China’s packaged drinking water production exceeds 100 million tons, and has also incubated two of China’s richest people. However, many practitioners believe that bottled water is still a category that is difficult to differentiate.
Whether it is tea making, milk washing, face dressing, bottled water for infants and the elderly, or high-value products such as bucket water and business customization, which are divided according to the use scenarios and people, many entrants temporarily exit during the exploration of various products.
In the view of some practitioners, bottled water is not a business for many large enterprises to make money every time. Due to the large currency nature of bottled water, it is also used as a tool to maintain channel customers. The key to the success of this category, which sometimes requires the support of large enterprises, is to calculate the general ledger.
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The market of bottled water has its ups and downs, and local water enterprises seek differentiation through customization。
It seems that the bottled water market has become a stable market for old players, and new entrants frequently test water in the periphery. Recently, Nongfu Spring and Master Kang both disclosed the current status of their water business in their 2022 financial reports. The annual volume of both is at the level of 18.2 billion and 4.9 billion, respectively, with growth rates of around 7-8%.
In addition to traditional fast-moving consumer goods giants, newcomers are also constantly trying. In May last year, the coffee brand San Dun Ban officially announced the launch of a new 300ml mountain spring water, stating that “when combined with super instant coffee, the taste is relatively more delicate and soft.” In June last year, Youming adjusted the offline price of 569ml from 4 yuan to 3 yuan, stating that “we hope to roll up the world’s water plants and let high-quality mineral water enter the homes of ordinary people.
In October of the same year, Panpan Food announced the strategic signing of Fujian Guanzhishan Mineral Water after its brand Leopard launched a new multi specification of pure natural mineral water, saying that the two sides would cooperate in depth in “research and development, production, channel, brand and other dimensions… Guanzhishan Mineral Water’s unique high-quality alkaline mineral water would enrich Panpan’s beverage product line.” At the end of February this year, Jinmailang Beverage also officially announced a 570ml high-end mineral water in the video number.
Not every new product with upward price extensions has survived. Media reports have revealed that the performance of mining channels is not as expected. Finance and Economics Network has noticed online that some C-store merchants are clearing their warehouses and shipping. The average single bottle price of products with a shelf life from March to May this year has dropped to 1-1.9 yuan. An insider told Caijing that Yuanqi Forest will not give up on the water drink market.
In addition, Caijing Industrial and Commercial Network has also noticed that there are no traces of mountain spring water or leopard power mineral water in the online stores of San Dun Ban and Pan Pan Water Drinks. The relevant customer service stated that Sandun Banshan Spring Water was temporarily taken off the shelves at the end of last year. Leopard Power Mineral Water is also temporarily available online and offline. Currently, Leopard Power only offers electrolyte water online.
Finance and Economics Network’s official store in Jinmailang noticed that due to various full reduction activities, the original price of 59 yuan for a 550ml bottle of Liangbai Kaihong was only 24.6 yuan for 12 bottles; The original price of 24 bottles of 370 milliliters of high-end noble Mayasha mineral water was 72 yuan, but the actual purchase price was only 33.9 yuan – indicating that this product, which is in the industry’s hot discussion of the “3 yuan water” price band, has fallen back to around 1.4 yuan.
On the official website of Yingjiashan Spring, where the slogan of “China Good Water porter” is displayed, the packaging customization services provided by Yingjiashan Spring include wedding banquet, conference, enterprise and other scenes. According to Caijing. com, the minimum order for the wedding banquet is 800 pieces, with 24 bottles for each piece. The initial payment fee for the 380ml model is around 268800 yuan, with an average cost of about 1.4 yuan per bottle.
The demand for subdivided scenes boosted the premium of bottled water, and tea making water became the top popular category
The bottled water market, which is subdivided according to the crowd and scene, is emerging several popular categories. According to recent data released by JD Supermarket, based on the sales performance of online drinking water on JD, more scenarios such as tea making water, mother and baby water, soup making water, elderly water, beauty water, etc. are emerging. By scenario, the sales of office and tea making water have far surpassed other scenarios in the past year, but the sales growth rate of soup making scenes is the highest, followed by tea making, office, and party travel scenes.
The data also shows that the sales of tea making water on JD.com in 2022 have nearly doubled year-on-year, and it is expected that the three-year compound growth rate can reach 75%. Among consumers who purchase tea making water products, there are more and more young people, and the number of consumers born in 1995 has increased by over 100% year-on-year.
Caijing’s online platform has noticed that brands such as Nongfu Spring, Bama Bainian, and Dongting Mountain have all launched specially named tea making water products.
Among them, Nongfu Mountain Spring Tea Water highlights that its mountain spring water “originates from the deep old-growth forest of Mount Wuyi, and is a typical existing mid subtropical primary forest ecosystem at the same latitude in the world.” Bama has highlighted its origin of drinking natural mountain spring water from Bama, Guangxi for a hundred years, with a limited volume of 200000 tons per year, which is “natural water source, one mouthful less.” Dongting Mountain emphasizes that it comes from the protection area of the origin of China’s top 10 famous tea Biluochun, The water source comes from the highest peak in northern Zhejiang, Anji Longwang Mountain, 1587 meters away, only discovered – not manufactured “Jiangnan Gongquan Natural Mountain Spring Water Source. At present, the actual transaction prices of the three official stores are calculated to be around 3.4 yuan, 7 yuan, and 4.6 yuan per liter, respectively.
In addition to these mountain spring water that emphasize the ecosystem of water sources, brands represented by Quanyang Spring, Yingjia Mountain Spring, and Watsons will also highlight the tea making function in keywords or packaging. For example, a product called “Yucha Guanshui” from Quanyang Spring is labeled as a special water for brewing tea on the outer packaging, with an average cost of about 10 yuan per liter. The promotion of a wild bamboo root cut water that greets the mountain spring emphasizes that “when soaked in good water, the mountain spring gives the taste of tea time.” The average cost per liter is only 3.6 yuan. In a message from a user of Watsons’ high-temperature distilled water, the store replied that distilled water does not contain various impurities, effectively avoiding scale, and is suitable for brewing milk powder, making tea, stewing soup, and aromatherapy beauty.
Post time: May-23-2023