Nearly 80% of the top tea brands have products below 19 yuan
Say goodbye to the "30 yuan era" milk tea, is it really fragrant?
Our reporter Liu Xiaoyan "Workers Daily" (September 15, 2022, 04 edition)
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Since the beginning of this year, the product prices of many milk tea brands have been significantly reduced, and they have gradually bid farewell to the "30 yuan era" that has been repeatedly complained about.
At the same time, the tea beverage industry has also provided consumers with various benefits through platform discounts, group purchases in live broadcasts, and other superimposed discounts. There has been a clear trend of price reduction in the tea beverage industry.
Yaxixiang light milk tea is 12 yuan, Yaxi lemon tea is 13 yuan, Lvyan light milk tea is 12 yuan... Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xicha has launched a variety of new products.
"Not only is it delicious, but the price is also cheap, which surprised us." Xiao Li, a college student from Beijing who likes to drink milk tea, told reporters.
Not only HEYTEA, but also Nai Xue's tea, Tea Baidao and many other milk tea brands have also significantly lowered the prices of their products, and gradually bid farewell to the "30 yuan era" that has been repeatedly complained about.
Experts pointed out that the main reason for the price reduction of high-end tea brands is that low-priced tea can attract more consumers under the current situation of competition in the current tea market.
Various forms of price reduction in the tea industry
During the school season in September, many commercial pedestrian streets and department stores in Beijing ushered in a consumption boom. The gates of various brands of milk tea shops scattered along the streets and in the buildings gathered more or less consumers who were waiting for their meals. .
Xiao Li told reporters that buying a cup of milk tea when shopping has become a travel habit for himself and his classmates.
"Hey tea and Nai Xue's tea, which were expensive in the past, have many new products of more than 10 yuan this year. Now the per capita price of milk tea consumption is basically controlled within 20 yuan." According to Xiao Li's consumption experience, this year's tea industry has obvious advantages. price trend.
It is understood that at the beginning of this year, HEYTEA lowered the prices of pure tea, milk tea, fruit tea and other categories, with a drop of between 3 yuan and 7 yuan.
At present, among the ready-made drinks on the regular store menu, products below 19 yuan account for nearly 80%.
A variety of Nai Xue's tea products have been reduced in price, bid farewell to the "30 yuan era", and launched the "easy purchase" series, with a price reduction of up to 10 yuan.
At the same time, the brand also promises that the "Easy Shopping Series" will launch a new "1 prefix" product every month, in order to provide users with a wider range of product choices in a wider price band.
In addition to price reductions, tea brands have also introduced superimposed discounts through platform discounts, urban consumption coupons, and group purchases in live broadcast rooms.
For example, many consumers buy Hey Tea drinks in the Douyin live broadcast room, Naixue ordering applet and major e-commerce platforms also have exclusive discounts and discounts.
The effect of price cuts is also obvious.
In June this year, HEYTEA and the hit drama "Menghualu" jointly launched two customized co-branded tea products - Menghua Tea Xi·Diancha, Perilla·Peach Drink, priced at 19 yuan and 15 yuan respectively. Go the cheap route.
According to statistics, the co-branded special products sold nearly 300,000 cups in stores nationwide on the first day they were launched, and the highest sales volume in a single store was nearly 1,000 cups, exceeding 1.4 million cups in the first week of launch.
Wu Wende, a food and beverage analyst at Tianfeng Securities, believes that the current situation shows that the growth rate of the new tea beverage industry has slowed down significantly, and the competition is gradually fierce.
The main reason for the price reduction of high-end tea brands is that low-priced tea can attract more consumers under the current situation of competition in the current tea market.
From the explosion of Michelle Bingcheng this year, it can be clearly seen that the sinking market may be the future industry development space. Therefore, by reducing prices to attract more consumer groups, the boundaries between high-end and mid-end brands are gradually blurred, thereby expanding the market scale.
Digital construction and supply chain capabilities reduce costs
According to the reporter's observations in Beijing's Qianmen, Nanluoguxiang, Xizhimen and other business districts, the stores of Michelle Bingcheng, Yidian, Qifentian, Happy Lemon and other brands with lower product prices have more queues and the average price is relatively higher. In Nai Xue's tea, HEYTEA and other brand stores, take-out orders are also filled with operating desks.
As mid-to-high-end brands move closer to price cuts, consumers are willing to try more types of drinks at acceptable prices through multiple channels.
According to the "Investigation and Analysis Report on the Development Status and Consumption Trends of China's New-Style Tea Beverage Industry in the First Half of 2022" recently released by iiMedia Research, 94% of consumers consume new-style tea beverages every week; most consumers spend 11 yuan. ~20 yuan, accounting for 68.5%.
At the same time, in 2022, 26.2% of Chinese new-style tea consumers indicated that their consumption frequency will increase in the future, and only 14.7% of consumers will consume less frequently, and consumer demand will continue to rise.
In an interview with this reporter, Nai Xue's tea said that product price adjustment is based on the accumulation of brand, digitalization and supply chain, and does not affect product quality and materials.
On the one hand, as of June 30, Naixue has opened more than 900 stores in more than 80 cities across the country, and the digital construction has begun to take effect. Online order revenue accounted for 80.1%, and the self-developed "automatic milk tea machine" has been It has been invested in more than half of the country's stores, and the cost reduction and efficiency improvement of operations has gradually emerged; on the other hand, Nai Xue's tea has established a stable and efficient supply chain system. capacity, compressing the upstream scale cost and providing space for product price adjustment.
It is understood that at present, the concentration of high-end new tea brands is relatively high. Both HEYTEA and Nai Xue’s tea have formed a large brand scale and have greater bargaining power.
Therefore, high-end tea brands at the top of the industry can reduce costs by forcing the upstream fruit supply chain.
How to ensure quality after price reduction
Are the promotions sufficiently consumer friendly?
How long can the consumption fever brought by price cuts last?
These questions still need to be tested by the market.
The reporter saw on the life group buying website that consumers left comments under some tea brands, and when they used the drink coupons purchased on the platform in the store, they were told that there was no way to produce them due to the lack of some raw materials.
Some netizens mentioned on social networking sites that the beverage group purchase coupons snapped up in the live broadcast room were told when they were used offline that they were franchise stores and did not participate in brand activities.
At the same time, the price reduction of milk tea brands has once again aroused the concern of consumers that "milk tea shops use non-dairy creamer (creamer) instead of animal cream".
Some consumers said: "When the price of products is reduced, consumers are first worried about whether the merchants will compress the cost, such as replacing animal cream with non-dairy creamer."
In this regard, after the price adjustment, the actions of leading companies such as HEYTEA have also attracted much attention.
Recently, based on its many years of experience in quality control of real milk raw materials, HEYTEA released the "HeyTea Quality Real Milk Standard", and jointly launched the "Initiation on the Use of Fresh Milk Tea Quality Milk Materials" with the media, calling on the industry to comprehensively upgrade the use of milk. The quality of raw materials, continue to strengthen the quality of products, in order to promote the popularization of the application of real milk, reject creamer.
This move confirms the pursuit of quality by leading brands after the price adjustment. Whether or not milk tea contains non-dairy creamer has become a compulsory question for consumers before making consumption decisions.
"In order to ensure the taste quality of tea products while ensuring profit margins, it is necessary for brands to have the ability to standardize production, achieve perfect supply chain management, and better control the cost of raw materials." Wu Wende believes that tea The key to maintaining brand competitiveness in the beverage industry lies in how to ensure the quality and taste of tea beverages in the face of fierce price competition.
At the same time, the brand needs to have certain research and development capabilities, and can ensure that the taste and taste of each product of the company conform to the current consumption trend.