After the change of ownership, Weiwei shares transformed into a milk tea shop, can the goal of "opening ten thousand stores" be achieved?

Abstract: Once upon a time, the advertising slogan of "Weiwei soy milk, happy and cheerful" was familiar to people, but in recent years, Weiwei shares have rarely regained the glory of that year. Just when the company changed owners, Weiwei shares spread the news that it was going to open 10,000 milk tea shops, which aroused concern.

China Times (www.chinatimes.net.cn) reporter Ge Aifeng trainee reporter Tao Wei reported from Nanjing

Once upon a time, the advertising slogan of "Weiwei soy milk, happy and cheerful" was familiar to people, but in recent years, Weiwei shares have rarely regained the glory of that year. Just when the company changed owners, Weiwei shares (ST Weiwei, 600300.SH) spread the news that it was going to open 10,000 milk tea shops, which aroused concern.

"Opening a milk tea shop is really a new business for the company." The staff of Weiwei shares answering the investor contact hotline confirmed the authenticity of the news to the reporter of China Times. In response to the specific details of the company's milk tea shop project and the next step of development, the reporter sent an interview letter to the company, but as of press time, there was no reply.

However, Wu Daiqi, CEO of Shenzhen Siqisheng Company, said in an interview with the China Times reporter: "Enterprises rush into a new field, set high goals, and challenge the new tea track dominated by young consumers, I am afraid that it lacks strong support for competition." And a tea giant's marketing department also told reporters that the milk tea industry is now very competitive and saturated, Weiwei entered late, put forward the goal of opening 10,000 stores, indicating that he does not understand the milk tea industry.

Proposed the Plan for 10,000 Milk Tea Shops

During the National Day, Weiwei soy milk, which was popular as "happy and cheerful", and the Summer Palace jointly opened the country's first milk tea store in Nanjing, focusing on various types of soy milk tea drinks, in addition to fruit tea, coffee and so on.

In terms of product design, Weiwei soy milk currently launches 5 series of products: Weiwei Bean Milk Series, Weiwei Youfu Simuxue Series, Weiwei Youlu Fresh Fruit Tea Series, Weiwei Youshou Creative Coffee, Weiwei Youxi Special Series; in terms of price, according to the information provided by the person in charge of Weiwei Soy Milk Investment, its product prices range from 8 yuan to 29 yuan, which overlaps with the price bands of brands such as Michelle Ice City, Neixue's Tea, and Tea Beauty.

According to the brand investment personnel, more than 500 franchisees have been recruited so far, and they are planning to open stores, and it is expected that there will be a national "100 stores open" promotion activity in mid-to-late November.

The person in charge of the weiwei soy milk brand investment said that it is currently in the brand promotion period, and the goal is to successfully open 600 stores nationwide in batches. Among them, the first batch of about 200 stores will open in mid-to-late November, and the second batch will wait until the previous store is stable and then open again in March next year. The person in charge said that a brand can not be limited to one or two thousand stores, and it definitely needs to be developed. They do have plans to open 10,000 stores, but that will happen in the next 5 to 8 years.

In addition to attracting a large number of franchisees to expand the scale, the person in charge also said that after the direct sales stores that have been opened in Nanjing, a direct sales store will be opened in Nanjing and Wuxi next month. It is said that Weiwei's milk tea shop is divided into two forms: "happy store" and "kaihuai store", as of October 18, the joining fee price of the happy store is 88,000 yuan, and the franchise fee of the kaihuai store is 128,000 yuan.

"Opening a milk tea shop is really a new business for the company." The staff of Weiwei Shares' Answer investor contact hotline confirmed the above to the "China Times" reporter, but the staff was silent about the reporter's further questions about how the company was prepared to do (how to recruit and build the team, how to complete the specification and quality control of the milk tea shop, how to prevent adverse events, etc.). As of press time, the company has not replied to the interview of the reporter of the "China Times" about the specific details of the milk tea shop project. In addition, for the planned concept of the milk tea shop, the company has not yet issued an announcement to disclose.

So, how does the industry view the milk tea shop plan of Vivi soy milk?

"Although Weiwei soy milk was once a famous brand and a well-known trademark in China, its development in recent years has not been ideal. Enterprises suddenly release new development goals, here may involve many problems, need to pay attention to: first, the company's current core product is soy milk powder, although similar to milk tea in the category, but soy milk and milk tea after all belong to different products, and the company in product research and development, whether it can develop products that compete with competitors, is still unknown; second, the company has not tested whether it has a successful milk tea shop single store model, such a form of joining is worrying; third, in the original soy milk field, The brand is gradually aging and squeezed by competitors, which reflects the lack of grasp of the preferences of the new generation of consumers and the brand's marketing ability. Now rush into a new field, set a high goal, challenge the new tea drinking track dominated by young consumers, and lack strong support in competition. Wu Daiqi said in an interview with the "China Times" reporter.

"If you join the model of the store, then he should refer to the Honey Snow Ice City, which now has 20,000 stores across the country." However, milk tea shops do not just need to find people to join, they need to have management structure and operation process training. In the absence of brand awareness, it is difficult to make the number of franchise stores so large at once. And the milk tea industry is now very fierce and saturated, Michelle Ice City has been doing it for many years to the current scale, Heytea has only more than 800 in 9 years, the industry competition is so fierce, there are many things to adhere to and overcome. A person from the marketing department of a tea drinking giant told this reporter.

The new owner has just taken ownership

It is worth mentioning that Weiwei shares have just changed owners, and whether the milk tea shop plan comes from the planning of the new owner is still unknown.

On July 9, 2021, Xuzhou Xinsheng Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd., a shareholder of Weiwei Co., Ltd., and Weiwei Group Co., Ltd. signed the Share Transfer Agreement. According to the agreement, Xinsheng Group will acquire 216 million shares of the company held by Weiwei Group through the transfer of the agreement, accounting for 12.90% of the total share capital of the company, and the transfer price will be 4.26 yuan per share, a total of 919 million yuan. Xinsheng Group is a large state-owned urban construction group under Xuzhou City, which is 100% controlled by Xuzhou State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

On October 14, Weiwei Co., Ltd. received a notice of approval from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the Jiangsu Provincial Government forwarded by the shareholder Xinsheng Group, indicating that the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Jiangsu Province agreed in principle to the acquisition. After the change of rights and interests, Xinsheng Group will hold nearly 500 million shares of Weiwei shares, accounting for 29.90% of the total share capital of the company, Xinsheng Group will become the controlling shareholder of the company, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Xuzhou Municipal People's Government will become the actual controller of the company.

Before the change of ownership, Weiwei shares had a situation where major shareholders illegally occupied funds. From 2017 to 2020, Weiwei Group frequently occupied the funds of Weiwei shares for 4 consecutive years. Through self-examination, Weiwei shares also found other capital occupation and illegal guarantees. However, at present, the capital occupation has been fully returned, and the guarantee matters have been fully completed before the annual report on April 21, 2021.

After the new owner took over, the company launched a milk tea shop plan, but it remains to be seen whether this will become the company's rejuvenation medicine. The marketing department of the tea giant reminded that Weiwei's expansion in the field of milk tea shops not only calculates the economic account, but also calculates the brand account, if the management intensity cannot keep up, there is also a risk of brand damage.