Coca-Cola, a giant that has been racing in the carbonated beverage industry for decades, began to covet the herbal tea business.
Recently, the official flagship store of Coca-Cola Tmall launched an herbal tea product called "Healthy Workshop Summer Dry Grass Plant Herbal Drink" (hereinafter referred to as "Summer Dry Grass"), which has set off a hot discussion in the industry. It is reported that this product is the first herbal tea drink launched by Coca-Cola since it entered the Chinese mainland market.
From the perspective of existing market brands, the herbal tea market has wang laoji, heqizheng, Jiaduobao and other head player layout, and the development of the industry is gradually homogenizing. This time, Coca-Cola launched the first herbal tea drink, which is undoubtedly seen as a move to extend its tentacles to the hinterland of brands such as Wang Laoji.
However, is herbal tea, which is regarded by many consumers as "healthy tea", really suitable for everyone? Carbonated beverage giants layout herbal tea market, will it be a good business?
The herbal tea market has welcomed giants again, and Coca-Cola launched its first herbal tea drink
Recently, the long-calm herbal tea market has ushered in a giant player. It is reported that the Coca-Cola Tmall flagship store launched an herbal tea drink, and played out "herbal formula , traditional herbal tea" and "no additional artificial flavors and colors" and other slogans.
After the reporter inquired, it was learned that in the official flagship store of Coca-Cola Tmall, the product was not sold in a single bottle, but sold in a whole box (24 bottles / 500ml), with a discounted price of 297 yuan and a single bottle price of about 12.38 yuan.
Screenshot of an e-commerce platform
It is worth noting that Xia Kuicao is the first herbal tea beverage of Coca-Cola in the Chinese mainland market layout, and the price of a single bottle of the same specification product is much higher than that of Wang Laoji, Heqizheng and other leading domestic herbal tea brands, about 3.15 times that of Wang Laoji herbal tea.
For the carbonated beverage giant's move to enter the herbal tea market, it has also aroused heated discussion in the consumer market. Some netizens said, "Hearing the price is half cut off, seeing the name that half cut is also cold" "Looking at the name + color matching, I have begun to be afraid"...
According to the official website of Coca-Cola China, Coca-Cola was founded in the 1880s and is a beverage brand with a history of more than 100 years. In 1979, Coca-Cola returned to the Chinese mainland market and successively launched more than 20 brands and more than 100 kinds of beverages, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Mei Juice Source, Pure Yue, COSTA Costa, etc., and the beverage categories covered flavored sodas, sports drinks, coffee and tea, juice drinks, plant-based drinks and milk.
As a century-old brand with a global reputation, It is not surprising that Coca-Cola has made this move to force the herbal tea market. In fact, as early as more than a decade ago, Coca-Cola has set its sights on the herbal tea business.
According to public information released by the Coca-Cola Tmall flagship store, the "Healthy Workshop" brand to which Xia Kuicao belongs, formerly known as "Tongzhitang", was founded in Hong Kong, China in 1989, when it mainly sold traditional herbal tea. In 2000, "Healthy Workshop" replaced "Tongzhitang", and the products sold were changed from traditional herbal tea to plant herbal tea drinks suitable for urban life. Since November 2005, Healthy Workshop has been part of the Coca-Cola beverage family, thus opening its herbal tea market in Hong Kong, China.
Screenshot of Coca-Cola China's official website
However, in the following ten years, the market focus of "Healthy Workshop" is still in Hong Kong and has not migrated to the mainland market. According to media reports, in 2016, Coca-Cola publicly stated in its annual review that it would be a "full-category beverage company". Since then, Coca-Cola has successively laid out categories such as juice, dairy products, coffee, and plant-based beverages in the Chinese mainland market, but it was not until June 2022 that Coca-Cola's herbal tea products were officially launched to the mainland market.
In the eyes of many people in the industry, Coca-Cola is now entering a herbal tea market of "people walking tea cold". According to the "2018-2023 China Tea Beverage Industry Production and Marketing Demand and Investment Forecast Analysis Report" released by the Prospective Industry Research Institute in 2018, from 2011 to 2015, the market size of the mainland herbal tea industry continued to maintain a double-digit expansion rate, with an average annual compound growth rate of 12.34%; after 2016, the growth rate of market size fell to single digits. In addition, Mintel's China Tea Beverage Report released by Mintel's Global New Product Database in 2021 shows that in 2020, the market share of ready-to-drink herbal tea in Asia fell by 27.1% due to the impact of the epidemic on the Spring Festival peak season.
On the other hand, with the rise of new tea brands such as Superimposed Hi Tea and Naixue's Tea, the space of the herbal tea market has been further squeezed. From the perspective of market performance, Coca-Cola's first entry into the herbal tea market Chinese mainland but it was tragically "Waterloo", and the sales of summer dry grass were not impressive. As of now, the monthly sales of this product in the official flagship store of Coca-Cola are only 200+. In contrast, the monthly sales of Wang Laoji herbal tea in the Flagship Store of Wang Laoji Tmall are as high as 3,000+.
Herbal tea into hot pot exclusive standard? Experts: Herbal tea is good but not suitable for all people
Even though the herbal tea market has cooled in recent years, there are still many consumers who are quite enthusiastic about this tea drink category with health benefits, which may be one of the reasons why carbonated beverage giant Coca-Cola has recently intended to open up the herbal tea market to Chinese mainland.
According to public information, herbal tea originated in Guangzhou, and was originally used as a formula for the treatment of miasma and epidemics, and was widely circulated in the market. Then, herbal tea from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, Macao region, the local people according to the climate, water and soil characteristics, in the process of long-term prevention of disease and health care, with the chinese medicine health theory as the guide, with Chinese herbal medicine as raw materials, produced a kind of heat and detoxification, thirst quenching, fire and dehumidification and other effects, accompanied by people's daily life of the drink.
The same is true of Coca-Cola's "summer dry grass" product. From the perspective of product composition, the ingredients of "summer dry grass" herbal tea are mainly water, white sugar, summer dry grass, monk fruit, licorice, locust rice. The customer service of the Coca-Cola Tmall flagship store introduced to the future network reporter that the product has the effects of "removing dry heat" and "removing annoyance", but for the content and proportion of each ingredient, the customer service said, "Because it is the formula of the product, it cannot be provided for the time being."
Wang Silu, a member of the Chinese Nutrition Society, a food safety science expert and a national senior food inspector, said in an interview with the Future Network reporter that Coca-Cola's herbal tea products contain a variety of Chinese herbal ingredients. "Summer dry grass, analyzed from a modern pharmacological point of view, mainly has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, improve microcirculation, anticoagulant, reduce blood viscosity, antibacterial and other effects; Luo Han Guo has the effect of clearing heat and relieving heat, clearing the lungs and moisturizing the intestines, dissolving phlegm and cough, laxative and lowering blood pressure, and is suitable for drinking in summer, autumn and winter, especially in summer; The pharmacological effects of licorice are tonic qi, expectorant and cough, detoxification, urgency and pain relief, and relaxation of medicinal properties. ”
Wang Silu analyzed that in general, this herbal tea can play a "role" such as moisturizing and coughing, laxative phlegm, fire and anti-inflammatory. However, it should be noted that the Chinese herbal ingredients in such herbal tea products have very little content in herbal tea, so they cannot talk about "efficacy" and will not have a curative effect. Fundamentally, food is just food, and there is a fundamental difference between it and medicine, and it is not possible to generalize. ”
Yang Zhen, professor and chief physician of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, told the future network reporter that most of the herbal tea products contain white sugar ingredients, and excessive intake may lead to the risk of diabetes, obesity and other diseases. "Adolescent groups in particular need to pay attention to the fact that excessive citation of such drinks may increase the chances of developing diabetes and obesity in adulthood." It is recommended that children under 14 years of age not excessively drink herbal tea products, and their daily intake should be based on drinking water. ”
Wang Silu further added that due to the presence of Chinese herbal ingredients in herbal tea, it is not suitable for all people. "First of all, people who are allergic to herbal tea-related raw materials should not drink; Secondly, pregnant women, nursing mothers, children and other special groups are not recommended to drink to avoid affecting the normal operation of the body; People suffering from liver disease and kidney disease should not drink a lot of alcohol to avoid increasing the metabolic burden on the liver and kidneys, and the gain is not worth the loss. ”
It is worth noting that for hot pot lovers, herbal tea is also regarded as "hot pot standard". Is the eating habit of "herbal tea + hot pot" healthy? In this regard, Wang Silu said that it is not recommended that consumers drink herbal tea when eating hot pot, although it is very "cool" when drinking. "Compared with 'hot herbal tea', more people are willing to drink 'iced herbal tea', when the 'cool' of herbal tea collides with the 'hot' and 'hot' of hot pot, it will undoubtedly add a burden to the stomach and intestines, increase the risk of gastrointestinal irritability, and lead to abdominal pain, diarrhea and other issues."
He pointed out that in addition, the hot pot itself belongs to the "high salt", "high fat" and "high purine" food, and drinking with herbal tea will also increase the body's intake of sugar and Chinese herbal ingredients, and over time it will also cause a burden on the liver, kidneys and other organs.