Natural health online consumption of milk tea enters the 3.0 era
In recent years, freshly-made tea with milk tea as its “signature” has become a “traffic responsibility” for modern catering. In addition to rapidly expanding top brands, emerging brands with special flavors have also continued to emerge, and “net celebrity milk tea” has become a The check-in project of "Food".
According to the "Insight Report on China's Freshly Produced Tea Industry in 2021" issued by Mob Research Institute, as people's consumption habits change, the tea industry is iteratively upgraded. The raw materials have changed from milk tea powder to high-quality tea, and the stores have changed from a single milk tea shop to a multi-functional, complex. In a casual shop, the sales channels cover all scenarios from offline to online and offline, and even milk tea has its own brand IP, playing cross-border cooperation.
Product iteration and upgrade 3.0 era focuses on natural health
In terms of products, in the early 1.0 era, the milk tea sold in offline milk tea shops was mainly milk tea powder. The production method was hot water blending milk tea powder. People were also used to buying them in these street shops. Later, in the 2.0 era, milk tea The store’s product was upgraded to brew tea with hot water to make base tea, adding a little fresh milk and fruit to upgrade the taste. At this time, the street shops also started the chain era, but the decoration was relatively simple.
Now entering the 3.0 era, milk tea sales have covered offline and online, stores are distributed in large commercial districts, and personalized decoration, local emerging brands have emerged one after another, and companies have begun to focus on the creation of brand IP.
Milk tea itself is mainly natural and healthy. It is mostly extracted from natural raw materials and high-quality tea. Cold brewed tea and iced tea, which break through the traditional concept of hot tea, are popular. Fresh fruits and grass jelly are added to enrich the taste.
In 2021, the overall scale of ready-made tea drinks will exceed 100 billion yuan, and the number of stores will exceed 500,000.
At the same time, in the context of the gradual strengthening of the brand effect and continuous capital injection, the growth rate will remain above 20% in the next five years.
The rapid expansion of tea shops is affected by the epidemic. It is expected that the number of closed stores will decrease by 20,000 in 2020, but it will return to the peak in 2021.
Internet celebrity milk tea shops frequently "turn over", self-inspection and supervision need to be strengthened
It is worth noting that under the blessing of capital, current tea shops are expanding wildly, and many Internet celebrity milk tea shops frequently "turn over". They are frequently seen in the media due to irregular operations and face rectification. Among them, the main problems that have been exposed are the deterioration of raw materials and raw materials. Improper storage, poor sanitation, tampering with labels, staff not wearing masks or without health certificates, etc.
In February 2021, a tea store in Baolong Plaza, Fengxian, Shanghai, was found to have problems such as unsealed raw materials, incomplete health certificates of staff, and irregular wearing of masks; in May 2021, Zhengzhou City’s regulatory authorities gave 529 complaints to 529 stores in the city. Michelle’s Bingcheng store launched a “carpet-style” investigation. Based on the results of the inspection, 35 stores were ordered to restrict rectification, three stores were ordered to close for immediate rectification, and administrative penalty decisions were issued to nine stores on the spot; in June 2021, Nanjing City 16 batches of fruit tea and 6 batches of edible ice were found to have food safety problems in 5 batches of Heycha’s products; in August 2021, Guangdong Province gave orders to “Naixue’s Tea” stores and related Internet celebrity beverages across the province Special risk hazards of the store were inspected. A total of 1,233 stores were inspected, 33 on-site rectification notices were issued, and 2 stores were warned.
Analysts believe that while the number of milk tea stores is growing, neither direct sales nor franchised stores can guarantee that all employees follow a uniform standard. In order to improve such problems, the company itself needs to "cool down" and change from pursuing "expansion speed" to pursuing "expansion speed". quality".
The industry believes that the regulatory authorities should also strengthen the management of the brand's head office, and that the operating problems of its authorized stores need to be held accountable.
Create IP, cross-border co-branded milk tea "play with flowers"
Ordering a cup of milk tea on the mini program may be the main channel for people to buy milk tea in the future.
The current tea beverage products have shown a high degree of homogeneity, so the future development direction is that the frequency of new product launches will become higher and higher, and it will cross-border coffee and roasting.
Among the new milk tea products, health, health preservation, national style, hand-made lemon tea, etc. have become "wealth codes."
Statistics show that rising stars who focus on this type of tea are more likely to be favored by capital.
At the same time, online purchases will surpass offline, and mini programs will become the main battlefield.
During the epidemic, offline consumption channels were blocked, and the proportion of online orders in 2020 was as high as 70%.
This has also forced tea companies to carry out digital transformation, and small programs have become an important part of it.
In the future, brand fancy marketing, including brand co-branding and pop-up activities, will become more abundant.
"You love me, I love you, Michelle Bingcheng is sweet..." This "brainwashing song" is exactly the "work" born during the brand's creation of the brand IP "Snow King".
Naixue’s tea and the People’s Daily new media jointly launched the "subscription" pomegranate tea; Hey Tea has a cross-border co-branding with skin care brands such as Dove and Keyan.
HeyTea also successively launched themed pop-up buses such as "Ice Bus" and "Bobo Bus". Nay Xue's Tea and Dove jointly created a room escape pop-up shop.
In addition, Cha Yanyue Se, the first milk tea brand with the theme of Chinese style, has been "bound" with Changsha and has become a must-go for Changsha tourists to check in.
Although it has gradually expanded to other cities in recent years, it will lose the scarcity label of Changsha, and it may face the problem of inadequacy.
"Hit workers" rely on milk tea to "continue their lives" women accounted for over 60%
The current tea consumers are mainly young women, and most of them are "workers" who rely on milk tea for their daily lives.
People's health awareness is gradually increasing, and they tend to consume low-sugar products, most often when they are shopping, and they value taste and safety.
Statistics show that among tea consumers, women account for more than 60%, and 18-34 year-olds account for more than 70%. This consumer group is mostly white-collar workers, and the monthly income is concentrated between 3,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan. , The average consumption is 2 to 3 times a month.
In terms of taste, milk tea and fruit tea are the most popular, while pearls, cheese milk caps, and taro balls are the top 3 favorite ingredients.
The report also shows that in the future, the digital transformation and upgrading of tea brands, store operations, raw material supply and membership management will be fully digitized.
At the same time, domestic companies will explore overseas markets in order to seek new additions.
Text/Reporter Chen Si