The liquor industry fell into the "Thucydides Trap"? The true intention of Moutai and Luckin

Found something very interesting.

This year, almost all consumer companies have increased their investment in Xiaohongshu.

The reason behind it is very hardcore: Xiaohongshu has a high conversion rate.

After reading many research reports, I found that there is a soft reason behind the hardcore:

All platforms call users deliberately blurring gender, such as "family", "friends", "old iron", "JRs"...

Only Xiaohongshu is different, and the users in it often like to call each other "sisters".

In Little Red Book, no matter how old or young, regardless of gender, meaningless relationship, as long as you use Little Red Book, then you are a sister.

The relationship is naturally much closer, softer, and closer...

With a super holy mood, I specially downloaded the Little Red Book, and what came into view was:

50 years old, in reality grandma;

In other social media, it's an aunt, or an old aunt;

But in Little Red Book, she, that is, sisters.

It was so gentle that it was so serious that the research report said it seriously:

Tenderness and empathy are also becoming a force under uncertainty.

It, trickling down into rivers, changes our lives.

I thought about it, and I was right.

After all, we need to live, not just survive.

But this is also too costly.

A few words of "sisters", you buy a lot of outfits, I buy a lot of dog food and cat food, TA buy a lot of miscellaneous.

So much so that major listed companies are waving banknotes, shouting "more money, stupid people, quick ....."

This is not extravagant, such as Moutai also bent down these days, with a close attitude to the people, shouted to you the sentence "Sister, come Maozi." ”

"It's delicious, it's not expensive, long live friendship."

01

Moutai "gentle" downgrade?

Not surprisingly, Luckin's "sauce latte" co-branded with Moutai exploded.

Whether it is the BBC or New York, they have reported on this joint event in large quantities, and they have lamented the consumption power of Chinese:

On September 4, 5.42 million cups were sold that day, with sales exceeding 100 million yuan.

But what they overlook is:

This is the dimensionality reduction blow after Moutai took the initiative to downgrade.

Ma Dong, who was invited by Luckin, held up a sauce-fragrant latte and said that the alcohol concentration of each cup was less than 0.5%, what should I do after drinking.

There are also several scenes in the Luckin promotional video:

The boss asked the whole company to sauce a latte and took the lead in saying "I'll bring a drink" at the celebration party;

Employees spontaneously toast the boss, say "I salute you, I did it" and then have a glass of stuffiness;

The man visited the woman's parents and came to the door with a sauce latte because the other party's father loved to drink Moutai.....

On the surface, coffee is used instead of wine, but the words are still inseparable, is it a deconstruction or re-popularization of wine table culture?

But in any case, it is much gentler than the hardcore wine table culture.

Main one:

The first cup of Maotai for young people, the first cup of new tea for middle-aged people.

Baijiu has found a youthful feeling here in coffee, and the migrant workers who refuse the wine table culture also carry big red bags to swagger through the market...

This feeling is like a football to be grabbed from a doll, and Moutai first lets you drink from the "periphery" and "sample" of Moutai.

02

Moutai iron core downgrade

In fact, the joint name between Moutai and Luckin was not a whim.

In May 2022, Moutai and Mengniu cooperated to launch wine-flavored ice cream, which is the first non-alcoholic product created by Moutai with a price of around 60 yuan.

In July this year, Moutai and Middle Street 1946 jointly launched 5 new ice cream products called "small branches", each 50 grams priced at 29 yuan.

In August, Moutai ice cream entered Pizza Hut for a limited time.

However, it is worth noting that wine is real wine, just calculated in milliliters, just like luxury large items cannot be bought, lipstick, brooches and other small things can still bite your teeth and chop your hands.

There is also news that after the sauce latte became a hit, Moutai will launch chocolate and chili sauce next.

It seems that Moutai is determined to play the demotion card.

03

Moutai is "sweet"

In the downgrade process of Moutai's various tricks, I found an interesting phenomenon:

All pieces contain sugar..... And it seems to be too sweet.

This seems to be far from Moutai's brand image.

But it is easy to understand that culture is abstract, taste is concrete, and sugar makes people feel good is engraved in human DNA and written into dopamine.

This gives me the feeling that:

Moutai's main focus is a contrast, to use a sweet and cute image, with a "sister" to dispel people's stereotypes of Moutai.

04

What is Moutai's move?

In fact, luxury dimensionality reduction strikes have also been very common in recent years, such as:

Prada chose Shanghai's Internet celebrity vegetable farm, and the print pattern on the vegetable and fruit bag is actually the clothing pattern of the autumn and winter collection.

LV uses Manner's treasure trove to sell coffee and LV's books, and buy at least two books to get canvas bags.

So, is Moutai downgrading to cultivate the consumption habits of young consumers?

Or is it simply to expand the brand?

Or is it just for shipment?

In fact, because of its special financial attributes and luxury attributes, Moutai plays a pivotal role in the consumer market and capital market, and his every move is worth our repeated speculation.

But please note that whether LV or Prada, their "dimensionality reduction" is time-limited, usually one week.

And the joint name of Moutai and Luckin is very unconventional - limited only, unlimited time.

Obviously this is "hunger marketing", and the purpose is clear: to maximize shipments.

Of course, the continuous warm-up and hype in the early stage, and the unlimited measure of the upper limit, this has confirmed that Luckin and Moutai are breaking the curse of the circle and striving for the greatest possibility of their respective consumer groups.

But it also brings to mind another possibility:

"Isn't this as noble as Moutai, bending down to find Luckin for traffic!" So says one analyst.

I nodded in agreement.

In fact, the importance of brand tonality for a brand with a high premium (gross margin of more than 90%) like Moutai is self-evident.

To maintain a high premium and popularity of luxury goods, the most common practice is: to do non-standard products.

Even in order to maintain the heat and maintain the price system, it will be destroyed regularly, for example: we often hear how many products Gucci, Prada and other brands have destroyed, which are criticized by environmental activists...

In addition, many beer brands have already tried the "younger" strategy, and the effect is difficult to say.

Standing at this angle to see the joint name of Moutai and Luckin, one is not limited, and the other is not completely "limited", in fact, does it help the positioning of Moutai luxury goods?

Maybe there is, but not enough!

Therefore, Moutai's "downgrade" may have a greater possibility: shipment.

After all, the data is here, and the production of liquor has long been cut since 2016.

In front of high-end liquor brands such as Moutai, there are two problems:

1. How to boost sales;

2. How to raise the price.

05

The "Thucydides Trap" faced by liquor brands

If we say that in the era of economic take-off, the volume and price of high-end brands are pushing the boat along the water.

Then in the stage when the economic growth rate is bottlenecked, the strategic choice of high-end brands in terms of volume and price will be like walking on thin ice.

Behind this is not only the contradiction between household disposable income and the price of 2500 in Moutai, but also the dilemma of liquor consumer groups.

In fact, not only the liquor industry, but also high-end consumption represented by table bag Mao are facing such a dilemma to varying degrees.

Looking at the data today, the luxury car market seems to have collapsed, and the brands you can think of basically have more than a dozen discounts.

The mansion seems to be strong, but that is, the new house and the listing stand up, foreclosure you go to see, the number of auctions is inverted with the price.

Standing at this angle, and then looking at Moutai and coffee, two strong addictive drinks gathered together, we will find:

This is similar to the northern Myanmar routine of "saying the most gentle words and ruthlessly caring for the waist".

On the one hand, "fine wine and coffee" is just a routine, allowing young people to contact baijiu, familiarize themselves with my tastes, and prepare for cultivating a potential customer base.

On the other hand, it can also solidify a lot of inventory and insert wings of imagination into financial reports.

But this will definitely dilute Moutai's financial and luxury attributes.

After all, spending small money to satisfy the instant gratification of buying a big brand is more refreshing than coffee and more fluttering than alcohol.

epilogue

Some people commented that the girl's friendship is breezy, it is soft, light but powerful, and it is very similar to the atmosphere of Little Red Book.

Many people are addicted to Xiaohongshu, really because of her atmosphere, she will praise you and call you "sister" again.

This sister can iron your anxiety and stress, and then use temperature to drive your action——

Buy cat litter and dog food, stock up on mask lipstick, snap up a certain Chinese core by the way, and then have a cup of Maozi brand coffee.....

But can this build your life and make it a little immune?

For workers, 53 degrees of Maotai can not afford, sauce coffee is just right, after drinking can continue to move bricks, there is no delay.