How long can Wahaha eat traffic dividends?

Author | Tin

In March, the new top product "Wahaha" exploded on the Internet, and since the live broadcast of the official flagship store on March 4, the traffic sales have been unprecedentedly high, but after 15 days of explosion, the online Wahaha began to "cool down".

On March 20, the entry "Wahaha's flagship store's daily sales fell by 90%" appeared on the hot search, which is actually normal. On the 18th and 19th, Wahaha, which had sales of 200,000 yuan for two consecutive days, sold out the goods. The customer service of Wahaha's official flagship store also said that now there are only pre-sale products and they will be replenished from time to time.

In addition to online, offline Wahaha products are also super popular. Not long ago, a letter signed by Wahaha "to all sales staff" was exposed on the Internet. The letter specifically mentioned the situation of Wahaha being snatched out of stock, and said that "now is the moment when Wahaha has received unprecedented attention", and that the goal is to "let everyone see and buy Wahaha products" in the terminal distribution blitzkrieg.

Subsequently, Zong Fuli, who officially took over Wahaha, rewarded all employees involved in front-line production and delivery, saying that before March 15, a one-time production and delivery reward of 500 yuan/person would be given to all employees of production branches (including precision machinery), and a one-time production and delivery reward of 300 yuan/person would be given to employees of various departments to assist in production and delivery. A few days later, Zong Fuli sent a second letter to the sales team. This time, not only did it give bonuses to encourage motivation, but also announced a salary increase - from May, the salary of Wahaha sales staff will be increased by 150%.

In the past few days, "Wahaha pure water is sold out online" and "Wahaha's official store sales have risen by more than 500% in 2 days" have been on the hot search in turn, and all kinds of signs show that netizens' memories of Zong Qinghou have directly turned into a rush to buy Wahaha products. In the online channel, after the order volume skyrocketed, the Wahaha e-commerce store opened a live broadcast to encourage consumers to place orders rationally, because it basically took more than a month to ship the order after submitting it.

Offline, many netizens said that when they walked into a supermarket casually, the boss would put Wahaha in the most conspicuous position when they entered the door, and the shelves of Wahaha AD calcium milk, nutrition express, etc., were basically sold out, and many shelves only had a bottle of product as a display, and the label said "temporarily out of stock". At the same time, Wahaha products that have never been seen before, such as Wahaha's sugar-free tea, coffee, and various flavors of nutrition express have been put on the shelves.

In the face of consumer enthusiasm, offline supermarkets are not to be outdone and actively carry out activities, such as the "pure as one, do not change the original intention, Wahaha please drink water" buy 10 get 1 free, supermarkets that were originally covered by Nongfu Spring have been replaced by Wahaha. A shopkeeper put Wahaha in Nongfu Spring's freezer, and as a result, Nongfu Spring was removed due to violations, but Wahaha quickly worked overtime to deliver its own display cabinet. After the death of her father, Zong Fuli, the successor of Wahaha Group, began to "strike while the iron is hot", and is making every effort to put offline freezers, which can be explained by the distribution of goods in the summer beverage consumption season.

Offline channel "dark war"

Offline, changes in Wahaha are quietly happening.

Behind this is the offline channel reconstruction plan that Zong Fuli is currently promoting. Online videos show that Wahaha is increasing the launch of offline freezers, intending to increase sales by increasing product exposure. You must know that everyone saw more of Nongfu Spring red freezers before, a Wahaha agent in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province confirmed the news, he said that Wahaha is currently actively putting freezers to offline terminals, and the number of freezers in each county has reached dozens of units. On social platforms, some netizens posted that recently, Wahaha freezers have settled in their school canteens.

In addition, according to the store supervisor of a large supermarket chain in Shanxi, the water and beverage area of the store where he is located has recently paid attention to Wahaha's traffic advantage, and temporarily added Wahaha pure water and AD calcium milk piles in the store channel, and even the nutrition express line, which originally sold generally, has recently increased its sales slightly.

You must know that only 6% of the sales in the beverage industry come from e-commerce channels, and 94% come from offline channels such as supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants. Zong Fuli is well aware of the importance of Wahaha's offline use, and the move to invest in freezers not only improves the market coverage of the product, but also further deepens the impression of the brand in the minds of consumers.

Wahaha's all-out investment in the freezer is, of course, to compete for the attention of consumers, and when the materials put into the freezer in these offline stores are disseminated to the Internet, it can also be regarded as a kind of brand building, and the traffic will convey Wahaha's determination to work hard to the public. In the past, Nongfu Spring put a large number of refrigerators in terminal stores, and the supermarket owners generally paid a relatively low "deposit", and then returned them month by month after meeting the company's corresponding requirements on the display. In addition, the incentive terminal of brand owners mainly relies on the form of "display fees", such as supermarkets to place the company's products in a conspicuous position or display them in the form of brand shelves, etc., and supermarkets can get a marketing fee, which is cashed in the goods.

These are all things that Wahaha hasn't done much before. Therefore, this time we began to strike while the iron was hot to "make up for the shortcomings". At present, Zong Fuli's mobilization letter also shows that Wahaha is ready to take the initiative to save some market share. Because of the fermentation of public opinion between the two companies, the terminal channel providers will only care about which one is more profitable, and will temporarily worry about the prospects of Nongfu Spring, and the enthusiasm for purchasing will also decline.

At the same time, Wahaha Company is also actively recruiting salesmen, and there are recruitment sites uploaded by netizens, and the queuing ceremony is comparable to the Spring Festival. In order to strengthen the expansion of the offline market and win back the previously missed market, Wahaha needs more salesmen, so the news of the salary increase for salesmen is not unexpected. Those who understand the FMCG industry basically know that Nongfu Spring's sales staff have a high income level and are also very "sought-after".

The owner of a store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, revealed that nine days after Zong Qinghou's death, Wahaha's regional manager came to his store, which was also the first time he had met a Wahaha salesman in many years since the store opened. This detail not only reflects Wahaha's determination and action in reconstructing offline channels, but also reveals Wahaha's "burnout" in the past, which is probably also related to Wahaha's company's style of acting over the years, which decided to "disdain and be unwilling to do it", firmly relying on the "joint venture" dealer system that was laid down after Zong Qinghou in 1994.

What is the joint venture, its most significant feature is based on the "credit contract", the model through the implementation of the margin system and the policy of margin discount incentives, so that dealers and enterprises form a joint force, reduce the cost of enterprises, but there is a problem that there are more channel levels, generally "brand headquarters - provincial companies - dealers / wholesalers - distributors - retail terminals".

Compared with Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other direct sales, Nongfu Spring from the provincial branch to the distributor, and then directly to the retail terminal, Wahaha's products from the factory to the hands of consumers, through five links, which also leads to Wahaha's weak control over the terminal. At the same time, too many distribution levels also make it more difficult for Wahaha to launch new products. Due to the high operating costs of new products, it is difficult for dealers to have an incentive to launch new products if there is not enough profit.

According to official statistics, Wahaha has more than 3,000 distributors in all provinces and cities across the country. These distributors include supermarket chains, convenience stores, restaurants, and independent distributors of all sizes. In 2023, in addition to the joint sales network, Wahaha will also increase its cooperation with the convenience store system, focusing on the development of new consumption channels and group consumption business in various scenarios, and has reached business cooperation with restaurants, gyms, cinemas, and West Lake scenic spots.

As early as the Wahaha Group's 2024 sales work conference, Zong Fuli clearly emphasized that in 2024, Wahaha should aim at special channels and open up new markets while grasping the strong market. On the brand marketing side, Wahaha also spared no effort, and the anchor in the live broadcast room said in the face of a large number of netizens calling on Wahaha to produce beer that he had fed back the suggestions to the Wahaha Research Institute and would seriously consider them.

Previously, in the 2024 Spring Festival Gala, Wahaha will launch product placement advertising. was ridiculed by netizens, and I didn't remember anything during the entire Spring Festival Gala, and I didn't even have the intention to watch Liu Qian perform magic, I only remember the scene where the two girls on the left and right who were robbed of the scene drinking AD calcium milk during the magic trick.

The mountain in front of Wahaha

There is an indisputable fact in the FMCG industry - "those who win the channel win the world", but in addition to the channel battle, the dilemma in front of Wahaha is also the aging of the brand. Now Wahaha seems to have ushered in the "splashing" traffic, and it is just the right opportunity to upgrade the offline channels, but the most essential problem lies in the product.

First of all, in recent years, there have been very few new products that Wahaha can name, and they are still pure water, AD calcium milk and nutrition express. Now Wahaha can appear more in online supermarkets, which can be regarded as a preliminary reversal of the situation, but how to enter young people and stay on the shelves for a longer time may be a product innovation problem that Wahaha needs to break through. At present, because the consumption of buying a bottle of water to rise to patriotic sentiment is wrapped in fierce emotions, once it calms down, it is important that the product is delicious, healthy and affordable, so Wahaha needs to have a good product to support.

Wahaha was founded in 1987, in addition to Wang Leehom's endorsement of pure water out of the circle, it also relied on children's drink AD calcium milk to start, but the core consumer groups at that time were all post-50s and post-60s, and they bought them for their children to drink, and these children were basically post-80s, so the post-80s became the core consumers of Wahaha. The advertising slogan "After drinking Wahaha, eating is fragrant", has almost become the most influential memory of the post-80s generation.

Although Wahaha's products started as children's products, it has slowly developed into a youth consumer brand, with products such as bottled water, beverages and nutrition express. Wahaha wants to shift its core target from children to young people with stronger consumption power, not that it has not produced new products in recent years, but there are no more new products out of the circle, and the aging of the overall marketing thinking has become a "mountain in front of Wahaha".

Take Wahaha's brand image as an example, it seems that it has not changed, the image of Wang Leehom's endorsement has always been in the memory of consumers, and the marketing has not been continued after being brought to fire by "Hurricane" and the Spring Festival Gala for a short time, and the brand rejuvenation and upgrading always feel that it is not in place, so it is difficult to make people feel new. In fact, with the development of the times, it is normal for brands to have outdated impressions, unless companies make a lot of changes to this end, such as logo innovation and change, continuous promotion of new products, the use of younger image spokespersons, or marketing methods that are more in line with the present, etc., and these happen to be Wahaha's shortcomings.

But Zong Fuli didn't stop trying. In 2016, Zong Fuli launched a new brand named after herself, Kellyone, a personalized juice product aimed at high-end consumers, in stark contrast to Wahaha's people-friendly approach. Since then, Zong Fuli has successively launched a series of high-end brands such as Angry Bobo, Yicha, and CHACHA, but they have not made any splashes in the market.

Compared with competing Nongfu Spring, there are many successful brand operation cases, among which Nongfu Spring's oriental leaves and vitamin water are all marketed around "health", and Nongfu Spring's "natural water" health concept is consistent, and the promotional slogan is also matched with "not producing water, just a porter of nature", focusing on a pure natural and pollution-free product. This is due to the fact that Nongfu Spring began to export a concept that "long-term drinking of mineral-free pure water is not beneficial to health" 20 years ago, and consumers have shifted from pure water consumption to more "healthy" mountain spring water consumption.

Looking at the entire FMCG soft drink industry, in recent years, various new products have been involuted. On the other hand, the current enthusiasm of the public consumption is declining, and merchants will pay more attention to the sales of terminals in order to promote new products and ensure profits, but this is a challenge for many brands. If the old brand wants to glow with youthful power forever, it can only launch targeted products and brands for different consumers. Moreover, the old national brand can not take the traditional old road, but should create a guide to guide consumers, such as Weilong, Want Want, etc., all have congenital personification of the original brand power, the core of brand marketing is also to meet the spiritual needs of consumers rather than material product promotion.

In the battle for drinking water substitution, can Wahaha continue to catch the flow?

This time, a series of chain reactions caused by public opinion after Zong Qinghou's death made everyone see clearly that in fact, drinking water products are particularly substitutable. Whether it is mineral water or purified water, the ingredient is water, as a fast-moving consumer product, which one consumers choose is nothing more than to buy it based on their impression of the brand.

For example, the most conspicuous position on the shelf represents a good product in the hearts of consumers, which also means that consumers can easily get it. If the brand is well marketed, it can be the icing on the cake for the product, and once the marketing overturns, it will directly affect the sales of the product.

If the brand does not have enough core values as a moat, everyone can only add value. After the commemoration, remembrance, and reminiscence caused by Wahaha and Zong Qinghou, as well as the dissipation of the consumption boom driven by it, Wahaha may face continuous tests from distributors, products, and users.

Do you still remember the floods in Henan three years ago, Hongxing Erke urgently donated 50 million yuan of materials and instantly received 8 million + likes, netizens rushed to buy sneakers, but there were many disputes afterwards, and consumer enthusiasm was extinguished? After all, for a brand, traffic is only temporary, and quality is long-lasting, because everyone will still pay for strength.

At the memorial service, Zong Fuli said: "Wahaha is my father's life's work, he once said that the reason why we chose to become entrepreneurs is not from our instinct, nor is it our real character, we are trying to find a way out for ourselves in an era where we can't find a way out." When the heat dissipates, Zong Fuli may have to continue to find a way out for Wahaha.