Text | Han Xiyan
Following the full outbreak of the low-alcohol circuit in 2020, in 2021, more subdivided women's low-alcohol liquor has also begun to rise. It is understood that the topic of "wine suitable for girls to drink" on Douyin has been played more than 20 million times, and the topic of Weibo has been read by 150 million. According to the data, in the past year alone, Tmall has added more than 5,000 new low-grade wine brands. In the next 2 years, the domestic women's low-alcohol market will exceed 100 billion yuan. Venture capital circles have begun to enter the Nuggets women's low alcohol track. Some start-up projects complete three rounds of financing within a year, with a cumulative financing of more than 100 million, and also invite traffic stars to do endorsements; in order to seize this emerging consumer group, Moutai, Luzhou Laojiao, Jiang Xiaobai and other liquor companies have increased their weight and launched products suitable for female consumers; capital is also keen on "buying drunk", Jingwei, Zhenge, Innova and other institutions have bet. In the eyes of industry insiders, the large scale of the market and the rapid growth rate are the characteristics of this segment, but at present, the drink market for female consumers is still in the "initial stage". There are no head brands in the low-alcohol segment, and only a few women-focused low-alcohol brands have been financed. The brand emphasizes marketing and ignores other capabilities, resulting in insufficient competitiveness of low-grade wine products, and there is no phenomenon-level explosion to lead low-grade wine to the public. In the field of women's low-alcohol wine, rich product categories and high-value product packaging are only the preconditions for attracting female consumers, and they are also the elements of becoming Internet celebrity products, but to really make explosive products grow and flourish, the final need to rely on the overall strength of the brand.
Note: The content of this article is mainly from the reporter interviewed by pencil road and the public information on the Internet, and the arguments are inevitably biased and not deliberately misleading.
Let women be slightly drunk on the entrepreneurial trend
Slightly drunk enjoyment, emotional freedom, punk health, self-pleasing consumption...
2020 is the year when the low-alcohol circuit begins to explode in full swing. Low-alcohol brand entrepreneurs define their brands with precise needs, impressing young people. Countless new brands have stood out on Platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, and Live Broadcasting. According to statistics, in 2020, tmall alone will join more than 5,000 new low-grade wine brands. There is even news that those entrepreneurial armies that have fled e-cigarettes are also pouring into this entrepreneurial outlet en masse.
In 2021, the low-alcohol circuit ushered in a new round of growth. In the Little Red Book, there are more than 110,000 notes about "girl wine", 200,000 + notes on the keyword of "micro-drunk", and consumers who call themselves "female drunkards" share their purchase experience and grass list on it. The topic of "wine for girls" on Douyin has been played more than 20 million times, and the topic of Weibo has been read by 150 million.
This is very different from the traditional impression that "men are the main force in the alcohol consumption market, and women have little to do with alcohol". In fact, in recent years, driven by the "she economy", the trend of "she drinking" is obvious, and female users have joined the alcohol consumption industry and become a new growth point in the alcohol market.
According to the "1919 Big Data of Female Users Buying Wine" released on the eve of this year's "March 8th Festival", from 2017 to 2021, the proportion of female users on the liquor direct supply platform 1919 increased from 4.79% to 19.02%, and the number of female users increased by an average of 64.48% per year.
Female consumer groups not only have more users than men, but also the consumption power of alcohol cannot be underestimated. The data shows that the annual per capita order amount of female users in 2020 is 2228.24 yuan, an overall increase of 594.79 yuan compared with 2019, an increase of 36.41%.
In fact, the rise of the "she economy" of alcohol consumption has been highlighted as early as the "2020 Young People's Alcohol Consumption Insight Report" released in September last year, which pointed out that the number of post-90s female alcohol consumers has surpassed that of men.
The data shows that in the next 2 years, China's women's low-alcohol market will reach a scale of more than 100 billion yuan, and the market potential is huge.
"Corresponding to the growth market is the lack of women's low-alcohol brands." Wine practitioner Jeff said to Pencil Road.
Therefore, after selling low-alcohol liquor to young people, practitioners also want to sell low-grade liquor to young women in a more subdivided manner.
"Whether it's a small drink with friends in a social scene or a slightly drunk state alone at home, women need a satisfying alcoholic beverage. But now there is still a lack of a product on the market that fully meets the drinking needs of young women, which is the opportunity for misberry and the original intention of my business. Missberry Berry Sweetheart founder Tang Huimin previously said.
In addition to missberry, there are also low-alcohol brands such as Bingqing, Mike Rice Wine, Mary Shelley, and Lion Song that are eyeing the women's liquor market.
Capital is also keen to "buy drunk". Recently, Missberry announced the completion of the A+ round of financing, which is the third round of financing completed by Missberry in one year, and the cumulative financing has exceeded 100 million. Jingwei, Zhenge, Innova and other institutions have bet on the women's low-alcohol circuit.
In addition to new brands, in order to seize this emerging consumer group, major liquor companies are also increasing their efforts to launch products suitable for female consumers. A wine merchant said that the battle around domestic female liquor consumers, since the liquor production enterprises began to extend all the way to the retail terminal, as early as many years ago has been "started".
After the emergence of the rio cocktail, Moutai launched the "Youmi Blueberry Craft Brew", which directly positioned the mainstream consumer population as a woman, after Luzhou Laojiao also launched the "Lady Picture Book Qingmei Fruit Wine" with the joint Hanfu Guofeng Cultural and Creative Brand Tingyue Xiaozhu. In 2019, the fruit wine "Plum See" developed by Jiang Xiaobai won the hearts of many female consumers, and on March 14 last year, 200,000 bottles of "Plum See" were sold out in Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room.
An entrepreneurial trend that makes women slightly drunk has arrived.
Women's new social currency
Why do girls drink?
"In fact, girls don't need any reason to drink." Chen Xue'er, who claimed to be a senior female drunkard, said to the pencil.
In the eyes of many girls who love to drink, drinking is simply to choose their most relaxed posture, let down their guard and the fatigue of the day, use such a cup of happy liquid to reward themselves, and enjoy a rare time alone. They just love this slightly drunk feeling, which makes people relax and happy, but they are not drunk.
The reason is that the current young people's consumption concept of drinking is different from the traditional wine culture. "The younger generation has a vague concept of hierarchy and order at the wine table, and they drink a way of life." Jeff said.
Young people after 90 and 00 have become the backbone of consumption, as Internet natives, they are full of personality, like innovation, the pursuit of diversification, and emphasize the sense of value, which just gives the opportunity for new brand innovation.
Unlike men who drink alcohol, female consumers are more inclined to drink and drink lightly, focusing on the pleasure of drinking. The women's wine consumption market shows a diversified development situation, and women of different generations have different taste pursuits.
Behind the development of new brands, in addition to the change of consumer groups, there is also the broadening of consumption scenarios.
For a long time, the consumption scene of Chinese wine and drinking has been mostly limited to the dinner table and gift-giving scene. Nowadays, women's drinking and socializing are mostly seen in girlfriend gatherings, picnics, and bedtime drinks. Women do not drink alcohol to get drunk, and are more inclined to set off the atmosphere and cultivate the mood.
More importantly, the birth of new demand, low-grade wine can better meet the needs of young people for high value, rich taste, health and other aspects of wine. "So, like traditional liquor, low-alcohol liquor that focuses on women also has the function of social currency." Jeff said.
With the dependence of young people on social platforms, they also have an appeal to the wine they drink, that is, high-value packaging, which can represent fashion and trends.
"Take pictures to look good" and "popular grass recommendations" far more than other stories can touch their hearts. There are many kinds of low-grade liquors that are hot on the market, and some fashionable packaging designs have become a must-have "punch card" product for women's alcohol consumption. High value, explosive taste, slightly drunk, are all high-frequency words in the sharing notes, and low-grade wine is packaged as a fashion trend lifestyle.
At the same time, in order to cater to the exclusive social scene of women, the packaging design and bottle material of this kind of product are also very high, especially suitable for afternoon tea or friends to take photos to share, and some high-value tide wine has become a necessary "prop" for taking photos. In addition, low health and slightly drunk relaxation are also more in line with women's consumer needs, and it is easier to directly hit emotional pain points for releasing workplace, emotional pressure and anxiety.
Please this year's female consumers
How to grasp the "heart" of this year's female consumers? Become a compulsory course for practitioners of new wine brands.
In Jeff's view, drinking is pleasant, and women drink more than men. If men's consumption of alcohol is caused by "inertia", women are more likely to have "impulse consumption" due to body feeling, feel, perception and taste.
An industry insider said that the transition from a single to a diversified category of alcohol consumer goods has brought a more colorful sense of experience to young consumers. For the younger generation, especially millennial consumers, the nuances of alcohol are not as sensitive as the older generation, and brand loyalty is not very high. However, female consumers are more "cautious and serious" in the selection of wine, in addition to paying attention to taste, their consumption contacts extend more to the novelty, experience, health, high value and other dimensions of wine.
"Girls don't understand wine, but they know life, and they will like a wine because of a good-looking bottle." Chen Xue'er stressed.
Open Taobao, Tmall search for "women's wine", the products displayed are all beautifully packaged, "girly heart" is full, and "good-looking packaging" and "high value" in the comment area are the most frequent words. It can be seen that many female consumers are willing to pay for their appearance.
Appearance is justice, and this sentence is still true on low-level wine. For example, misberry is more assertive in marketing, confident in appearance, emotional freedom, and good taste. Appearance confidence, that is, women's drinking must be able to send a circle of friends, good looks are the first. For the sake of high-value wine bottles, founder Tang Huimin and the team traveled to most of China.
In April 2020, Missberry's "Sweetheart Small Square Bottle" series, which set the brand tone, was launched, and the combination of high value + rich taste made it a hit on the social platform, followed by a big explosion of sales. In May, Missberry officially announced that the spokesperson was Liu Yu, who had just debuted from the C position of the creation camp.
The low-alcohol wine industry is a heavy marketing industry, how to achieve user-centric, gathering popularity, attracting attention, and playing explosive models is a major test for entrepreneurial brands.
"Make products in the way of making beverages, do marketing in the way of making beauty, and do channels in the way of making wine." Tang Huimin said in an interview earlier.
In terms of products, female low-alcohol brands remove the bitterness of the wine itself on the basis of retaining the aroma of wine; in the marketing model, the main combination marketing strategies such as koc, kol and celebrity goods, with the help of social e-commerce such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, brand audiences have also spread to third- and fourth-tier cities; in the channel, in addition to covering mainstream online platforms, new brands will also focus on offline and fully lay out diversified offline marketing.
In order to please young women, low-alcohol entrepreneurs have spent a lot of thought.
Low alcohol for women is still in its infancy
Some predict that the new consumption outlet dominated by Generation Z will continue for at least 5 years, and the golden window period for Low-alcohol in China will be at least 2 to 3 years away.
However, at present, there are no head brands in the low-alcohol segment, and only a few low-alcohol brands focusing on women have obtained financing.
In the eyes of industry insiders, a large part of the reason is that these wines are seriously homogenized, in order to rob users of their minds, many brands can only spend money on packaging and marketing. The state of small profits is also not suitable for large-scale smashing of elevators and TV advertisements, so they are basically spread by social e-commerce as a carrier, which is fast, not limited by regions, does not have so many middlemen, and is relatively cheap.
One impression of low-grade liquor in the market is "factory OEM". Establish a brand, obtain sales qualifications, design products, find a foundry production, OEM, according to this process can be sold, light asset model so that low-alcohol entrepreneurship can cut a short path, the general cutting-edge brand, the early stage may be very explosive, but in the later stage, the supply chain, products, operation management and channels will become the biggest bottleneck.
In addition, due to the lengthy sales channels of liquor, the profits of layers of distributors are superimposed, and the price of low-grade liquor is often higher than that of beer when it is finally facing consumers. Under the consideration of cost performance, the low price of wine is too high, which will dissuade consumers and discourage consumers' desire to buy. Moreover, the current low-alcohol market is not stable, consumers have low brand loyalty and are more sensitive to price, in this case, how to optimize the channel and enlarge the price advantage has also become a problem that low-alcohol brand entrepreneurs have to face.
The most important point is that as a liquor product, no matter how the main young consumers, or female consumers, compared with the sparkling water represented by the Yuanqi Forest, or the new tea represented by the tea, the imagination of the consumption scene is still very limited, and the market pattern is far from the same magnitude. If you want to produce a big unicorn brand, you still need to wait for time.
The dominance of offline channels is difficult to change, and if you want to attract young people to try, you need the team to have the ability to disseminate Internet content.
Live streaming, a channel that many new wine brands are looking for. In the new fruit wine category, Berry Sweetheart and Plum See two brands, the total number of q1 live broadcasts reached 1400 and 4500 respectively. Among them, Berry Sweetheart q1 has estimated sales of more than 3 million in Douyin Live, Meijian has estimated total sales of 3.77 million in the same period of Douyin Live, and Meijian Q1 has estimated sales of 6.46 million on Taobao Live.
All in all, the drinks market for female consumers is still in its "infancy" compared to male consumers. The large scale of the market and the rapid growth rate are its characteristics, but the development of the industry is not mature, and the brand owners emphasize marketing and ignore other capabilities, resulting in insufficient competitiveness of low-grade wine products, and there is no phenomenon-level explosion to lead low-grade wine to the public.
Rich product categories, high-value product packaging, are only the preconditions for attracting female consumers, but also become the elements of Internet celebrity products, but to really make explosive products grow and flourish, the final rely on the overall strength of the brand.