The national "rice artifact" can't afford to eat?
Author: Zhu Mo
来源:快刀财经(ID:kuaidaocaijing)
"I didn't have money to eat mustard before, but now I don't have money to eat mustard. A casual joke from a worker, I didn't expect it to become a reality one day.
That's right, in the days when everything was expensive, the cheap and appetizing mustard in the past failed to become the last resort. According to media statistics, since 2008, the price of Wujiang mustard has been raised as many as 13 times, either explicitly or implicitly, and the frequency even surpasses that of Feitian Moutai.
The amount of mustard per pack is getting smaller and smaller, but the price is getting higher and higher. The specifications of the ordinary 80g Wujiang mustard have been adjusted and reduced to 70g, and the terminal price has risen from the initial 5 cents to about 3 yuan, and if calculated by weight, the price per catty is more than 20 yuan, which is already more expensive than the price of pork.
In addition, according to the horizontal comparison of several data, the total increase of Wujiang mustard in the past 14 years has exceeded 600%, and it is the only product that has caught up with the increase in housing prices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in the past 20 years.
Fuling mustard group once explained the price increase of products, saying that it was based on the continuous rise in the cost of main raw materials, packaging materials, auxiliary materials, etc., and the increase in costs caused by the company's optimization and upgrading of products, and decided to adjust the ex-factory price of products.
But the public did not buy this statement, after all, through repeated price increases, it directly achieved the reputation of "squeezing grass" of Fuling mustard. From its listing in 2010 to 2020, the revenue of Fuling mustard increased from 545 million yuan to 2.273 billion yuan, an increase of 317%, and the net profit attributable to the parent company increased from 56 million yuan to 777 million yuan, an increase of 1288%.
Perhaps because people were not very sensitive to the price of mustard before, most people didn't care about the operation of Fuling mustard at the beginning of a few cents more expensive, and it may have been a long time before they realized it. But after tasting the sweetness, the price increase of Fuling mustard is like repeatedly testing the bottom line and temper of consumers, rising again and again, and "eager to try" after a while.
As the saying goes, the extreme must be reversed, and the frequent price increase of Fuling mustard has finally made consumers lose their desire to buy. On March 3 this year, Fuling mustard released its 2023 annual report, with negative growth in revenue and net profit (especially in revenue, which is the first negative growth since its listing in 2010), and the price increase strategy seems to have begun to fail.
The migrant workers who were ruthlessly "stabbed in the back" by mustard at least have the right to "not eat", which is a silent but powerful counterattack.
01
Save the taste buds of countless people
How mustard dominates the table
"Chinese mustard belongs to Fuling, and Fuling mustard belongs to Wujiang. "When you think of mustard, you think of Fuling, and when you think of Fuling, you think of mustard, which is an extremely successful fixed combination of modern Chinese diet.
As a "national rice artifact", Fuling mustard has always been the leader of the mustard industry. Fuling is blessed with unique geographical conditions and is the best flavor production area of green cabbage (raw material of mustard), concentrating 42% of the planting area and 36% of the output of green cabbage in the country. In this way, Fuling mustard not only saves the raw material cost of green cabbage, but also controls the price of green cabbage in the downstream market, killing two birds with one stone.
The most important thing is that because the shelf life of green cabbage is extremely short, and the transportation cost is very high when it is purchased for processing, the local enterprises in Fuling have inherent advantages in production and processing, which constitutes a natural entry barrier for mustard.
In 1988, due to the transformation from a planned economy to a market economy, the major mustard factories (workshops) in Fuling were integrated into Chongqing Fuling Mustard Group (hereinafter referred to as Fuling mustard), which was controlled by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Fuling District, Chongqing, and began to produce Wujiang brand mustard.
However, although it holds the best quality and most mature green cabbage head supplier, the business road of Fuling mustard did not advance smoothly in the expected direction, but fell into a situation of making ends meet in 1999 and saddled with a huge debt of nearly 180 million yuan.
At the time of life and death, Zhou Binquan, who was transferred to "fight the fire", ushered in a turning point in the fate of Fuling Group. Relying on the huge demolition money of 140 million yuan obtained by the Three Gorges Dam, Zhou Binquan introduced imported equipment from Germany and transformed the mustard workshop into a mechanized and automated production line.
In 2004, in order to expand sales, Zhou Binquan overrode public opinion and spent 14 million yuan to buy CCTV prime-time advertising, and invited "Huang Ama" Zhang Tielin as the spokesperson. Driven by CCTV advertisements and celebrities, Wujiang mustard has been deeply rooted in the minds of consumers and has become the first brand in the mustard market.
At that time, to what extent was Fuling mustard popular? From well-known supermarket chains such as RT-Mart, Wal-Mart, and Carrefour, to retail terminals such as farmers' markets at all levels and urban and rural convenience stores, there was no shadow of Fuling mustard on the shelves, and they did not dare to say that they were a complete supermarket.
In the days when the workers were adrift, Fuling mustard saved the taste buds of hundreds of millions of people by itself. No matter how hard life is, just a bag of mustard can bring everything to life: it's not too spicy, but it's more exciting than just salty, it's easy to shred, you can squeeze out your belly even without chopsticks, and the crunchy texture makes your teeth and body and mind feel happy. On top of that, it treats all beings equally, cheap enough to allow every temporarily shriveled wallet to be placed.
Because it is deeply loved by migrant workers in the south and north of the world, a very interesting "squeezed vegetable index" was born - that is, according to the sales distribution of squeezed vegetables, to reflect the trend of Chinese population flow.
I thought that this "rice artifact" would always be close to the people, but I never expected that the "change of face" would come so quickly.
02
The price has been raised 13 times in 14 years
Mustard becomes a "luxury"
In 2008, a sudden ice and snow disaster reduced the overall output of raw cabbage by 30%. Under the trade-off, the price of Fuling mustard's products rose by 23%, which was the first price increase of Fuling mustard.
Unexpectedly, although the sales volume decreased slightly after the price increase, the group's profit increased from more than 10 million yuan in 2007 to more than 30 million yuan, which shows that most people are not sensitive to the price of mustard. After this exploration, Fuling mustard is gone on the road to price increases.
In 2009, the price of Fuling mustard was raised by 10% again, and the net profit increased to more than 40 million yuan; in 2010, Fuling mustard group was successfully listed, becoming the only listed company in the field of pickles.
At this stage, Fuling mustard may be in order to reduce consumer resistance, and the price increase method is relatively "mild", focusing on a god who is unaware. For example, in 2012, the same 1 yuan per pack, but the capacity changed from 100g to 80g, and two years later, 1 yuan could only buy a 60g pack of mustard.
Although the frequency of annual price increases, the era of 1 yuan lasted from 2008 to 2015, and for nearly 8 years, the price increase strategy of Fuling mustard was generally cautious.
By 2017, the situation had taken a radical turn. In the second half of 2020, Fuling mustard will reduce the packaging and raise the price of its main products and directly increase the price of supermarket products.
With the continuous increase in the price of Fuling mustard, it has also promoted the continuous growth of its performance. From 2010 to 2020, the operating income of Fuling Mustard Group increased from 545 million yuan to 2.273 billion yuan, steadily increasing year by year.
Among them, in 2018, the brand value of Fuling mustard reached 13.2 billion yuan, which was more than 100 million yuan higher than that of Lao Gan Ma; In 2020, according to the public financial report of Fuling mustard, the net profit reached 516 million yuan in the last half a year alone, and some data explained this by analogy: Fuling mustard used 1/84 of the revenue of Arowana, creating 1/4 of the net profit of Arowana.
But Fuling mustard did not stop the pace of "rising and rising". In November 2021, Fuling mustard announced that it would adjust the ex-factory prices of some products, and the increase in each category ranged from 3% ~ 19%.
During the period, the official flagship store of Fuling mustard also launched a 1521 yuan mustard gift box, which saw that mustard had become a "luxury", and it also made public opinion explode at that time.
It can be said that in the past ten years, "price increase" has been the main driving force for the performance of Fuling mustard. The decline in sales will rise faster, the increase in sales will rise slowly, the cost will rise faster, and the cost will rise slower.
In the face of such frequent price increases, no matter how high the "tolerance" of consumers is, it has reached the point of intolerability. Originally, the core logic of mustard consumption is "cheap and convenient heavy taste", when mustard is completely out of the established category, it will naturally lose the reason to consume it, after all, who wants to be unjust all the time.
The tried and tested price increase tactics are finally on the verge of failure. On March 29, Fuling mustard released the most ugly annual report in history, the company will achieve operating income of 2.45 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 3.86%, and a net profit attributable to the parent company of 827 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.04%.
Fuling mustard, which was once regarded as a "just need" of the Chinese people, may not have expected that one day it would fall into the embarrassing situation of "not being able to sell".
03
The price increase strategy is facing failure
Consumers should not be wronged
In addition to the price increase, another important reason for the cold of Fuling mustard is that under the change of the times, the younger generation of consumers does not have as strong feelings for mustard as the previous generation, and it is far from reaching the point of "it is indispensable".
First of all, from the perspective of mustard itself, compared with basic seasonings, the consumption scene of mustard is narrow and substitutable, including all kinds of table sauces and vegetables, which are its competitors. Even the chairman of Fuling mustard himself once said frankly: "The market space of mustard is not as extensive as Sichuan pickle." ”
Therefore, in the refrigerator of consumers today, there may be Fuling mustard, but at the same time, there will also be sprouts from Yibin, olive vegetables from Chaoshan, and dried radishes from Changzhou...... When the price of Fuling mustard is beyond the affordable range, consumers will not hesitate to switch to other more cost-effective competitors.
Moreover, with the concept of health deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the mustard with heavy oil and salt has gradually become outdated. In April 2021, "Consumer Reports" sent 13 mainstream dishes to an authoritative third-party testing agency, and the results were that representative brands, including Wujiang, had sodium content that greatly exceeded the appropriate intake recommended by the Chinese Nutrition Society, and mustard was listed as one of the "Top Ten Not Recommended Products in 2021".
In order to reverse the controversy, in 2022, Fuling mustard will play the "health card" and launch a series of "light salt" products. As an "upgraded version of mustard" that meets the needs of modern people's low-salt diet, the light salt series has a salt reduction of 30%, claiming to contain 15 kinds of amino acids and dietary fiber.
But the contradiction is that for the loyal fans of Fuling mustard in the past, most people want to eat the same taste as before, and give up the taste for the so-called "health", which is equivalent to Weilong removing the oil and salt from the spicy strips, and Haidilao cleaning up the butter in his hot pot. This approach of shaking the foundation of the product has not only failed to please the younger generation, but also failed to take care of the hearts of old fans, and many netizens posted: "Fuling mustard has changed its taste." ”
In July of the same year, a consumer broke the news that Wujiang mustard ate toenails, which set off a heated discussion on the Internet, and the follow-up official explanation said that "the company's production technicians studied and judged it as the rhizome of the raw greenhead, and communicated with consumers to eliminate the misunderstanding." ”
If it was placed in the past, the statement of Fuling mustard would not make people question it too much. However, when the price of mustard is higher and higher, consumers' requirements for it will increase accordingly, and if the quality cannot be guaranteed to be improved with the increase in price, it is easy to be attacked by public opinion.
In fact, Fuling mustard has also taken ways other than price increases to seek breakthroughs. At present, the main products of Fuling mustard also include kimchi, radish, etc., as well as newly developed beef jerky, soy sauce, etc., but most of the response is mediocre.
Although the price of mustard has touched the bottom line of consumers, however, under the pressure of reality, it cannot be ruled out that Fuling mustard will continue to raise prices. It's just that once it crosses the 5 yuan mark, there will be more opponents to grab the market with Fuling mustard, and all kinds of convenience foods, prefabricated dishes and other new categories are all strong competitors.
In the face of a large number of choices, there is never a shortage of explosive products in the market. In the future, there will still be an endless stream of cheap and convenient food accompaniments, and it is hard to say whether there will be a place for mustard.
(The pictures in this article are from the Internet, and the pictures are for reference only, no directional and commercial use)
Resources:
1. Hardcore Kanban "12 times in 10 years, how does Fuling mustard eat people poor?"
2. DataVision "Does Fuling Mustard Dare to Increase Prices?"
3. Sanlian Life Weekly "The price of "mustard assassin" has risen by 600%, and no one eats the national "rice artifact"?
Source: Kuaidao Finance
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