Big drop of 10 yuan? New tea drinks are competing to reduce prices or usher in fierce competition

Industry insiders: quality and brand influence are the core competitiveness of the long-term development of new tea drinks

Recently, the topic of "Naixue's tea sharply reduced by 10 yuan" rushed to weibo hot search, which announced a sharp price reduction and promised to add at least one product below 20 yuan per month. However, soon some netizens stood up and complained, saying that the low-priced "Easy Series" reduced the original 650ml of drinks to 500ml, "rounded equal to no price reduction" "No one found that Nai Xue reduced the amount?" Many netizens have doubts on social platforms. So, what is the truth? Reporters investigate.

Text/Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Zeng Fanying

Survey: Prices have fallen And the capacity of cold drinks has also decreased

Yesterday, the reporter came to a Nesher store to investigate, and saw a total of 5 series of products on the electronic price list, and the "Easy Series" took the lead. The price of this series of products is in the range of 9 yuan-19 yuan, from the specification point of view, all products are only 500ml, whether it is hot or cold drinks. In contrast, the "Domineering Fresh Fruit Tea Series" next to it has more choices, with 650ml for cold drinks and 500ml for hot drinks. Consumer Lin Xue often buys tea, and she believes that the price reduction should be based on the unchanged capacity of the original product. Instead of launching a new series with a small capacity and low price, it is called a big price reduction, and the two are incomparable.

The reporter noted that Nai Xue's tea had previously published a table. In this "Comparison before and after the price reduction of some of Neixue's products", the "domineering grapes", "domineering mangoes" and "domineering grapefruits" of the domineering series are directly compared with the "easy grapes", "easy mangoes" and "easy grapefruits" of the just launched easy series, known as the price reduction of 10 yuan. However, the former has a capacity of 650ml per cold drink, and the latter is all 500ml. The reporter observed that products such as domineering ice cream strawberries, domineering rose strawberry raspberries, and domineering ice cream mangoes were actually reduced in price, but the price reduction range was only 1 to 3 yuan, not the "10 yuan" as officially announced.

The relevant person in charge of Naixue replied to reporters that the easy series is a series of products just listed this year, with only 500ml specifications. Compared with the 650ml series products, although the capacity specifications of the Easy Series are reduced, they only reduce the fruit soup, and the pulp is not reduced.

Explore: Add Options widens the price band

With the successive price reductions of Xicha and Naixue, will it set off a new round of price wars in the new tea industry? In this regard, the reporter interviewed a number of new tea brands.

The book also replied that the product is now concentrated between 15 yuan / cup.

The Yihetang brand also has no price increase plans. Ms. Chen, the brand director, said that counting the ice cream, the starting price of their products is 5 yuan, and the starting price of milk tea is 6 yuan / cup. If you count fresh fruits, the price of 10-15 yuan / cup range of products accounted for more than 70%, only 10% is higher than 15 yuan / cup, but still less than 19 yuan / cup.

The competition for new tea drinks has entered a white-hot situation, and in order to seize more shares of the market, tea brands have continuously broadened their price bands. In essence, Naixue's tea this time to launch the "easy series", mainly by adding mid-cup specification products to enrich the price band, to fill the gap in this price range. Previously, its products were mainly 650ml large cup specifications. "Add options" to widen the price band is the "playing method" of the recent new tea brand.

Zhang Xiao, the founder of The New Tea, said that by increasing the size of the middle cup, they extended the price of fruit tea from the original 18-22 yuan / cup down to 15-20 yuan / cup, and the lemon tea from the original 19-24 yuan / cup, and the price band was widened to 16-24 yuan / cup. Lele Tea has also developed a large-scale series of new product lines through the adjustment of the product line, and some of the products are priced below 20 yuan.

Expert analysis: Similar price bands may usher in fierce competition

According to the "2020-2021 Chinese New Tea Industry Development Report" released by the NCBD, the market share of new chinese tea below 20 yuan in mainland China in 2020 is 80% higher. This is also an important reason for attracting tea brands to launch products below 20 yuan. According to the "2021 New Tea Beverage Research Report" released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, in 2021, the growth rate of the new tea market fell below 20% for the first time, at 19.6%, and in the next 2-3 years, the market growth rate will slow down in stages, and the growth rate is expected to be 10%-15%.

From the current point of view, the new tea is divided into three major price bands, Xi Tea and Naixue's tea leads the high-end market, Tea Hundred Ways, Ancient Tea, and Tea Yan Yue are in the mid-range market, and Yihetang and Mixue Ice City are located in the sinking market. According to the "New Tea Industry Research Report" released by iResearch, in 2020, the market share of new tea brands with an average unit price of more than 20 yuan is only 14.7%, and the remaining 85.3% are occupied by low-end tea brands. This huge mid-range and sinking market undoubtedly attracts tea brands in the high-end market.

Food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said that at present, China's new tea market has entered a period of rapid growth, and the first-tier tea brands have sunk the market by means of dimensionality reduction and attack, expanding the user population. This kind of dimensionality reduction strike is the way of playing that the entire new Chinese milk tea has entered the mature stage, which is conducive to the orderly development of the entire industry, accelerating the differentiation of the industry, and promoting the entire new tea industry into a reshuffle period. The boundaries between the three echelons of brands in terms of price are becoming more and more blurred, and in the close price band, the future may usher in more fierce competition. However, if you want to retain customers in the long run, tea brands need to pay more attention to quality and brand influence in addition to taking into account the demands of consumers' "cost performance", which is the core competitiveness of the long-term development of new tea drinks.

(Guangzhou Daily)