Interface News Reporter | Ma Yue
Interface News Editor | Ya Han Xiang
Before the start of summer, many beverage brands are trying to squeeze their shelves with electrolyte water.
Some mainstream beverage brands are launching new ones. For example, Danone Group's Pulse recently announced that it has upgraded its sports drink "Pulse + Electrolyte", in addition to using the new packaging, it also emphasizes the selling point of the formula, that is, each bottle contains at least 455mg of electrolytes, low sugar and added vitamins.
Nongfu Spring's Scream has also launched two new products: milk calcium type (citrus flavor) and theanine type (golden peach flavor). Haizhiyan, a subsidiary of Uni-President, has launched a new grapefruit-flavored electrolyte drink, emphasizing the "isotonic formula". Not long ago, Yuanqi Forest's alien brand launched an electrolyte flavored water priced at 3 yuan to further expand the electrolyte product matrix.
As a beverage category that has existed in the market for a long time, one of the most direct driving factors for the outbreak of electrolyte water is the increased awareness brought about by the epidemic, especially in December 2022, when consumers' acceptance and demand for electrolyte water increased significantly.
In this process, in 2022, the sales of Alien Electrolyte Water under Yuanqi Forest will exceed 1.27 billion yuan, becoming the second growth curve supporting this company. According to a document obtained by Jiemian News from Yuanqi Forest dealers, the performance scale of Alien Electrolyte Water in 2023 will double year-on-year to 2.35 billion yuan.
With the market expansion brought about by the entry of a large number of brands, 2022 is also known as the "first year of electrolyte drinks".
According to the "2023 China Electrolyte Beverage Industry Market Insight Report" released by the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the market size of electrolyte beverages in 2022 will increase by 50.1% year-on-year to 2.7 billion yuan. This makes electrolyte beverages the beverage category with the highest year-on-year growth rate in China's beverage industry in 2022.
In fact, there is no clear definition of electrolyte water. The function of electrolytes is to maintain the body's fluid balance, help to replenish water quickly, maintain motor function, promote metabolism, and timely replenishment of electrolytes helps to maintain human body functions. Typically, electrolyte drinks are clearly labeled with the word "electrolyte" on their packaging, and the formula contains trace elements such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and water-soluble vitamins.
Before electrolyte water became popular, sports drinks were more commonly available on the market, such as brands like Pulse, which generally contained carbohydrates such as sugar and other nutrients.
It is worth noting that some traditional brands that have earlier entered the market in the category of sports drinks, vitamin water or energy drinks are also taking advantage of electrolyte water to strengthen the concept of electrolytes in new products. For example, Dongpeng Beverage, which focuses on functional drinks, launched the electrolyte drink "Hydration" at the beginning of 2023, and in the 2023 annual report, the company listed electrolyte drinks as the strategic framework of the second development curve along with tea drinks, pre-prepared wines, ready-to-drink coffee and other categories.
And a prominent representative of "old products and new products" is the words of the sea under the unified banner.
Haizhiyan was launched as early as 2014 and entered the market with "sea salt fruity drink". Tongyi Central Control once said in the financial report, "Haizhiyan in the first half of 2015 showed a high multiple growth, creating a unified juice business to outperform the overall national juice growth." However, with the increase of competitors of the same type in the later period, Haizhiyan gradually faded out of the market, and rarely appeared in the financial statements of the unified central control.
Until 2022, Uni-President has carried out a series of "restart" strategies for Haizhiyan, such as strengthening the concept of electrolytes in new products, and completing the transformation from light fruit-flavored drinks to electrolyte drinks. And cooperated with the marketing agency H&H to repackage and upgrade, and launched the slogan of "How can you struggle without sweating, and drink the words of the sea if you sweat", and frequently appeared in various variety show advertising placements, etc.
According to the 2023 annual report of Unified Central Control, Haizhiyan's revenue showed a high double-digit growth year-on-year.
Nongfu Spring's scream is also highlighting the concept of electrolytes to increase market presence.
The Scream series appeared as early as 2004 and entered the market as a sports drink. In 2021, Nongfu Spring launched a more sports-oriented "Scream Professional Isotonic Electrolyte Drink Series". In the 2023 annual report, Nongfu Spring said that the functional beverage products represented by "Scream" and "Power Emperor" achieved revenue of 4.902 billion yuan, an increase of 27.7% over 2022.
From the perspective of the entire market competition pattern, the alien electrolyte water under Yuanqi Forest has seized the largest market.
According to a report by the offline retail monitoring network, with the outbreak of the electrolyte drink track in December 2022, the market share of alien electrolyte water in sports drinks once reached 50%, and Pocari Water also had a "leap growth".
In addition, according to a report by the Prospective Industry Research Institute, in 2022, the first share of China's electrolyte beverage market is Alien, reaching 47.0%, Pocari Water occupies the second place with a share of 23.8%, and Scream (isotonic version) ranks third with a share of 16.5%.
Judging from the selling points of each brand's "unbooked", it has become a trend to strengthen sports and hydration scenes, large packaging, and cost performance.
For example, the new isotonic electrolyte drink is a 900ml large-capacity package with a retail price of about 6 yuan, and the retail price of the 950ml package of Alien Electrolyte Water is about 7.5 yuan, and it has recently further launched a single bottle of 600ml with a retail price of 3 yuan "Alien WAVE" electrolyte flavored water drink.