China News Service, March 22 (China News Business Reporter Zuo Yuqing) After half a month of popularity, Wahaha’s popularity seems to be slowly calming down.

　　On March 21, "Daily sales of Wahaha's official flagship store dropped by 90%" became a hot search on Weibo, once again attracting netizens' attention to Wahaha.

Daily sales drop by 90%

　　On February 25, Wahaha issued an obituary. Zong Qinghou, founder and chairman of Wahaha Group, passed away at 10:30 on February 25, 2024 at the age of 79 due to ineffective treatment.

　　This news caused Wahaha to set off a wave of consumption amidst people's nostalgia. On March 4, Wahaha Douyin’s official flagship store, which had been temporarily suspended, resumed live broadcasting and ushered in unprecedented traffic sales.

  Third-party data shows that from March 4 to March 7, the sales peak of Wahaha Douyin’s official flagship store remained at more than 2.5 million.

　　Third-party data shows that in the past 30 days, Wahaha Douyin’s official flagship store has carried out 21 live broadcasts, with live broadcast sales reaching 10 million to 25 million yuan. The cumulative number of fans has exceeded 5.15 million, and the current total number of fans is 5.745 million. Among them, the sales peak from March 4th to March 7th remained above 2.5 million.

　　However, since then, the store's online sales have gradually declined, and have dropped to more than 100,000 in recent days, with daily sales falling by at least 90%.

Behind the "cooling down": Many products are for pre-sale

　　Regarding Wahaha's "cooling down", some netizens expressed optimism: "Don't spend a few days drinking it after buying it. Buy it after drinking it. The decline is inevitable. It will return to normal and the water will flow."

　　Some netizens also expressed concerns: "We did not seize this opportunity to quickly regain lost ground. All major stores and canteens were still occupied by other brands. We only have one opportunity, so we did not seize it well."

　　The reporter noticed that currently Wahaha’s most sold products on multiple e-commerce platforms are AD calcium milk, eight-treasure porridge and purified water, and the current status is all pre-sale, with a pre-sale period of 25 days, and some product specifications are displayed as “out of stock” state.

  A number of products including AD calcium milk have been removed from the official flagship store of Wahaha Douyin. Screenshot from short video platform.

　　On the afternoon of the 21st, Wahaha Douyin’s official flagship store customer service told reporters that all pre-sale products will be shipped according to the page time. However, soon, reporters discovered that many products in the store, including AD calcium milk, had been taken off the shelves. The customer service of Wahaha Douyin’s official flagship store told reporters that these products are currently out of stock for pre-sale. "We will replenish the stock as soon as possible."

　　According to Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst, Wahaha's so-called "sales plummet" should be more concentrated in first- and second-tier markets. "Because Wahaha's layout in the first and second tier markets is imperfect and its inventory is limited, when its entire inventory is robbed, the overall sales volume will definitely plummet compared to the peak."

How can Wahaha be renewed again?

　　In 2013, Wahaha reached its peak performance, recording revenue of 78.28 billion yuan. However, with the lack of product innovation and the emergence of shortcomings in the channel model, Wahaha has gone downhill.

　　In 2018, Zong Fuli, the daughter of Zong Qinghou, became the director of the brand public relations department of Wahaha Group, which also started the process of brand renewal and rejuvenation of Wahaha. Today, Zong Fuli, who is the vice chairman of the China Beverage Industry Association and the general manager of Wahaha Group, humbly calls herself a "veteran" who has been in the industry for 20 years and a "new general" who has taken over the business baton. .

　　So, can Wahaha be renewed again under the leadership of Zong Fuli?

　　Zhu Danpeng believes that what Wahaha currently lacks is innovative, upgrading and iterative measures. As Zong Fuli comes to the stage, her business philosophy and operational ideas will be further demonstrated.

　　"Taken together, Wahaha's overall sales are still growing compared to the past. This incident is good for Wahaha, but whether it can meet everyone's imagined expectations depends on subsequent operations." He said. (over)