Zong Fuli strives to catch the "splashing wealth"

作者：响马 | 编辑：葛伟炜

"With more freezers. ”

好文3440字 | 6分钟阅读

The title picture is from the movie "Part-time Job Rhapsody"

After the death of Zong Qinghou, the founder of Wahaha, especially after its long-time rival Nongfu Spring was pushed to the forefront, Wahaha ushered in a wave of "super traffic".

According to the Economic Observer, from February 28 to 29, the sales volume of Wahaha Douyin's official flagship store soared by more than 500% without opening a live broadcast, among which AD calcium milk sold first.

At the same time, Meituan data also shows that from the end of February to March 14, the sales of Wahaha series products have increased significantly, among which the instant retail sales of AD calcium milk have increased by more than 16 times compared with the same period last year.

Perhaps because of this, Wahaha was revealed to be increasing the distribution of terminal goods and increasing the delivery of offline freezers, with the goal of "making Wahaha products visible and available to everyone".

To a certain extent, "super traffic" is equivalent to "pouring wealth and wealth", as Zong Qinghou's only daughter and the new head of Wahaha, Zong Fuli wants to use more freezers to catch this "splashing wealth".

 Wahaha has to be like this 

First of all, it must be explained that this wave of "super traffic" ushered in by Wahaha is comprehensive and strong.

In addition to the above sales data, the media also mentioned that as of March 7, in the official flagship store of Wahaha Tmall, more than 200,000 cases of AD calcium milk with the highest sales volume have been sold, and it is in a pre-sale state. At the same time, many products such as Wahaha purified water, eight-treasure porridge, lactic acid bacteria drink, and cool yogurt have also been sold out.

On March 17, New Retail Business Review checked the official flagship store of Wahaha Tmall and found that AD calcium milk was still in a pre-sale state, and the product was remarked as "shipped before 24:00 on April 13".

In addition, this wave of "super traffic" has also spilled over and affected the "KellyOne" brand, which was originally created by Zong Fuli and named after her English name Kelly, which includes fruit and vegetable juices, high-end teas and sparkling water.

In the KellyOne Tmall flagship store, a buyer left a message: "Support the national brand Wahaha, and also support KellyOne! Zonglao deserves to be immortal, he deserves it!", The message was "liked" and supported by nearly 50 netizens, which was relatively rare before.

Not only online, but also offline is highly sought after.

According to the data of the FMCG industry big data company "Win Now" based on offline retail monitoring network day level and order level, from February 20 to March 7, the sales volume of milk beverages, instant porridge and packaged water categories, which account for the highest proportion of sales of Wahaha Group, have increased. Among them, after the public opinion incident on February 25, the sales volume of the milk beverage category, which accounts for the highest proportion of Wahaha's offline sales, has increased significantly.

"Super traffic" superimposed on the hot sales of products, some netizens believe that Wahaha is vigorously marketing with the help of Zong Qinghou's death, but in fact, as early as March 1, Wahaha issued an announcement on the official flagship store of the social platform that the number of store orders has increased significantly, and it is recommended that everyone consume rationally and buy on demand.

The ensuing concern is, since it is recommended to "rational consumption" and "on-demand purchase", why does Wahaha still increase the delivery of offline freezers?

Source: Wahaha public account

From the analysis point of view, the first thing is to meet the current consumer demand.

According to media reports, due to Wahaha's "wild consumption", many products were sold out, and many consumers reported on social platforms that they could not see or could only see some Wahaha products on the terminal.

From this point of view, Wahaha needs to increase the size of the terminal and put more freezers, that is, to "let everyone see and buy Wahaha products".

In this regard, the vertical self-media "food industry" in the food industry believes: "Wahaha's sales boom is not deliberate by the company, but if it can't catch this 'splashing traffic', it may have an adverse impact on consumers and sales channels." ”

In other words, in order to catch the "super traffic" and "splash the sky and wealth", and to meet the needs of the majority of consumers, Wahaha has to do so.

 Zong Fuli must fight a tough battle 

Wahaha wants to increase the number of terminals and put more freezers, in addition to striving to meet the current consumer demand, there is also the need to reshape Wahaha's offline channels.

In fact, as mentioned above, many consumers "can't see or can only see some Wahaha products on the terminal", which reflects the weakness of Wahaha's offline channels.

In this regard, Liu Anqi, a big V with millions of followers on Weibo, posted that a friend asked him why many small shops have Nongfu Spring's freezers and products, but not Wahaha's? His answer is that Wahaha's ground market is not doing well, and its channel capacity is not as good as other brands.

Liu Anqi also said in a picture that she photographed the store's four freezers in a small store at Nanning Airport: two Coca-Cola freezers, one unified freezer, and one Nongfu Spring freezer - I didn't see the Wahaha freezer.

Source: Business and Economics Law Liu Anqi Weibo

"Food industry" also mentioned that in markets other than sinking, Wahaha's product layout does not have sufficient advantages, "which is also one of the important reasons for the company's limited revenue growth over the years."

Regarding the problem of channels, Zong Fuli has already seen it. In an interview with "China Entrepreneur" in 2019, Zong Fuli, then vice president of Wahaha Sales Company, said frankly that now everyone (Wahaha) has the concept of becoming a first- and second-tier city, "because I feel that the brand is a pyramid, and it must occupy the highest end and then slowly radiate."

The reason why it was not until 2019 that there was a concept of "being a first- and second-tier city" was because the joint sales model founded by Zong Qinghou had far-reaching influence and was deep-rooted.

To put it simply, the advantage of the joint sales body is to bind the system of brands and distributors together, "one is prosperous", and this binding of interests can undoubtedly help Wahaha to penetrate the sinking market.

However, because there are multiple distribution levels, Wahaha's control over dealers, especially retail terminals, is not very strong, and if there is not enough profit, they have no incentive to promote Wahaha's new products, and then leave "space" for other more profitable brands and products.

In recent years, Wahaha has also started channel reforms, such as in addition to the joint sales model, in 2023, it will increase cooperation with the convenience store system and continue to expand channels.

On December 13, 2023, at Wahaha's 2024 sales work conference, Zong Fuli said that Wahaha should aim at special channels and open up new markets while grasping the strong market. The so-called "special channel" refers to the relevant channels for enterprises and institutions to receive water.

In February this year, Zong Qinghou passed away, "super traffic" swept in, a number of products were sold out, and consumers reported that they could not see or could only see some Wahaha products in the terminal, which objectively provided impetus for accelerating the expansion of channels.

However, the difficulty in expanding offline channels lies in the fact that in order to compete with other brands and make the terminal boss buy it, a large number of salesmen are needed to develop and promote, and a lot of money is needed to maintain.

If the brand invests 10,000 freezers in a certain area, the cost of each freezer company is 1,500~2,000 yuan. The purchase of these freezers has to spend 15 million ~ 20 million yuan, and the monthly electricity bill of these 10,000 freezers must be paid, "usually 1 set costs about 400 yuan per month, and it costs 28 million yuan to pay for 7 months a year."

In the "Letter to All Sales Staff" circulated on the Internet, Wahaha officially admitted that "terminal distribution is a tough battle, and it is a big test for Wahaha salespeople".

Image source network

Obviously, this is also a tough battle that Zong Fuli must fight and a big test that must be faced.

 The freezer release war never stops 

Wahaha has increased the distribution of terminal goods and increased the delivery of offline freezers, which is not only to catch the "pouring wealth", but also to reshape its own channels, and the two complement each other.

Judging from the former, many analysts believe that whether or not it can grasp the enthusiasm of consumers is not an easy thing for Wahaha. Hongxing Erke is a frequently mentioned case, which exploded in popularity due to donations, and sales surged, but as the heat subsided, it tended to be "lukewarm" again.

However, from the latter point of view, it is undoubtedly a wise move to strengthen the channel layout with the help of "super traffic". This is because, regardless of whether there is the blessing of "super traffic" or not, offline, channels or freezer delivery wars have never stopped.

Taking the beginning of 2023 as an example, as soon as the year begins, major brands will begin to plan the number of freezers to be put on the market that year. According to the "FMCG", Wahaha said at the investment conference that it would invest at least 26,000 units, and then Master Kong announced that 200,000 units would be put in, PepsiCo expected 100,000 units, and 100,000 units of Uni-President Beverages, and even Xiangpiaopiao also joined in.

In the field of smart freezers, which are conducive to insight into consumer data and provide 24-hour uninterrupted service, the dark war has already begun.

According to media reports, in the second half of 2021, Yuanqi Forest adopted a strategy and launched smart freezers, setting a target of installing 80,000 units. But soon, Nongfu Spring reacted, invested in and laid out smart freezers, and ordered more than 30,000 units from the manufacturer.

For Zong Fuli, increasing the distribution of terminal goods, increasing the delivery of freezers, and "making Wahaha products visible and available to everyone" is the right action to deal with the battle of industry channels.

Some media asked Wahaha's Shanghai distributor for verification, and the other party said that there is indeed a lot of demand for refrigerator display cabinets recently, and the current application for freezer distribution has been completed until this summer. In this regard, netizens described it as "full firepower".

At the same time, product strength is another key firepower point.

Objectively speaking, the performance of Wahaha's new products is not satisfactory. "Win Now" data shows that among the top 20 SKUs in Wahaha's sales in various categories, the "main force" is still AD calcium milk, nutrition express, Wahaha eight-treasure porridge and other products.

As far as Zong Fuli before "taking over", the "KellyOne" brand that she invested a lot of energy to build has been established for 8 years, but it has still not been able to give birth to a real hit, and the product influence is relatively limited.

Zhu Danpeng, an analyst of China's food industry, pointed out: "Wahaha has a brand effect and scale effect, but lacks innovative upgrading and iterative measures, as Zong Fuli comes to the stage, its business philosophy and operation ideas will be further developed, and it is expected that it will launch more measures conducive to Wahaha's sustainable development in the future." ”

In the internal letter, Zong Fuli also said, "We must continue to carry out systematic innovation in the enterprise system structure, product research and development system, and channel network."

It is not difficult to see that whether it is to catch the "pouring wealth and wealth" or reshape its own channels, Zong Fuli's ultimate goal is to promote and achieve system innovation - the farther the system innovation goes, the better Wahaha can develop, and putting more freezers is only the first step.

Resources:

1. "Zong Fuli Fired the "First Shot"", China Entrepreneur Magazine

2. "Wahaha Offline War: Let Everyone See and Buy Wahaha Products!", Food Industrialist

3. "Wahaha's sales skyrocketed, Nongfu Spring fell slightly, will the beverage market change?", Trendmakers, Consumer Research Institute

4. "Wahaha and Nongfu Spring's "Business War" Resumes: Product Price Reduction, Freezer Counterattack?