"Human design" collapse in the sale of Yuanqi forest milk tea is still marked "0 sucrose"

In the sale of Yuanqi forest milk tea is still marked "0 sucrose"

Yuanqi Forest recently declared that although its products advertise "0 sucrose" but are not sugar-free, after the news came out, Yuanqi Forest was considered to be "artificial" collapse. A few days ago, Henan retail giant Fat Donglai removed Yuanqi Forest-related products, the clerk removed the relevant shelf labels, and its products were also stacked in a side cart.

Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter learned to find that the removal or the store "self-selected action", the current e-commerce channels and local convenience stores in Guangzhou are still selling their related products, and the outer packaging of its offline milk tea products is still marked as "0 sucrose, low fat"; in addition, the main publicity concept of some products on its flagship store page is still "0 sugar 0 fat 0 card". Industry insiders believe that yuanqi forest may be "seriously injured" this time, because it happened to be planted on the biggest selling point of its own products.

Text/Photo Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Tu Duanyu

Henan retail giant removed Yuanqi Forest-related products

Yuanqi Forest recently issued an apology statement saying that in the product labeling and publicity of milk tea products, the difference between "0 sugar" and "0 sucrose" is not explained, which is easy to cause misunderstanding, for this reason, Yuanqi Forest also compensates 20 yuan per consumer.

Some industry observers revealed that fat Donglai's removal of Yuanqi Forest-related products should belong to its unilateral actions based on the needs of its own interests, and stopping selling on the basis of complaints is the operation mode that Fat Donglai has always followed, due to the large scale and wide influence of the store, so the removal of the shelves has once again aroused greater concern among consumers.

"We haven't heard of (controversy) about it, the Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea is generally moving around, and the better selling is soda sparkling water." A clerk of a chain convenience store in Baiyun District said. The reporter noted that, or because the sales were not ideal, Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea products were placed on the top of the shelf, rather than the shelf C position that consumers could see; in addition, the huge "0 sucrose, low fat" slogan on the outer packaging of this milk tea product was still impressive.

On April 18, all-media reporters logged on to the e-commerce platform and found that, including the removed product Yuanqi Forest 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 have not been removed from the online channel.

Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in the Chinese food industry, believes that if Yuanqi Forest does not take zero sugar as the biggest selling point, but only writes it on the ingredient list, it may only be misleading; but it now uses zero sugar and zero fat zero card as the differentiated selling point of the entire product, or suspected of deceiving consumers. The reporter noted that "health" has always been the main selling point of Yuanqi Forest, and its official Weibo has repeatedly appeared in health-related statements. In the case of the controversial impact of sugar substitutes on the human body, some industry experts believe that if the Yuanqi Forest does not properly "change its mouth", it will face certain risks.

Yuanqi Forest recently said on its official Weibo that users who have purchased milk tea in the official store of Yuanqi Forest E-commerce can receive 20 yuan cash red envelopes by contacting the store customer service; most of the milk tea produced from February 4 and all the milk tea produced since March 18, the packaging has been changed from the original "0 sucrose low fat" to "low sugar and low fat". All Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea produced from March 20 no longer contains crystalline fructose in the raw materials.

In this regard, some consumers showed the text message sent by Yuanqi Forest to them, and Yuanqi Forest said in the text message: Users who have purchased milk tea in the official store of Yuanqi Forest E-commerce on April 10, 2021 can get cash red envelopes, and they also promise: "If you have a lot of unboxed or unboxed milk tea, we unconditionally accept returns."

Just completed financing The "0 Sugar Concept" is controversial

It is reported that Yuanqi Forest has just completed a new round of financing, which is led by Sequoia China, Warburg Pincus Investment, L catterton, and Temasek, Gaorong Capital, Longhu Capital and so on. The valuation of this round of investment reached US$6 billion (about 40 billion yuan). The financing will be mainly used for factory construction, product research and development and overseas market expansion. In the face of the question of excessive valuation, Shen Meng, director of Chanson Capital, believes that for Yuanqi Forest and investors, if the valuation is higher, the higher the return after listing. If you don't go public, it doesn't matter how high or low the valuation is.

Despite its outstanding financing capabilities, the "0 sugar concept" where Yuanqi Forest is located is still controversial. Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter learned that in fact, according to the national standard standard, if a food label claims "sugar-free", the sugar content per 100 grams or 100 milliliters cannot exceed 0.5 grams, which is not completely free of sugar as understood by the public. As of now, 0 add or no add is only a marketing statement, and it is not clearly defined in the law or in various industries. However, as long as white sugar or sucrose is not used, FMCG companies usually play the concept of 0 sugar.

Around the concept of 0 sugar and whether the sugar substitute is healthy, there is always controversy in the industry, which also reflects the consumer's demand for reduced sugar, low sugar and even sugar-free is very high, but on the other hand, consumers look at the advertising slogan to buy more products, to see whether the formula table contains less sugar.

Source: Guangzhou Daily