity is a decision made by manufacturers and distributors after integrating costs, profits, and balancing supply and demand.
If the emergence of the "ice cream assassin" is reviewed with such underlying logic, the business considerations behind it are more worthy of attention: why are the "ice cream assassins" appearing mostly in convenience stores rather than small supermarkets at the door?
Why are there more and more high-priced ice creams on the market?
Will there be more "ice cream assassins" in the future?
Our traceability of the "ice cream assassin" starts from the two factors of convenience stores and ice cream.
Where are the prices of ice cream in convenience stores?
In the discussion of "ice cream assassin", the lack of a prominent price tag is one of its "gross".
Where is the price of convenience store ice cream marked?
The answer is on the glass of the freezer.
The freezer of a convenience store usually has a door that opens to both sides. The seam or both sides of the door is where the price is attached.
Rosen and the whole family's ice cream price tags are printed with pictures and prices of ice cream, and related promotions are also posted on the freezer or above the door.
A family clerk said that once a new ice cream product is released, they will add a new price tag to the freezer, and they can find everything that is on sale.
If the ice cream is no longer sold, the price tag will also be removed.
But it is true that compared to the drinks in the freezer-their price tags are placed in front of the corresponding products, the price of ice cream is really inconspicuous. You need to bend over and bow your head to find the one you want in the dense price tags. .
The background color of some convenience store price tags is made transparent, which increases the difficulty of identification.
And a sweaty consumer who wants to cool down by eating an ice cream may not have the patience to distinguish carefully.
As for why the price of ice cream is posted here and presented in this way, several convenience stores have not given an official answer.
Randomly visited convenience store clerks gave a piece of information: there are usually only 18 grids in the freezer, and more than 30 kinds of ice cream are mixed. There is no guarantee that they will always be in the same position, which makes it difficult to use a one-to-one correspondence with price tags affixed to the grid.
Cold drinks have always had a neat "row", and it is natural that the price is clearly marked.
In the past two years, beverages with a unit price of more than 10 yuan have also increased, but consumers can easily make a price filter decision based on the price tag when choosing.
And this process was delayed until checkout when buying ice cream.
In fact, in addition to the large supermarkets that sell boxed and family-sized ice cream, the price of ice cream will be posted next to the corresponding products, most supermarkets - ordinary chains, small supermarkets at your doorstep, stores, and "cigarette paper shops". The price of ice cream, you have to ask the boss to know.
Remember how the ice cream in the grocery store was priced when you were a kid?
Some bosses will keep the outer packaging of the ice cream and stick it on the wall, and write the price with watercolor pen on it, there are small pudding, green mood, pure crisp, Yili bitter coffee...
After the topic of "Ice Cream Assassin" was hotly discussed on the Internet, some media posted that the State Administration of Market Supervision will take action on the "Ice Cream Assassin" recently, and the "Ice Cream Assassin" will be taken down.
The "Regulations on Clearly Marking Prices and Prohibiting Price Gouging" mentioned in the report were actually issued in April 2022 and will take effect from July 1, and not only for the ice cream category.
The document points out that "clearly marked prices should be based on the characteristics of goods and services, industries, regions, etc., so as to be true and accurate, the goods labels are aligned, and the logo is eye-catching" applies to all commodities.
And what exactly is considered "clearly marked", there may be a lot of room for "further specification".
Why do convenience stores like to sell "expensive" ice cream?
This has something to do with the location of the convenience store.
The main customer groups of convenience stores are young consumers in their 20s and 30s. They have a soft spot for hunting. It has always been a marketing path for convenience stores to introduce new and eye-catching new products.
In summer, cold drinks and ice cream are undoubtedly the mainstream products of convenience stores, and they are also the most critical categories to increase sales.
When looking back at the past and present life of "Ice Cream Assassin", the popularity of "Coconut Ash", priced at 9 yuan in 2018, is also an unavoidable thing. It even led KFC and McDonald's to launch similar ice cream products.
Relying on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, "Coconut Ash" gained enough popularity at that time, and also brought passenger flow to the convenience stores that sell them.
Although this first-generation ice cream "net celebrity" was only popular for one summer, it left a path for the market that can be replicated: in the face of ice cream, a pleasant consumer product, consumers seem to be willing to spend a little more money to experience a topical topic Sex, products with some new experiences.
And this degree is in line with the general environment of the evolution of consumer goods.
In the past two years, new consumer brands have cultivated a habit of punch-in consumption among young customers with high-speed iteration and strong topicality.
In terms of appearance, taste, and form, a product may detonate the Internet at one of these points, thereby driving sales.
In this atmosphere, convenience stores have also begun to prefer high-frequency new products, and try to collect potential "tipping point" products as much as possible.
In order to leave more space for new products in the freezer, Lawson Convenience Store told YiMagazine, China Business News, that it had cancelled the traditional model of entry fees last year, and adopted a 6-week evaluation system for new products, with a digestibility of 6 weeks. If it is less than 60%, the product will face elimination, which can also give some excellent niche brands a chance to compete and try on the Rosen platform.
But the other side of the matter is that a large number of new brands have caused consumers to have no concept of price when facing these new brands they know nothing about.
There is a concept in consumer psychology called "price anchor", which is a benchmark that consumers use to compare the price of goods.
Taking ice cream as an example, the conventional products of Yili and Mengniu are usually priced at 3-4 yuan, and the price of "cute and more" is about 5 yuan. The upper limit of the psychological expectation of ice cream price may be about 10 yuan for a single Menglong.
After Zhong Xuegao became popular, the price ceiling was pushed up to 15 yuan, but in the minds of most consumers, this may just be an "isolated case" of Zhong Xuegao.
For new products that look good in convenience stores, consumers may raise their price expectations a little higher, but as for the acceptable price ceiling, it varies from person to product.
Therefore, when faced with a new brand that has never been seen but has a price that exceeds the "price anchor", consumers who originally just wanted to take a slightly better-looking ice cream to quench their thirst and thirst easily feel "stabbed" .
Don't forget, in order to build a brand image, Menglong has invested a lot of publicity resources to tell consumers that it is a product that allows adults to "open a happy moment".
Even so, many consumers still feel that its price is slightly higher.
And today, many ice cream assassins in convenience stores, almost without saying hello, just walked up to the price of ten, twenty yuan or even higher.
"Häagen-Dazs' consumption scene and crowd perception are restaurants, but the assassins are in convenience stores, and the 'crowd mind' is the Northeast big board." In the discussion on the Internet about "ice cream assassins", a reply said .
Of course, consumer minds and market judgments are sometimes misplaced.
Sometimes, the successful attempts of some brands are followed as new trends.
Specifically in the category of ice cream, the high price per customer brought by some brands has indeed affected the trend of the entire market.
Most notably, in the conspicuous position of the freezer, the well-known traditional ice cream brands of around 5 yuan, such as Yili, Mengniu, Guangming, and Luxue, have been squeezed out of space.
Lu Fafang, the founder of the fruit popsicle brand "Xianguo Xianyu", remembers that in 2019, when he and his team negotiated with the convenience store with fruit popsicles of about 15 yuan, "it was easier than expected."
"Just in time for convenience stores to change, the freezer will definitely retain the regular brands of several giants, but also free up 1/3 of the space for innovative products." Lu Fafa said.
The difference between "Fresh Fruit Fresh Language" and traditional fruit ice cream is that the whole piece or piece of fruit is put into the popsicle and packaged in a transparent box.
Because of the bright colors of the fruit, these ice creams are more easily noticed by consumers in the freezer.
"Appearance is justice, and when young people consume, they also use it to socialize. Many people will go to a convenience store to buy a certain commodity as a check-in behavior." Lu Feng analyzed the product logic of "Xianguo Xianyu.
When Lu Feng came into contact with convenience stores and boutique supermarkets in the past two years, he felt that their attitudes were more open, and he even said, "If we can make more popularity, we can provide more display positions."
The interaction between brands and convenience stores is no longer limited to the simple purchasing relationship in the past.
In the beginning, "Xianguo Xianyu" was just a small hand-made shop, and the price of a single popsicle was about 10 yuan.
At that time, Lu Fang, who was still selling ice lollies part-time in Chengdu, had already felt the welcome of the market for fruit popsicles. Even if the price was higher, many people lined up to buy them.
After obtaining the resources of the fruit supply chain through the main business of brand marketing, he invested in the ice cream business.
Expensive but easy to sell - "ice cream assassin" actually has its own market.
Regardless of whether it is out of novelty or repurchase, in the summer window period, consumers who were released for the "ice cream assassin" at the same time jointly raised the supply and demand curve to the intersection of higher prices.
Why is the price of ice cream more and more expensive?
However, do new products have to be expensive?
From the cost side, in the current product innovation, this is indeed unavoidable.
Taking "Xianguo Xianyu" as an example, in order to have a good appearance, it has to invest a higher cost of raw materials.
Lu Fang said that in order to completely put the fruit into the ice cream, the "fresh fruit fresh language" needs to select the "just right" fruit as the raw material. For this reason, the cold chain truck will directly drive into the fruit base, pick and transport it to the upstream. Factory processing.
Each link has a higher cost than traditional ice cream.
At present, the strawberry popsicles of "Xianguo Xianyu" are priced at 15 yuan a piece, and other products are in the price range of 12 to 14 yuan.
If the fruit is sold separately, farmers tend to pick the fruit when it is half-ripe, so that the fruit that has been transported and stored can be marketed with the fullest pulp and brightest color.
Lu Fang introduced that half-ripe fruits are not suitable for use in popsicles, and the aroma and sweetness have not yet reached the optimum level.
This year, the old brand "Northeast Big Ban" has co-branded with Daily Heiqiao, and launched a "double stick" ice cream with a unit price of 19.9 yuan - half of which is the classic milk of Northeast Big Ban, and the other half is dark chocolate mixed with pistachios.
Dove's dark chocolate crispy hazelnut milk ice cream is also priced at 17.9 yuan.
An ice cream industry practitioner analyzed that the price of dark chocolate will be slightly higher than that of ordinary milk chocolate. When the brand is co-branded, it is also necessary to take into account the pricing range of the co-branded brand.
"The joint name should also refer to the original customer base and price band to make a reasonable price." The practitioner said.
This time, the price of a box of 60g is about 29.9 yuan, and the price of a 252g bowl of Dove is only 39.9 yuan.
Another seldom mentioned in the "ice cream assassin" discussion is the difficulty of producing special-shaped ice cream.
Zhong Xuegao's tile shape, the Forbidden City shape of cultural and creative ice cream, and the shape of cherry blossoms and fish tails all belong to the category of special shapes. They are more difficult to produce, and traditional production lines are difficult to mass-produce, and the production efficiency is relatively low.
In short, production is limited, and costs cannot be amortized by scaling up, and prices have to remain relatively high.
Will there be more and more "ice cream assassins"?
There is also a consumer sentiment behind the fermentation of the "ice cream assassin": the price has risen, and it has risen too exaggeratedly.
As an entrepreneur in the ice cream industry, Lu Fang felt that this was somewhat related to the mentality of "consumption downgrading" in the context of the epidemic - consumers did not dare to spend money before, even if it was only for early adopters and occasional consumption of products with higher unit price The motivation also declined. .
The People's Bank of China's survey report on urban depositors in the first quarter of 2022 released in March this year showed that 54.7% of residents are more inclined to "save more", an increase of 2.9 percentage points from the previous quarter.
Conversely, residents inclined to "consume more" decreased by 1.0 percentage points from the previous quarter.
However, Lu Fafang is still optimistic about the ice cream industry. He feels that the ice cream industry still has a lot of room for subdivision and new brands.
From the joint name of "Northeast Big Board" and "Daily Heiqiao", some ideas for brand development can also be found.
At the earliest, the mainstream channel of the Northeast Big Board was the independent freezer at the entrance of the small store; four or five years ago, it started the layout of convenience stores and online channels; now, its co-branded target is obviously younger consumers.
The whole family also gave the Northeast big board more "platoons": if you accumulate a certain number of points on the whole family app, you can exchange for this new product at half price.
"The market, consumers, and channels are changing, and the brand must change with it." The above ice cream industry practitioner said.
Of course, the process of change will inevitably require higher costs - new products cannot dilute R&D, procurement, supply chain and channel costs like a brand that has accumulated for many years.
A popular phrase in the new consumption field in recent years is "all categories are worth doing again".
But can re-branding and polishing products only be done in the form of "high price"?
The wind of "consumption upgrading" that has been blowing for several years may backfire on some brands that are just for upgrading and do not pay attention to products.
To be realistic, do you still remember what the popular Internet celebrity ice cream was in the summer of the past two years?
In fact, convenience stores with diverse customer bases cannot survive only on high-priced products. Convenience stores also have a variety of ice creams around 5 yuan.
Rosen also mentioned in the interview that the ice cream category is currently strengthening low-priced water ice products.
Whether it is a channel or a brand, facing the consumer market, they are trying to use a variety of methods to maintain their competitive advantage for a longer time.