In the sale of Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea still marked "0 sucrose"
A few days ago, Yuanqi Forest admitted that although its products were advertised as "0 sucrose", they were not sugar-free. After the news came out, Yuanqi Forest was deemed to have collapsed by "human design".
A few days ago, Henan retail giant Fat Donglai removed Yuanqi Forest-related products, the clerk removed the relevant shelf labels, and the products were also stacked in a cart on the side.
All media reporters of the Guangzhou Daily found out that the e-commerce channels and local convenience stores in Guangzhou are still selling their related products, and their offline milk tea products are still marked as "0" on the outer packaging of their offline milk tea products. Sucrose, low fat"; in addition, the main promotion concept of some products on its flagship store page is still "0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 card".
Industry insiders believe that the vitality forest may be "seriously damaged" this time because it happens to be planted on the biggest selling point of its own products.
Text/Picture: Tu Duanyu, All Media Reporter, Guangzhou Daily
Vitality hurts Henan retail giant to remove Vitality Forest related products
Yuanqi Forest recently issued an apology statement saying that in the product labeling and promotion of milk tea products, the difference between "0 sugar" and "0 sucrose" is not stated, which is prone to misunderstanding. For this reason, Yuanqi Forest will compensate each consumer 20 yuan.
Some industry observers revealed that Pang Donglai’s delisting of Yuanqi Forest-related products should be a unilateral action based on his own needs. If there is a complaint, it is the operation mode that Pang Donglai has always followed. , Due to the large scale and wide influence of the store, the delisting has once again aroused consumers' attention.
"We haven't heard (controversial) about this matter. The Vitality Forest Milk Tea is generally moving around, and soda sparkling water is the best seller." said a clerk at a convenience store chain in Baiyun District.
The reporter noticed that, or because of poor sales, the vitality forest milk tea products were placed on the top of the shelf instead of the shelf C in the consumer’s view; in addition, the outer packaging of this milk tea product had a huge "0" on the outer packaging. The slogan "Sucrose, low fat" is still impressive.
On April 18, reporters from all media logged on to the e-commerce platform and found that, including the delisted product Yuanqi Forest Soda Sparkling Water and the controversial product milk tea mentioned in its apology, many of the main products of Yuanqi Forest are still on sale and are not online. On the channel and off the shelf.
Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes that if Yuanqi Forest does not regard 0 sugar as its biggest selling point, but only writes it on the ingredient list, it may be misleading; but it now regards zero sugar, zero fat, and zero card as the whole product. Differentiated selling points, or suspected of deceiving consumers.
The reporter noticed that "health" has always been the main selling point of Yuanqi Forest, and its official Weibo has repeatedly appeared health-related statements.
While there is still controversy about the impact of sugar substitutes on the human body, some experts in the industry believe that if Yuanqi Forest is not properly "changed", it will face certain risks.
Yuanqi Forest stated on its official Weibo a few days ago: Anyone who has purchased milk tea at the official store of Yuanqi Forest e-commerce can receive a red envelope of 20 yuan in cash by contacting the store customer service; most of the milk tea produced from February 4 The packaging of all milk tea produced from March 18 was changed from "0 sucrose and low fat" to "low sugar and low fat".
All the vitality forest milk tea produced from March 20th will no longer contain crystalline fructose in the raw materials.
In this regard, some consumers showed the text messages sent to them by Yuanqi Forest. In the text messages, Yuanqi Forest stated that users who purchased milk tea at the official stores of Yuanqi Forest e-commerce on April 10, 2021 can get cash red envelopes, and they also promised Say: "If you have a lot of unpacked or unopened milk tea, we unconditionally accept returns."
Controversy about the "0 sugar concept" just completed financing
It is reported that Yuanqi Forest has just completed a new round of financing. This round of financing is led by Sequoia China, Warburg Pincus, and L catterton, followed by Temasek, Gaorong Capital, and Longfor Capital.
The valuation after this round of investment reached 6 billion U.S. dollars (about 40 billion yuan).
The financing will be mainly used for factory construction, product research and development and overseas market expansion.
Facing the question of excessive valuation, Shen Meng, director of Chanson Capital, believes that for Yuanqi Forest and investors, the higher the valuation, the higher the return after listing.
It doesn't matter whether the valuation is high or low without going public.
Despite its outstanding financing capabilities, the "0 sugar concept" where Yuanqi Forest is located is still controversial.
All media reporters of the Guangzhou Daily learned that, in fact, according to the national standard, if a food label claims "no sugar", the sugar content per 100g or 100ml cannot exceed 0.5g, which is not completely sugar-free as the public understands.
As of now, zero addition or no addition is just a marketing statement, and there is no clear definition in the law or in various industries.
But as long as they don't use white granulated sugar or cane sugar, fast-moving consumer companies usually play the concept of 0 sugar.
There are always controversies in the industry around the concept of 0 sugar and whether sugar substitutes are healthy. It also reflects that consumers have a very high demand for sugar reduction, low sugar or even sugar-free. On the other hand, consumers buy more products by looking at advertising slogans. , See if the formula table contains less sugar.