Middle Street Big Fruit, Deshi Villain Ice Cream, Sunday Snow White, Hongbaolai Crisp Ice Cream... Every 8 cents! Recently, the northeast ice cream "immortal price" posted by netizens "takeaway brother Jin Chengwu" has aroused heated discussion. Some netizens joked, "I rubbed my eyes and thought I was wrong", and some netizens joked that "I eat ten a day at this price" and "give me 5,000 pounds wholesale".
According to zhu Baowei, editor-in-chief of China Ice Cream Magazine, the special feelings of northeast people for ice cream and the consumption mode of "snacking" have created China's largest ice cream production base and consumer market, and there are hundreds of cold drink enterprises in the Kaiyuan area of Liaoning province at the peak. The special supply and demand structure and low labor costs make it almost difficult to replicate the "fairy price" of ice cream in Northeast China in other places.
On the other hand, with consumption upgrades, channel changes and increased marketing investment, the "body value" of ice cream has continued to rise in the past two years, and the price of more than 10 yuan has stung the nerves of many consumers. Ice cream price increases and consumption stratification are inevitable trends, but it is difficult to fully enter the "10 yuan era".
The largest producer and market of ice cream is in the northeast
The "delicious and not expensive" Northeast ice cream is a touch of tenderness hidden in the heart of the Harbin girl Xiao Wang. In her memory, Northeast ice cream was never bought and eaten only, but at least 10 "wholesale" to take home to enjoy. Needless to say, even in winter, the northeast often has the magical scene of outdoor cold winds and short sleeves eating ice cream indoors.
"It is this love of ice cream in the northeast that there are so many brands and affordable prices, right?" Xiao Wang said that the ice cream of 8 cents in the hot search is not uncommon in the community supermarket in his hometown, and there are many brands and products to choose from, and the taste, materials and portions are not bad. "The retail price of this kind of ice cream usually sells for 1 yuan, but most supermarkets will start with 10 pieces, each 8 cents, 9 cents, or buy 10 free." For 5 cents a small ice cream, the wholesale price can even be reduced to 1 yuan and 3 pieces. ”
"Northeasterners have a different feeling for ice cream than other regions." In the view of Zhu Baowei, editor-in-chief of China Ice Cream Magazine, ice cream in the northeast region is not only a summer food, but also an early entry into the category of daily snacks. Driven by this consumption habit, Northeast China has become the largest ice cream production base and consumer market in the country.
Liaoning has gathered well-known regional brands such as Middle Street, Deshi, and Sunday, and its revenue is mostly tens of millions of yuan or hundreds of millions of yuan. The popular "double yolk egg" ice cream in 2019 is from Yingkou Aoxue Food Co., Ltd. "At its peak, there were hundreds of cold drink companies in Kaiyuan, Liaoning alone. Even if some brands can't get out of the northeast market, they can rely on a county town to support themselves. Zhu Baowei said.
According to the data provided by Tianyancha to the Beijing News reporter, as of now, there are about 45,000 existing ice cream-related enterprises in the country, and about 6,000 existing in the three eastern provinces, accounting for about 13.33%; if you add the number of enterprises that have been cancelled and revoked, liquidated and suspended, there are about 104,000 in the country, and about 17,600 in the three eastern provinces, accounting for about 16.9%.
Zhu Baowei believes that the factors that make northeast ice cream "delicious or not expensive" are in addition to strong demand and sufficient supply, as well as lower labor costs. In recent years, the packaging materials, materials, marketing, and labor costs of ice cream companies have risen, and there is a labor shortage in many areas in the south, "now the young people after 90 are reluctant to enter the factory, and prefer takeaway, live broadcasting and other work." In contrast, the labor demand in the northeast region can basically rely on local labor to solve, so the cost of employment is not high, and the cost pressure is mainly reflected in the rise of raw materials.
"Immortal price" is difficult to copy in the field
The special supply and demand structure has created a unique scene of "delicious and not expensive" ice cream in northeast China, but such "immortal prices" are almost difficult to replicate in other provinces and cities.
According to Zhu Baowei, the current mainstream price of ice cream in cities outside the northeast is 2-3 yuan, the core product price band of first-tier cities and major cities has exceeded 3 yuan, and the price of convenience store systems will be higher. In Guangdong, ice cream products priced below 1 yuan are limited to a few types such as small puddings or old popsicles, and mainly go to the rural market.
Benefiting from the improvement of the cold chain logistics system, in recent years, the northeast ice cream with "large blocks, sufficient materials and delicious food" has gradually entered the national market, often attracting southern distributors to order from the north. The same products, shipped from the northeast to the south, take into account the cost and channel profits, and it is very common to sell at a premium of 1-2 yuan. For example, the ice cream products of Yingkou Dehua Food are selling well in South China, and the products of Kaiyuan Tianqi Cold Diet Company have also opened the market in East China and South China, and the price of products can reach more than 3 yuan.
In fact, the "fairy price" of less than 1 yuan does not represent the overall price level of the northeast ice cream market. With consumption upgrades, channel changes and rising costs, ice cream products with a price of 3 yuan and above have been widely accepted in all regions of the country. The increase in the price band is precisely the contribution of northeast cold drink enterprises.
According to Zhu Baowei's recollection, in the past decade, the overall price increase of China's ice cream market has two iconic products. First, around 2014, the old-fashioned wax-paper packaging ice cream took the lead in raising the price, which increased the price band of products occupying 70% or 80% of the sales volume of northeast cold drink enterprises such as Middle Street, Deshi, and Dehua from 5 cents to 1 yuan. Second, around 2019, the emergence of Aoxue double yellow egg ice cream raised the ice cream price band of the circulation system (non-retail) to 3 yuan, which was also the first national brand to do the price in addition to big brands such as Lu Xue, Nestle and Yili at that time.
However, the product power is greater than the brand power, which has always been the pain point of the northeast ice cream brand. An industry insider told the Beijing News reporter that in the past many years, northeast ice cream companies have focused on the production end, innovation is mainly reflected in feeding, equipment change, transformation, almost do not pay attention to brand marketing. Compared with yogurt, beverages, snack foods and other industries, the overall marketing level of the ice cream industry is also relatively backward, "until the emergence of the Internet celebrity brand Zhong Xuegao, everyone saw the new way of playing."
High-priced ice cream "stinging" netizens
The reason why the 8-cent Northeast ice cream has attracted heated discussion is that the increasingly expensive ice cream price has stung many people's nerves. Some netizens believe that "this price is reasonable, often can't understand why some ice cream dares to sell eight or nine pieces, more than a dozen pieces." Some netizens said, "Last week, I went to the convenience store and bought a cold drink, 22 yuan, and I was shocked when I checked out!" This price is outrageous, I thought the taste would be amazing, but I didn't expect that the high price would be blessed. ”
The Beijing News reporter visited the Beijing market and saw that the unit price of ice cream sold in a convenience store ranged from 4 yuan to 35 yuan, and nearly half of the products were priced at more than 10 yuan. A consumer who bought ice cream in the store said that if the unit price of ice cream exceeded 10 yuan, it was "not very acceptable." Xiao Wang also bought a 9.9 yuan sea bream grilled ice cream at a convenience store in Beijing, but after tasting it, he felt that both the taste and taste were not as good as the "Sunday Square Cake" that only sold 2 yuan in his hometown, so he decided not to repurchase it.
In Zhu Baowei's view, the main reason why netizens lament the "fairy price" of northeast ice cream is not to spend more money, but to have a nostalgic feeling in it. "At present, the price of many ice creams is high, and the packaging and materials are becoming more and more fancy, which is less simple and happy to eat ice cream in the past." Based on this consumer psychological demand, products such as "Green Tongue" and "Tianjin Daguo" that focus on post-90s nostalgia have been listed this year.
In addition, some emerging brands have limited premium capabilities, do not have an emotional connection with consumers, and do not give a reasonable reason to mark the high price.
Ice cream is still difficult to enter the "10 yuan era"
Although the price of ice cream in Northeast China has made many consumers "envious", with consumption upgrades, raw material upgrades, channel changes, and increased marketing investment, the distribution of multiple price bands of ice cream products has become an inevitable trend. There are often people in the industry who compare drinks, "a bottle of drink has been sold to five or six yuan, the ice cream process is complex, the feeding cost is high, many products are semi-handmade, selling to four or five yuan I think it is not too much." The above-mentioned industry insiders said.
"There is a new phenomenon in 2020, that is, the middle and high-priced ice cream represented by Menglong has been snapped up and out of stock in many second-tier cities. After the epidemic, consumers have a stronger understanding of brand consumption, equating high prices with good products and healthy products, and now the consumption of high-priced ice cream in second- and third-tier cities has also increased. Zhu Baowei said.
"Zhong Xuegao" founder Lin Shenglin previously accepted the Beijing News reporter said that ice cream has gone beyond the scope of heat dissipation, become part of the family "snack basket", high premium brought by high quality also leaves a greater gross profit space for the channel, promoting the channel to play a role in the market "gatekeeper", and now it is difficult to buy products below 3 yuan in Shanghai. "The logic behind this is that zhong xue high network brand has raised the upper limit of China's ice cream market, and offline brands such as double yolk eggs have raised the lower limit of the market", the entire industry is upgrading, the market cake is enlarged, and both online and offline brands are growing.
According to data from the China Research Institute of Puhua Research Institute, the size of China's ice cream market in 2014 was only 70.8 billion yuan, and it grew rapidly to 138 billion yuan in 2019, ranking first in the world, and the market size is expected to exceed 160 billion yuan in 2021. The huge ice cream market attracts the attention of capital and brings broad prospects for the development of the ice cream market.
From a national perspective, Zhu Baowei believes that the price of ice cream is still difficult to enter the "10 yuan era". At present, the ultra-high price band of ice cream is more in the convenience store system and cities with strong consumption power in first-tier cities, and the product of 2-3 yuan is still the mainstream of consumption.
Beijing News reporter Guo Tie image source screenshot of social networking site
Edited by Li Yan Proofread by Liu Baoqing
Source: Beijing News