If you want to be an evergreen tree in the tea industry, you must have the kung fu to see the four ways.
Consumer tastes and needs are always changing. At a time when the tea market is becoming more and more volatile, it is becoming more and more difficult to keep innovating, new explosive products appearing, and new marketing out of the circle.
In the midst of the fierce competition, tea brands have tacitly found a new arena - focusing on health labels and competing for the consumer attention of sports people.
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Text / Yin Hang
Edited by Li Luyuan
One billion consumers are increasingly concerned about the health and cost-effectiveness of a cup of milk tea
When Pamela wore her gym clothes, tied up her trademark high ponytail, and raised a glass of succulent grapes, the feeling of fitness people was: magic.
How many times have I walked out of the gym and bumped into Hey Tea, Nai Xue, Lele Tea, Tea Baidao, and Aunt Shanghai...... The high-calorie sweet water, which was regarded as a flood beast at the time, was recommended by Pamela. It turns out that the bubble tea shop is open next to the gym, which is a forward-looking and well-intentioned work.
On March 25, Heytea signed a contract with Pamela as a "Health Recommendation Officer" and recommended a variety of low-sugar tea drinks. It is worth noting that these drinks are subject to optional requirements such as "no additional sugar". This time, Heytea and Pamela only signed a contract, and did not launch a new cooperative drink, nor did they have limited packaging.
In the commercial for HeyTea, Pamela chose HeyTea products as a tea break option at different times of the day and raised the succulent grapes in her hand to taste.
Although we have no way of knowing whether Pamela will really drink this cup of milk tea, it is clear that behind this cooperation, Heytea is stepping up its efforts to exercise and fitness, and do business for fitness people.
The reason why the "healthy" label is clinging to is that consumers are increasingly concerned about the health and cost-effectiveness of a cup of milk tea. The former Internet celebrities such as a little bit, 50 Lan, and COCO have gradually withdrawn from the popular stage, and the unit price is higher and the quality is better, and the tea of Nai Xue still occupies a stable position in the rivers and lakes.
Not only is Heytea moving towards the health track, but Shuyi Yao Xiancao also launched a new slogan of "0 creamers in the whole system, good ingredients are healthier" 3 months ago, trying to squeeze into the "healthy milk tea" track first.
The SGS test report issued by the book is also burned
According to a report by CIC, the number of fitness people in China has reached 374 million in 2022. Among them, consumers aged 26-35 are the main group of fitness consumers, accounting for 41.01% of the number of fitness consumers in the country, this age range coincides with the milk tea consumer group, and fitness and tea drinks usually rise from the first and second tier cities, and then gradually sink, to obtain the recognition of these fitness groups, but also conducive to tea brands to grasp a wider range of consumer groups.
Consumers' choices are becoming more rational, and they can even give up some of their textures and tastes for this. At the same time, policies are also tilting towards health. After Shanghai began to pilot a beverage grading system, the entire tea industry really seems to have no other choice but to be healthier.
Shanghai pilots beverage grading, and high-sugar drinks have nowhere to escape
On March 26, the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that in order to guide the public to eat healthily, the "nutritional choice" grading label developed by the center began a trial trial in Shanghai.
The "Nutritional Choice" classification label of beverages is divided into four grades of ABCD, which comprehensively reflect the non-dairy sugars, saturated fats, trans fats and non-sugar sweeteners contained in beverages. From A to D, the level of health decreases, with A being recommended and D being extremely unrecommended.
Although Shanghai's beverage grading system has not yet spread to the whole country, according to the beverage grading system launched in Singapore in 2023, common daily soda and sugar-free tea drinks can be rated A, low-sugar tea, AD calcium milk and other products can be rated B, while cola, Fanta and bottled milk tea coffee with high sugar content will generally be rated C or even D.
In response to the four evaluation criteria for Shanghai's beverage grading label, Krypton consulted Chen Chengliang, a professional sports nutritionist and national team sports nutritionist of the General Administration of Sports of China, who said: "These four standards are very comprehensive. Non-dairy sugars are equivalent to dividing sugar into two factions: one is lactose, and the other is other non-dairy sugars such as white sugar, sucrose, maltose, and glucose. 」
"Lactose is absorbed more slowly, has less impact on blood sugar, and can promote the body's absorption of calcium, which is considered a 'good sugar', and the definition of this standard is equivalent to providing an exemption for it. 」
The inclusion of saturated fats and trans fats, which can lead to obesity, into the evaluation category is to take into account the fat content of dairy products in milk tea. Prepared drinks containing whole milk will contain some saturated fats, while prepared beverages such as fragrant and instant coffee will often contain trans fats.
"Non-sugar sweeteners" are sugar substitutes that have been hotly discussed in recent years. Chan Shing-leung said that sugar substitutes are not something that can be consumed without concern: "Sugar substitutes have the effect of increasing appetite, and some studies have even shown that sugar substitutes can also cause some endocrine problems, so in the long run, whether it is energy sugar or non-energy sugar, it is necessary to control the intake of sweetness. 」
Although consumers already have a ruler in their minds and are already aware of the sugar content of beverages, when a bottle of beverage is labeled with a red "D" grade, it will also cause more pressure on the purchase decision, thus leading consumers to choose products with lower sugar content.
At present, four chain tea brands, Bawang Chaji, Nai Xue's Tea, Happy Lemon and Hangzhou Leyuan, have taken the lead in participating in the pilot. When ordering online, each drink is labeled with a grading tag, which changes depending on the sugar selection. For example, a cup of "Domineering Perfume Cheese Strawberry" has a default sweetness of "less sweet" and a grade of C, and when you select "no additional sugar", the grade will be downgraded to B.
Taking the lead in the pilot is also a way for tea brands to conduct "health marketing". Participating in the grading system conveys a kind of product confidence that "passes the quality test and is not afraid of being labeled as healthy". For the spread of health selling points, it is better to enter as early as possible.
According to official information, after the launch of the first batch of pilot brands, there are follow-up brand drinks under negotiation, including Starbucks, which will start with the logo ingredients and gradually improve.
From the explosion of sugar-substitute drinks represented by Yuanqi Forest to the trend of sugar-free tea drinks represented by Oriental leaves, consumers, especially those with sports and fitness habits, have become more and more strict in controlling sugar. In this regard, Chen Chengliang introduced that the intake of sugar by fitness people can be increased a little bit:
"It is recommended that adults consume no more than 50g of sugar per day, and for people with exercise habits, this standard can be moderately relaxed. Exercise depletes the body's stored sugars, including muscle glycogen, liver glycogen, and free blood sugar in the blood. 10 minutes before training, an hour after training, and throughout the training process, it is recommended to consume fast sugar (i.e., refined sugars such as white sugar) to help boost your body's energy. 」
In this way, fitness people don't have to "talk about sugar discoloration", but for a wide range of consumer groups, sugar control is undoubtedly an important issue.
Another reason why tea brands insist so much on health may be the rise of freshly made yogurt brands, which to a certain extent has dispersed the monopoly of tea drinks and taken away some fitness consumers.
After all, freshly made yogurt brands are experts in health and fitness marketing. On the track of health, yogurt brands have taken the lead, and continue to strengthen the harvest of fitness people with more accurate products and marketing.
With the rise of freshly made yogurt, there are still new opportunities for tea brands
In 2022, chain yogurt brands will emerge, and Mo Yogurt, Blueglass, etc. will occupy the market strongly, creating new business miracles one after another. Blueglass's 30+ pricing doesn't stop brands from expanding their stores, and consumers are always looking for better milk, less sugar, and even paying a higher price.
When the price of Heytea was reduced, you may not have imagined that people shouted that 30 cups of milk tea was too expensive, but in 2022, they lined up to pay for the yogurt with an average price of 40.
Yogurt is more satiety and suitable for meal replacement, and freshly made yogurt has become a new trend that cannot be ignored in the tea market. Taking Blueglass as an example, the brand has always focused on the fitness label in marketing, signing outdoor sports KOLs as brand ambassadors, posters infiltrating multiple sports scenes such as cycling and yoga, and continuously holding outdoor activities to build brand communities, which has the momentum of "lululemon in the beverage industry" in marketing.
Blueglass is closely focused on social marketing around the sports lifestyle
In terms of products, Blueglass focuses on the brand image of health and sustainability, the nutrition label is refined to the content of vitamin A to B12, and the label attached to the wall of the cup highlights the comprehensive nutritional elements of the product, which has also become a hot topic on social platforms, sending freshly made yogurt drinks to the center of traffic.
Brands that also use freshly made yogurt as a selling point include jasmine yogurt, K22, etc. While the competition is becoming increasingly fierce, brands are also seeking a broader space for development.
Under the increase in scale, emerging ready-made yogurt brands urgently need to solve the supply problem, and traditional dairy companies have also found more possibilities to reach consumers in this opportunity. At present, Junlebao has invested in Mo Yogurt, Lanxiong Fresh Milk is based on New Hope Tianxiang, and Blueglass partners are Zhongdi Dairy (which has been acquired by Yili). Through the marriage with traditional dairy companies, the emerging yogurt brand has obtained a more efficient industrial chain layout and found a characteristic development path of freshly made yogurt.
However, whether it is freshly made tea or freshly made yogurt, market supervision and consumer supervision are still required. On March 13, the Shanghai Municipal Consumer Protection Commission named Mo Yogurt and said that the protein and lactose content in the test data found that the amount of yogurt used in the mango yogurt shake of Mo Yogurt was not much. However, the fat content is ridiculously high, 3.25 times that of protein and 2.77 times that of lactose.
Not only Mo Yogurt, the Shanghai Municipal Consumer Rights Protection Commission has announced the evaluation results of "Strawberry Bo Yogurt", an Internet celebrity freshly made drink from "Shuyi Burning Fairy Grass". The results showed that its protein, fat, and lactose content was much lower than that of yogurt. In other words, the brand's claim of "blending into mellow and rich yogurt" is not true.
After being named by the Shanghai Consumers Association, Shu Yi Yao Xiancao responded, admitting that the product was actually a "yogurt-flavored drink", containing only 70 ml of yogurt in a 600 ml drink. In addition, 30ml of sucrose will be added to each drink, which is close to the daily intake limit for adults who are not exercised.
Compared with the market supervision and production standards that have been perfected in the long development process of traditional industrial prepackaged beverages, the production and supervision process of ready-made beverages is still gradually improving.
For tea brands, measures such as actively accepting market supervision and disclosing raw materials can make the nutritional content of products transparent to the greatest extent and reduce the occurrence of inconsistencies between publicity and reality.
Some brands have gained consumer trust by disclosing their formulas
As for the question of "what is the most suitable drink for fitness people?", Chen Chengliang gave the answer to "sports drink": "In the process of sports training, the first problem is to maintain the body's fluid balance, and the second is that the muscles have sufficient water supply to transport nutrients and metabolize waste. Electrolyte drinks can help keep the body hydrated for longer. 」
Tea brands want to overtake the crowd of freshly made yogurt, and this may be a further way: neither freshly made tea nor freshly made yogurt has yet emerged as a "sports drink". On the one hand, it may be difficult to obtain qualifications and the market prospects are not clear enough, on the other hand, it can also be seen that the current combination of tea brands and sports and fitness is still relatively rudimentary and broad.
With the increase in the fitness track of various brands and the improvement of policies, the imagination of "healthy tea" may be a little more.