Jinmailang is in a deep marketing dilemma and it is difficult to tear off the "low price tag"

"Hualong noodles, see you every day", for many consumers, this advertising slogan can be described as "childhood memories". And few people know that the former Hualong is now the Jinmailang brand. In March 1994, Fan Xianguo established Hualong and Hebei Longyao Hualong Food Co., Ltd. was established. In 2002 and 2003, Jinmailang laid the foundation for Hualong brand upgrading and strategic transformation.

In the era of fast food, the instant noodle market ushered in a fierce game situation, and with the rapid rise of brands such as Tangdaren, Jinmailang also joined the "big war". In the era when the instant noodle market tends to be saturated and growth is slowing down, new products are frequently released, but it is still difficult for Jinmailang to tear off the label of "low-end products". With multiple tracks in parallel, Jinmailang has also opened up bottled water and other fields, but in recent years, the price of bottled water has sunk and joined the "price war". There are many challenges in terms of products, frequent quality problems, and repeated obstacles in seeking to go public, all of which have given Jinmailang a heavy blow. After seven years of unsuccessful waiting, Jinmailang's dream of going public is still difficult to come true.

Sweeping red envelopes were subscribed to "traffic packages"

In May this year, Jinmailang's barrel noodles were hotly discussed. The reason is that a consumer said that the purchased Jinmailang barrel instant noodles have a lottery QR code on the lid, and next to it is written "100% winning". After he swept in and ordered, he inexplicably handled a traffic package package and was deducted more than 20 yuan.

Another netizen also publicly reported that she had bought Jinmailang bucket noodles and participated in the QR code sweepstakes, winning a coupon. Follow the prompts to enter the verification code, and then click "Claim Now", and the lottery page will jump to the page of "Congratulations, successful application". A few seconds later, the netizen received a text message prompting her mobile phone number to successfully activate the package related to the traffic package, and before that, she did not know that she was handling this package.

Consumers thought they were the "lucky winners" who won the lottery, but they unexpectedly became the "new customers" of the operators. Recently, the reporter found in offline supermarkets that some supermarkets have not marked the "'code' on the red envelope, 100% winning" packaging products, shopping platform sales of Jinmailang barrel noodles customer service also said that the packaging is shipped randomly. The reporter finally bought a "1 and a half barrel of braised beef noodles" with "100% winning" in a convenience store, and the production date is August 24, 2024. Lifting the paper cover, the reporter scans the QR code, and needs to authorize the "Everyday Gifts" platform to read the information, showing that there are 3 lottery opportunities. One of the prizes is a communication platform points to exchange for video membership rights, the reporter logged in and displayed "This exchange will consume 2280 points to exchange for 1.8 yuan red envelopes, and give 19 yuan video coupons, which can be used by members who purchase videos". It can be seen that whether it is a cash red envelope or a video membership discount coupon, the prize given by Jinmailang is only the right to use the points of the communication platform to redeem such products, and the points consumed are the points originally owned by the consumer. At the same time, the reporter also found that if you want to receive and use this prize, you need to add additional attention to 2 official accounts in the process and be read personal information.

For the previous consumer disputes and questions, the reporter recently sent a letter to consult the official of Jinmailang, but did not receive a reply as of the date of publication. In the early stage, Jinmailang publicly responded that the event awards include physical prizes, cash red envelopes (can be withdrawn over 0.3 yuan), and coupons suitable for various platforms. The opening of the traffic package fed back by netizens is actually a coupon prize. If consumers do not have similar needs, they can return directly to continue the lottery.

However, there are still netizens who do not accept this statement, thinking that Jinmailang's reminder about opening relevant packages is not eye-catching enough, and there is no more obvious prompt during the opening process. There are also netizens who left a message on the platform, saying, "I bought the white elephant bagged instant noodles, saying that I have a chance to win by scanning the code, and the various levels of awards and the probability of winning are clearly written, and I won the two smallest prizes, which seem to be 0.3 yuan a, and I will arrive on WeChat immediately." "I have saved a lot of seasoning bags to scan the code bag, which used to be able to be scanned at one time without limit, but now I can only scan one a day, and the routine is too deep."

Jinmailang, who is deeply involved in the "code scanning turmoil", is also constantly falling into the discussion of food quality problems. The reporter learned on the black cat complaint platform that Jinmailang has been repeatedly complained by consumers, including "foreign objects", "Jinmailang instant noodles found nail covers", "instant noodles are moldy", "noodles are stained" and other problems. It can be observed that most of the complaints from consumers are directed at the problem of foreign bodies in the bread, and some consumers feel unwell after consumption. In August 2022, a verdict disclosed by the Yanzhou District People's Court of Jining City showed that two employees of Jinmailang Yanzhou Company, in order not to waste ingredients and not be fined, concealed the true data of waste materials (noodles) and conspired to pull more than 100 tons of substandard instant noodles from the factory for sale. In addition, many batches of instant noodles were detected to have an acid value exceeding the standard.

Is cooked water a sentiment or a gimmick?

Starting from Nongfu Spring's launch of green packaged purified water, this year's packaged drinking water market competition has intensified. In the field of pure water, the prices of brands such as Nongfu Spring, Wahaha, and Jinmailang have fallen, and the average price of the industry has returned to the "era of 1 yuan" from about 2 yuan.

It is reported that the bottled water market is highly concentrated, and in 2021, the market share of the top 6 companies such as Nongfu Spring, C'estbon, Master Kong, Wahaha, Baisui Mountain, and Binglu will exceed 80%. Jinmailang is not among the top six. In this situation, the pressure faced by Jinmailang can be imagined.

Now, while Mailang is launching low-cost purified water of the same category as other brands, it has also become popular with "cool white" in recent years. A few years ago, once "Liangbaikai" was launched, it really touched the memory of countless consumers who loved to drink Liangbaikai since childhood, and they bought it one after another. With the continuous decline in the price of bottled water and the successive launch of similar competing products, Jinmailang's "cool white open" seems to have gradually been forgotten. The reporter inquired about the shopping software and takeaway platform and found that the price of a single bottle of "cool white open" was about 1.2 yuan, which seemed to have little advantage in the "1 yuan era" of bottled water.

The reporter learned that some industry insiders have publicly pointed out that cooked water is a good marketing gimmick. Because cooked water competes with mineral water, it can develop its strengths and avoid its weaknesses and avoid the barrier of mineral water sources; Competing with purified water can introduce the concept of high-temperature disinfection. After comparing and analyzing various data, some media have concluded that cooked water products are a new classification of the bottled water market, which is still bottled water in essence, and lacks corresponding data to support it in terms of safety and taste, and does not distinguish or stand out from other bottled water products. Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in the food industry, also pointed out that the concept of Liangbaikai is a "pseudo-innovation", and its water source has no advantage, and the price has no advantage.

Some experts also said that in the past, people had limited means of treating water, and heating and boiling and cooking were almost the only feasible methods. Nowadays, people have more options to better achieve water sterilization and purification, such as chlorine compounds, ozone, ultraviolet light, activated carbon, reverse osmosis, etc. Cooked water in the traditional sense is not necessary for health. UHT sterilization is also not an advanced technology, and it is the most conventional processing technology in the food industry. For example, ambient milk is completely sterilized by ultra-high temperature sterilization and then filled into aseptic containers on an aseptic production line.

The road to listing is long and difficult

Listing is the dream of every enterprise to develop and grow to a certain stage. Jinmailang is no exception. On June 9, 2017, the listing kick-off meeting of Jinmailang Noodles Co., Ltd. was held, announcing the official sprint to IPO. In 2019, Jinmailang tried to cooperate with Rheinland Sports to go public through a backdoor listing through a transfer of control, but in the end it ended in vain.

The reporter learned that on December 23, 2020, Jinmailang signed a listing assistance agreement with China Securities Construction Investment to prepare for the impact of A-shares. According to the information on the official website of the Hebei Securities Regulatory Bureau, China Securities Construction Investment released guidance work reports on March 29 and July 30, 2021 respectively. After that, I couldn't see the update, and Jinmailang couldn't go public. In January 2022, Jinmailang was favored by Jiahua Capital and obtained 600 million yuan in financing. In the past 20 years, in the capital market, too many expectations and development ambitions have been poured into Jinmailang. However, the result is repeated defeat, or it is not resolved.

Jinmailang's strong listing complex may be related to competitors in the same industry. In 1994, when Hualong Instant Noodle Factory, the predecessor of Jinmailang, was first established, Master Kong and Tongyi Instant Noodles at that time had already occupied 80% of the market share. After years of hard work, Jinmailang was finally able to compete with Master Kong and Uni-President on the same stage. Master Kong and Uni-President have been listed in 1996 and 2007 respectively.

From the beginning of its establishment, Jinmailang aimed at the rural sinking market, relying on cheap and affordable reputation, and quickly occupied the small stores all over the urban and rural areas. Jinmailang, who started with low prices, has found it difficult to tear off the "low-end" label. To attract attention with a large amount, Jinmailang has launched "a bag and a half" and "a bucket and a half", and shouted out the marketing slogan of "spend the same money, the amount is mostly half happy", and it is still the sinking market, and the same kind of competing brands have long been invariably to the high-end market.

The White Elephant brand, which also takes the low-price route, is gradually squeezing into the front line of the instant noodle category. It is reported that in 2023, the revenue of Jinmailang's instant noodle segment will be 6.367 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.29%, and the output will be 3.804 billion copies, a year-on-year decrease of 20.09%. This year, in the instant noodle market, White Elephant broke into the top three, and Jinmailang fell to the fourth place with a market share of 10%. It is reported that in 2022, Jinmailang proposed the concept of 0 fried noodles and launched a 0 fried noodle ramen fan. At this year's convenience food conference, Fan Xianguo, chairman of Jinmailang, re-mentioned this direction. This may mean that "one and a half bags" and "one and a half buckets" of large items will be discarded.

Source: Shandong Business Daily