Zhang Chun, President of OATLY Asia: The long-term development of the category depends on technology, brand and market order

"OATLY will build two new production bases and an R&D center in China."

Author: Liu Xiaoqi

Edit: tuya

Producer: Financial Graffiti

At the FBIF2021 Food and Beverage Innovation Forum held on June 30, 2021, Chun Zhang, President of OATLY Asia, gave an update.

OATLY initially made a plant-based wave in Northern Europe, then expanded to North America, and only came to China in early 2018. However, it should be noted that its playing style in China is not the same as in Northern Europe.

Zhang Chun said that after OATLY entered China in early 2018, it suffered Waterloo, and the number of products purchased in Ole or City'super was sparse, and most people did not know what oat milk really was; at that time, the company's category positioning of products in China was also vague.

Therefore, after exploration, OATLY chose to start from the coffee scene, and in March and April 2018, OATLY proposed "three ones", that is, a city (Shanghai), a market (coffee), and a product (oat milk). The following year, OATLY won more than 4,000 boutique cafes.

"By the fourth quarter of 2020," Zhang Chun said, "[I] obviously feel that the oat milk category has risen." ”

Zhang Chun said that there were more than 200 companies registering oat milk in February this year alone. At the same time, according to Lu Xiuqiong, a global expert partner of Bain & Company, as of now, there are about 5,000 players in the oat milk industry.

"After the outlet came," Lu Xiuqiong said, "everyone wants to be a flying pig on the outlet." ”

When it comes to the future, Zhang Chun believes that the track of oat milk must be a track of a hundred-year long rainbow or even a thousand-year long rainbow. As for how a category can go on for a long time, he mentioned three points:

The first is to have leading technology, because technology can give this category continuous growth, including products and consumption habits, the iteration of ideas; secondly, there are leading brands, good brands can grasp the minds of consumers from the starting point; the third is the market order, if there is no market order, now thousands of companies, the category window period will be very short.

In the future, OATLY will implement the "1+2+1" plan. One is to continue to use the Singapore factory; the second is that two new production bases will be built in China, one in Anhui and the other has not been disclosed; and finally, there will be a research and development center in China.

As Gen Z has gradually become the main consumer force, OATLY has also made great efforts to move closer to young people. After completing the rebranding in 2014, OATLY mentioned becoming a creative company that communicates with young people in a cool, cool, and trendy way.

At the same time, OATLY also wants to make itself a Spirit (kernel) that can be found in every scene, not just in the coffee scene.

As the first stock of plant-based beverages, OATLY (OTLY.US) has not lost its popularity since its listing, and its market value has remained high - on May 20, 2021, the market value of OATLY on the first day of listing was nearly $12 billion, an increase of nearly 10 billion from $2 billion in July last year; as of press time, OATLY's market value exceeded $15 billion.

In 2020, OATLY achieved revenue of $420 million, an increase of 106.5% year-on-year, but losses also increased by 69.4% year-on-year to $0.6 billion. In Q1 2021, OATLY revenue increased 66.2% year-over-year to $141 million, with a loss of $0.08 billion.