The core point of view
Children's yogurt is a high-growth potential market.
The positioning of the domestic brand children's yogurt category is not clear, how do American brands do it?
Author | Zhang Meijing
Edit | Big oranges
After years of development, the mainland yogurt market has become a "red sea": the overall pattern of double faucets, CR3 concentration of 61.1%. From the perspective of the two major market segments of normal temperature and low temperature, room temperature yogurt CR3 is as high as 91%, and low temperature yogurt CR3 is 56%.
Source: Euromonitor
In order to seek growth, on the one hand, traditional dairy enterprises need to improve market growth through market segmentation, on the other hand, new brands need to occupy a position in the segmentation of small markets. With the upgrading of consumption, the new generation of young people becoming parents, and the increased emphasis on children's nutrition, children's yogurt has become an important strategic place for yogurt brands to grab.
Club of the Children's Research Institute observed the domestic children's yogurt brands and found that there are fewer concentrated children's yogurt companies, and many brands of children's yogurt branch lines are not performing well. Today we take a look at the current situation of China's children's yogurt market, when we benchmark the United States, how do their children's yogurt brands work?
01
Children's yogurt is expected to become a new point of strength in the yogurt market
According to the latest census data, the number of children aged 0-14 is 253.41 million, accounting for 17.95% of the total population, and about 42 million infants and young children aged 0-3 years old. According to relevant reports, 80% of households in the mainland account for 30%-50% of household expenditure, and the average annual consumption of children in families is 17,000-25,500 yuan, and the mainland children's consumer market is brewing a market demand with great potential. In addition, the introduction of the "three-child policy" will promote the steady growth of the number of children and lay the foundation for the sustainable development of the children's economy.
According to the data of Zhiyan Consulting, the size of China's yogurt market in 2019 was 84.16 billion yuan, an increase of 23.8% year-on-year. Magic Mirror market intelligence shows that in 2019, the sales of the online children's yogurt market on the Taobao + Jingdong platform were about 206 million yuan, an increase of nearly 50% year-on-year. Children's yogurt is a high-growth potential market.
At present, domestic yogurt brands have successively launched children's yogurt products, but the richness of children's yogurt has room for improvement, and few brands have achieved the differentiation of children's yogurt.
It is mainly manifested in the following aspects:
1) Age range
From the perspective of age range, most children's yogurt suitable for children's age positioning is relatively vague, such as the adoption of a cow's student children's breakfast milk, Deya's launch of the small Deya student yogurt, the three-yuan mother loves my children's growth yogurt, etc., this type of product has no clear main concept and age positioning, parents consider that infants and young children are weakly tolerated, will only buy for slightly older children, resulting in the loss of some young infant and young child users.
Some brands on the market have identified the appropriate age for their children's yogurt, such as Jane's "Father's Love Recipe" series and New Hope's Mimo Children's Ladder Formula Yogurt, which is aimed at younger infant yogurts. The father's love formula is suitable for babies from 8 months to 3 months, Mimo yogurt is divided into 3 products according to the age of the month, the 1st order is suitable for children aged 1-2 years, the 2nd order is suitable for children aged 2-4 years, and the 3rd order is suitable for children aged 4-6 years. The Yili QQ Star is specially designed for Children aged 3-9 in China.
2) The "lack" of players recognized by users
From the perspective of market effect, Jane Eyre 'Father's Love Formula' series has quickly stood out because of its large-scale 0 additions, the main infants and young children (8 months-3 years old) quickly stand out, search the comment area of e-commerce platforms, Xiaohongshu, Douyin Weibo and other social platforms, it can be found that when mentioning yogurt suitable for younger children, most reviews will recommend Jane Eyre 'Father's Love Formula' series.
More brands are not recognized by the public due to the tilt of the main brand strategy and the lack of product publicity.
3) Single product packaging
From the perspective of product packaging, a single brand of children's yogurt is usually designed with only one packaging type, Jane Love "Father's Love Formula", New Hope Mimo, Yili QQ Star are all portable bags with lids. The adoption of a cow, three yuan, etc. uses box packaging, and the whole is single.
4) Selling point: addition and subtraction
In terms of the selling points of children's yogurt's functional and health attributes, most of the children's yogurt launched by existing brands is constantly "addition" and "subtraction" on the basis of ordinary yogurt. "Addition" is to add different nutrients to meet children's nutritional needs, such as probiotics, DNA, vitamins and other nutrients, products on the market such as Yili QQ star children's yogurt; "subtraction" is to reduce "sugar, salt, preservatives" as much as possible, etc., the main "no additives", "0 sugar" concept, such as New Hope mimo children's yogurt, Jane Eyre Father's Love formula yogurt and so on.
02
The top three yogurt players in the United States
Compared with the domestic market, the children's yogurt categories of large brands in the U.S. yogurt industry are more subdivided, or can provide some reference for the development direction of domestic children's yogurt.
According to Statista.com data, sales of yogurt in the United States in 2021 are $7.24 billion. According to public information, the market sales of children's yogurt in the United States are about 1.5 billion US dollars, accounting for about 20%. Nielsen estimates that 78 percent of adults in the U.S. drink yogurt, compared to about a quarter among children, so U.S. yogurt brands are also trying to attract more children to eat yogurt.
Well-known children's yogurt brands in the United States include Danone's Danimals, Stonyfield Farm under Lactalis, Yolpait and Chobani's yogurt collection.
1) Traditional brand Stonyfield Farm: Featuring organic dairy products, it is free of artificial sweeteners, flavors and preservatives
Founded in 1983, Stonyfield Farm is a company focused on organic dairy products and snacks for children, originally a Danone brand, which was sold by Danone to Lactalis, France's largest dairy manufacturer, for $875 million in 2017. Stonyfield is understood to have achieved a transaction value of about $370 million in 2016.
Stonyfield children's yogurt has YoBaby, YoKids series.
YoBaby series products are mainly for infants and young children, YoBaby yogurt bags add fruit, have peach and banana flavors, add vitamin D, calcium, protein and prebiotics, and passed the USDA organic certification, the ingredients are simple and healthy, suitable for babies over 6 months.
The YoKids series is specially designed for children, 25% less sugar than other children's yogurt, and contains the protein children need, and children's favorite flavors, strawberry and blueberry, milk flavor is more natural, healthy. In terms of packaging, the YoBaby and YoKids series are available in both portable direct sucking bags and boxes.
2) Silk Kids Almondmilk Yogurt Alternative: Plant-based yogurt for children
Silk KidsAlmondmilkYogurt Alternative is a children's yogurt brand launched by Danone Group in 2020.
Made primarily from almonds, fava bean protein, probiotics and organic coconut oil, the new product is colored with fruit and vegetable juices, is rich in calcium, vitamin D, and is peanut-free, gluten-free, lactose-free and non-GMO certified. In terms of product specifications, taking into account the particularity of the target consumer group, a 4-ounce cup pack that is more suitable for children was used, and the sugar content per ounce was reduced by 25% compared with ordinary flavor yogurt substitutes.
The product debuts in three flavors – a blend of berry, apple cinnamon and strawberry.
Prior to this, Danone also included brands such as Danimals in the field of children's yogurt. Increasing functionality, adapting to more children and more scenes has always been a new exploration of Danone's yogurt for children. For example, Super Danimals, a new low-fat yogurt that boosts children's immunity, was launched in June 2020 with probiotics, vitamin C and D and 3 different flavors: cherry vanilla, blueberry and strawberry.
This kid-friendly yogurt is reported to contain billions of live and active probiotics per cup, does not contain any artificial preservatives and colors, and contains 80 calories and 9g of sugar.
The first two companies belong to the players who have been deeply engaged in the yogurt industry for a long time and have cut into the field of children's yogurt very early, and have certain brand advantages and first-mover advantages. But Chobani, an American dairy company that once focused on Greek yogurt, didn't test the waters until 2018 into the field of children's yogurt.
3) Chobani: Multi-scene coverage
Compared to Danimals and Stonyfield Farm, Chobani has a relatively low share of children's yogurt and only entered the children's yogurt market in 2018.
In order to attract more children, consume yogurt for as long as possible, and increase the penetration rate of children's yogurt, the Chobani Gimmies series has designed different products for different times and different occasions to increase the frequency of children's yogurt consumption.
For example, there are different products in terms of form, composition, packaging, etc., for children aged 5-9 years old, including: 1) zero yogurt milk milkshakes; 2) yogurt tube Tubes that can be placed in lunch boxes; 3) yogurt pouches; 4) yogurt cereal snack combinations for afternoon tea.
Given parents' needs for children's health, nutrition, and sugar control, Gimmies contain 25 percent less sugar than children's yogurt on the market, twice as much protein, and contain 4 grams of sugar and 3 grams of protein per 1.5-ounce serving.
On packaging, Chobani has also designed a variety of types for different scenarios, including bags with lids, boxes, strips and bottles. Portable bagged children's yogurt with a lid, the easy-to-open lid makes it more convenient for children to drink yogurt, and due to its sealability, children can put it back in the refrigerator when they are not finished drinking.
Considering the current situation that although there are many players in the mainland children's yogurt track, but the outstanding ones are insufficient, the above-mentioned American children's yogurt brands may be able to provide some different ideas:
1) Position different children's consumption scenarios and launch differentiated yogurt categories.
2) Enhanced functionality. Domestic children's yogurt is mostly based on the concept of "zero added, zero sugar or low sugar", and it can be considered to increase the selling point of functionality and snacking.