Vinegar sellers and soy sauce sellers are all interested in the beverage business.

　　The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that recently, Haitian Flavor (603288.SH), Hengshun Vinegar (600305.SH) and other companies have been making beverages across borders.

Is this because the beverage business is easy to do, or is it impossible to do the seasoning business?

　　In this regard, Lai Yang, chief expert of the Research Base of Beijing International Business Center, believes that the entry barriers for the beverage industry are low, OEMs are easy to find, consumers have relatively low stickiness to beverage brands, and the quality of most beverages is not very different, as long as the price Appropriate and cost-effective can attract consumers to buy.

In addition, the channels of beverages and seasonings are connected, and channel capability is an important capability of beverage companies.

　　However, Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng is not optimistic about this.

He believes that the two condiment companies may not have much opportunity to make beverages across borders.

　　Condiment companies overweight beverage track

　　Mainly healthy and fermented

　　Recently, "The King of Soy Sauce" Haitian Flavor has launched a new beverage "Lime Juice Full of Joy" on its applet "Haitian Delicious Restaurant" and the official flagship store of Haitian, featuring 0 fat, 0 preservatives, and fermentation.

It is priced at 75 yuan / 15 bottles × 300ml in the applet, and 99 yuan / 15 bottles × 300ml in the Tmall official flagship store.

　　It is nothing new for Haitian to make beverages.

As early as 2016, the "Zhang Xiaozhu Apple Cider Vinegar Shuang" juice drink was launched.

However, at present, the Red Star Capital Bureau has not searched for related products on Mini Programs, Tmall, and JD.com.

　　In addition to lime juice, Haitian Flavor's Joyful Series launched its first beverage product, carrot juice, in August this year, which is also a fermented fruit and vegetable juice beverage.

　　Coincidentally, "A-share vinegar king" Hengshun Vinegar Industry will open the "Sour and Sweet Huobao Flagship Store" on Tmall in 2022, and will launch light vinegar fruit-flavored sparkling water, including three flavors of pineapple, passion fruit and lychee.

The product focuses on low-calorie, low-sugar, 0 preservatives, real juice and other healthy concepts, and is exclusively titled "If You Are the One" variety show.

　　The main business has developed or has reached the top

　　Looking for opportunities across borders

　　The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that both Haitian Flavor Industry and Hengshun Vinegar Industry have encountered development bottlenecks in recent years.

　　Haitian Flavor's revenue in 2021 will be 25.004 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.71%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deduction is 6.430 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.09%.

Although both revenue and net profit increased, the growth rate of both was the lowest since its listing in 2014.

　　Haitian Flavor Industry described 2021 as an "extremely difficult year" in its annual report. Regarding the decline in performance growth, it explained that due to the aftermath of the new crown epidemic, weak consumer demand, rising prices of various raw materials, and vicious competition in community group purchases , power and production restrictions have led to tight supply, etc. The business environment of the enterprise is complex and severe, and the company is facing unprecedented challenges.

　　Similarly, the performance of Hengshun vinegar industry is not optimistic.

In 2021, its revenue and deducted non-net profit will drop: revenue is 1.893 billion yuan, down 6.45% year-on-year; non-net profit deducted is 108 million yuan, down 62.01% year-on-year.

　　Since 2019, the revenue of Hengshun Vinegar Industry has hovered around 1.8 billion yuan.

Hengshun Vinegar is very active in cross-border business.

In addition to beverages, he has also made cultural and creative ice cream and pre-made dishes in the past two years.

　　In the past two years, Haitian Flavor has entered the field of sesame oil, hot pot base and other fields.

At the just-concluded performance meeting, Pang Kang, chairman of Haitian Flavor Industry, said that Haitian's development strategy is to diversify in the condiment industry, and Haitian will continue to cultivate in the main condiment industry. Product extension in categories does not represent a change in the focus of the main business.

　　Channel exchange, easy to find OEM

　　The cross-border abacus is quite loud

　　Cross-border has become a routine operation of Haitian Flavour and Hengshun Vinegar, but why did the two companies get together on the beverage track?

　　Lai Yang said that in addition to finding OEMs, the more important thing is that the channels for beverages and condiments are connected.

Because only when there are enough channels, can more consumers be reached.

Some new companies want to develop channels because of insufficient qualifications and influence, high communication costs with channel providers, and weak bargaining power.

Haitian Flavor and Hengshun Vinegar can rely on previous channels such as supermarkets and convenience stores to add their own beverage products.

　　According to Lai Yang's analysis, consumers are more accepting of new beverage brands than most other categories.

Because the quality of most beverages is not very different, as long as the cost-effectiveness is high enough, consumers will be attracted to buy them, which is also an important reason for condiment companies to choose beverages.

However, Lai Yang pointed out that it is easy for Haitian Flavor and Hengshun Vinegar to enter the channel, but it may be more difficult for consumers to buy than well-known beverage brands.

　　The sub-track "Fermented Drinks" and "Fruit and Vegetable Juice" launched by Haitian Flavor Industry is the foreign brand BIOE, which has gathered many fans. Its prune enzyme drink sells 2000+ per month in Tmall flagship store. The latter includes the "Nongfu Orchard" and "NFC" series launched by Nongfu Spring, a leading beverage enterprise, and the Huiyuan fruit and vegetable juice series.

As for the sub-track "fruit vinegar" and "fruit-flavored sparkling water" launched by Hengshun Vinegar Industry, the former is stationed by Tiandi No. 1, while the latter has giants such as Coca-Cola and Vitality Forest.

　　Zhu Danpeng pointed out that it is difficult to cross borders nowadays. In addition to the fierce competition in the beverage industry, the two companies may not have much chance.

　　Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Yu Yao and Zhang Luxi