This summer, the high temperature not only brought the test of the scorching heat, but also ignited the price war in the bottled water market. Walking into major supermarkets, it is not difficult to find that the bottled water area has become the most lively battlefield. Nongfu Spring, C'estbon, Wahaha and other leading brands have offered price reduction banners.
In fact, as early as June this year, some consumers found that Nongfu Spring launched a limited-time special offer, and 12 bottles of pure water were only sold for 9.9 yuan, with a unit price of less than one yuan, which quickly attracted market attention.
However, in the face of the temptation of the 100-billion-level pure water market and the intensification of competition, even industry giants such as Cestbon and Wahaha have to follow up with low prices.
According to Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in China's food industry, "Nongfu Spring, as a listed company, should lead the high-quality development of the industry, rather than choosing to hit the market with a low-price strategy, which not only fails to reflect the sense of social responsibility of the enterprise, but may disrupt the normal order of the market and cause the entire industry to fall into chaos." "A battle for the price and market share of pure water is raging across the country, and the market is entering the era of "1 yuan". In this regard, Zhu Danpeng also bluntly said: "I think the trend of price war may continue for a while. ”
Entering the "1 yuan" era This summer, the price war in the pure water market is not limited to individual brands or regions, but is fully rolled out, forming an unprecedented competitive pattern.
Among them, Nongfu Spring's green bottle of pure water has become the "pioneer" in this price war, and its price is even as low as 0.66 yuan per bottle in some channels, far lower than the regular market price.
"The price of six cents and six seems to have reached a limit, and it is difficult to have more room for reduction." Zhu Danpeng, an analyst of China's food industry, bluntly said to reporters, "Nongfu Spring is a spoiler, and it does not talk about martial arts." In the face of Nongfu Spring's fierce offensive, other brands are not to be outdone. Pure water giants such as Cestbon and Wahaha have launched preferential promotions to attract consumers through price reductions and bundled sales.
On the shelves of many supermarkets, the price of large-packaged purified water has dropped significantly, and the price of a single bottle is generally approaching 1 yuan.
According to the reporter's statistics, the price of 12 bottles of Nongfu Spring pure water in some offline supermarkets is 9.9 yuan, equivalent to 0.8 yuan per bottle, the price of 12 bottles of Cestbon is 18.7 yuan, and the price of 12 bottles of Wahaha is 15.8 yuan, and the unit price is about 1.5 yuan.
Online, major brands are also not underestimating their promotional efforts, with limited-time discounts and discounts further lowering the retail price of purified water.
The price of 12 bottles of purified water in Nongfu Spring's official flagship store has also dropped to 9.9 yuan, Cestbon purified water is also sold at a reduced price online, and the price of a single bottle in its official flagship store on Tmall is about 1.4 yuan; Wahaha pure water has been slightly more modest, and the actual price of a single bottle remains at about 2 yuan.
Visitation: The minimum is 0.41 yuan
Local media in Fuyang, Anhui Province found that in a large local supermarket, the price of 12 bottles of mineral water ranged from 9.9 yuan to 24 yuan, and the unit price was 0.82 yuan to 2 yuan per bottle.
In the local Lifetime Fresh supermarket, the price of 24 bottles of mineral water is 9.9 yuan, and the unit price is 0.41 yuan per bottle.
Under the impact of the price war, China's pure water market may face a "reshuffle".
China's bottled water market has long been dominated by several major brands, among which established purified water brands such as Nongfu Spring, Cestbon and Wahaha occupy an important share. In recent years, purified water, the largest segment of bottled water, has become a battlefield for major water brands. According to the CIC report, the market size of purified drinking water will reach RMB 120.6 billion in 2023, and retail sales are expected to reach RMB 178.9 billion by 2028.
According to the public information of China Resources Beverage, the retail sales of China Resources C'estbon purified water will reach 39.5 billion yuan in 2023, accounting for 32.7% of China's drinking purified water market share, ranking first, far ahead of Wahaha, which ranks second with 8.9%, followed by Jinmailang with 6.1%, Jingtian with 3.7% and Master Kong with 2.6%. It can be seen that the cake of the pure water market is big enough, but it is not evenly divided.
Farmer's "green bottle" may also cause the price to drop sharply after Nongfu Spring launched the green bottle of purified water in April. Nongfu Spring's 618 battle report shows that during the promotion period, the sales volume of new Nongfu Spring pure water products exceeded one million pieces, and Nongfu Spring also topped the Jingdong water drink list. It can be seen that the low-price strategy has achieved very good results.
"On the whole, the green bottle is more used as cannon fodder, as a tool and weapon for fighting a price war." Zhu Danpeng analyzed, "This business philosophy is problematic, through the ultra-low price strategy, although it may attract attention in the short term, but in the long run, it damages the healthy and orderly development of the industry, and at the same time brings an unfair competitive environment for other brands, to some extent, it is to benefit people." ”
But the brands are not without resistance, the person in charge of a supermarket said frankly that its stores only sell 24 bottles of pure water, Nongfu Spring and Cestbon purchase price is 24 yuan / piece, equivalent to 1 yuan per bottle, wahaha purchase price is 23 yuan / piece, equivalent to 0.96 yuan per bottle, the price of the three brands are 28 yuan / piece. In terms of gross profit per bottle, Wahaha has the highest profitability (0.21 yuan/bottle), followed by Nongfu Spring and Cestbon (both 0.17 yuan/bottle). "In fact, Cestbon pure water brings the highest profits, mainly due to high sales and high display costs."
At the same time, the cross-border entry of new brands has also brought new variables to the market. Brands that had previously been successful in other fields, such as Genki Forest and Haitian, began to set their sights on the bottled water market. At the beginning of June, Yuanqi Forest launched a new pure water product on the e-commerce platform. At present, the price of 24 bottles of the purified water is 46.45 yuan, about 1.9 yuan per bottle. The soy sauce brand Haitian has also launched the purified water product "Haitian Chun" in a small area. The addition of these emerging brands not only enriches the market choice, but also intensifies the fierce competition in the market.
However, once this "water war" has begun, it will be difficult to turn back. It is not only a price war, but also a comprehensive contest of market strategy, brand strength, supply chain management and so on.
"In fact, Nongfu Spring, Cestbon, Wahaha and other brands have provided promotional support, mainly shelf array subsidies, of which Cestbon is more powerful." The person in charge of a supermarket said. In addition, he also emphasized that the frequency of visits by Cestbon salesmen is higher than that of other purified water brands. "This high-frequency interaction not only deepens the cooperative relationship with the store, but also greatly helps to increase the sales of purified water, which is conducive to the growth of store performance."
The price war is only the tip of the iceberg, and it is more about the competition in product quality, innovation and research and development, channel expansion, service optimization, etc. Excessive price wars may also trigger vicious competition in the industry, undermine market order, and make the entire industry fall into the quagmire of low-level competition, making it difficult to achieve healthy and sustainable development. "Recently, I have indeed found that the surrounding chain stores are carrying out low-price promotions." The person in charge of the above-mentioned supermarket said bluntly, "I still hope that dealers will unify the retail price and avoid unfair competition." ”
Source: CCTV Finance, Fuyang 916
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