"Huaxia Wine News" reporter Zhang Yuchen
Although the date of the exhibition has been delayed a little earlier than before, the positive signal released by the holding as scheduled has also greatly boosted the confidence of the development of the wine industry, as the first industry exhibition in 2023 after the epidemic, will this year's spring sugar show a different kind of grandeur?
Before the epidemic, from January to mid-to-late March every year, people in the wine industry were either already in Chengdu or on their way to Chengdu, because the Spring National Sugar and Wine Food Fair, known as the "food industry vane" and "wine industry barometer", was about to kick off.
This year, after many studies, the 108th National Sugar and Liquor Commodities Fair (hereinafter referred to as "Spring Sugar Fair") is finally scheduled to be held in Chengdu Western China International Expo City and Century City New International Convention and Exhibition Center from April 12 to 14. Although the date of the exhibition has been delayed a little later than before, the positive signal released by the holding of the exhibition as scheduled has also greatly boosted the confidence of the development of the wine industry, as the first industry exhibition of 2023 after the epidemic, will this year's spring sugar show a different kind of grandeur?
Participation in wine companies is still high
For a long time, the Spring Sugar Festival has been a strategic starting point for alcohol companies to start the layout of the new year.
According to the organizing committee of the National Sugar and Wine Commodities Fair, in addition to continuing the super scale of one exhibition and two halls, this year's Spring Sugar Festival also specially added a special area for the wine supply chain, and planned to build the traditional wine production area into a demonstration plate with the largest scale and the largest category segmentation in the exhibition area.
According to the data, the traditional wine exhibition area of the 108th National Sugar and Wine Festival is set up in Halls 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the Chengdu Century City New International Convention and Exhibition Center. The exhibition scale is about 60,000 square meters, and it is expected that there will be 1,400 exhibitors. There are five special zones including soy wine, rice wine, health wine and wine supply chain, and the "Chinese Famous Wine Corridor" is set up in the first row of the exhibition area.
"The traditional liquor exhibition area mainly displays a variety of aromatic liquor, rice wine, health wine, rice wine, medicinal wine and other traditional Chinese liquors, as well as brewing raw materials, technology, equipment, packaging materials, storage and other alcohol industry chain products. At present, it has attracted Moutai, Wuliangye, Fenjiu, Luzhou Laojiao, Jiannanchun, Langjiu, Shede, Drunkard Wine, Guotai, Shuijingfang, Jindong Group, Sichuan Wine Group, Guizhou Sauce Group, Jinpai, Guyue Longshan and other famous wine enterprises to participate in the exhibition. The person in charge of the organizing committee of the National Sugar and Wine Commodities Fair told the "Huaxia Wine News" reporter that traditional liquor carries the mission of leading the rise and rejuvenation of the traditional industry of the Chinese nation, and is increasingly recognized by the market and consumers, and the participation of wine companies has always been very high.
Indeed, according to the reporter of "Huaxia Wine News", the popular commercial spaces, landmark buildings and subways in the center of Chengdu and other places with dense crowds and high attention have long been "won" by a number of wine companies.
"During the Spring Sugar Festival, in addition to doing a national border strategic new product launch party and holding a national border medium elegant banquet and national border culture appreciation club, in order to further enhance the brand's visual experience and create the brand's high-end attributes, we will also release the theme screen of the sugar and wine party on the LED screens of the Chengdu high-speed rail, airport and elevator." According to Jiangsu Jinshi Yuan Wine Co., Ltd., 2023 is the year of the 10 billion victory of the Jinshi Yuan Wine Industry, and it is necessary to open up a new situation for nationalization.
"Starting on the evening of April 6, people will see our advertisements on the LED screens of the Twin Towers in Chengdu for a week. In addition, we also advertised the LED screen in the arrival hall of Chengdu Shuangliu Airport and the LED screen at the entrance of the Convention and Exhibition Center; There are also subway stations at Jinjiang Hotel and grab handles on Metro Line 1. The person in charge of Guowei Liquor (Group) Co., Ltd. in Moutai Town, Kweichow told the "Huaxia Wine News" reporter that in 2023, Guowei Liquor Industry will accelerate the promotion of brand pan-nationalization, and the Spring Sugar Club is a "wind vane" and must make all-round efforts.
In the interview, there are many regional leading enterprises such as Guowei Liquor that maintain high enthusiasm for attendance. In order to allow the brand to be fully and fully displayed in front of the participants, Shanghai Guijiu will display the brand with high frequency, multiple times and a large number of times during the sugar and wine party through advertising in the main exhibition hall & hotel exhibition hall, outdoor advertising in the center of Chengdu, wall advertising in the experience center, and pop-up activities on the streets of Chengdu, etc., to enhance the exposure and popularity of the Shanghai Guijiu brand; As a representative enterprise of Lujiu, Shandong Baimaiquan Wine Co., Ltd. will go out of Shandong with its high-end product "Qingzhao Guozhi" and make a heavy appearance in Rongcheng; The scale of Guangdong Shiwan Winery has also expanded compared with before, and the investment attraction has also been further strengthened.
Other famous wine enterprises, in addition to organizing various investment promotion and tasting activities, have also begun to focus on and promote more themed and topical products, such as "Old Eight Famous Wine" Gujing Gong will continue the previous "Old Famous Wine, Old Friends, Old Taste" as the theme of Gujing Gongjiu won the 60th anniversary of the Old Eight Famous Wine Thanksgiving Tour, carrying "Gujing Gongjiu Nostalgic Edition" to appear at the sugar and wine party.
"From the feedback of the wine enterprises we serve, everyone is preparing for large-scale participation this year, including hotel exhibitions, main venue exhibitions, etc., in fact, the popularity of venue bookings and rising rents show that this year's Spring Sugar Festival is still relatively lively." Liu Zhiqiang, partner of Beijing Cointreau Excellence Consulting Co., Ltd., said.
The enthusiasm of dealers attending the meeting was also beyond imagination
Obviously, no matter how challenging it is, Spring Sugar's status and attractiveness in the industry will remain unshakable, as can be seen from the number of people who pre-registered in the audience.
"In the past, 2,000 viewers were registered on the first day of pre-registration, but this year, 2,000+ viewers were registered within an hour of the pre-registration release, and a total of 5,000 viewers were registered on that day, which is more than the number of registrations before the epidemic." The reporter of "Huaxia Wine News" exclusively learned from the office of the National Sugar and Wine Commodity Fair that the enthusiasm of the audience for this Spring Sugar Festival was also unprecedentedly high.
"Today, the pandemic is a thing of the past. Everyone's willingness to travel is strong, coupled with the Spring Sugar Club is a multi-functional exhibition that integrates learning new ideas, exploring new models, handling customer relations, meeting old friends, and selecting products, the expectations of the industry have always been there. Liu Zhiqiang told the "Huaxia Wine News" reporter that in the past two to three years, the sauce wine craze has dropped significantly, and other wine companies or brands are also facing great pressure and challenges.
"Maybe in the past few years, everyone simply used investment and rapid horse racing to solve the problem of sales growth, but now, with the further differentiation of the industry and the intensification of competition, brands do need more ways to solve the problem of sales of dealers and tobacco hotels." Reflected at the channel level, whether manufacturers or distributors, it is also urgent to hear some more practical and more solved views on how to meet the needs of the C-end at this sugar and wine conference, especially trend prediction and marketing methods. Liu Zhiqiang said.
In interviews, many wine merchants revealed that as early as February, they had already booked round-trip air tickets and hotels.
"We have had a hard time in the past two years, and the restrictions on travel have led to great challenges in wine selection. Now it's hard to wait until the spring candy will be 'online' as promised, so you must choose the products well. Qin Qin, founder of Taobao Qin Qin Liquor Store, said in an interview with the "Huaxia Wine News" reporter that this Spring Sugar Festival, she will "sweep the goods" with the team, targeting those niche boutique wines or natural wines with limited production and high appearance.
"The main purpose of our participation is also to see if there is a suitable wine and then feel the change in the atmosphere in the market." Sun Dezhi, the person in charge of Lewei Wine Cellar, told the "Huaxia Wine News" reporter that the enthusiasm to participate in the Spring Sugar Festival must be there, and after three years of "epidemic examination", he analyzed that this year's exhibition must be unprecedented, very unprecedented.
"In the past few years, everyone has been forced to 'stop', but there are also certain expectations and thoughts on the future market, and the enthusiasm for participation will definitely continue, after all, the appeal of the Spring Sugar Festival is still very strong." Mr. Li, a distributor of Sichuan famous wine, also said that the first spring sugar meeting after the epidemic is worth looking forward to.
It cannot be ignored that there are also a considerable number of distributors who are more rational, objective and cautious about participating in the Spring Sugar Club.
"At present, strong first-tier brands in the alcohol category rely on natural advantages to continuously erode market share, second-tier brands are seeking breakthroughs in destocking, and OEM products have lost their profit advantage in the destocking movement, and e-commerce has become a new direction for some wine companies." But today, when e-commerce 'involution' is ubiquitous, it is difficult to be optimistic about taking advantage of wine + e-commerce. After all, in the Internet era, price information is becoming more and more transparent, and the side effects of exhibitions are becoming more and more obvious. Mr. Song, a liquor distributor in Shandong, pointed out that at present, the destocking of the wine industry continues, the market is advancing in twists and turns, and it is an indisputable fact that brand differentiation and business team differentiation are indisputable. As a result, dealer differentiation will also become a new normal and will remain so for a long time.
"It is estimated that many dealers will attend the meeting, but they are also waiting and seeing, or it depends on the specific situation of the next consumption recovery." Mr. Song told the reporter of "Huaxia Wine News".