With the arrival of the peak beverage season, sugar-free tea drinks have become a popular vane. Traditional players such as Nongfu Spring and Master Kong made another effort, and new players such as Yili, Nestle, and Bama Tea Industry wanted to stir up the storm.
According to the "2024 China Food and Beverage Industry Outlook" released by NielsenIQ, ready-to-drink tea surpassed carbonated beverages to become the beverage category with the largest market share, accounting for 21%, among which the volume of sugar-free tea has doubled, which is higher than the overall growth rate of the beverage industry and the growth rate of the ready-to-drink tea category in which it is located.
Industry insiders pointed out that the competition is intensifying, and the brand effect and price may become the key points for breakthrough.
The crowded sugar-free tea beverage market is constantly cross-border
The offline market is still the main battlefield for beverages, and at this time, sugar-free tea drinks in beverage cabinets such as supermarkets and convenience stores have never been so "crowded" as they are now.
The reporter of Dahe Finance Cube saw in a Baite supermarket in Zhengzhou that traditional sugar-free tea drinks such as oriental leaves were displayed in a conspicuous position.
The number of sugar-free tea drinks in convenience stores is not as large as that of supermarkets, but the characteristics of many categories are more obvious. In a Yuelai Yuexi convenience store, the products launched by new brands focusing on tea drinks, such as Rang Tea, Cha Xiaokai, and Jinchen Tea, have been put on the shelves. The owner of another self-operated convenience store told reporters that among the tea drinks in the store, Oriental Leaf and Suntory's sugar-free tea are selling well, but she also noticed that there are too many similar brands now, and new products will be considered on the shelves according to market conditions.
In fact, ready-to-drink tea beverages have quietly become the category with the largest market share of beverages, among which the volume of sugar-free tea has doubled. From 2017 to 2022, sugar-free tea has entered a low-speed growth, while sugar-free tea will maintain a growth rate of 7.9% in 2022, and it is expected that the CAGR of the sugar-free tea market will reach 10.2% from 2022 to 2027, and in the next five years, China's tea market will enter a period of rapid growth.
More and more brands are crossing over into the sugar-free tea beverage market, which is also a true portrayal of the popularity of the track. According to incomplete statistics, since 2024, Yili, Nestle, and Bama Tea have entered the market one after another to seize the market.
Traditional beverage players have increased their weight, and the demand of young consumers has been released
Traditional beverage players have created and enjoyed the market dividends of sugar-free tea drinks earlier.
According to the annual report data of Nongfu Spring, the total revenue in 2023 will be 42.667 billion yuan, an increase of 28.4% year-on-year. Among them, the revenue of tea beverage products π was 12.659 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 83.3%, accounting for 29.7% of the total revenue in 2023, becoming the second category of Nongfu Spring with a revenue of more than 10 billion yuan.
On April 5, Nongfu Spring released information that the first batch of 50,000 boxes of Oriental Leaf Mingqian Longjing New Tea launched by Nongfu Spring this year on April 1 was sold out within 17 hours. On April 5, the company launched the second batch of products, and after the major e-commerce platforms were launched, 10,000 boxes were sold within 1 minute of the sale, and all 50,000 boxes were sold out within 1 hour.
Suntory is another sugar-free tea beverage giant. Its 2023 fiscal year annual report shows that the total revenue for the year was 1.59 trillion yen, a year-on-year increase of 9.74%, and a profit of 82.743 billion yen, in addition, the results of the first half of 2023 showed that sugar-free tea drinks accounted for nearly eighty percent of the company's sales.
In the past two years, other beverage brands have also accelerated the launch or update of sugar-free tea drinks. Since the beginning of this year, Wahaha has launched four tea drinks, namely Jasmine Tea, Zhengshan Xiaozhong, Dahongpao and Qingkan Pu'er, calling it an important measure in the sugar-free tea market; Dongpeng Beverage has dug deep into the "Shangcha" series of products, and then launched two new flavors, "Pu'er Shangcha" and "Jasmine Shangcha"; and Master Kong has continuously launched new products.
Zhu Danpeng, an analyst of China's food industry, said in an interview with a reporter from Dahe Finance Cube that under the consumer demand for health management, nutrition management, weight management, and appearance management, the market for sugar-free drinks and functional drinks has been further released. The new generation has become the mainstream consumer group, which has also promoted the further deepening of the sugar-free tea beverage market.
According to the white paper, 70.8% of the main consumers of sugar-free tea are under the age of 30 (including 30 years old), and 84.1% of the new users in the past six months are under the age of 30 (including 30 years old), and the young group is gradually becoming the main force of sugar-free tea consumption. According to a research report previously released by Dongxing Securities, drinking tea is often bound to health preservation in the traditional concept, but sugar-free tea drinks have more flavor attributes and are easy to drink, so they are more popular with young people.
Brand effect, price, etc. may become the key points of breakthrough
The popularity has soared, and sugar-free tea drinks have provided a new growth point for beverage giants. Newcomers enter the game, competition intensifies, what will the market fight in the future?
"Sugar-free tea beverages play a leading role in the improvement of China's beverage industry structure. Zhu Danpeng pointed out, "But it is still in the introduction period, so big brands can enjoy market dividends more, and small brands also have some room for survival in the low-tier market." ”
Zhu Danpeng believes that the competition in the sugar-free tea beverage market will further intensify in 2024, and the "Matthew effect" of the strong being stronger and the weak being weaker will be more prominent. "The market competition is fierce, and enterprises must have enough brand effect, scale effect, as well as a certain market coverage, personnel service capabilities, and channel advantages to support a protracted war. ”
According to the report of the offline retail monitoring network, from 2022 to 2023, the top 6 sugar-free ready-to-drink teas will be relatively stable, namely Nongfu Spring, Suntory, Yuanqi Forest, Master Kong, Uni-President, and Coca-Cola.
In addition, price has also become a key point that affects consumer choice. During the visit, the reporter noticed that the price of sugar-free tea drinks is mostly concentrated in 4~5 yuan, but many brands have promotional activities. For example, at a Yuelai Yuexi convenience store, there is a half-price event for the second bottle of Suntory oolong tea and tea drinks, as well as a Chun Tea House where you can buy at will with any consumption and two yuan. In addition, the price of unified sugar-free green tea is lower, with a price tag of 3 yuan.
According to the data, about 80% of the products in the sugar-free ready-to-drink tea market are priced at 4~5 yuan, and the sales of 5~7 yuan products account for more than 10%.
"It can be seen that some brand products take quality, ingredients, functionality, etc. as marketing selling points, so that the price of sugar-free tea drinks is higher than that of other beverages such as carbonated beverages, which screens consumer groups to a certain extent. According to an industry insider's analysis, "at present, more than half of the consumers of sugar-free tea drinks are in first-tier and new first-tier cities, and sugar-free tea drinks want to move from niche to the public, and they need to consider enriching product lines and taste suitability." ”
责编:王时丹 | 审校:张翼鹏 | 审核:李震 | 监审:万军伟