Source of this article: Consumer Reports Author: Huang Jing
There is new news about Tinghua Liquor again, this time it is a bottle of 58,600 yuan Tinghua Liquor that has been suspended from sales in the mainland and exported in a centralized manner.
Recently, Qinghai Spring, the parent company of Tinghua Liquor, issued a notice saying that the price of 58,600 yuan/bottle Tinghua boutique series products in the mainland will be suspended to ensure export supply. At the same time, measures such as price adjustment and volume control have also been released.
At this year's CCTV "3.15" party, Tinghuajiu was named and exposed for its miraculous health care effects. Under the circumstance that the relevant advertising regulations clearly stipulate that drinking alcohol shall not be explicitly or implicitly effective in eliminating tension and anxiety and increasing physical strength, according to CCTV reports, the staff of Tinghuajiu Experience Store introduced the product, saying that Tinghuajiu has a powerful function, which can mobilize the body's self-conditioning function, make people's physical condition better and better, improve immunity, and regulate sleep.
The dream of "rejuvenation" is shattered, can Tinghuajiu, who was previously imprisoned, set off another storm again?
More than 50,000 bottles of Tinghua wine were suspended from sale in the mainland
Recently, Qinghai Spring has issued three notices in a row, including price adjustment, volume control and export measures.
One of the notices stated that the Tinghua wine boutique series products are only for export sales.
According to the notice, due to the limited production capacity, the company decided to suspend the sales of the fine products in the mainland and focus on ensuring the export supply.
In response to the decision to stop sales in the mainland, Qinghai Spring requires partners to stop submitting new orders for Tinghua boutique products from now on, and reasonably sell existing inventory. Tinghua boutique products can be displayed in the experience store, but not sold. Partners can still submit an application to the company for the tasting of Tinghua boutique packaging, and after the application is approved, they can carry out the tasting activities of Tinghua boutique in accordance with the corresponding support policy.
Qinghai Spring issued a relevant notice
Recently, a number of media reported that after being fined, offline Tinghuajiu has been operating normally, however, the reporter searched on Jingdong, Taobao and other e-commerce platforms with "Tinghuajiu" as the keyword, but could not find the corresponding results.
On May 14, the reporter of "Consumer Reports" consulted a Tinghua wine store in Suzhou as a consumer, and the store staff said that the store is currently open normally, and the store is not sold except for the Tinghua boutique with a price of more than 50,000 yuan, and can be tasted on the spot; Other series are in stock and sold as normal.
In addition to the news of the suspension of sales in the mainland of high-quality wines, Qinghai Spring also issued a notice to adjust the price of standard packaging of Tinghua wine, and the settlement price of standard packaging distributors of Tinghua wine was adjusted from the original settlement price to 3,989 yuan per bottle. It is understood that the terminal retail price of the standard bottle of Tinghua wine is 5,860 yuan per bottle. At the same time, Qinghai Spring will implement a limited quota supply measure for Tinghua wine. The partner, Yibin Tinghua Liquor Industry Development Co., Ltd., plans to ensure the total delivery of 30,000 tons of obedient products to the domestic market from 2025 to 2035. Under the condition that the total volume remains unchanged, the annual delivery volume increases year by year.
Qinghai Spring issued a relevant notice
However, this series of notices in Qinghai Spring does not seem to have been recognized by the public, and some netizens joked: "Only cut leeks from foreigners? ”
In response to measures such as suspending sales of boutique packaging in the mainland and adjusting the price of standard packaging, Consumer Reports recently sent an interview letter to Qinghai Spring, but has not received a response to relevant questions as of press time.
He was fined 1.8 million yuan for illegal publicity
Since its listing, Tinghuajiu has always been an incompatible existence in the market. In order to set off the sky-high price of the product, Tinghua Liquor has been labeled with a series of "high-end" and "technology" labels such as Nobel Prize franchise research and development, scientific research and verification. Not only that, but listening to the birth story of Huajiu lit by the old gentleman in his dream is even more amazing.
According to the description of the official website of Tinghua Liquor, the research and development and birth of Tinghua Liquor originated from a dream of Zhang Xuefeng, chairman of Qinghai Spring and chief designer of Tinghua Liquor:
Once, at 4 o'clock in the morning, Zhang Xuefeng took a nap in the laboratory leaning on a chair. In a trance-like dream, he seemed to be looking for something on the snowy mountains. An old man with a gold rope around his waist and fluttering white hair came to him, waved the dust, wrote a "live" word in his palm, and flew away. The movable type in the hand is shining and colorful. When he woke up, he subconsciously put his fingers in his palm, his thoughts seemed to pass through thousands of years of time and space, and he communicated with the wise men of ancient times, and a sentence came to his mind: "Water is alive on the tongue." Suddenly, he realized, 'Isn't the water on the tongue saliva - saliva?' ’。 ”
According to CCTV reports, the staff of Tinghuajiu Experience Store introduced the product, saying that Tinghuajiu has a powerful function, which can mobilize the body's self-conditioning function, make people's physical condition better and better, improve immunity, and regulate sleep. However, according to the CCTV reporter's investigation, the cooling agent mentioned in the patent of Tinghua Liquor is not a high-tech substance, but a common peppermint extract.
Listen to the statement on the official website of Huajiu about the research and development process
On April 27, Chengdu Tinghua Shengshi Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tinghua Shengshi"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qinghai Spring, received the "Administrative Penalty Notice" from the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Wuhou District, Chengdu. According to the "Administrative Penalty Notice", after investigation, in the process of selling Tinghua Liquor in the business premises, Tinghua Shengshi used the scientifically inconclusive views on the efficacy of Tinghua Liquor and unverified user evaluations for the promotion of Tinghua Liquor's products, making misleading publicity, and the circumstances were serious, and the above acts violated the relevant provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. The Wuhou District Municipal Supervision Bureau ordered it to immediately stop illegal propaganda and planned to impose a fine of 1.8 million yuan.
Qinghai Spring said in the announcement that the above punishment was made by the Wuhou District Municipal Supervision Bureau after the investigation of the relevant business activities of Tinghua Shengshi, and our company and its subsidiaries sincerely accepted it, and sincerely apologized to the majority of investors for this matter. Regarding the fact that "the scientifically inconclusive views and unverified user evaluations in the efficacy of 'Tinghua' liquor are used for the product promotion of 'Tinghua' liquor to make misleading propaganda behaviors", our company and its subsidiaries and all Tinghua liquor distributors will earnestly learn lessons, further enhance the law-abiding awareness of all employees, standardize the words and deeds of sales personnel, and prevent the recurrence of such propaganda behavior.
At present, the promotional direction of Tinghua wine has become more emphasis on taste. Open the homepage of the official website of Tinghua Liquor, "208 Chinese culinary masters who have been drinking liquor for more than 30 years praised it: I can't imagine that baijiu can be so delicious!" The promotional term is placed in large letters on the front page. On May 9, according to the "Times Weekly", the reporter visited the Tinghua Liquor Experience Store, and when introducing the Tinghua Liquor, the store staff rarely talked about the health care effect, but more to promote its purity and taste.
R&D expenses are less than one-tenth of sales expenses
The innovative process is one of the major selling points of Tinghua wine products. However, the financial report data shows that Qinghai Spring has spared no effort to invest heavily in sales expenses, but the investment in research and development is minimal.
At present, Qinghai Spring focuses on the operation of two major business segments: fast-moving wine products and big health. The beverage FMCG business segment is mainly focused on the research on the flavor, taste and health of liquor, the transformation of achievements and the sales of high-end liquor series such as "Listening to Flowers" and "Reading Flowers". The big health business segment is mainly based on the sales of Cordyceps sinensis grass and the sales of Chinese patent medicine products Lilung tablets.
According to the financial report, the sales expenses of Qinghai Spring in 2023 will be 171 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.78%, and the larger expenses are advertising and publicity fees, agency, design, and service fees, which are 78.176 million yuan and 61.61 million yuan respectively. Among them, the sales expenses of Tinghua Liquor brand promotion increased by 47.791 million yuan year-on-year. In comparison, the R&D expenses of Qinghai Spring in 2023 will only be 11.6395 million yuan, less than one-tenth of the sales expenses.
Tinghuajiu, which was pinned on by Qinghai Spring, also failed to recover the decline in Tinghuajiu's performance. According to the financial report, Qinghai Spring will achieve revenue of 214 million yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 33.52%, and a net profit loss of 268 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.6837 million yuan.
Among the operating income of 214 million yuan, Cordyceps sinensis and Chinese patent medicine achieved revenue of 38.9312 million yuan and 84.9058 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 97.50% and 103.66%. The operating income of liquor was 82.9476 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.42%.
Qinghai Spring 2023 Annual Report
Regarding the loss of net profit, Qinghai Spring explained that the company continued to strengthen the promotion of the Tinghua Liquor brand, and the sales expenses increased by 47.791 million yuan year-on-year, so that although the operating income increased compared with the same period last year, the income was not enough to cover the costs and the above losses.
Xiao Zhuqing, an independent commentator on China's liquor industry, believes that the price adjustment and suspension of Tinghua wine is a technical means, but it cannot change the rational consumption demand of consumers in the current consumption era to pursue clear consumption. With such a high price of Tinghua wine, it does not represent social attributes, and it does not meet the psychological price expectations based on consumer cognition.
For liquor companies, adjusting prices and limiting quotas is also a common practice to empower brands. Going to sea is the general trend in recent years. After a succession of planting, it remains to be tested whether Tinghua Liquor can regain market confidence.