"Jane Eyre" won the C round of financing, the high-end yogurt track where players gathered, peddling health or IQ tax?

Per reporter: Yao Yanan Tang Ruyu Per reporter: Xiao Ruidong

Today (March 24), the low-temperature yogurt brand "Jane Ai" announced the completion of the C round of investment, led by Dehong Capital (DCP), with new and old shareholders such as QY Capital, Xingzhi Capital, Guangzhou Financial Holdings Fund, and Purui Capital, and Gao Hu Capital acting as the financial advisor. In recent years, as low-fat and low-calorie have become the new trend of consumption of young people, a low-temperature yogurt subdivision track with a simple formula of "0 sucrose, less addition" has gradually emerged, attracting established dairy companies and emerging brands to compete for layout and seize the new blue ocean of the high-end market.

An industry insider told every reporter that the low-temperature yogurt profit is higher, so it has become the focus of dairy companies in recent years, especially in the middle and high price markets, the blue ocean is still wide.

Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in the Chinese food industry, told reporters that in the past two years, the low-temperature dairy products that focus on "0 sugar and low calorie" have better stepped on the demand of young people's "appearance management, weight management, and health management".

But is minimalism and 0 sucrose a guarantee of health and high-end? In this regard, a number of market analysts expressed disapproving views to reporters.

"Low temperature, no additives", capital clustered in new tracks

Public information shows that Jane Love yogurt was listed in 2015, low temperature and additive-free is its main features, compared to room temperature milk, low temperature milk shelf life is short, the need for the whole cold chain transportation, the required threshold and cost is higher. In addition, fermented dairy products are easy to deteriorate, most yogurt products contain additives and other contents to extend the shelf life, Jane Love yogurt is the main additive-free minimalist formula, no additives.

Xia Haitong, founder and CEO of the company, believes that the current epidemic is affected by the epidemic, the consumption environment is slightly sluggish, but looking at the world, China is still the most exuberant market for consumption, with the rise of young middle-class people and the rise of new domestic products, China's present and future is a market for quality upgrading.

In fact, driven by favorable factors such as rising consumer incomes, increasing awareness of healthy eating, and gradually maturing cold chain logistics, the low-temperature dairy market has developed rapidly. According to public data, the size of China's low-temperature yogurt market in 2021 is nearly 70 billion yuan, but the per capita consumption is still at a low level compared with developed markets, and the high-end low-temperature yogurt market has grown significantly, with a compound growth rate of nearly 30% in the past three years, and the market share in low-temperature yogurt has increased from 8% to 15%.

"Daily Economic News" reporter noted that in the past two years, new brands of low-temperature yogurt have emerged, Lechun, Uno, Meiji, Truthful, etc. are mainly low-sugar, healthy, Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Zhen Fund, Coca-Cola and other well-known institutions and companies have entered the investment. Investors value the broad prospects of China's yogurt market and the growing penetration rate of high-end dairy products, Liu Haifeng, chairman of Dehong Capital, said in a media interview about investment logic that China's dairy industry has gone from the earliest "no" products, to the past "good or bad", the development to the current "is not better" stage, with characteristic products in the precise distribution channels to meet the needs of precision consumer groups, can be made into a very good enterprise.

In recent years, with low-fat and low-calorie becoming the new trend of consumption of young people, a low-temperature yogurt track that emphasizes "0 sucrose, less additive" minimalist formula has risen rapidly, attracting established dairy companies and emerging brands to compete for layout.

In this regard, Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng told reporters that in the past two years, "appearance management, weight management, health management" has become an important part of young people's lives, and the low-temperature dairy products that focus on "low card and health" have better stepped on this demand and been paid by consumers.

High price equals high end?

Every reporter noticed that minimalist formula players are often linked to high prices. It is understood that the industry generally takes products with a unit price of about 8 yuan as the starting point of the high-end market, and the products on the market are mainly divided into two major price ranges: 8 to 15 yuan and 15 to 20 yuan. For example, jane eyre and dairy giant Guangming, which announced the completion of a new round of financing today, are mainly concentrated in 8 to 15 yuan; Lechun, which focuses on promoting 3 times raw milk investment, is priced in the expensive range of 15 to 29 yuan.

An industry insider analyzed to reporters that low-temperature yogurt has become the focus of dairy companies in recent years due to its high profits, especially in the middle and high price markets. "Although the market size in the low and medium price field is the largest, it has been occupied by dairy giants and regional enterprises, while there is still a gap in the high-end market, which also gives the emerging brands room in recent years."

But is minimalism and 0 sucrose a guarantee of health and high-end? In this regard, a number of market analysts expressed disapproving views to reporters.

First of all, 0 sucrose is not equal to sugar-free, and the wordplay that Yuanqi Forest once played is also being staged by some low-temperature yogurt brands. The reporter noted that many product ingredients advocating "100% sucrose, zero addition" have appeared in the ingredient list of the brand of fruit jam, erythritol, steviol glycosides, and some brand ingredients that emphasize "health and low calorie" even contain cream and starch. Obviously, 0 sucrose is not completely equated with low calorie and health. Of course, there are also a few product ingredient lists that are really simple, and the formula list only has raw milk and lactic acid bacteria.

Previously, many netizens ridiculed that they had paid a lot of IQ tax for minimalist yogurt.

Secondly, does the 8~29 yuan sales range correspond to the quality of similar prices?

Dairy expert Wang Dingmian told that in an interview with Zhongxin Jingwei, he said that the factory cost of a box of ordinary yogurt is about 2 to 2.5 yuan, and high-end yogurt is 3 yuan. In other words, the brand has a premium margin on the C-end.

Of course, in addition to production costs, "high-end" yogurt also has a lot of channels and promotion costs. As a subdivision track for new consumption, internet celebrities planting grass, live streaming with goods, and traffic endorsement are also common strategies for emerging players of low-temperature yogurt; in addition, their offline stations are mostly boutique supermarkets, Hema and convenience stores such as 711 and Lawson in the core business district.

In addition, the reporter noted that some brands have also launched meal replacement yogurt, hyaluronic acid yogurt, high-calcium yogurt, and publicized the functions of skin beautification and calcium supplementation during the period, and the corresponding product pricing is also higher.

Zhu Danpeng pointed out that if such products can indeed play the role of functional food, even if the price is high, consumers will pay for it. But if it is only a gimmick for business promotion, it is undoubtedly a harvest IQ tax. "But at the moment, there is no scientific data to prove the actual effect of these products, so if merchants want to establish word of mouth, they must use data to speak."

It is worth noting that under the competition between new and old players and the cluster of capital, has the high-end yogurt track entered the fast lane of development?

Previously, Liu Danny, founder and chairman of Beijing Lechun Youpin Food Technology Co., Ltd., the parent company of Lechun yogurt, had analyzed to reporters that although the brand "got together", in fact, the current track is still in the early stage, and the products at high prices are even on the edge of the industry. Specifically, due to problems such as information asymmetry inside and outside the industry, consumers do not know much about the nutritional value and efficacy of low-temperature yogurt products. "You go to the supermarket and ask some consumers, maybe they don't know the difference between low temperature products and ambient yogurt or even milk drinks, so it is difficult to accept the price difference, which is also a challenge for all brands."