Introduction: Meal replacement and light food are both hundreds of billions of markets, but the overlap between the two is too strong.
This article is 2507 words; it takes 7 minutes to read; reading suggestion: collect first and then read carefully
<h1>01</h1>
<h1>Sci-fi shines into reality</h1>
In 1973, a film called "Let the Place! Make the place! The American science fiction novel was adapted into a movie and named "Super Century Spy Murder".
The film tells the story of the future world of 2022 - overcrowded, food shortages, a food group called Soylent began to produce synthetic food, this kind of food made of soybeans and "soldier beans" has greatly alleviated the food crisis of future people.
Although there are not many science fiction movies that tell the story of the future world having to rely on some kind of synthetic food due to lack of food, "Super Century Spy Murder" can indeed be regarded as a forerunner.
▲ Stills of "Super Century Spy Murder"
What is more sci-fi than the movie is that today, 46 years later, the "Soylent Group" not only came out of the movie, but also successfully entered 4378 Wal-Mart supermarkets in the United States, and the products sold were also called "food terminators" and "future food" by the media.
And when it comes to the founding of Soylent, we have to mention one person.
In 2013, electrical engineer Rob Rhinehart, disgusted with eating unhealthy fast food and being a man who didn't like to cook, had a sudden idea: "Since it's only the nutrients in the food that keep our bodies functioning, not the things themselves, why don't I eat them directly?" ”
So he began to buy various nutrients on Amazon, and mixed them according to the proportions in nutrition books, trying to use them instead of his normal diet.
After a month of doing this, Rob felt very good, and not only that, but he also saw a business opportunity in it.
He published his month's experience on a blog titled "How I Stopped Eating Food."
The text describes the various "positive" changes this way of eating caused his body and how it changed his life.
The article made him a quick hit on social networks, attracting a large number of fans, Rob hit the iron while it was hot, and founded Soylent in 2014, and unsurprisingly, Soylent received a large amount of crowdfunding and venture capital funding.
▲ Soylent's previous full-line products (Image source: Soylent's official website)
Thanks to the development of the Internet, Rob and his Soylent quickly became popular in various weight loss and fitness circles, and many celebrities, Internet celebrities and nutrition experts have joined in, and made videos or written articles to share their experience of surviving only by meal replacement.
This is not only a victory for Rob alone, but also the prelude to the global popularity of meal replacement products.
<h1> 02
</h1>
<h1>Whose business did meal replacement products steal? </h1>
According to the "Blue Book of Artificial Intelligence Health Management in Guangdong Province" released in June 2019, nearly 20% of the post-90s are overweight and obese, and nearly 40% of uric acid exceeds the standard. "Fat loss" and "healthy living" have become high-frequency words in this population.
Before the advent of meal replacement products, everyone had a common understanding of weight loss: keep your mouth shut and open your legs.
The practice of "keeping your mouth shut" does not mean eating nothing, but eating less foods with high salt, sugar, and fat, and replacing them with vegetables, coarse grains, fruits, etc. with lower calories.
Is there anything familiar? Yes, this is the light food catering category that was once popular.
According to Euromonitor International statistics, in 2017, the global light food meal replacement market reached 66.16 billion US dollars, China reached 57.17 billion yuan, and it is expected that China's light food meal replacement market will reach 120 billion yuan in 2022.
I have to say that it is a coincidence that the chinese meal replacement market is also expected to reach 120 billion yuan by 2020, which is also for Euromonitor International statistics.
It is also a hundred billion market, but it is not coincidental that the consumers of the two hundred billion markets are likely to be the same group of people.
And the disadvantages of light food compared with meal replacement foods are also more obvious.
1. Higher cost
Most of the light food brands that are common offline rely on takeaway platforms to produce food through small areas of operation stalls.
But no matter how small the stall is, it still can't escape the landlord's five finger mountain, the rent that should be paid can not be less, coupled with the procurement cost of raw materials, as well as the share of the takeaway platform, the cost of light food products can not be calculated.
The wool is out of the sheep, and these costs will be added to the consumer's head.
Ms. Xue, a white-collar worker in the office, said: "Now a simple salad containing lettuce, beef, eggs and fruits is basically more than 30 yuan, and the price of seafood is more expensive." Spending the price of meat to 'eat grass' feels too uneconomical, it is better to buy a few cucumbers to eat. ”
In contrast, although the coverage of meal replacement products is currently very narrow, it is difficult to find traces in many well-known supermarkets and convenience stores, but it is impossible to stop people selling well online.
According to public information, on This year's Double Eleven, New Zealand meal replacement brand Smile sold 1 million bottles, and sales exceeded 11.5 million yuan. The number of fans has reached nearly 1 million. Smeal only went on sale at the Tmall flagship store in May this year. The popularity of meal replacements online is evident from this.
At the same time, searching for "meal replacement" on any online shopping platform, Herbalife, Smeal, Nutrilett, WonderLab, Islandway, Combit, Ideal Fuel and other brands will immediately appear in front of you, with monthly sales ranging from thousands to 100,000.
▲Image data source: Taobao
In addition, it is not uncommon to buy and sell meal replacement products in the WeChat circle of friends.
2. No head brand
So far, no brand in the light food category has been able to persist until it is famous throughout the country.
Many brands have received financing in the outlet stage before, but with the passage of time, either because of improper management of operators, or because of the fatal shortcomings of light food itself, some brands that were once popular have gradually disappeared.
In contrast, the brands of meal replacement products that have entered the game are not only international food giants such as Mondelëz and Mars, but also "national" brands such as Master Kong, Xiangpiaopiao, and Tomson By-Health.
▲Meal replacement food launched by Master Kong (Image source: Master Kong Tmall flagship store)
One relies entirely on the scattered soldiers, one has the endorsement of various food brands, and it is clear which is strong and which is weak.
3. "Works" quickly
Whether it is light food or meal replacement, what attracts consumers is that it can bring "health", "nutrition", and more importantly, it can make themselves thin.
Compared with nibbling grass every day and then exercising bitterly, the effect of meal replacement product publicity is obviously more in line with the needs of people who urgently need weight loss.
"Before I graduated from college, I thought I would never gain weight." Busy socializing, the 28-year-old company sold Hu Tian's weight to the peak of his life.
"But this time there was no anxiety, I ate half a month's meal replacement and lost 10 pounds."
And in the eyes of many consumers, big brand meal replacement foods also mean "safe".
Coupled with the current many tastes of meal replacement foods, fruit series, nut series, a variety of can also be combined at will, compared to the monotonous lettuce barley chicken breast, meal replacement food may be better.
<h1>03</h1>
<h1>Behind the glossy surface, there is constant controversy</h1>
Although the current meal replacement food does show extraordinary growth power, and many capitals are also eager to move this "100 billion" market, it has to be said that there is still a lot of controversy in this market.
The first is the question of whether the meal replacement can lose weight in the end.
My college roommate who studied sir used to be a micro-business of diet pills, and now he has also switched to selling meal replacement powder.
"Mix each half of the wild berries and purple potatoes and golden melon flavors, and add a little milk, so that you can't get tired of eating three meals a day." Slogans such as "Stick to it for a month, and her bloated body will have a substantial improvement", "xx stars are using it", etc. are her most commonly used propaganda techniques.
According to her, meal replacement products have actually developed into a new type of diet pills, and everyone knows that taking diet pills is not good for the body, but in order to lose weight quickly, young girls are always addicted to it.
However, Dr. Ding Xiang, a well-known domestic medical self-media, ruthlessly pointed out that although meal replacement products can make people thin, they are also extremely easy to rebound.
Because meal replacement food is not at all as advertised, providing energy and nutrition equivalent to daily meals, long-term consumption, not only can not achieve the purpose of health, but will suffer from some malnutrition problems.
Secondly, due to the current mix of domestic meal replacement brands, coupled with the lack of a clear regulatory system, this also leads to the quality of meal replacement products can not be guaranteed, there are very obvious safety risks.
Even this year, there has been negative news of consumers using meal replacement foods for a long time, resulting in multiple organ failures throughout the body.
However, some insiders said that with the entry of giants and the intervention of national regulatory authorities, it is believed that the meal replacement market will gradually improve and truly be responsible for the healthy body and slim body of consumers.
Do you support the development of meal replacement foods?
Nagging in the comments section~
This article is written by Xiao Bai
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