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- Source/Night Deep Finance
- Author/Night Deep Finance
Introduction: "When I grow up, I must eat instant noodles every day", when I was a child, in the face of my parents' earnest admonition that "instant noodles are junk food and cannot be eaten", many people secretly made such a wish.
However, as the children who love instant noodles grow up, it does not drive the sales of major instant noodle brands to grow in a straight line.
On the contrary, it is a cruel fact that instant noodles, which were once "killed" by men, women and children, are gradually no longer selling.
01. Instant noodles are not easy to sell
As the three giants of instant noodles have announced their 2023 annual results, it can be found that instant noodles are indeed not so popular.
According to Master Kong's 2023 financial report, instant noodles, one of Master Kong's main businesses, saw its revenue fall by 2.84% year-on-year last year, with sales of 28.793 billion yuan.
Last year, the revenue of the food business (including instant noodles and other foods) of Uni-President Enterprise fell by 10.6% year-on-year to 9.874 billion yuan, of which the instant noodle business decreased by 9.65% year-on-year, and the revenue was 9.594 billion yuan.
▶ Source: Unified official WeChat
The situation is similar with Nissin Foods.
This Japanese instant noodle giant, which owns multiple brands such as Hewei, Izuzenichitichi, and U.F.O., will achieve revenue of HK $3.833 billion in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 5.77%.
Cumulatively, the three companies sold about 2 billion less in the instant noodle business in a year.
In response to the reasons for the decline in revenue of the instant noodle business, Uni-President pointed out in the financial report that "in 2023, as the epidemic subsides, consumption will expand steadily, market demand will gradually recover and pick up, consumption will tend to be rational, and the development of the instant noodle market will undergo significant and drastic changes, mainly reflected in the transfer of consumption scenarios", Nissin Foods believes that "it is mainly due to the weakening of instant noodle consumption intentions and the lack of demand surge driven by the epidemic in 2022".
It is true that with the end of the epidemic and the gradual recovery of offline consumption markets, people no longer have to worry about the lack of supplies, and the demand for stocking up on instant noodles is not so strong.
But the pandemic can be the cause, but it is never the only one.
▶ Source: Master Kong's official WeChat
In fact, before the pandemic, the demand for instant noodles was gradually declining.
According to the statistics of the World Instant Noodles Association, from 2013 to 2019, the total demand for instant noodles in China fell from 46.2 billion servings to 41.45 billion servings in 2019.
In 2020, catalyzed by the epidemic, the total demand for instant noodles in the Chinese market reached 46.36 billion servings, a significant increase.
But now, it's just a kind of "back-to-light".
02. The instant noodle market of "internal and external troubles".
"Eating instant noodles every day" was a dream when I was a child, and a burden when I grew up.
We will hear stories about "eating instant noodles every day", but not at the scene of a childhood dream, but from the mouth of an inspirational person, who will tell about the early days of his "North Drift" or "Deep Drift", with only a few dozen dollars left in his pocket, and he could only survive by eating instant noodles.
Instant noodles, which were once regarded as the "snack ceiling" by us, are indeed not fragrant anymore.
Under the eating video about instant noodles, there is always no shortage of such messages, "I am very greedy to watch others eat, and I get tired of eating two bites by myself", "I miss instant noodles for half a year, and I don't want to touch them again after eating them once for half a year".
▶ Source: Little Red Book
The change in the public's attitude towards instant noodles is not unrelated to the increasing awareness of healthy consumption.
When people put forward requirements for food with low fat and zero additives, instant noodles with high salt and fat have become the object of dislike.
The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents" recommends that the daily salt intake per person should not exceed 5 grams, and the intake of cooking oil should be controlled at 25~30g.
According to calculations, after a person eats 1 pack of instant noodles, the salt intake can reach 6g, and the bread + seasoning sauce package will also make the human body consume about 25g of fat, which directly exceeds or approaches the daily upper limit, which can easily induce obesity, high blood pressure and other physical problems.
Of course, the remarks about "instant noodles are unhealthy" belong to the people who have heard it since childhood.
Why are you suddenly being persuaded? Because there are so many ready-to-eat products to choose from right now.
▶ Source: Zihi Pot Official Weibo
According to the "2022-2027 In-depth Analysis and Development Prospect Forecast Report of China's Convenience Food Industry" released by the China Business Industry Research Institute, the size of China's convenience food market has reached 596.1 billion yuan in 2022 and is expected to be 673.6 billion yuan in 2023.
Nowadays, the convenience food on the shelves is no longer the world of instant noodles, quick-frozen food, self-heating pot, snail noodles, Nanchang mixed noodles, hot and sour noodles, etc., constantly subdivided and diversified product categories, so that consumers' appetite is becoming more and more tricky.
And the instant noodles that I have eaten since I was a child have directly changed from "white moonlight" to "rice sticky", and I am tired of it.
03. Is high-end the way out?
In the face of a large number of convenience food brands' "siege of Guangmingding", instant noodle giants such as Master Kong, Uni-President, Jinmailang, and Baixiang did not sit still, and their strategies uniformly pointed to high-end.
The purpose of high-end is actually to change the public's perception of instant noodle brands. Since consumers feel that instant noodles are not nutritious and unhealthy, we are transforming to the direction of rich ingredients, healthy nutrition, and taste innovation to adapt to the changing consumption trend.
As a result, we saw that Master Kong launched the Suda Noodle Restaurant and the Royal Feast, and the Manchu and Han Feasts and Tang Daren were launched......
▶ Source: Manchu Han Dinner Official WeChat
But what about sales?
Master Kong's 2023 performance report has poured another basin of cold water.
According to the report, due to the poor performance of high-priced and medium-priced bag noodles, the overall sales of Master Kong's instant noodles last year were dragged down. Among them, the revenue of high-priced bags and noodles decreased by 6.63% year-on-year to 11.850 billion yuan, and the revenue of medium-priced bags and noodles decreased by 3.61% year-on-year to 2.984 billion yuan.
According to the data of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the compound annual growth rate of the mainland high-end instant noodle market from 2016 to 2020 was as high as 18.6%, and the market size reached 28.24 billion yuan in 2020.
However, under the downgrade of consumption, the high-end noodle market is the first to be hit hard, and the prerequisite for dissuading consumers is price.
It is true that the packaging of high-end instant noodles has been upgraded, and the nutritional value has also been improved, for example, Master Kong's Suda Noodle Restaurant has added large slices of luncheon meat, meat sauce and bean sprouts, etc., with a balanced combination of meat and vegetables, and the unified Manchu and Han cuisine is a combination of 8 different flavors, each with rich toppings.
▶ Source: Xiaohongshu netizens
The ingredients are finally not "pictures for reference only", but the price has become unaffordable.
On Taobao's official flagship store, the boxed price of Suda bowl noodles is 55.9 yuan for 4 boxes, with an average of nearly 14 yuan per box, and the bowl with self-heating function is sold for 6 bowls of 119.9 yuan, with an average of about 20 yuan per bowl;
04. Cost performance is the key
However, in the context of the general downturn in the instant noodle market, there are also those who stand out.
For example, the white elephant has returned to the public eye in recent years.
According to the "Top 10 Best-selling Brands of Douyin Convenience Food Brands in July 2023" released by FoodTalks, the top of the list is White Elephant, accounting for 5.51%.
The rise of white elephants, in addition to consumers' support for domestic products, also stems from the fact that white elephants have stepped on the general trend of nutritious and healthy consumption.
In particular, the "soup is delicious" series, which focuses on "soup stock boiled noodles", truly achieves the soup nutrition and deliciousness, and makes a difference. For example, the old hen noodle soup will be made from old hens that are more than a year old, and after 6 hours of simmering, the original taste and nutrition of the ingredients will be truly locked into every drop of soup.
▶ Source: White Elephant Official Weibo
This allows many people to let go of the psychological burden of "instant noodle soup is high in calories", and they can eat instant noodles until there is no soup left. The civilian price of 3 yuan/bag makes the "soup delicious" series more fragrant.
The data shows that this category launched by White Elephant in 2018 has sold more than 3 billion copies by 2023, and it is an absolute fist product.
In addition to the white elephant, Jinmailang will stand out in 2023 by making noodles to the extreme.
At the end of last year, Jinmailang's "0 fried" board noodles, with the selling point of "40 minutes of long-term soaking is not bad", swiped Douyin, and the shipment volume almost reached a new level every month, and after an increase of 100% in November, it doubled again in December.
On the e-commerce platform, Jinmailang plate noodles occupy the top two on the Douyin Mall bucket instant noodle hit list and popularity list, and it is the second most popular and the third best-selling super hit in Tmall supermarket.
▶ Source: Jinmailang Food's official WeChat
The reason why it is still very strong to soak for 40 minutes is because Jinmailang cooperates with farmers in high-quality wheat planting bases, so that the gluten content in the raw flour is extremely high, coupled with the high-temperature extrusion process under 130 degree conditions, it is made into a non-fried healthy board.
The successive outings of White Elephant and Jinmailang may show that instant noodles cannot be sold, not because people don't like to eat them, but because there are too few nutritious, healthy and affordable instant noodle products.
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