The reporter observed a brief history of the evolution of new-style tea drinks

When it comes to the rapid growth of the industry in recent years, the new tea drink is undoubtedly one of them. According to the research report of China Insight Consulting, according to the calculation of retail consumption value, the total size of China's tea market in 2020 is about 113.6 billion yuan, ranking among the 100 billion markets. It is expected to reach 340 billion yuan by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 24.5%.

In the 34 years since 1987, when Taiwan's "Chun Shui Tang" developed the first cup of bubble tea, the development of China's ready-made tea industry has gone through four stages: the powder era, the street age, the new tea era, and four generations of upgrading. The four-generation upgrade has achieved all-round improvement from product raw materials and production technology to brand positioning and marketing model, and has also allowed the industry to enter the palace of capital from the streets and alleys.

In the early 21st century, China's fresh tea drinks were carried by chain fast food restaurants, and the production method was also simple hot water to brew various flavors of milk tea powder, and the price ranged from 1 to 5 yuan. The main raw materials of milk tea powder include sugar, vegetable fat powder and flavor, which are of low quality and sweet to drink.

But the powder era did not exist for too long, with the establishment of Happy Lemon in 2006 and coco's entry into the mainland market in 2007, China's freshly made tea has entered the street era. At this stage, tea leaves and freshly boiled pearls, coconut fruits, fairy herbs and other condiments began to be added to the ready-made tea, and manual hand crank became the main production method.

At the same time, milk tea is also put into industrial production and occupies a place in the beverage field. In 2005, Xiangpiaopiao launched powdered instant cup milk tea, followed by Yoromed, Unity and other enterprises have successively launched liquid bottled or boxed milk tea, and the unified bottled Assam milk tea is also one of the representative products.

With the continuous improvement of consumers' requirements for dietary health, in 2010, China's freshly made tea drinks officially entered the stage of new tea drinking, and the new tea drinks represented by imperial tea (the predecessor of Xi tea) and a little bit began to accelerate the industrial layout, while upgrading products, focusing on cultivating consumers' consumption habits and consumption preferences.

At this stage, the new tea drink is more active in marketing methods, creating Internet celebrity explosive products and consumer trends has become the main means of operation, the main marketing position has shifted from offline to online, and there are many hidden menus on social platforms such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu.

Offline, the marketing method is mainly based on discount promotions. According to a franchisee, when a new franchisee opens, it will provide raw materials to the store at a discounted price, and provide subsidies for large discounts on takeaway platforms and review platforms, and quickly occupy the market through "price war". The industry also often broke out various copycat infringement incidents, true and false Antler Lane, Heytea vs. Heytea Brothers, Tea Face Delight vs Tea Color...

In 2016, Huang tea was renamed XiCha due to trademark preemptive registration, And Neixue's tea and Lele tea were also established in 2015 and 2016 respectively, and the high-end new tea format began to take shape, and drove the industry as a whole into a stage of rapid development, which was favored by capital. Therefore, there are also views in the industry that 2015 is regarded as the first year of the development of new tea drinks.

After five years of development, new tea has become a part of consumers' living habits, according to the "2020 New Tea White Paper", 80% of the respondents' consumption motivation for new tea is personal entertainment. This also heralds an important trend that products alone will not be able to support the rapid development of brands.

With the surge in the number of new tea companies, the market competition has become more intense. 2020 has become an important inflection point in the new tea industry, the epidemic has accelerated the industry reshuffle, a large number of long-tail businesses have closed down, and the advantages of the head brand have become more prominent. As Pan Pan, an investor in Neixue and managing partner of Tiantu Capital, said, "The market is growing rapidly, the opportunities for new brands are becoming fewer and smaller, and the head brands are still moving forward." ”

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Editor-in-charge: Li Jianhua, intern Chen Yingqi