Why is ice cream an "assassin"
Our reporter Qu Peng Wen Ziyu
Picking up an ice cream in a convenience store, it seems ordinary, but when you check out, you find that the price is surprisingly high, and you pour it "cool" before you eat it... This summer, it was triggered by the "ice cream assassin" who was ridiculed by netizens and stabbed her wallet. Hot discussion has become synonymous with high-priced ice cream.
In summer, many people like to eat ice cream.
Why did the ice cream that should "fly into the homes of ordinary people" become an eye-popping "assassin"?
Reporters conducted an investigation.
High-priced ice cream is not clearly marked and sold together with cheap ice cream
From July 4th to 7th, the reporter visited some convenience stores and fresh food supermarkets in Xicheng District, Beijing and found that although most of the stores clearly marked the price of ice cream, there were still a few problems such as incomplete price tags, untimely updates, and even wearing them.
In a convenience bee shop, the reporter asked the clerk for a price of a grape-flavored ice cream without a price tag.
In a Qixian supermarket, a Heytea brand ice cream without a price tag was "mixed" into the Häagen-Dazs counter, while the price tag of a cheese product from other counters was posted on the ice cream freezer.
In a multi-point supermarket, different brands of ice cream such as Zhong Xuegao and Mengniu are mixed in a freezer, and only a few have price tags. Judging from the scanning code, the maximum price difference exceeds 12 yuan.
"Ice cream has become an 'assassin', first of all because there is no clear price tag, and consumers' right to know and right to choose is not guaranteed." Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, told reporters that consumers were holding ice cream. Go to checkout and find that the price is much higher than expected. Even if the payment is completed, it goes against the real purchase intention and is forced to accept the high price.
"What consumers are most disgusted with is that high-priced ice cream and cheap ice cream are sold together, and the price is not clearly marked." Chen Jian, director of the Complaints Department of the China Consumers Association, said that clearly marked price is the responsibility of the operator, "Consumer Rights Protection Law" Article 8, Article 13 of the "Price Law", and Articles 5, 6, and 12 of the "Regulations on Clearly Marking Prices and Prohibiting Price Gouging" that came into effect on July 1 all provide for clearly marked prices. Judging from the sales of ice cream, there is indeed a phenomenon that some operators do not clearly mark the price and infringe on consumers' right to know."
Chen Jian believes that the clearly marked price reflects the integrity of the operator, and the operator clearly informs that consumers are willing to pay the bill in order to promote the healthy development of the market economy.
"Creating gimmicks, concealing prices, and creating Internet celebrity products without bottom line may benefit operators in the short term, but they will eventually be eliminated by the market."
The high price of ice cream is difficult to convince the public, and the gimmick has raised doubts
Among the convenience stores and fresh food supermarkets visited by the reporter, the most expensive domestic ice cream is Zhong Xuegao's strawberry white chocolate ice cream, which is produced in Nantong, Jiangsu, with a single size of 75 grams and a price of 22 yuan.
The remaining styles of Zhong Xue Gao ice cream are also priced between 14 yuan and 17 yuan.
The e-commerce platform shows that Zhong Xuegao's "Xing Yu Nian" ice cream is 280 grams per box, and two boxes are sold in bundles. The total price ranges from 190 yuan to 239 yuan, and promises to "melt and refund".
Yili's "Xu Jin Huan" ice cream, its "Tuan Fan Pack" has a single size of 75 grams, and the price of 4 pieces is between 60 yuan and 79.9 yuan.
The ice cream jointly launched by a well-known liquor brand and Mengniu has a net content of 75 grams per cup, and the maximum price for 3 cups is 410 yuan.
Among the 10 consumers interviewed by the reporter in different neighborhoods in Beijing, 9 people think that the price of ice cream of related brands is outrageous, and they will not buy it or will not buy it again.
The respondents all said that the unit price of ice cream should not exceed 5 yuan, "I miss the brand when I was young."
A person in charge of an ice cream manufacturer in Northeast China told reporters that the price of ice cream raw materials is indeed rising, but there should not be such a big price difference between different brands, "Ice cream is a mass consumer product after all, and the raw materials will not be much different. It's already very high."
The person in charge said that as a cold drink practitioner, he may buy high-priced Internet celebrity ice cream to see "where is the price".
As a parent, you don't necessarily buy it for your child, "it doesn't feel worth it".
In Chen Yinjiang's view, ice cream is a fully competitive product, and enterprises have the right to set prices independently. It is understandable to raise prices reasonably due to factors such as rising raw material prices and improvement of process quality. The concept of a substantial price increase, and only rely on fancy marketing to increase short-term attention.
"There are many reasons for the price increase of ice cream. In addition to reasonable factors such as more diverse consumer demand and rising raw material and labor costs, there are also some abnormal factors, such as excessive packaging, gimmicks, false publicity, etc. to make huge profits." Chen Jian For example, some companies claim that their products "do not add a drop of water" and use "superior red grapes". After investigation by relevant parties, the actual situation is not the case.
The reporter found that in addition to the inflated prices of some ice cream brands, excessive packaging must also be vigilant.
In a typical case of excessive packaging law enforcement announced by the State Administration for Market Regulation in April this year, the issue of unqualified porosity in the packaging of a certain brand of Louvre Yingyue series ice cream has attracted much attention.
"As far as the ice cream industry is concerned, we are resolutely opposed to any form of excessive packaging." Chen Jian said that excessive packaging brings about waste of resources and environmental pollution, resulting in a serious discrepancy between the actual value of ice cream and the packaging, and also promotes a bad consumer atmosphere, which affects Healthy competition in the entire ice cream industry.
Affordable ice cream is popular, the real price is the right way
The reporter noticed that while the "ice cream assassin" stings consumers, the old brand cheap ice cream is being favored by more and more consumers, and is affectionately called "ice cream guard" by netizens.
According to data from the Meituan platform, in June this year, the number of cheap ice cream orders exceeded one million, and the related searches for "ice cream wholesale" increased by 323% year-on-year.
Since July, the sales volume of "Snow Lotus", which is 50 cents a bag and has not increased in price for many years, has soared by 199% compared with the same period last month; the sales volume of "Bright Ice Brick", which has accompanied generations of Shanghainese to grow up, has increased by 88% month-on-month.
"Internet celebrity ice cream is very popular, but cheap ice cream is still the mainstream consumption of takeaway platforms." Ma Cong, head of consumption research on the Meituan platform, told reporters that from the overall order price in June, ice cream below 3 yuan accounted for more than 70%. , "The taste of childhood is back."
"My favorite food is 'Xuelian', 'Green Tongue' and 'Little Pudding', which are simple and inexpensive ice creams. Those more than ten or twenty dollars are too exaggerated and completely unnecessary. There are at least ten The dollars are spent on design and packaging." Chen Yanan, an employee of the Internet company, admitted that during a shopping trip not long ago, he learned that the ice cream he had chosen was priced at 9 yuan, and "resolutely refunded it."
The person in charge of the aforementioned ice cream manufacturer in Northeast China introduced that they have been producing and operating ice cream brands for more than 20 years, and the unit price has never exceeded 3 yuan. The sales volume in the relevant areas has a small increase every year.
In Chen Jian's view, only ice creams with guaranteed quality, healthy nutrition, simplicity and environmental protection, as well as affordable and high-quality ice cream are more popular with consumers, and they can go more stably and go further in the market competition.
"We believe that the development of the ice cream industry should pay more attention to product quality, and win the favor of consumers with good quality and nutritional safety; pay more attention to the needs of the public, and take into account the cost-effectiveness while insisting on product innovation, so that consumers can experience more social development. Pay more attention to saving and environmental protection, simple and moderate packaging, oppose waste of resources, and practice green and low-carbon production; pay more attention to reasonable pricing, honest publicity, eliminate gimmicks and false marketing, and let consumers understand consumption and pay with confidence.” Chen Jian told reporters.