Wen 丨 Li Huanhuan
Luckin's "raw coconut series", which sold more than 10 million cups in a single month, has ignited the category of coconut milk. For a time, there are many people who enter the game, but how much "coconut milk" is carried, it still needs to go through the test of the market.
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On a weekday afternoon at the end of April, the weather in Wuhan began to turn hot, and out of the dual needs of early and cool, I bought a cup of iced raw coconut latte at Luckin Coffee downstairs. At that time, I only felt that I had drunk a cup of ordinary new products, and I never expected that it would lead the "coconut" whirlwind of tea and coffee this summer.
Now, summer is over, and the sound of "raw coconut latte YYDS" still rings on major social media.
According to luckin's official statistics, since the official launch of the raw coconut series on April 12, by June 30, it has achieved a single monthly sales of more than 10 million cups, refreshing its new product sales record. The raw coconut series was once sold out and could not be bought, and consumers tried to DIY at home. Its degree of persistence, in the Little Red Book about the "homemade raw coconut latte" 5W+ notes, or a supporting evidence.
Seeing that Luckin's raw coconut series is on fire, other coffee brands, such as M stand and Seesaw, have also launched the "coconut" series of coffees. And the new tea drink next door, which has always been rolled inward, is certainly not willing to fall.
Chabaidao took the lead in launching "Raw Coconut" in April; Nai Xue's tea was launched at the end of June, launching three products such as raw coconut avocado smoothie, colorful jelly, and raw coconut sticky rice; Heytea's new raw coconut coconut latte series in July launched three new products: raw coconut coconut latte, raw coconut latte, and coconut lemon American style. At the beginning of this month, Heytea's store in Guangzhou launched a coconut sausage powder cake, which makes raw coconut milk into an intestinal powder skin and combines Cantonese sausage powder with Western-style desserts.
According to the statistics of more than 20 beverage brands, a total of 160+ coconut-related products have been added in the past six months.
From coffee, to tea, to desserts, staple foods, from chain coffee shops to independent cafes, coffee and tea brands are desperately "rolling" around coconuts, creating a sense of "everything can be coconut" atmosphere.
Driven by this wind, the raw material behind raw coconut drinks, "coconut milk", has become the new focus of the industry. And Luckin's raw coconut latte used in the "thick coconut milk" supplier - Fino, a new consumer brand focusing on the production and research and development of coconut drinks, in addition to the industry's attention, but also broke the circle of fire to the consumer end.
Since being photographed by a blogger in the operation background of Luckin Coffee and uploaded to the Internet, Fino's thick coconut milk has been identified by netizens as the preferred coconut milk for "homemade raw coconut latte". Under the common "demand" of the B-end and the C-end, Fino's coconut milk production increased by 700% in half a year.
As a new product concept and subdivision track, coconut milk has attracted the layout of many brands. In addition to pioneer Fino, Pan Pan Food also launched a new product thick coconut milk in early August, playing the slogan of "everyone is a master of special blending" and positioning special coconut milk for tea and coffee. Zhang Li, head of the marketing department of Fino, told FMCG that in the past month, many brands have launched dozens of similar coconut milk products, and some unknown small brands have even directly copied Fino's products, making them invincible.
In fact, whether it is for coffee or tea, it is difficult for brands to innovate in coffee or tea itself, and can only play tricks on ingredients. Just like milk tea brands have developed grapes, mangoes, lychees, strawberries and other popular fruits in the past few years, this summer began to start a niche fruit such as oranges and yellow peels.
The same is true of coffee brands, and in recent years, product innovation has basically revolved around dairy products. Luckin Coffee has launched explosive products in recent years, meteorite lattes, post-milk lattes, and then raw coconut lattes, and the dairy products used have been upgraded from ordinary milk to more mellow thick milk. With the rise of plant-based concepts, plant-based drinks have also begun to be widely used in coffee. From the earliest soy milk, to last year's fire of oat milk, and then to this year's more mellow coconut milk, in order to meet consumers' high requirements for health and taste, the plant-based drinks in coffee are also constantly iterating.
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As a subdivision of coconut drinks, is the concept of "coconut milk" an accident or inevitability in this summer's explosion?
Zhang Li said bluntly that Fino's coconut milk can fire out of the circle, which is indeed somewhat unexpected. But overall, behind the popularity is the general environment of the beverage market, the cultivation of the coconut juice market by big brands such as coconut trees for many years, and the combination of multiple factors such as Fino's own product strength, consumption scenarios and brand innovation.
The acceptance of coconut drinks in the Chinese people has always been relatively high, look at the traditional coconut milk brands such as coconut trees and happy homes that have stood firm for many years to know that coconut milk has always been the largest single market segment in China's plant protein drinks. According to the Tmall 2020 Plant Protein Beverage Innovation Trend, coconut flavor has the fastest growth rate among all flavored beverages, up to 109%. In addition, coconut water is also the most widely used juice in new tea drinks.
Although the market acceptance of coconut milk is high, the products, packaging, advertising styles and consumption scenes of brands such as Coconut Tree that have remained unchanged for decades inevitably make people feel tired. This gives new brands like Fino the opportunity to enter the game.
In the face of the 4 billion yuan of coconut trees, The strategy adopted by Fino, which has been established for less than 6 years, is to "focus on new consumer groups, play new product concepts, and develop new consumption scenarios" to find new opportunities in the market.
"Thick coconut milk" is a product concept pioneered by Fino, from the ingredient list, it is only one more "coconut water" with traditional coconut milk, but the taste is very different. Zhang Li told FMCG that the taste of coconut milk is like a relatively thin juice; and coconut milk because of the use of cold pressing technology, coconut juice content is higher, and coconut water is added, its taste is more like fresh raw milk, more mellow; "thick", is reflected in its concentration, because it is a special drink for coffee and tea, thick coconut milk is thicker than the general direct drink dairy products.
The difference between thick coconut milk and coconut water is like the difference between ice blog milk and ordinary milk that was popular in the previous two years.
It is reported that when Ruixing selected coconut milk ingredients for the "raw coconut" series, it tested more than 80 "raw coconut pulp" before and after, and finally chose raw coconut milk that was mellow, silky, coconut-flavored and refreshing but did not "steal the scene", which had a big hit raw coconut latte.
The positioning of Fino Thick Coconut Milk is "tea and coffee special coconut milk", focusing on consumption scenarios such as cafes, afternoon tea, and family gatherings, and the main channel for the B-end café, followed by the tea shop. Avoiding direct competition with traditional coconut milk in consumption scenarios such as direct drinking, meal accompaniment, and gift-giving, Fino's thick coconut milk quickly penetrated into first- and second-tier cities across the country.
According to Zhang Li, Fino has entered more than 800 coffee shops in Shanghai and more than 2,000 in the country, basically covering all provincial capitals.
The rise of the "homemade raw coconut latte" also allowed Fino to see the possibility of C-end market development, and launched the thick coconut milk Mini package in July.
In terms of product positioning, consumer groups and consumption scenarios, Fino is similar to Oatly, the plant-based drink of the previous fire. Fino also said in the previous publicity that it is necessary to do Oatly in coconut milk and Oatly in China.
However, from the perspective of the current product volume and category influence, there is still a big gap between Fino and Oatly. Although it has been recognized by the market at the B-end, the coconut milk segment needs a long period of market education if it wants to develop in the long run. In addition, in the short term, it also has to deal with the fluctuations in sales caused by seasonal drinks such as raw coconut lattes. After the weather turns cooler, it is particularly urgent that the coconut milk brand needs to develop more application scenarios.
Although in the short and long term, new consumer brands such as Fino are facing no small challenge, whether they can stand in the market for a long time will undergo many tests. However, in the eyes of FMCG, they challenge the inherent coconut juice pattern in China through new product concepts and consumption scenarios, enrich the product connotation of coconut milk, and make it closer to young people, which is already valuable.