Master Kong confirms the price increase! Tea/juice series products may increase in price by 0.5-1 yuan, netizens: The cost performance has disappeared
China Economic Weekly-Economic Net News On November 2, #Master Kong's price increase# appeared on the hot search. According to a notification letter published by the hot search, the suggested retail price of Master Kong's tea/juice series products will be adjusted from November 1: the suggested retail price of the medium packaging series is not less than 3.5 yuan/bottle, and the recommended retail price of the 1L series is not less than 5 yuan/bottle. That is, the two prices were raised by 0.5 yuan and 1 yuan respectively.
In this regard, Master Kong's customer service responded that the content of the notification letter was a manufacturer's promotional activity. At present, the retail price has not changed much, and the company has not received a notice of price increase. According to a report from Caijing.com, Master Kong said that after understanding the price of related products, the price has indeed increased.
In response to this, some netizens said: "3 yuan becomes 3.5 yuan, this promotion is a bit interesting" "Let me take a look, the price increase equals the promotion?" Is it because I haven't been exposed to marketing that I think it's outrageous?", "The last time I bought a small bottle, it was still 2.5 yuan", "This time there is no cost performance", "The cost performance has disappeared", "Jasmine grapefruit tea is goodbye", "The best way to repay gratitude and trust is to increase the price"...
The reporter of "China Economic Weekly" inquired about the e-commerce platform and found that at present, on the Taobao platform, in the flagship store of Master Kong's drink, the price of 15 bottles of Master Kong's 500ml iced black tea is 47.3 yuan, and the price of each bottle is about 3.2 yuan. During the Double 11 period, the estimated price of the subsidy is 39.42 yuan for 15 bottles, and the price of each bottle is about 2.6 yuan. The price of 1L 12 bottles is 55.9 yuan, the price after discount is 43.9 yuan, and the unit price is about 4.7 yuan and 3.7 yuan.
In Jingdong, the daily price of the product is 34.9 yuan for 500ml and 15 bottles, and the price after 10 billion subsidies is 32.8 yuan, and the unit price is about 2.3 yuan and 2.2 yuan respectively. The price of 1L 12 bottles is 39.9 yuan, and the unit price is about 3.3 yuan.
In Pinduoduo, the price of 15 bottles of the product in 500ml is 32.99 yuan, and the unit price is about 2.2 yuan. The price of 1L 12 bottles is 38.9 yuan, and the unit price is about 3.2 yuan.
It is reported that this is not the first time that Master Kong has attracted attention due to price increases. Previously, the price increase of Master Kong's instant noodles caused heated discussions among netizens. It is reported that in the third quarter of 2021, Master Kong raised the prices of 20% of its instant noodle products to varying degrees; In the first quarter of 2022, due to the continuous rise in the cost of raw materials, the instant noodle industry saw the first linkage price increase in ten years, of which Master Kong's classic bag noodles were adjusted from 2.5 yuan to 2.8 yuan, a price increase of 12%, and classic barreled instant noodles increased from 4 yuan to 4.5 yuan, a price increase of 12.5%.
In 2022, Master Kong will also fall into a food safety storm due to incidents such as soil pit sauerkraut and "eating rat feces" exposed at the "3.15" party. It is reported that the "Tukeng Sauerkraut" manufacturer exposed at last year's "3.15" party planted the flag vegetable industry, which is one of the suppliers of Master Kong's Laotan sauerkraut instant noodle sauerkraut package. On March 16, Master Kong issued an apology statement, saying that he would immediately cancel all cooperation with the flag vegetable industry and remove all Laotan sauerkraut instant noodles from the shelves. A month later, the topic of "rat feces found in Master Kong's instant noodles" appeared on Weibo's hot search, and then pushed Master Kong to the forefront of food safety. All these things have had a certain impact on Master Kong's sales.
On August 22 this year, the interim report released by Master Kong Holdings showed that during the reporting period, the revenue of Master Kong Holdings Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries was 40.907 billion yuan, an increase of 7.04% over the same period in 2022; The gross profit margin was 30.47%, an increase of 2.25 percentage points year-on-year, and the profit attributable to shareholders of the Company was RMB1.638 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30.66%. Among them, Master Kong's instant noodle business revenue was 13.950 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.97%, accounting for 34.10% of the total revenue. During the period, due to the favorable selling price and raw material prices, the gross profit margin of instant noodles increased by 5.20 percentage points year-on-year to 25.83%. The revenue of beverage business was 26.606 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.50%. During the same period, the profit attributable to shareholders of Master Kong's beverage business increased by 18.06% year-on-year to RMB879 million.
It can be seen that the 2.97% growth rate of Master Kong's instant noodle business revenue is not only lower than the company's overall growth rate of 7.04%, but also far lower than the 9.50% growth rate of the beverage business.
Master Kong said in the interim report that in the second half of the year, the group will continue to expand and strengthen the domestic market business. The instant noodle business continues to meet the diversified needs of consumers with multi-price range, multi-specification and multi-flavor products, and continues to promote the expansion of the overall scale of the industry. The beverage business continued to focus on core categories, promote product structure adjustment, meet the needs of consumers in multiple scenarios, and take advantage of the peak season to promote sales growth.
New Media Editor: Cui Xiaomeng