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- Source/Night Deep Finance
- Author/Night Deep Finance
Introduction: The appearance or disappearance of anything has its own laws.
Some laws are the combined effect of the right time and place. Some laws are expected to be artificially created.
Obviously, Zhong Xuegao, who created a precedent for sky-high ice cream, is the latter.
Recently, a news that the founder of #Zhongxuegao was restricted from high consumption# blew up the Internet. Behind his rhetoric that "even if you sell sweet potatoes, you have to pay off your debts", Zhong Xuegao, who is "facing many difficulties", has a future full of unknowns.
01. "Internet celebrity" ushered in a highlight moment
Time back to 2018 Double 11.
At that time, an Ecuadorian pink diamond ice cream priced at 66 yuan was born. Moreover, in just 15 hours, more than 20,000 pieces were sold.
I have to say that this ice cream, which refreshes consumer cognition with a far leading price, is also like a thunderstorm on a sunny day, exploding the imagination space of ice cream prices.
In the face of consumers' questions about "why is it so expensive", Lin Sheng, the founder of Zhongxuegao, explained that "the cost of 66 yuan is 40 yuan", which has become a mandatory label for almost all high-priced ice creams since then - high quality.
● Source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo
Quality is a word that has no ceiling, but it is enough to find a reasonable footnote for the extraordinary price of a product.
Therefore, the raw materials are rare grapefruit from Aichi Prefecture, Japan, and natural pink cocoa from Ecuador, which makes Zhongxuegao's "high" price deserved.
Most netizens are curious about new things. An ice cream is 66 yuan, you say it's expensive, it's really expensive. However, it is not unattainable.
As a result, the curiosity-driven mentality of giving it a try, coupled with the advocacy of the trend of consumption upgrading, drove Zhongxuegao's explosive sales, and also allowed many other ice cream brands to see new business opportunities to raise prices.
From the old dairy companies Yili and Mengniu, to the new brand Zhongjie 1946 with the help of capital, they have successively joined the ranks of high-priced ice cream.
Emphasizing the zero addition of raw materials, precious and rare, the pursuit of modeling technology, the exquisite appearance of product details, and even with the blessing of the spokesperson, the ice cream is endowed with a variety of fresh life attitudes and spiritual concepts.
Since the advent of Zhongxuegao, the main theme is to plant grass in a channel where young people gather.
Click into Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Station B and other platforms, and you can see the big anchor "Amway" Zhong Xuegao.
At the same time, Zhong Xuegao also walked into the live broadcast room of Li Jiaqi, Luo Yonghao and other head anchors, coupled with celebrity endorsements, he was stunned to "grease and powder" an ice cream and turned it into an Internet celebrity who "loves to buy or not".
Zhong Xuegao, who is "Internet celebrity", has had highlight moments.
Data shows that from May 2021 to May 2022, Zhongxuegao sold a total of 150 million in one year, an increase of 176%.
In 2020 and 2022, Zhongxuegao also ranked first in sales in the ice category.
● Source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo
If you adhere to the founder's cost theory and firmly bind it to high quality, the myth of Zhongxue's high explosion may be able to continue to write a few reincarnations.
However, when Zhong Xuegao was exposed to a room temperature of 31 degrees that would not melt for an hour, and could not be burned even with a lighter, high price = high quality and high pressure ice cream began to put a big question mark in the minds of consumers.
02. The illusion of consumption upgrading is shattered
Some netizens said that Zhong Xuegao's explosive sale is an illusion of consumption upgrading.
Since it is an illusion, there will always be a day when it will be shattered.
When consumers paid out of curiosity and found that the small luck brought by the 66 yuan ice cream was not much different from the two-yuan cone, Zhong Xuegao walked down the altar, seemingly following the law of things disappearing.
To be precise, it is expected to be artificially made.
Since Zhongxuegao was put on the market, questions about its products and costs have not stopped.
"There are very few people around me who are still interested in Zhong Xuegao, it is so expensive, and the taste feels average." Entering 2023, consumers' evaluation of Zhongxuegao is more sober and objective.
● Source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo
In fact, Zhong Xuegao still faces many problems.
In September last year, a court ruled to freeze Zhong Xuegao's 5.5 million yuan of property, which made netizens speculate that "Ice Cream Assassin" was going downhill.
Before the assets were frozen, some netizens found that many branches of Zhong Xuegao were cancelled one after another, including a number of patents related to the brand.
Although Zhong Xuegao quickly responded, saying that the cancellation of the company was due to the impact of the end of activities such as local pop-up stores.
But it is undeniable that Zhong Xuegao can no longer roll up the high price.
In the eyes of consumers, Zhongxuegao's high price lacks effective and strong product support. What's more, it's the sudden popularity of marketing. This popularity will fade as consumers' curiosity and novelty decrease.
Last summer, a video of an embarrassing ice cream buyer sparked discussions about topics such as "how outrageous are the prices of contemporary ice cream".
The unanimous consensus of netizens is: ice cream is getting more and more expensive. And the initiator of the ice cream becoming more expensive is Zhong Xuegao.
The change in the direction of the consumer market is a metaphysics. A certain event or public opinion may make a brand that once enjoyed consumption dividends lose overnight.
When consumers found that the ice cream they bought for dozens of yuan was not worth the money, Zhong Xuegao, who was in the storm of public opinion of the "ice cream assassin", had to put down the arrogant posture of "love to buy or not".
Starting from 2023, Zhongxuegao will not only clearly mark the price on the product packaging, launch grapefruit-flavored yogurt, grape milk and other ice creams with prices down to more than 10 yuan, but also launch a new "Zhongxue is not high" with a variety of flavors that only costs 3.5 yuan.
●Source: Cover News
However, the purchasing power of these actions, which are clearly intended to win the favor of consumers, is quite limited.
The previous high-priced ice cream, although the price was questioned, had the social attribute of punching in and taking photos of the hair circle.
And when this consumption trend falls back and the illusion of consumption upgrading is shattered, all consumers need is an ice cream with a reasonable price and good taste.
03, who killed Zhong Xuegao?
Who killed Chung Xuegao? It's a topic of a thousand people having a thousand Hamlets.
In my opinion, Zhong Xuegao's unpopularity is not because of the illusion of consumption upgrading, but because the high-priced story has made him happy, but it has not turned this story into a trustworthy and tangible reason for consumers to pay.
Industry insiders believe that Zhong Xuegao may only have two options in the future.
First, it is to continue to match the high price with high quality, and adhere to the "small but beautiful" in the high-end track with a limited customer base.
There is no doubt that this road is not easy to follow.
In recent years, ice-cream brands have begun to realize the significant impact of price on sales.
● Source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo
According to incomplete statistics from CBNData, among the 70 new products released by various brands in 2023, 46% of the new products are concentrated in the price range of 3 yuan - 10 yuan.
According to a survey conducted by the media, the price of mainstream ice cream in the market is concentrated between 3 yuan and 5 yuan. The person in charge of a non-chain supermarket said that the best sales volume is about 5 yuan of ice cream.
It can be seen that the price of ice cream is now leaning down in line with the consumer trend. has tested the high-end market, and Zhong Xuegao, who has an average user reputation, wants to play flowers again, and the difficulty can be imagined.
Industry insiders believe that another way is to bring down the price and focus on offline channels, with the help of the brand's popularity in the new consumption field, to launch new phenomenal products.
This road is also highly competitive for Zhong Xuegao.
● Source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo
As a track with a low threshold, high gross profit and hundreds of billions of growth potential, ice cream has always attracted a large number of players. Since 2019, the number of new companies has exceeded 3,000 every year.
As a result, the battle for the market between ice cream brands has intensified.
Not only have established companies such as Ruby and Moutai launched related brands or products, but also traditional brands such as Heluxue, Yili, and Baxi are also releasing new products one after another.
In addition, there is no shortage of cultural and creative ice cream that swept the circle of friends in the past few years and is full of social attributes of punching in.
In a market environment where many brands converge and have their own price advantages, why does Zhongxuegao win?
● Source: Zhong Xuegao Weibo
In the future ice cream track, the consumption level will inevitably be more subdivided.
This also means that it is not the end of the day that the high-priced ice cream has disappeared. Based on this segmentation, consumers' consideration of cost performance will directly affect the brand's terminal sales.
In addition, in addition to emphasizing high quality, selling points such as low sugar and zero fat are also becoming the general direction of the pursuit of health of ice cream products.
Under these premises, only brands that truly implement tangible or intangible values can establish full consumer trust and achieve continuous mental occupation.
There is a pattern to the emergence or disappearance of a brand.
This rule is based on letting consumers see the sincerity of the brand's interpretation through the product, rather than a marketing gimmick that does not match the price.
After all, the primary meaning of the existence of an ice cream is that it is delicious, not expensive.
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