Main points of the text:
1. Compared with traditional native products, modern native products pay more attention to the application of science and technology and design, improve the yield and quality on the basis of ensuring flavor, and pay more attention to market and consumer needs.
2. Most of the local products in the mainland often lack brand awareness, still stay in the local niche stage, the domestic popularity is not high, the brand influence is limited; in recent years, with the development of e-commerce platforms and modern logistics system, special products can break the sales channels and geographical limitations of traditional native products, and sell well all over the country.
3. The prospect of domestic native products is very broad, blueberries, caviar, foie gras and other high-end ingredients have been "settled" in many places, under the large-scale cultivation, more cost-effective domestic high-end ingredients have been served to thousands of tables.
This winter, Heilongjiang sent 100,000 boxes of fresh cranberry fruits to Guangxi, which amazed many people in Northeast China, and also drove the "agricultural exploration" boom of local specialties across the country. On January 30, 2024, Ali Research Institute released the "2023 Taobao Hidden Native Products Report" of the food industry based on the data of the Taobao platform, which involves 98 local products from 30 provinces across the country, including traditional Chinese tonic raw materials such as Yancheng He Shou Wu and Nantong Ganoderma lucidum, as well as high-end ingredients for local Western-style catering such as Qingdao whiskey and Lu'an foie gras.
Souvenirs usually refer to foods that are unique to a region and are made with local ingredients or traditional methods, which are rich in local characteristics and are the epitome of local culture. In the report, the connotation of local specialties has also been extended to foods introduced or developed by modern technology combined with local geographical and cultural characteristics, and with strong regional labels. This kind of modern native products pay more attention to the application of technology and design, improve the yield and quality on the basis of ensuring the flavor, and at the same time pay more attention to the market and consumer demand, on the basis of inheriting the tradition, develop new products with both innovation and local characteristics.
At the same time, some modern souvenirs also have the limitations of traditional souvenirs, and it is difficult to expand to the whole country. Traditional native products rely on local unique raw materials, such as a certain plant, minerals, etc., if you leave the place of origin, you will lose the raw material base, it is difficult to copy, and some modern native products also depend on local geographical conditions. In addition, traditional native products often lack brand awareness, still stay in the local niche stage, domestic visibility is not high, brand influence is limited, and modern native products also lack national well-known brands, expansion requires great brand building. Finally, most of the sales channels of local products are in local farmers' markets, supermarkets, etc., and there is no extensive domestic marketing and sales network.
With the blessing of e-commerce platform and modern logistics system, modern native products can break the limitations of traditional native products in sales channels and regions, and sell well all over the country. This article will take blueberries and caviar as examples to share how mainland local specialties can rely on the advantages of localization, with lower prices and more suitable tastes for Chinese consumers, to "counterattack" imported high-end ingredients.
01 The evolution of Yunnan blueberry
Blueberries have not been in China for a long time, and they were only introduced from abroad in the 1980s. Experimental cultivation began in the 1990s, and it was gradually spread after 2000. Blueberries are rich in a variety of vitamins, rich in dietary fiber can help digestion, and have the effect of preventing diabetes and heart disease, containing anthocyanins and other antioxidants, which can remove free radicals in the body and play an anti-aging role. Among the various effects, the eye protection effect of blueberries is particularly prominent, and it has also become a hot topic on social media: according to Mojing's social listening, in the posts involving blueberries, the volume of "eye protection" is 1.5 times that of "weight loss and fat reduction", which is much higher than other effects.
Source: Moojing Social Listening
For a long time, the production of domestic blueberries was small, the price was high, and the transportation was inconvenient, so more jam was made, and fresh blueberries became a high-end fruit, and imported blueberries were rampant in the market. Around 2015, Yunnan introduced American evergreen varieties for the first time, which can bloom and bear fruit without cold temperature. Since then, with the update of cultivation technology, Yunnan blueberry has achieved refined production, greenhouse planting to control temperature, abandon soil cultivation to substrate cultivation, and accurately control the proportion of water and fertilizer at each growth stage. As a result, the annual yield of blueberries per mu in Yunnan has reached 2 tons, which is 8 times that of other producing areas in China, and the quality is more stable. In response to the demand for more high-quality fruits in the domestic fruit market, Yunnan blueberries are cultivated in the direction of larger and sweeter.
Image source: Internet
Driven by Yunnan blueberries, the domestic blueberry market is becoming more and more hot, and the sales volume of the Tmall Taobao platform will reach 170 million yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 42.3%.
2022-2023 sales trend of blueberries on Taobao and Tmall platforms
Data source: Magic Mirror Analysis+
From the perspective of the country of origin, 88% of the sales of blueberries on the Tmall Taobao platform in 2023 are domestic blueberries, while Peruvian blueberries account for only 12%, and the market share of imported blueberries in other countries is negligible.
Data source: Magic Mirror Analysis+
Domestic blueberries have achieved a dominant position in China's blueberry market, and among domestic blueberries, Yunnan blueberries are also unbeatable, accounting for 70% of the blueberry market sales on the Tmall Taobao platform in 2023, followed by Liaoning Province with 15% and third place Shandong with only 2%.
Data source: Magic Mirror Analysis+
02 Trivia: 70% of the world's caviar comes from China
Caviar, also known as "black gold", is a high-grade ingredient made from the ovaries of fish, commonly known as sturgeon caviar. With its delicate texture, variety of colors, and rich taste, it is regarded as a luxury delicacy, often served as a delicate ingredient and condiment on the table. As a high-end ingredient in Western cuisine, it is known as "the world's top three ingredients" along with foie gras and truffle.
What is less well known is that China already accounts for 70% of the world's caviar production. On the Tmall Taobao platform, domestic caviar accounted for 90% of caviar sales in 2023, followed by Russia accounting for about 8%, and the rest of the production areas accounted for about 2%.
Data source: Magic Mirror Analysis+
The traditional production areas of caviar are in the waters of the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, the Aral Sea and the Sea of Azov in Russia, Iran and other countries, and China has no tradition of producing and eating caviar. However, since the 80s of the 20th century, wild sturgeon stocks have been overfished, and production has decreased, and in 2000 it was listed as an endangered species and banned from fishing. Therefore, the artificial breeding of sturgeon has become the only way to produce caviar in large quantities.
Around 2000, the Chinese team began to try to artificially breed sturgeon, and after breaking through the key problem of sturgeon breeding and breeding, China's sturgeon production continued to rise, according to the statistics of the China Fishery Statistical Yearbook, China's sturgeon aquaculture production has reached 104,000 tons in 2020, and Chinese caviar dominates the world's caviar market.
However, despite the fact that Chinese caviar has gained ground in the global market, it has received a mediocre response in the domestic market, with caviar sales on the Tmall Taobao platform reaching 93.615 million yuan in 2023, an increase of 25%, although there is a high growth rate, it is far less than the consumption in the international market. The domestic caviar market still has a lot of room for improvement.
Sales trends of caviar on Taobao Tmall platform in 2022-2023
Data source: Magic Mirror Analysis+
Through the cross-analysis of caviar's consumer groups and consumption scenarios in 2023 social media data, it can be seen that in the domestic market, consumers still regard caviar as a traditional high-end ingredient, and couples consume the most when they are in love and dating. However, people such as health people, people who lose weight and lose fat, student parties, mature women and other groups pay less attention to caviar, and they are also concentrated in non-daily scenes such as dating, vacations, and hotels.
Cross-analysis of caviar consumer groups and consumption scenarios on mainstream social media platforms in 2023
Source: Moojing Social Listening
In addition, caviar, as a traditional Western food ingredient, is not suitable for Chinese cooking. Even though Chinese farmed sturgeon caviar has been beaten to the price of cabbage, caviar is difficult to integrate into the daily diet of Chinese cuisine.
If caviar wants to become a more common table ingredient for Chinese consumers, it also needs to dig deeper into consumption scenarios and develop cooking methods. With the improvement of Chinese people's consumption level and the pursuit of healthy, nutritious and delicious, caviar will gradually become a common dish on the table.
03 Summary
The prospects for domestic souvenirs are very broad. In addition to blueberries and caviar, domestic high-end ingredients such as foie gras, wagyu beef, prawns, etc. have been "settled" in Anhui, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places, and the price has also been "knocked down" under large-scale cultivation. The price of domestic caviar, foie gras, matcha and other ingredients is about half lower than that of imported ingredients, and more cost-effective domestic high-end ingredients are served to thousands of tables.
With the continuous improvement of globalization, the rapid development of network technology and the increasing improvement of the logistics and distribution system, modern local products are facing unprecedented opportunities. Through the use of modern design, modern technology, modern information technology and other production factors, modern native products not only have stable and controllable product quality, but also integrate the vitality of the times, increase interest, highlight uniqueness, and promote product value-added and industrial efficiency. It can not only meet the needs of domestic consumers, but also has the potential to enter the international market and become a potential stock to promote the revitalization of industries in various places.