Author丨Nei Sanjun
Editor丨Tangerine
Recently, Nei Sanjun learned from a dealer: "Today's Mailang board noodles are sold out, and I have sold more than 10,000 boxes of single products here for several months. ”
According to public information, the shipment volume of the product has reached a new level almost every month, with an increase of 100% in November last year and doubled in December;
While people are generally looking forward to the pace of consumption recovery in 2024, the unexpected explosion of "Jinmailang noodles" is becoming an instant noodle industry phenomenon that deserves special attention.
In 2023, the most discussed in the industry is the "downgrade" of consumption, and after 2024, these discussions will begin to disappear with the general trend of consumption contraction, and all brands are trying to achieve "cost performance" to win this "budget-conscious" young people.
A "quite assertive" young man, a "surprise explosion" on the board
Compared with the post-70-80s generation who work hard to make money to buy a house and spend money on "pragmatism" such as education investment, Generation Z has shown a stronger willingness to consume.
A few months ago, a certain food expert casually soaked a bowl of Jinmailang noodles, and by chance found that after brewing for 30 minutes, not only did it not fail but became more delicious, so he immediately posted this treasure eating method on his social account, and aroused heated discussions among netizens. Soon, this product was not only sent by more than 2 million "tap water" netizens from the bottom of their hearts, but also resonated with netizens because of Dong Yuhui's ridicule of "authentic Hebei specialty Anhui plate noodles", and it was out of the circle on a large scale.
Based on the competitive products and huge volume, Jinmailang's board noodles quickly sold out on the whole network, and countless netizens flocked to Jinmailang's live broadcast room, and the daily sales of products skyrocketed. Some consumers even said, "Jinmailang, you deserve to be on fire, you will continue to fire for me." ”
"Splashing the sky and wealth" is the turn of Jinmailang, which seems to be a bit unexpected, but it is not accidental at all.
On the one hand, it is the "Hebei Cultural Tourism" out of the circle, Anhui Banmian as a local characteristic of Hebei, with a strong Chinese local "emotional value", has aroused the curiosity of many young consumers.
On the other hand, delicious is the last word, and people who have eaten Jinmailang Anhui plate noodles can't help but sigh "It's really the ceiling in instant noodles". This is inseparable from the polishing of Jinmailang's products, and no work on the product is in vain. The tendon of the plate noodles is inseparable from Jinmailang's "home-made flour and home-made noodles". With 450,000 acres of high-quality wheat planting base, Jinmailang uses Jinmailang's own flour, the flour itself has a high gluten content, coupled with the high-temperature extrusion process at 130 °C, the noodles made are no different from the freshly made noodles after rehydration, and the gluten is chewy.
Thanks to the background color of Jinmailang's "heavy products", it ushered in its own wealth and wealth. Jinmailang has always invested heavily in product research and development, and has invested heavily in the product research institute so far has more than 200 R&D personnel, half of whom are master's and doctoral degrees. The whole whole small pepper retained in the board surface is the optimal solution obtained by Jinmailang's R&D personnel after many attempts such as "baking, roasting, and frying", and it is also the application of the "chili pepper toolbox" system developed by Jinmailang.
The excellent "product experience" and the "emotional value" of China's local characteristics have made Jinmailang step on the wind, and the monthly sales of the board noodles have exceeded 2 million boxes, and young people have become its fans and "tap water".
The "0 fried" that cannot be underestimated, instant noodles return to the "rhythm of Jinmailang"
With the sudden rise of the 0 fried series represented by the board surface, the sales volume and volume of Jinmailang have been rising simultaneously, "attracting attention from inside and outside the industry."
For example, Mr. G told Mr. Nei, "Jinmailang's 0 fried series sells very well." Among them, in addition to the ramen fan, Jinmailang's 0 fried plate noodles, stewed noodles, knife-cut noodles and other special products are selling well this year. ”
The competitive landscape among instant noodle companies has been changing over the years. Among them, there are companies that continue to make small strides and still occupy a leading share in most markets, and there are companies that seize network traffic and suddenly gain "sky-high wealth...... However, consumers' demanding requirements for high-quality and cost-effective products, whether it is small steps or pouring wealth and wealth, no longer seem to be the main theme of growth.
The competition of instant noodle companies can not be too tepid, let alone opportunistic, but need to be kept upright and surprisingly solidly promoted, and Jinmailang's strategy of "category innovation" is emerging.
In addition to the popular noodles, Mr. G also shared with the ramen fan "Green Cow" launched by Jinmailang as an example, "The local market is the earliest batch of Jinmailang Green Cow, and Jinmailang sent me the first batch of more than 1,700 goods, which were sold out quickly." It can be felt that the green cow will be a potential item, and the future volume may be three times higher than the current high-growth new products such as braised noodles. ”
According to Kantar Consumer data, the market penetration rate of Jinmailang's non-fried market has doubled last year. Where will the instant noodle market go, the "0 fried healthy noodles" that meet the long-term needs of a healthy diet are giving the market direction, and the ups and downs in the industry are making instant noodles return to the "rhythm of Jinmailang".
The industry's view is that the main theme of consumption upgrading has not changed, and the market influence accumulated in the past few years is gradually being released, forming a steady stream of consumption power. In this process, Jinmailang's many competitive advantages in the 0 fried category are being highlighted one by one, and they are more "seen" by the market.
Instant noodle competition, but also look at "Kangjin"
Category innovation has become an important part of Jinmailang's strategic breakthrough in the middle of the industrial chain. Even in the past 2023, the instant noodle industry has been hit a lot, and the dealers of Jinmailang are still full of harvest.
In this regard, many dealers sighed, "The explosion of the board seems to be a splash of wealth, but in fact it is reasonable, and it is the best reward for Jinmailang's category innovation strategy." In 2024, through the hot sales of the 0 fried series, we are confident that the instant noodle market will once again enter the 'Jinmailang rhythm'. The pattern of 'Kangjin hegemony', which has been repeatedly mentioned in the past, is still not easy to shake and change in the long run. ”
"Difficulties are the patrons of success. Fan Xianguo, chairman of Jinmailang, once said. This is also reflected in Jinmailang's long-term insistence on doing difficult and correct things, such as Jinmailang spent 20 years to continuously break through and innovate cooking noodle technology, and was also awarded the honorary title of "Pioneer of 0 Fried Healthy Noodles" by the China Food Association, and won the Global Food Industry Award of the 21st World Food Science and Technology Conference.
In the past two years, Jinmailang's "0 fried" instant noodles have continued to enter the food education classroom of primary school students, and attracted the participation of families, schools, governments and society, establishing the awareness of category advantages in the hearts of children, and cultivating Chinese people's confidence in local food culture.
From the green cow and the board, we can see the ingenuity of Jinmailang's insight into the consumption cycle and its determination to seize the emerging consumption increment. This is the reason why more and more single products in the 0 fried series have been recognized by the market, and there is also reason to have more confidence in Jinmailang's future to take 0 fried as the core category and quickly build a second growth curve, and it has become a representative product that has launched an impact on the traditional era, led industry innovation, and stirred the industry pattern.
Jinan dealer G Jun said, "The competition in the instant noodle market is still a pattern of 'Kangjin hegemony'. The reason for this is that "the sales of local Jinmailang bagged instant noodles are actually close to Master Kong." Although it needs to be admitted that Jinmailang's barrel noodles are still a little behind Master Kong, and they still need to do better in hotels, hotels, Internet cafes, stations, docks, airports and other channels;
At the same time, he is also very optimistic about the growth of "0 fried": "The group that pursues health will continue to consume '0 fried healthy noodles', and after he develops a habit of consumption, he may not eat traditional fried instant noodles in the future, and he will eat less and less fried noodles, and eat more and more healthy noodles." Especially the people who have family consumption scenes, those who are responsible for family life, the demand for health and quality is still very high, he hopes to give his family a healthy noodle, and will also eat it as a meal, this part of the group will be a large group of us in the future. ”
In fact, the industry has been saying for a long time about "Kangjin Hegemony".
Under the new competitive situation, many obvious competitive advantages of Jinmailang are being highlighted one by one and are more "seen" by the market.
As the leading brand in China's instant noodle industry, Jinmailang is the only company in the industry that controls the whole industry chain in the true sense.
At the end of the upstream high-quality wheat industry, Jinmailang polishes and produces the best high-quality national wheat at any cost through practical actions, and finally leads the domestic high-quality wheat to break the legend of imported wheat. Today, Jinmailang has 450,000 acres of high-quality wheat planting base, with an annual processing capacity of more than 4.1 million tons of wheat.
In terms of R&D, Jinmailang has not only established the Jinmailang Central Research Institute, which is equipped with dozens of international leading imported testing equipment with a total value of more than 10 million yuan, but also invested more than 1 billion yuan to establish the world's largest zero-fried super instant noodle factory, and comprehensively built a leading R&D hard power.
The latest news is that in November 2023, Jinmailang was recognized as the first national industrial design center in the convenience fast food industry. It highlights the country's full recognition of Jinmailang's overall view of promoting scientific and technological innovation in the food industry and leading the progress of the food manufacturing industry.
It is not difficult to see that the "honest" Jinmailang has been walking on the road of "solid infrastructure", which is also the fundamental confidence of his "sitting on two and watching one".
In the chaotic competitive landscape, the wisdom of "slowing down" is needed
In the past, Jinmailang built a huge dealer system, supplemented by four-in-one and other tools, and became a well-deserved king of channels in the instant noodle industry. Nowadays, with the continuous changes in the consumption environment and channel model, Jinmailang has also adapted to the times and made many changes.
First of all, in the stage when the FMCG industry as a whole is destocking, Jinmailang does not blindly pursue growth, but slows down the pace and optimizes channels.
In recent years, with the high growth requirements of manufacturers to press down on goods, as well as the intensification of the mobility of business personnel at all levels, many brands have experienced management chaos such as manufacturers not fulfilling their promises, and many dealers have even been dragged bankrupt. Even many brands that were once very stable have begun to reduce or eliminate terminal fees, leaving channel providers to bear additional costs that they should not have bore.
In this context, Jinmailang not only reduces the tasks of dealers, strives to eliminate inventory, but also fully fulfills the promised expenses, laying a good foundation for the long-term win-win situation of manufacturers.
"Credit" and "quality" are important reasons why G Jun has always "followed Jinmailang" for many years. "For example, it is very trustworthy to promise us something that can be implemented from beginning to end. ", he said.
"The other is quality, Jinmailang has high requirements for the quality of products, and his quality control is higher than that of the same industry. I remember that once our marketing general manager came down to the market with me to distribute the goods, and in the process of sorting out the shelves, we found that one and a half bags were broken. At that time, the general manager was very angry, and immediately called the factory to rectify the product quality control, and the problem was solved that afternoon. So occasionally we find a small problem, which will be quickly reported to the company, and the company will deal with it relatively quickly. I think Jinmailang is higher than the same industry in terms of quality control, and their requirements in this regard are very strict. ”
At the same time, Jinmailang, which created the "four-in-one" model, is also in the new era, constantly strengthening the internal strength of internal management, intensively cultivating channels, and using a unique marketing system and management philosophy step by step, and walking very solidly.
In the past few years, many brands have reaped growth through squeezing channels and national sentiment marketing, but none of them are sustainable. In the long run, it is the "right way" for instant noodle brands to do a solid job in product, marketing, and channel ends.
Especially at present, the period of savage growth of FMCG has passed, and the relationship between manufacturers has entered the stage of establishing a new order, and a more stable channel cooperative relationship based on the premise of mutual benefit between the two sides is an indispensable part of the process of the head instant noodle enterprises represented by Jinmailang to cross the cycle and compete for the head position.
Over the years, with the unique resource advantages, advanced professional advantages, complete supporting advantages, superior product cost performance advantages, and domestic high coverage market advantages, Jinmailang has created an unconventional and leapfrog development model of the enterprise. Nowadays, relying on the solid construction of the whole industrial chain, the R&D and innovation system built by huge investment, and the channel strategy based on win-win profits and constantly updated, Jinmailang has gradually built a comprehensive ecological advantage of production and marketing with the fixed point of the industry.
In the long run, China's instant noodle consumption still has a lot of room for growth, and who can become the leader of the instant noodle industry in the future depends on the strategic direction after all. Jinmailang has always been unwilling to accept the status quo, maintain innovation, and develop steadily with strategy and courage, which not only makes Jinmailang's high-quality development strategy have a long-term presentation, but also gives a new era significance to "Kangjin Hegemony".