Wen 丨 Sober
The Yuanqi Forest seems to be in an eventful autumn in recent days.
Last week, Liu Zhen, head of Yuanqi Forest's overseas business, left his job for personal reasons. However, according to AI Finance and Economics, Liu Zhen left his job as early as the end of last year, and Yuanqi Forest is currently "moving the knife" organizational structure, and many departments have been abolished and adjusted.
In addition, the food board April 5 news, since April 1, Yuanqi Forest's sparkling water ex-factory price, wholesale price, terminal supply price have been raised by 4 yuan per piece (15 bottles). Although there was no written notice, dealers in many places have received the news.
It seems that this "Internet beverage" company is facing the double test of the two mountains of "Internet" + "beverage".
01 "Internet drink", the double pressure of Internet + beverage
As a star enterprise in the new consumer market, Yuanqi Forest shows everyone how Internet thinking is practiced and landed in the FMCG industry.
Tang Binsen also said at the Yabuli China Entrepreneur Forum held in June last year that Yuanqi Forest is using the "Internet spirit" to make beverage products. For example, pay attention to users first, attach importance to products, and respect talents.
Today, Yuanqi Forest, like many rapidly rising Internet companies, has put "cost reduction and efficiency improvement" on a daily basis, and is moving towards layoffs and slimming downs.
On the last day of March, Sina Technology took the lead in reporting that Liu Zhen, head of Yuanqi Forest's overseas business, had left his job in early March for personal reasons. But in fact, Liu Zhen left his job as early as the end of last year. At the same time, Zong Hao, vice president in charge of brand operations, and Ran Hao, vice president in charge of human resources, left the second half of last year.
It is not only the management that has lost weight, like all Internet companies, Yuanqi Forest is optimizing personnel and adjusting organizational structure.
According to AI Finance and Economics, many departments of Yuanqi Forest have been abolished or adjusted. For example, the innovation incubation center was directly abolished, the Growth business department under the business center was merged, and its information flow delivery and live broadcasting business functions were adjusted to the digital marketing department.
An employee of the brand center of a business unit of Yuanqi Forest also told AI Finance and Economics that there were more than 200 people in the department in May 2021, and after two adjustments, there are now less than 100 people.
Using the spirit of the Internet to make consumer goods, today, the Yuanqi Forest, which has been developing rapidly for 6 years, also has to face the corporate problems brought about by the "Internet spirit".
If the "Internet" is a "necessary legacy" problem brought about by the rapid development of the early Yuanqi Forest, then there is a more difficult drink problem in front of the Yuanqi Forest now and in the future.
Earlier, on the official website of Yuanqi Forest, its introduction to itself was: "Yuanyi Forest was established in 2016, is an Internet + beverage company, specializing in the production of sugar-free, low-calorie products. We have launched a range of beverages that are popular with our customers, including tea and sparkling water. ”
With the rapid development of Yuanqi Forest in the past two years, the self-introduction of its official website has also changed, for example, it has changed its positioning from "Internet + beverage company" to "Chinese food and beverage enterprise".
Yuanqi Forest's company introduction today is: "It is a Chinese food and beverage enterprise committed to creating healthy and good products for a better life. Founded in 2016, the company has won the title of National High-tech Enterprise with the corporate vision of 'integrating global resources to create loving good products for global users'. At present, it has a series of products such as Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water, Burning Tea, Fiber Tea, Full Fruit Juice Micro Bubble, Alien Electrolyte Water, etc., which has now covered more than 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, and exported to more than 40 countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, and Singapore. ”
Positioning has changed, there are more products, the business is wider, and the pressure is coming.
First, at the product and sales level, the target of 7.5 billion has not been reached, and the second growth curve has not been ideal.
In 2020, the performance of Yuanqi Forest increased by about 270% year-on-year, and the annual sales reached 3 billion yuan, of which sparkling water sales accounted for about 70%. So in 2021, under the "year of products", Tang Binsen shouted out the goal of annual sales of 7.5 billion. But in fact, Yuanqi Forest personally admitted in January this year that this goal has not been achieved.
At the same time, the sparkling water on which the Yuanqi Forest depends for its survival is also facing a lack of growth. Just in March this year, according to Interface News, a Beijing sparkling water dealer said that the current sparkling water market has undergone a reshuffle.
Before 2019, the market share of sparkling water in Yuanqi Forest was as high as 85%, but in 2020, all competitors followed up, and by the second half of 2021, the market share of Yuanqi Forest was up to 50%, and Coca-Cola's small universe AHHA and Nongfu Spring Soda sparkling water were about 25% and 18% respectively.
In addition, it also said that milk tea, another fist product of Yuanqi Forest, although it has excellent sales in the first- and second-tier markets, has never been able to form a sales scale in the low-tier market.
The picture is taken from the official website
This also points out another problem of Yuanqi Forest in the product layer, although there are many products, but in addition to sparkling water, whether it is burning tea, milk tea or alien electrolyte drinks, trying continuously, but the second growth curve has not been ideal.
Second, the upward cost, the competition with peers or "encirclement and suppression".
In addition to the problems faced by the company's own business development in the medium term, the external pressure of Yuanqi Forest is also very large.
As we all know, for all "sugar-free" players, including Yuanqi Forest, the importance of erythritol is self-evident. With more and more players today, the market price of erythritol is also rising. Since 2021, the market price of erythritol has been rising from 16,000 yuan / ton, generally exceeding 30,000 yuan / ton, and the quotation of individual manufacturers is even as high as 36,000 yuan / ton. Although with the adjustment of the market, the price will tend to stabilize, but in the future, the most important raw materials in this Yuanqi forest will still be "sought-after".
In addition, Genki Forest has recently added a new spring limited cherry blossom white grape flavor soda sparkling water, using a temperature change powder cover, when the temperature is lowered, the bottle body will appear cherry blossoms. This innovation in products is undoubtedly part of the cost.
In summary, under the triple pressure of the sales target has not been achieved + the second growth curve has been unsatisfactory + cost increase, it is not surprising that the news of the price increase of sparkling water has come.
In addition, it is not an exaggeration to say that Yuanqi Forest is the "eye nail" of the beverage giant.
As far as the sugar-free track is concerned, from the foreign two music, to the domestic Nongfu Mountain Spring, Master Kong and other giant enterprises, as well as new players such as Hey Tea and Naixue's Tea have launched their own zero sugar products, and are also micro-innovating for the "zero sugar" track, from the blue ocean to the Red Sea, about "zero sugar" and "sparkling water", whether the Yuanqi Forest can continue to grow legends, still have to play a question mark.
Finally, the yuanqi forest of large-scale preemption of offline channels and the construction of its own factories is becoming more and more "heavy".
For beverage companies, even if online sales are hot, offline is still king. On the one hand, in the past two years, news and reports on Yuanqi Forest seizing the sinking market and seizing the offline market by launching smart cabinets and other methods have emerged in an endless stream.
On the other hand, it can also be seen from the organizational structure adjustment of Yuanqi Forest that the company takes the business as the focus and further strengthens the emphasis on channels.
For example, personnel are recruiting while optimizing, and the recruitment positions are mostly sales; and a new first-level department "Intelligent Terminal Division" has been set up under the middle and back office business sector, which is responsible for the development, operation and maintenance of commercial terminal equipment (such as display cabinets, retail cabinets and other products).
In addition, although the organizational structure is "slimming down", the supply chain is "gaining weight". In order not to put the lifeblood in the hands of others, Yuanqi Forest began to accelerate the construction of its own factory in the past two years.
On March 29, yuanqi forest's fifth self-built factory in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, was commissioning equipment and preparing for trial production. It is reported that the factory has a total investment of about 1 billion yuan, covers an area of 229.3 acres, with an annual production capacity of more than 1.2 billion bottles, and the production products will mainly radiate to southwest China.
Previously, Yuanqi Forest has successively prepared factories in Chuzhou, Anhui, Zhaoqing, Guangdong, Xiqing, Tianjin, Xianning, Hubei, Dujiangyan, Sichuan and other places and put into operation.
Under the radical front channel, self-built supply chain is a compulsory course for becoming a beverage giant, and the advantages it brings are also obvious. However, although Yuanqi Forest listed the advantages of the "heavy asset" model in the external explanation, the coin has two sides after all, and self-built factories also mean that it is necessary to spend huge investment, a factory, spending 1 billion. At the same time, once the factory is established, personnel investment, equipment maintenance and updates are also a protracted battle.
02 From "Attacking on All Sides" to "Defending a City"
When the two mountains of "Internet" and "beverage" are placed in front of the Yuanqi Forest, the most important thing becomes "focus on fighting monsters" instead of "expanding and upgrading".
The plan can not catch up with the changes, with this sentence to describe the business expansion of Yuanqi Forest is not excessive, in the year of the rapid decline in new consumption, Yuanqi Forest also slowed down its own territory expansion.
In 2021, the new consumption Daily combed the "consumption empire" that Tang Binsen tried to build for the Yuanqi Forest in the article "Out of the Bubble Water, the Yuanqi Forest has long been more than the "Yuanqi Forest".
At that time, as shown in the figure above, in addition to incubating sub-brands such as burning tea, fiber tea, and aliens under the umbrella of Yuanqi Forest, Yuanqi Forest also dabbled in other categories and constructed a consumption empire through investment and equity.
Today, although business expansion is not stagnant, it is clear that Yuanqi Forest's business expansion today is more like looking for a second growth curve about "beverages", rather than the previous "building forest", and its business scope is also shrinking.
In February this year, Shan Ghost (Beijing) Catering Management Co., Ltd. underwent a number of industrial and commercial changes, and Yuanqi Forest (Beijing) Food Technology Group Co., Ltd., which was invested in at the end of 2020, transferred 80% of its equity and withdrew from the ranks of shareholders. After two years of shareholding, Genki Forest failed to successfully create a "Genki system" ramen.
In addition, in August last year, some media reported that a company called Maihou Technology was working in the same location as Yuanqi Forest and wearing the same badge as Yuanqi Forest. The market also once rumored that Yuanqi Forest wanted to create its own snail powder brand, and after stirring up thousands of waves for a while, there is no news now. There is very little news about it in the fields of beer, liquor, ham sausage and so on.
Image taken on April 7, 2022
Even in the hottest coffee track, except for a new ready-to-drink coffee in the form of "joint" with Never Coffee a few days ago, Yuanqi Forest has not made any name. For this new, Yuanqi Forest said that the product is tentatively scheduled to be launched during the joint event, and it is expected to look forward to whether the coffee is planned to be laid out in the future.
As of press time, although the author can still search for this coffee in the flagship store of Yuanqi Forest, compared with the star products of Yuanqi Forest, sales can be described as dismal.
In fact, whether it is self-incubation or investment, whether it is Yuanqi Forest or Challenger Capital, it has obviously slowed down. Perhaps, the Yuanqi Forest is changing from "attacking from all sides" to "defending a city".
03 Conclusion
Tang Binsen has talked about the probability success of the track more than once in public: choosing the right track can make a lot of money, and it is better to do the tenth and hundredth places in the industry than to be the first place in the bad industry.
There is no doubt that as an eternal sunrise industry, food and beverage is the right track to make a lot of money.
But equally, the consumer track, including food and beverage, is also an industry with long slopes and thick snow, which is the consensus of everyone.
Tsingshan Capital also pointed out in a recent article that the traffic dividend and capital dividend will not exist in the short term, and the cognition of users, brands, supply chains and differentiation is the next core weapon.
Obviously, the new consumer star enterprise Yuanqi Forest has great advantages in the above four points, and to some extent, it has also completed the transformation from an Internet celebrity beverage to a mature brand. However, from the perspective of scale and market effect, there is still some distance between Yuanqi Forest and traditional giants.
Perhaps, in the current consumer market, especially the new consumer market that has been somewhat cold, it is very difficult for the new recruits in the beverage industry to make good use of their own advantages and successfully defend the city of sparkling water.
Some sources:
Up! Rose! Rose! Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water officially increased in price in April" Food board
"Yuanqi Forest, Quietly Slim Down" AI Finance and Economics Agency
"[Close-up] They all want to kill the Yuanqi Forest, Tang Binsen decided to fight back" Interface News