After opening the information of "Mr. BlackMi Mr. Himi", it is really difficult to believe that this is a brand that has just been established for more than a year, and a random label is the result that many brands can't hope for. Mr. Heimi pioneered the AI dietitian system to provide exclusive fresh food recommendation services for pet families; is the first cutting-edge pet brand in China to launch "functional fresh grain"; and pioneered the pet fresh food customization model that combines "pet fresh food + big data + intelligent algorithm recommendation".
Recently, after an interview with founder and CEO Ye Qing for an hour and a half, the reporter of the "New Consumer Maker" column found that it was not accidental that the brand achieved impressive results in only one year of establishment, but seven years of planning.
Guest of the 014 issue of "The New Consumer Creator"
Mr. Heimi founder and CEO Ye Qing and Heimi
As he said: "Whether it is the first AI dietitian recommendation model or the formulation research and development of functional fresh grains, in fact, we have spent many years silently developing iterative products, and used a lot of patience to polish one thing - scientific pets." ”
How exactly does "Mr. Black Rice Mr. Himi" stand out in the highly competitive pet food market?
Creator: How is the current competition in the pet food market?
Ye Qing:
Compared with the differences in the market pattern of pet food at home and abroad, the foreign pet food market is relatively mature, fresh grain accounts for about 36% of the staple food market in the United States, Japan also reaches 42%, and China's pet fresh food market accounts for less than 10%, which is obviously lagging behind. Of course, users who use fresh food feeding also include many pet owners or pet shop owners who make food for their pets DIY, and this part of the data is not statistical.
Nowadays, with the overall upgrading of domestic consumption level, the ideology of consumers has changed, and ready-to-eat fresh grain products that are both nutritious and convenient are more easily accepted in the process of pet raising young people, which has also become a new trend of domestic pet raising. Pet fresh food products have great potential for development in China.
Mr. Heimi provides exclusive feeding programs for pet families and provides healthy and nutritious full-price fresh grains, functional fresh foods and dog and cat snack products, providing full-cycle health management for pets in an all-round way and improving the happiness of pets.
Creator: Where do you think Mr. Himi's core competitiveness in the market is?
Mr. Heimi's core competitiveness has three: good products, convenient and professional.
The first is that the product is good, and the nutritional full-price fresh grain formula, the functional fresh grain for different disease therapeutic needs, and the strict quality control are the basis of good products. "Innocence" is the principle of our product research and development, 0 preservatives, 0 food attractants, 0 meat powder, real materials, clear particles, no additives. Whether it is fresh food or snacks, it is based on the principle of pet health and scientific pet raising.
The second is convenience, in terms of food selection, in the "Mr. Black Rice" WeChat Mini Program, a set of databases based on AFCO nutrition standards and formula nutritional values have been created, users only need 30 seconds to answer the questionnaire, Mr. Black Rice's self-created "AI Dietitian Recommendation System" will automatically calculate the most suitable feeding program for pets according to the specific conditions of pet age, breed, weight, living habits, eating habits, etc., to provide pet owners with personalized, professional scientific pet guidance and food selection suggestions. For users to avoid the misunderstanding of pet raising, it is very convenient and easy to operate for 0 basic pet users.
In terms of products, Mr. Heimi broke the old method of traditional cold chain transportation and cold chain preservation, and took the lead in combining human aviation food-grade vacuum preservation packaging technology with 121 °C high-temperature cooking sterilization process in pet food, ensuring that fresh food can be stored at room temperature without preservatives, and the characteristics of independent packaging and open bag eating make it safer and more convenient for pet families to feed.
The third is professionalism, Mr. Heimi's team members have the top pet nutritionists and pet doctors in China, from the two aspects of pet nutrition and pet diseases to meet the nutritional needs of pets.
The Creator: In this market environment, what problems has Mr. Heimi Encountered?
The problems we encounter in promotion are mainly divided into two aspects:
First, for the market education of scientific pets, many non-professionals on the Internet will spread the wrong pet knowledge, so that users have misunderstandings about fresh food feeding. In fact, studies at home and abroad have shown that fresh grain feeding does not increase the calculus of pets, and even produces fewer calculus than puffed dry food
The second is to change the audience's distrust of domestic grains, users generally believe that foreign products are highly technical, strictly regulated, and safer, not knowing that China is known as the world's factory, and even more than half of the pet food of foreign brands is produced in China. At present, the production technology of domestic pet food has reached the leading level, food supervision is becoming more and more stringent, and information dissemination is more transparent.
"Creator": In terms of product development, how many product lines do we have now, and what is the product matrix?
Mr. Heimi focuses on "zero additive ism", at present, there are 2 product lines under the product matrix, instant fresh food series and pure snack series, all products are guaranteed to have zero additives, that is, 0 preservatives, 0 tempting agents, 0 gum, which is our commitment to users, but also has been adhering to the original intention of "scientific pet raising".
The first is the ready-to-eat fresh food product line, where Mr. Kuromi's team of pet nutritionists and pet doctors have jointly developed up to 136 canine food formulas, including full-price nutritious fresh food series and auxiliary medical functional fresh food series.
The second is the pure snack series, the pure series and ready-to-eat fresh food are the same as the zero additive doctrine, restoring the most own taste and nutrition of the food. Adhere to 0 meat powder, the whole piece of real meat is clearly visible, safe and secure.
The Creator:
What is the idea of Mr. Heimi's AI dietitian-specific customization model? At present, what aspects of big data are used in brands?
Mr. Heimi has always adhered to and advocated the principle of scientific pet raising and respecting individual differences, rather than giving different varieties of pets of different sizes the same pet food, so he pioneered the "pet fresh food + big data + intelligent algorithm" combination of pet fresh food "AI nutritionist exclusive customization model", combined with big data scientific calculations, to help pet families avoid pits.
The team began in 2015 and continued to collect and accumulate clinical data for many years, and the empowerment of pet food feeding through data was also launched from then on. Our team itself has many years of Internet experience and data analysis genes, big data and the Internet are our tools, to help us provide users with better and more suitable products.
Big data management has penetrated into all aspects of the enterprise, including the questionnaire collection of the "Mr. Black Rice" WeChat Mini Program wechat mini program developed by ourselves, the background management system, the ERP system, and the management system of the procurement source, which can more efficiently manage all aspects of the supply chain and production. At the same time, the AI intelligent dietitian was developed, which provided free services for users online, efficient and convenient.
"The Creator": Mr. Heimi Mr. Himi's unique "functional fresh food" is the brand's product logic?
The most important thing in product research and development is to take pet health and scientific pet raising as the core, followed by market sales.
Now the domestic pet functional food is only puffed dry food, and the market is basically occupied by foreign brands, they have high tariffs, products and channels are relatively opaque, the overall price is very high. More than 52% of pets in China are sub-healthy, 30% + have suffered from diseases or are suffering from diseases, in fact, at least more than half of the diseases can be treated with food aids, similar to human diet therapy. Some users, because of the lack of pet medical knowledge, delay treatment or eat the wrong food lead to aggravation of pet diseases, such as kidney disease, diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, orthopedic diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, etc. are related to food.
Therefore, we decided to do "functional fresh food", which is also the first pet fresh food brand in China to launch "functional fresh food", which helps pets assist in the treatment of chronic diseases such as indigestion, tear marks, hair removal, pancreatitis, etc., and also has functional foods that meet the specific nutritional needs of different surgical recovery periods.
From the production of the product to the transportation process, what measures does Mr. Himi have to ensure the quality of the product?
At present, the domestic fresh grain market is professional and safe from the production environment, process technology to storage and transportation There are two conditions for the growth of food microorganisms, one is improper preservation of ingredients before production, and the other is that the friction temperature of agitation during production increases.
Mr. Heimi cuts off the growth of microorganisms from the source in two links, and first before the ingredients are thawed, they are directly put into a blender for processing, using low temperatures to inhibit the growth of microorganisms. Secondly, after premixing, direct vacuum packaging is used to isolate the air to avoid the propagation of microorganisms.
In the storage link, ensure that the ingredients have undergone two screenings, one is that the product is put into the thermostatic cabin for more than 37 degrees for 7 days after production, and the test is checked whether the product is qualified, and the second is to the delivery link, and the delivery personnel check again.
The Creator: How big is the factory supply chain and how is it managed?
We cooperate with several top factories in China, and carry out in-depth cooperation with factories, deeply participate in raw material procurement, production and processing, packaging material management, etc., and even jointly transform and develop equipment, improve efficiency, improve safety attributes.
Product quality control is very strict, through the factory's two quality inspection processes, the product will be delivered to the user's hands.
"Creator": What are the skills and experience of private domain operation through Tencent Ecology?
Mr. Heimi pays great attention to the relationship with users, taking the AI intelligent recommendation system of the WeChat Mini Program "Mr. Heimi" as the core, establishing contact with users through the WeChat ecology, and establishing a closed loop of services through the WeChat ecosystem to provide users with more accurate and effective services and establish relationships with users. Recently, we have just been listed as a representative of pet brands in the "2021 Top 100 Supernova Brands List" released by Tencent.
We believe that the core of the operation is to fully tap the uniqueness of our own products, and the "136 fresh grain + AI dietitian customization system" is our unique and core highlight, so our private domain focuses on the popularization of users' scientific pet knowledge, the linkage promotion of the 1v1 intelligent dietitian system, and after-sales pet counseling. The pet industry is a market with considerable potential, and we only need to do a good job in products and services.
Creator: How did the first seed users accumulate?
The Mr. Heimi brand debuted at the 2020 Asian Pet Show, where it became a hit because of the visual image design of functional fresh grains and youthfulness, and thus accumulated the first batch of seed users.
Creator: What are your plans and expectations for the brand in the next 3 to 5 years?
First of all, I hope that fresh grain feeding can get more attention from the market, and I really feel that Chinese pet families need scientific pet knowledge sharing, and Mr. Heimi is also willing to play such a role to help pet families solve pet health problems. We also hope to reach or provide services for more pampered families in China.
In the future, we hope to do some more interesting cooperation, such as preparing a pet restaurant, setting up a central kitchen, and allowing pet owners to DIY safe, healthy, scientific and nutritious staple foods for pets on the spot.