"Huaxia Wine News" Wu Peihai
Liquor is currently facing many problems: overcapacity, weak consumption, high inventory, price inversion, serious involution, for these problems, some people say that they are cyclical, some people say that they are the times, we do not argue about the nature of the problem, only discuss how to solve the problem.
Solving problems requires ideas, because ideas determine the way out, and ideas are inseparable from a specific mode of thinking. For liquor companies, they can't just think about manufacturers and think about how to make money all day long; It is also necessary to have business thinking, carefully ponder how to make the channel make money, and achieve a win-win situation for manufacturers; It is also necessary to have consumer thinking, repeatedly pondering how to think about what consumers think and what consumers need, so that consumers are willing to spend money on buying liquor, because expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption are the source and foundation of liquor to get out of trouble. If the terminal is not alive and smooth, stop spitting out the old and accepting the new, how can the front-end manufacturers and mid-end merchants be healthy and worry-free!
Consumer thinking is to think about problems and make decisions from the standpoint of the majority of consumers, so that they fit the emotional views of the public and cater to the public's thoughts, joys, sorrows, and sorrows. There is a famous saying that says, "With the emotions and opinions of the public, you will be invincible; If you lose the public's emotions and opinions, you will surely lose! ”
The pulse of consumers, grasping the voice of consumers, and conforming to the expectations of consumers are the only way to expand the demand side; Using consumer thinking to guide production and operation is the only rule to improve the supply side. It is the main way out to revitalize liquor by sharing the same fate with consumers, starting from the needs of consumers, rather than from the needs of manufacturers, and making subjective decisions consistent with the objective market; Putting the interests of consumers first and doing everything possible to meet the needs of consumers is a panacea for liquor to get out of trouble.
At present, what are the requirements of consumers for alcohol, especially liquor? In the author's humble opinion, the following points are made:
The inside and the outside are the same as the wine
Clearly consuming and not being deceived is the bottom-line thinking of consumers. As a liquor industry, all kinds of information disseminated to the outside world must be "true, accurate, complete and timely", especially the content of advertising and publicity, which should be consistent with the actual practice, and the instructions printed on the bottle label should be consistent with the wine in the bottle.
If there is inconsistency, false publicity, playing side balls, playing false concepts, not thinking that it is wrong, but being proud, and even being touted as "a marketing trick", it will be the sadness of the wine industry!
In recent years, the government and the industry have done a lot of work to make the public understand consumption, and the introduction of the new national standard for liquor is a typical example, avoiding the disadvantages of mixed eyes. For example, since March this year, Red Star has carried out a 24-hour uninterrupted live broadcast for the public in the production workshop of the brewing base, openly accepting social supervision, allowing consumers to witness the real scene of pure grain solid brewing, creating a transparent factory, and demonstrating self-discipline and self-confidence.
However, at a time when everyone is self-media, rumors and small videos about wine are everywhere, and their content is mixed, good and bad, full of misinterpretations and misunderstandings, such as many people link "blending" with fake and shoddy liquor, and are confused about what is going on with ethanol, alcohol, edible alcohol, new process liquor, and solid-state liquor, causing some consumers to be misled and talk about the color of liquor. The public's misgivings about baijiu and not knowing the truth will inevitably lead to a decrease in trust and purchasing power in baijiu. Therefore, it is urgent to justify the name of liquor. To this end, a lot of work needs to be done to separate the false from the true, from the surface to the inside.
Unfortunately, some liquor companies are only interested in promoting their own products, and are not interested in promoting the category of liquor, but the estrangement of consumers from the category of liquor is precisely the key to the problem. Therefore, it is urgent for industry organizations, experts and scholars to stand up and answer questions and build a platform for popularizing the ABC of liquor.
In fact, many people in the industry have also told a lot of good stories and good views in recent years, but many of them belong to the situation of self-talk and self-listening in the industry, and have not been fully disseminated to the public level, so that consumers have little understanding of liquor and are specious. It can be seen that liquor needs to enter the public and explain the problem in pieces; Facing the public, peel back the cocoon and clarify the problem.
Reliable sake of high quality
Buying with peace of mind and consuming with confidence is the desire of the people, seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, self-protection is human nature, and the pursuit of health preservation and ensuring food safety is the common thinking of consumers. For the liquor industry, "food safety is higher than the sky, and product quality is as important as a mountain".
However, the reality is that the concept of "drinking alcohol is harmful to health" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the statement that "alcohol is a class of carcinogens" has a large market, which makes many people stay away from alcohol, especially liquor with high alcohol content; Even if there are people who have a soft spot for alcohol, there are many people who drink it with their hearts and minds. At present, the wine industry is vigorously cultivating young consumers, but some media have reported that "drinking brings greater health risks to young people", especially the above statements have a certain basis and reason. This is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.
First, strengthen the management system to ensure product quality. Starting from the risk points of the supply chain, industrial chain and value chain, we should smooth the obstruction points of the flow of people, logistics, capital and information, strengthen the management system of labor, machinery and equipment, raw and auxiliary materials, production environment and regulations and standards, create excellent product quality, eliminate quality control risks, optimize the quality image of liquor categories, and enhance consumers' trust in liquor. Ensuring product quality is the bottom line of consumer requirements and the cornerstone of expanding market demand.
Second, build a popular science platform to guide healthy drinking. We should use the strength of the whole industry to build a popular science platform for liquor, restore the original face of liquor in response to consumers' doubts and concerns, popularize the knowledge of liquor, clarify the philosophical law that quantitative change can only cause qualitative change when it accumulates to a critical point, clarify the scientific basis of "moderate drinking is good for health", advocate the new trend of "drinking less alcohol and drinking better wine", eliminate the estrangement between the public and liquor, and narrow the emotional distance between consumers and liquor.
Third, launch a traffic leader to expand the popular science audience. In order to attract the attention of more consumers, liquor science popularization needs to have celebrities with their own traffic, just like Dong Mingzhu of Gree, Yu Chengdong of Huawei, Lei Jun of Xiaomi, Zhou Hongyi of 360, and Brother Qiang of Hewei, who are good at live broadcasting, posting Weibo, transmitting WeChat, and shooting videos, dare to face the public, have the courage to be honest and honest, and make flowers bloom in the wall and fragrant outside the wall, so that the public can understand and trust the liquor.
Cost-effective real wine
It is the common thinking of consumers to only buy the right ones and not to buy expensive ones, and to shop around without spending money in vain. What consumers care about is exactly what wine companies care about. In recent years, the hot sales of yellow cover glass Fen, green neck Xifeng, blue bottle red star and other light bottle ration wines are the results of enterprises to create cost-effective products in line with the market.
Over the years, one of the big tricks of liquor, especially high-end liquor, to resolve the crisis is to raise the price of products, so as to achieve the trend of high price and sales at the right price, and achieve the multiple goals of boosting dealer confidence, coping with consumers' psychology of "buying up, not buying down", and increasing the economic benefits of enterprises, which has become inertial thinking.
But in recent years, this trick has not worked very well. Taking Moutai as an example, the long-awaited price increase measures have not reached the perfect expectation of high prices in terminal sales, indicating that people who can afford Moutai are also very concerned about the price, which is worth pondering in the industry.
The price of a product is derived from value and ultimately depends on supply and demand. In recent years, the challenges encountered by baijiu are all due to the fact that "more liquor is produced, less liquor is sold", and the deeper reason is that "fewer and fewer people drink alcohol, but the demand for liquor is getting higher and higher". Consumers demand genuine goods, care about cost performance, and even some young people advocate "reverse consumption" and advocate frugal life. These are the reasons for the high inventory and inverted prices of liquor, and they are also the crux of the market by raising prices, but it is difficult to really succeed.
However, high cost performance does not mean that the lower the price, the better, not to say that the price can only be reduced but not increased, but the pricing should take into account the purchasing power of the public, and the price adjustment should resonate with the market demand at the same frequency, and abide by the principle of small profits but quick turnover.
Cost-effective does not mean that the wine industry cannot engage in high-priced wine, because consumption is hierarchical, but it cannot be carried out in a swarm of swarms away from the actual market and the actual situation of the enterprise, and it is not appropriate to advocate that every winery should engage in high-end. At present, the price of liquor is not the highest, only higher. But "expensive" is not a "sin", as long as it is reasonable. For example, luxury goods are expensive, but what manufacturer dares to openly admit that their wine is a luxury product? Therefore, if it is not clear and convincing to the truth, it will be difficult for the public to accept the high-priced wine that is fueled by seedlings, and it will be difficult for many high-priced wines to meet expectations.
In short, the author does not approve of wishful thinking and high-end, blindly and one-sidedly advocating high-priced wine, which violates the basic national conditions and economic laws; The author is also not in favor of the price war, low-price competition can only make some products temporarily profitable, and the damage is the entire industry and long-term interests, liquor does not fight a short-sighted price war, is a mature and wise performance of the industry.
Led to a new specialty wine
Liking the new and hating the old is a normal consumer psychology, and chasing the strange and special is also the fashion thinking of consumers. Emancipating the mind, breaking the old and creating the new, and creating unique liquor products are important ways to meet the needs of consumers for "pleasing themselves".
Attracting consumers with new products, flavors, formulas, packaging, etc., so that they can experience old tastes and new feelings, is a new measure to lead consumption; Empowering liquor with culture, cultural tourism, and cultural creativity, enhancing the humanistic color of products, and deepening emotional communication with consumers are new ideas for creating consumption; Training bartenders and sommeliers to promote cocktails and other ways to enrich drinking methods is also a new attempt to expand consumption.
The Beijing Auto Show held a few days ago removed the beautiful car model and was cheered by the corporate boss platform, so that the combination of people and vehicles and the upgrading of the product image. This new method of event marketing can also be used as a reference for the wine industry to enhance consumers' favorability of brands and products and increase their desire to buy.
Innovation is endless, borderless, and it is a big article that needs to be written urgently in the wine industry. It is hoped that every wine company can splash ink and provide fresh cases with its own innovative actions.
To sum up, "watering vegetables must be watered to the roots, and handing over people must be heart-to-heart." "In the era of consumer sovereignty, strengthen consumer thinking, invest in what they like and provide what they need, and Baijiu will be able to cross the cycle and achieve high-quality development. (The author is Wu Peihai, consultant and former deputy general manager of Beijing Red Star Co., Ltd.)