At the beginning of 2021, Mengniu, as a dairy giant, has taken a fancy to a product that beverage giants are flocking to.
Today, xiaoshidai noticed that although it’s not the peak season for the beverage industry, Mengniu tmall flagship store has added two new 0-sugar bubble water flavor drinks with very social names – “sour milk, the vapor”. This means that for the first time, Mengniu has entered a market that Coca Cola, Yuanqi forest and other beverage enterprises are competing for.
For the new, Mengniu today reply snack said, “milk drinks are Mengniu business for many years category, representative products including yogurt, real fruit, etc., have achieved good market performance.” The company described the new product as “a breakthrough in the traditional concept of milk beverage, relying on the concept of lactic acid bacteria, 0 sugar, 0 fat health layout of lactic acid bacteria bubble aquatic products”.
“Mengniu has a wide range of new products.” A person familiar with the Mengniu industry told xiaoshidai today that from the perspective of the industry, considering the high overlap of the dairy and beverage channels, it is expected that the future development of the two industries will be more integrated. “(for example) Yuanqi forest can enter the dairy industry, and dairy enterprises can also develop 0 sugar bubble water.” He explained.
Interestingly, before Yili’s high-profile march into mineral water and its latest target of 1 million tons of production capacity, Mengniu also seems to be “thinking” about its beverage strategy at the same time. Xiaoshidai noticed today that Mengniu has applied for a number of trademarks one after another, releasing the signal of further layout, many of which are plant-based products.
low-key
Let’s see what the new Mengniu bubble water looks like.
According to the flagship store of Mengniu tmall, its new product of bubble water adopts the packaging design of partial card ventilation. The two flavors are lemon Kaman orange flavor and original flavor respectively. The price of a 330 ml bottle is 6 yuan. As a low-key new product, compared with the mainstream 0 sugar bubble water on the market, the price is not low.
However, different from the common 0 sugar bubble water, Mengniu’s new product specially emphasizes “adding lactic acid bacteria”, which seems to show that the product is endorsed by a dairy enterprise. In the context of a large number of products in this category and more or less homogenization, it is obvious that this is also to break through.
So, why does Mengniu take a fancy to 0 sugar bubble water? This decision-making process should be inseparable from industry trend analysis. As consumers become more cautious about sugar intake, this category has achieved rapid growth. According to Nielsen, the national sales of “0 sugar” bubble water have nearly doubled in recent years.
Last year, the China Bubble beverage report released by inmant pointed out that in the long run, the functionality added to other bubble drinks will promote purposeful consumption. Xiaoshidai noticed that the 0 sugar bubble water introduced by Xicha last year has been added, with “adding dietary fiber” as one of the selling points.
Xiaoshidai also found that according to the information currently displayed in Mengniu tmall flagship store, its 0-sugar bubble water also aims at a number of consumption scenarios, including outdoor leisure, home, friend gathering, drink preparation and after sports.
Source: Nielsen
Right now,
According to the review of xiaoshidai, the companies that launched new products of 0 sugar bubble water in China in 2020 include beverage giants such as Nestle and Coca Cola, Xicha and Naixue, which belong to the new tea drinking camp, and Yili, which is the same dairy company as Mengniu. In addition, with the help of 0 sugar gas bubble water famous Yuanqi forest also launched a number of new flavors.
cautious
尽管此番低调在网上推出0糖气泡水以测试消费者反应的意味浓厚，但是可以肯定的是，蒙牛在饮料多元化上一直通过“碎步走”的方式试图破局。
Xiaoshidai introduced in 2019 that Mengniu had launched products aimed at niche circles, including a go Changyou yubaixiangguo flavor beverage, mainly focusing on the ingredients of juice and dietary fiber; similarly, in 2019, Mengniu’s Innovation Incubation channel also launched a new “intestinal management” product called “Mengniu yishow shuangyiduo beverage”, which was only sold by a third-party e-commerce company as an exclusive agent.
Judging from the existing Shangxin mode, Mengniu’s beverage diversification may still be in the stage of “testing water”. Xiaoshidai noticed that Mengniu’s 0-sugar bubble water and passion fruit flavor beverage are respectively attached to its dairy brands yoghurt and go Chang, and the company has not yet launched an independent and new beverage sub brand.
According to the above industry analysis, Mengniu’s 0 sugar bubble water on the e-commerce market may only be a trial sale to collect the reaction and evaluation of young consumers. The person had previously told xiaoshidai that Mengniu had set up a new product incubation team to develop drinks and other categories.
The high-level statement also shows that Mengniu is still taking a more cautious attitude when expanding its drinks.
Lu Minfang, President of Mengniu, said in reply to the question raised by xiaoshidai at the Expo in 2019 that Mengniu would not blindly make drinks, and there was no special goal at that time. It mainly depended on how to make good use of the advantages of existing categories to develop.
Mengniu President Lu Minfang
“I mainly look at the products that are well made and are regarded as drinks by consumers. Not just from the category, but from the consumer’s point of view. ” Lu Minfang explained at that time that Mengniu’s cold extraction coffee latte, Youyi C and low-temperature yogurt could be used as drinks.
Lu Minfang believes that Mengniu’s development of beverages should be based on its own core competitiveness. “I don’t have the ability to make water today and Red Bull products next year. Of course, if other enterprises have the ability to do it, I think it’s normal. ” He said.
Next step a6301
Although as of press time, xiaoshidai has not yet made clear Mengniu’s beverage roadmap, at least in terms of plant-based food and beverage layout, Mengniu is in full swing.
Xiaoshidai today found that since last year, Mengniu has submitted a number of trademark registrations involving plants, including “aMule”, “yiduomai”, “douniushi”, “zhenganye”, “domineering nut”, “nut tycoon” and so on, as well as “oataily”, “oatway” and “oatist” with oat English words.
In 2020, Lu Minfang also stressed to xiaoshidai: “first of all, we will not give up the category of (plant-based). Second, I have nothing new to say at the moment. Third, I will invest a lot in R & D. I want to make the next generation of plant-based products. So when I do it well, I will share it with you. “
For dairy enterprises, plant-based drinks can be one of the directions to promote diversification. On the one hand, vegetable milk and milk may have the same group of potential consumers, who recognize the benefits of drinking milk and do not exclude more choices. On the other hand, in the case that some new plant milk brands capture the market through benchmarking milk, traditional dairy enterprises also need to think about how to stabilize the existing customers.
At present, it is not uncommon for dairy giants to have plant-based drinks. For example, Yili owns the plant-based brand “Zhixuan”, which has launched soybean milk, oat milk, plant-based yogurt and other products. Arla foods, Mengniu’s “ally”, entered the plant base market last year with its new oat drink products
A kind of
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