Niulanshan, an inconspicuous two-pot brand
Perhaps many people don't know that the predecessor of this now well-known liquor brand was only a small distillery founded in Beijing in 1952, which was later known as Niulanshan Distillery.
At that time, Niulanshan was just a fledgling winemaking workshop, which was not worth mentioning at all, and it was even more overshadowed by the backdrop of many time-honored brands. It is like the most ordinary family in Beijing, which can only rely on hard work and hard work to make a living, and has no time to take care of anything else.
In the first few decades, Niulanshan developed silently in the Erguotou industry, learning from the predecessors to make wine one by one, and only made a small difference. It was not until the reform and opening up of the mainland in the 80s that the liquor consumption market gradually flourished with the increase of residents' income.
As a local time-honored brand, Niulanshan has gradually established a certain reputation in Beijing and surrounding areas.
However, what really made Niulanshan jump from a small brand to an industry giant was only kicked off in the past ten years. With the development and growth of the People's Republic of China 70 years ago, the domestic liquor market is entering a golden period.
As a leader in the field of Erguotou, Niulanshan seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It continues to innovate, improve the process, expand production capacity, and finally stand out in the market competition and successfully promote to the head player in the liquor industry.
In particular, Niulanshan's best-selling liquor, "Aging", has made this humble little brand a household name. Today's Niulanshan has become synonymous with "Erguotou" in the minds of the people, and goes hand in hand with the predecessor brother "Hongxing Erguotou" in Beijing, jointly promoting the inheritance and development of Chinese liquor culture.
The "conscience price" of 15 yuan and the legend of 1.4 billion bottles
Among the many best-selling liquors in Niulanshan, the one it is most proud of is "Niulanshan Aging". This thunderous name has become a legendary existence in the liquor industry.
One of the first things that impresses people is its breathtaking low price - a full 15 yuan! You know, in this era of soaring prices, the price of a cup of milk tea is close to 20 yuan.
For a whole standard bottle of liquor, such a price is simply a conscientious choice, almost to the point of blood loss.
It is this almost "buy one get one free" price that allows Niulanshan Aging to stand out in the fierce market competition and successfully open up the huge blue ocean market for the common people.
The price war is undoubtedly a life-saving pill in the shopping mall, and whoever can sacrifice the maximum profit to curry favor with consumers will be able to dominate this zero-sum game.
However, price advantage alone is not enough to support a legend like Niulanshan. We must admit that this 15 yuan popular star, its quality reputation is also quite good.
This can be seen in its annual sales: in 2020, Niulanshan Aging sold 1.4 billion bottles for the year, which means that more than 400 million people are repeating it every year.
This level of brand loyalty is beyond the power of any marketing tool.
If you imagine what it would be like for 1.4 billion bottles of Niulanshan to be connected together, probably the entire long snake will circle the earth more than four times. The visual impact of this "four circles of the earth" also fully demonstrates the irreplaceable status of Niulanshan in the hearts of the people.
For an entire generation, Niulanshan Aging is almost synonymous with baijiu, and this brand memory that goes deep into the bone marrow is the most solid cornerstone for it to gain a foothold in the market.
Based on the blue ocean, gain the favor of the people
The most critical secret of Niulanshan's glorious business legend lies in its clear positioning and choice of target consumer groups. You must know that in the alcohol consumption market, the high, medium and low-end fields have always been fiercely competitive.
Niulanshan did not choose to join those high-end market segments, but decisively positioned itself as an affordable liquor for the people.
This determines that it does not choose expensive and complex solid-state brewing in the brewing process, but adopts the lower-cost solid-liquid blending method. In the face of the production capacity of millions or even tens of millions of bottles per month, only the simple process of solid-liquid brewing can ensure the stability of its supply.
At the same time, the production cost of this blended wine is much lower than that of pure grain wine, so that Niulanshan can minimize the price of the commodity on the premise of ensuring a certain profit.
Of course, low prices do not directly translate into high sales, and a good sales channel is also needed as a medium. This is also another important support for the success of Niulanshan.
As a long-established brand of domestic liquor, Niulanshan has deployed a large number of distributors and retail terminals across the country. It ensures that the products are available in both large supermarket chains and kiosks in the most remote rural areas.
This "pervasive" channel strategy directly improves the user's convenience of purchasing. The reason why many people always buy Niulanshan is simply because it always appears in the most convenient place to pick up the goods.
Finally, the reason why Niulanshan Aging has gained so many repeated purchases and favors from ordinary users is also due to its own taste quality. This affordable mass wine is not as unpleasant as imagined, it has been verified by user reputation in long-term market practice, and can still meet the standards of many old wine models.
Because of this, many consumer groups who only seek cost performance will be happy and continue to support it.
Times are changing, quality is eternal
Once upon a time, liquor using non-traditional techniques such as Niulanshan was criticized and questioned by people in the industry. They believe that blending alcohol with additives will destroy the purity and quality advantage of baijiu.
However, with the promulgation and implementation of the new version of the national standard for liquor in 2022, this controversy seems to have disappeared.
The new national standard stipulates that all products with non-solid processing technology can no longer label themselves as "liquor", but must be classified into the category of "blended liquor".
This undoubtedly brought a lot of impact and shock to an old brand like Niulanshan. Over the years, it has been Xi to the golden sign of "white wine", and it really can't adapt to such new changes for a while.
In fact, for Niulanshan, there is a complete option to adjust the process flow in a short period of time and meet the new standard by increasing the proportion of solid brewing. However, after careful consideration, its brewmasters decided to keep the original unique process system unchanged.
Because this process is not only low-cost, but also has been verified by the market and has enough reputation. As a result, Niulanshan could only give in and change the label to "brew blended wine" on the new wine label, officially accepting his identity as "blended wine".
This is undoubtedly a bit disappointing for some of the old customers who pay attention to the inheritance of craftsmanship and the history of winemaking. They began to complain that Niulanshan had become synonymous with solid-liquid wine. But on the other hand, more and more new generations of consumers who pay attention to taste and value for money don't seem to care about this.
In their view, a change in craftsmanship does not change the value of a brand to users. Therefore, in the alternation of new and old consumers, Niulanshan still retains the throne of the king by virtue of its unique quality reputation.
Because quality and trust are the foundation of this brand based on the market. It symbolizes what is the liquor that truly suits the taste of the common people. No matter how the times change, this innate core of quality has not changed in the slightest.
Niulanshan, the eternal liquor of the common people
Interestingly, 80 years ago, when the predecessor of Niulanshan Red Star was born, as the first brand in the mainland to promote Erguotou, it was also criticized and controversial.
The old-school brewers in the industry believe that the "resident taste" products created by this additive will seriously affect the inheritance of traditional liquor culture.
However, the tastes and choices of ordinary people are often unexpected. With the dual advantages of cheap price and smooth taste, Red Star quickly opened the market and sat firmly on the throne of the second pot for decades.
Time has passed, and when Niulanshan encounters the same doubts today, the history seems to be strikingly similar - the common people still favor and choose this cost-effective and affordable star.
Perhaps for many winemaking traditionalists, the blended liquor made using the non-solid process will never be as good as those pure grain cellars. But for the majority of consumers, Niulanshan represents what is really a good wine that meets their taste.
It doesn't require flashy packaging and high-end pricing, but it has an unpretentious quality.
It is precisely because Niulanshan has never forgotten its original intention and insisted on brewing good wine and saving money for the people, that it will always stand on the cusp of history. In the face of the changes of the times, it chose to move forward against the current; In the face of skeptical voices, it chose to assert itself.
Therefore, no matter how the standards and tastes change, Niulanshan will always be a special existence in the hearts of ordinary people - that is, their favorite old friend, and the closest and most trustworthy one.