Two music encircles the Yuanqi Forest? Coca-Cola consultants said they were not optimistic about the prospects of yuanqi forest

Edit | Yu Bin

Produced by | Chaoqi Network "Yu see column"

In recent years, China's food and beverage market has undergone sudden changes, and a number of cutting-edge domestic brands such as Yuanqi Forest have risen rapidly with product innovation, forming a situation of confrontation with international giants such as Coca-Cola. But just recently, a "Coca-Cola internal harsh words: this year dry down the Yuanqi Forest!" The news of "" has aroused industry attention and discussion, and the voice of decline against the Yuanqi Forest has soared for a while, from product sales to category layout to overseas market expansion, all aspects of this startup have become the reason why some commentators are "not optimistic" about it.

Pass on the two music to say: This year is bound to "eliminate" the Yuanqi Forest

In the news report, it said: "According to sources, both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have issued an 'ultimatum' to the Yuanqi Forest - this year it is bound to eliminate the Yuanqi Forest Bubble Water." In fact, this is not the first time that there have been media reports that two Cokes are suppressing the Yuanqi Forest, last year 36Kr had exposed the news: "Every important meeting of the 'Two Le' this year, the Yuanqi Forest will definitely be named." Although neither Coke has positively confirmed the authenticity of these news, from the perspective of the trend of the beverage market, these news is not empty.

In 2019 and 2020, Yuanqi Forest sold more than Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola during the Double Eleven period for two consecutive years, which brought huge pressure to the international giants and also made the giants begin to face up to the competitor of Yuanqi Forest. In order to compete for the market space of Yuanqi Forest, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have launched their own sugar-free sparkling water products "AH!HA!" Little Universe" and "Bubly Smile Fun Bubble". At the same time, on the product display of offline channels, the Yuanqi Forest has also been targeted.

In addition to competitors and channels, according to a number of news reports, the two Cokes also blocked the Yuanqi Forest in the supply chain. At the beginning of 2021, a foundry suddenly told Yuanqi Forest to stop the production of related milk tea foundry products, because the owner of an international beverage giant personally called the foundry and demanded that no matter how much damage was caused, it must also be stopped immediately. In May 2021, a beverage bottle preform factory refused to supply Yuanqi Forest on the grounds that it was out of stock, and the essential reason behind it was that the manufacturer, as a supplier of two Cokes, was squeezed out of production capacity by a large number of orders from Coke.

In addition, Erythritol, a natural sugar substitute raw material that Yuanqi Forest took the lead in using on a large scale, has also become the focus of several parties' competition. Erythritol belongs to the higher cost category among many sugar substitute raw materials, and is less used in China before the emergence of Yuanqi Forest, and only a few enterprises can produce it. Therefore, after the international giants have begun to purchase a large number of purchases, the problem of insufficient production capacity of erythritol has begun to become prominent. This caused yuanqi forest to suffer from the problem of "cutting off the supply" of raw materials, resulting in a loss of more than 1 billion yuan.

At the same time as encountering the encirclement and suppression of giants, Yuanqi Forest also faces questions and decline from industry researchers. One of the most active researchers is Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst and coca-Cola product strategy consultant. He has said in many media interviews and signed articles that he is not optimistic about the development prospects of Yuanqi Forest.

Coca-Cola's strategic advisers have repeatedly threatened that the prospects for Yuanqi Forest are not optimistic

As early as 2020, Zhu Danpeng said in an interview with the media: "Yuanqi Forest is an Internet celebrity company, but they advertise themselves as an Internet company." In the following two years, he repeatedly publicly commented that Yuanqi Forest was popular by storytelling and manufacturing marketing gimmicks, and the product lacked technical thresholds, so it could not continue the heat, and personally did not optimistic about its overall development.

Not long ago, Zhu Danpeng also expressed his views on the measures of Yuanqi Forest to expand overseas markets: "It is not difficult for us to see that the entire Yuanqi Forest has reached the ceiling of its own development. And its so-called frequent going to sea, in fact, does not have much practical significance, a country sells fifty boxes, a hundred boxes, does not have much value, for the future development of the entire Yuanqi Forest, I think it is not optimistic."

It is worth noting that some of the professional's remarks are still inconsistent and overly targeted. For example, in the first half of 2021, Zhu Danpeng criticized Yuanqi Forest for using the OEM method to "take shortcuts", and stressed that "in order to ensure food safety and improve quality, enterprises need to achieve absolute control over the supply side and production side through self-built factories." It was also in this year that Yuanqi Forest accelerated its self-construction of factories in order to avoid being stuck in the supply side and production end, and plants built in Chuzhou, Anhui, Zhaoqing, Guangdong, And Xiqing in Tianjin were put into operation. In October 2021, Yuanqi Forest announced the "three 0 factories" strategy, that is, on the basis of self-built factories, it will gradually realize the products "0 preservatives", "0 pollution" and "0 carbon", and its full line of sparkling water products will take the lead in realizing the elimination of preservatives such as sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate. At this time, Zhu Danpeng changed his tone and told the media: "As long as preservatives are added scientifically and safely, in fact, they do not cause harm to the human body." In addition, compared with low sugar, sugar-free, 0 preservatives for production lines, technology and other aspects of higher requirements, the future will become a trend remains to be seen. ”

Although there is no evidence that the frequent singing and fading of the Yuanqi Forest in the field of public opinion comes from the instructions of the international beverage giants, from the perspective of brand volume and sales performance, it is undeniable that the Yuanqi Forest has rapidly grown into a competitor that the international beverage giants must pay attention to. In recent years, with the improvement and development of the industry and the change of the concept of the young generation of domestic consumers, the FMCG track, which has long been lined up by international giants, has been pried open by local brands. Whether the domestic cutting-edge brands in the cracks can withstand the pressure and break out of the siege still need time to bring us the answer.