Author丨Wu Chaofan
Editor丨Tangerine
Yuanqi Forest began to talk about "cost performance", but can this product help dealers get out of trouble?
Then "bet" the electrolyte water
A few days ago, the official flagship store of Yuanqi Forest released a new product called "Alien WAVE", a flavored water drink containing electrolytes, with a light lemon flavor near water taste, priced at 3 yuan.
Different from the previous Yuanqi Forest launch, this new product is "cheap" in the product matrix of Yuanqi Forest.
According to public information, the price of mainstream sugar-free sparkling water on the market is mainly in the price range of 4-7 yuan. This new product is relatively low compared to the mainstream price range in the market.
Regarding the pricing and positioning of this product, an industry insider said: "From the second half of 2023, the market share of some cost-effective products in the market is gradually rising, such as Master Kong's 1L beverage series. At the same time, this product also enriches the product matrix of Yuanqi Forest, cutting its own price to the 3 yuan price band of mainstream drinks. ”
I want more consumers who care about cost-effectiveness to buy the products they like, or the reason why the price of Yuanqi Forest is lower than in the past. However, relative to the price, the category of the product itself has also been "seriously" considered by Yuanqi Forest to a certain extent.
According to Jiemian News, the performance scale of Alien Electrolyte Water in 2023 will double year-on-year to 2.35 billion yuan, which is the second major product of Yuanqi Forest after the first major product sparkling water.
At the same time, according to 36 Krypton's report, in the planning for the second half of 2023, Alien Electrolyte Water even shared more than 30% of the growth task of the Yuan Qi Forest. The industry speculates that electrolyte water may become an important direction for Yuanqi Forest in the future.
The above-mentioned industry insiders said: "Pushing this product is a matrix supplement to the current important series of alien electrolyte water. In addition to the above-mentioned reasons for the popularity of cost-effective consumption, the market performance of Yuanqi Forest Sparkling Water is indeed not optimistic, and electrolyte water may have to take the lead. ”
A microcosmic real-world example is, "Yuanqi Forest is currently selling very poor sparkling water, and in terms of the regional market where I am located, there are many products in the market that are still waiting to be returned when they expire, and many store owners are no longer too keen on selling sparkling water." In addition, the feedback from the terminal market on the entire sparkling water category of Yuanqi Forest is not very good, the distribution rate of new sparkling water products is not high, and the dynamic sales situation is also poor. A distributor of Yuanqi Forest said.
Of course, Genki Forest Sparkling Water has also had a brilliant performance.
According to public information, from 2018 to 2020, when electrolyte water was not officially launched, the sales growth rate of Yuanqi Forest reached 300%, 200% and 309% respectively.
Since then, the overall growth rate of Yuanqi Forest has begun to slow down, with the sales growth rate falling by nearly 40% in 2021 and 20% in 2022. At the 2023 National Dealer Conference, its founder Tang Binsen revealed that its performance in 2023 has achieved double-digit growth. Obviously, the probability will not be higher than 20%.
Dealers are still "sleepy"
"In the previous rapid growth of Yuanqi Forest, in addition to the strong product capabilities at that time and the need for the public, dealers made a lot of efforts behind the scenes and carried a lot of pressure. An industry analyst commented.
In fact, for the current Yuanqi Forest, the problems that need to be solved urgently are not only the core products at the product level. As far as the dealer group is concerned, although Yuanqi Forest has been paying attention to it for several years, there are still some dealers who are "trapped" in the bureau.
A former Yuanqi Forest dealer said: "The sales volume of Yuanqi Forest was really good before, and we were able to achieve more than one million when we first started doing it in 2019." But the volume of tasks is growing too high, and it is increasing several times every year. By 2021, the performance requirement will be more than six million. This growth task has broken through the gameplay of conventional beverage companies, and we really can't do it. ”
The dealer further said: "When we were still doing Yuanqi Forest before, they were really strong, and we couldn't pick the product category, so we could only make a payment and wait for the goods to come." Some new products really can't be pushed, but the goods are still constantly being shipped, and many of the goods are either pressed in the warehouse or are constantly being returned. If you don't pay on a monthly basis and can't complete the task, you will be kicked out directly. ”
Whether at the 2022 or 2023 Yuanqi Forest National Dealer Conference, Tang Binsen expressed the need to pay attention to offline and "return to tradition".
There are always changes, for example, "At present, Yuanqi Forest is a bit of a learning from Nongfu Spring." They now attach great importance to dealers and to the offline market. For returns in the terminal market, the proportion of the amount borne by dealers and manufacturers is 28 open. Some dealers said that he also emphasized that "after the company's reform, the current basic salary of Yuanqi Forest salesman salary is borne by Yuanqi, and the dealer is responsible for performance." As far as the area I am in, the current salary of a salesman in Yuanqi Forest is second only to Nongfu Spring, and in second-tier cities, the salary of a salesman can get 7K to 9K. ”
However, new problems will recur.
A dealer said: "As far as my personal situation is concerned, the new products that are currently in good shape include 1L aliens, red bean barley water, vitamin C water and other categories. Others, such as burning tea, milk tea, and corn whiskers, are basically gone. And, in addition to the alien electrolyte water, the dynamic sales of other products are not too good. Many products are still being sold, but the volume cannot rise. After a long time, it is estimated that it will not be too good. ”
Based on the above situation, some industry insiders said: "Although the rapid launch of new products will also help dealers to obtain short-term profits, salesmen can also benefit from it." But at present, Yuanqi Forest lacks a new product that can be played, and any product has a cycle. In addition to attaching importance to the market and distributors, Yuanqi Forest may still focus more on launching a popular product. ”
At the same time, or based on the unfavorable product promotion, some dealers have the idea of "running away". The above-mentioned former Yuanqi Forest dealer said: "As far as I know, the dealers of Yuanqi Forest in a second-tier city have changed a round, and there are only 10 dealers at present. They actually want to go, but they are still doing it for a variety of reasons. ”
These are all "slices" in the current development status of Yuanqi Forest at the micro level, and they reflect some problems, which are nothing more than the hope that in 2024, in such a difficult market environment, Yuanqi Forest can lead more people out of "difficulty". It's just that whether it can "get its wish" will have to wait a little longer.
Regarding the above related situation, Nei Shenjun also asked the relevant parties of Yuanqi Forest for verification, but as of the push, no reply has been received.