The "three in three" of the Winter Olympics made Yuanqi Forest proud again. However, just as the so-called tree is a big move, recently, there is news that Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola (hereinafter referred to as "two music") have said at an internal meeting: This year is bound to eliminate the Yuanqi Forest Bubble Water!
In addition to being "targeted" by beverage giants, Yuanqi Forest itself is also facing problems such as single products and cooling of new consumption. Surrounded by external enemies and constantly worried about the Yuanqi Forest, how to break the situation?
The challenge of "0 sugar"
As we all know, cola is a high-sugar carbonated drink, essentially a flavored sparkling water. In today's "talk about sugar discoloration", "high sugar" is easy for consumers to think of "tooth decay", "unhealthy" and "obese"... As a result, the Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water, which is mainly based on 0 sugar and 0 calories, naturally poses a huge threat to the high-sugar cola. Although, the "0 sugar" of sparkling water is not 0 sugar in the pure sense. But after a wave of marketing operations, in the eyes of consumers, Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water has become the perfect substitute for Coke: there are bubbles, sweet, cool, and more importantly, 0 sugar is healthier.
If it is only the taste choice, for Liangle, the consumption habits cultivated by the Yuanqi Forest are the real digging feet. Because it may make a generation develop the habit of drinking "0 sugar sparkling water", thus completely subverting the "Coke taste buds" that Liangle has spent decades creating around the world. In the long run, high-sugar cola will become the memory of a generation, and Yuanqi Forest sparkling water may become the present of the new generation.
Perhaps, this is the root of the two music "eyeing" yuanqi forest.
The battle over the supply chain
In fact, Liangle had already begun the "encirclement and suppression" of the Yuanqi Forest, and stuck the neck of the Yuanqi Forest from the upstream supply chain end.
At the beginning of 2021, the foundry of Yuanqi Forest Milk Tea received a notice from an international giant that it must stop oem yuanqi forest products.
In May 2021, the carbonated beverage bottle factory was also forced to terminate the supply of Yuanqi Forest. In the case of supply chain obstruction, Yuanqi Forest had to go to the road of self-built factories.
Despite being encircled and suppressed by giants, the performance of Yuanqi Forest has still achieved rapid growth. According to industry sources, Yuanqi Forest completed sales of 7.5 billion yuan in 2021, a threefold increase from 2020.
This makes the two pleasures like a great enemy, and the next step is to face the "enemy" of the Yuanqi Forest, and the two giants may have more ways to play.
Sparkling water without a threshold?
Leaving aside the severe external situation, there are many problems in the Yuanqi Forest itself that have yet to be solved.
1. Single product
As of now, the performance of Yuanqi Forest still mainly relies on the sparkling water of this single product, but sparkling water has no threshold, anyone can do it; and Yuanqi Forest itself is not a big single product strategy, like Red Bull, Coconut Tree and other single products in the world mode It is also difficult to do.
2. Online to top
Yuanqi Forest is on fire from the internet, and at the beginning it took the route of Internet celebrity marketing. However, the high cost of beverage logistics is naturally not suitable for online sales, so with the saturation of online channels, it is inevitable to go offline. This means that Yuanqi Forest is facing the same pressure as traditional enterprises to deal with offline personnel management.
In December last year, Yuanqi Forest began to make extensive adjustments around the organizational structure, and founder Tang Binsen put more energy into channels, sales management and product research and development. This move was interpreted by industry insiders as bearish.
At the same time, Yuanqi Forest has been doing new retail since the second half of last year, selling smart cabinets. "Traditional FMCG companies start to do new retail after growing to a certain extent, but the valuation of new retail will not be too high." An industry insider analyzed that this move of Yuanqi Forest shows that their life is not good.
3. Cooling of new consumption
Since the second half of 2021, the number and amount of new consumer financing have declined significantly. According to industry statistics, there were only 127 new consumer investment and financing events in August, down 17% from 153 in July.
"Because valuations are inflated and returns are unclear." One person in the investment circle described the fact that new consumer financing has cooled down.
In November 2021, Yuanqi Forest completed a new round of financing of nearly $200 million, with a valuation of $15 billion. "Compared with Master Kang and Unification, the cost and profit margins of yuanqi forest are obviously inflated." A senior analyst of a FMCG company said.
After several years of rapid development, the Yuanqi Forest has ushered in a turning point. If you can break the situation, you will rise to the top, and if you lose the encirclement and suppression, it will be just another short-lived flower in the entrepreneurial star sea.
Upstream news synthesis