After three years of epidemic life, happiness and freedom took a back seat, and health and safety were put in the first place for no reason.
When the minibus entered the convenience store, it glanced at the pistachio water in the fat house on the shelf, looked at the sugar-free bubble water next to it, recalled the fat-reducing meal it had just eaten, touched the slightly round arm, hesitated, and finally picked up the peach-flavored sugar-free bubble water.
In recent years, similar situations have been happening constantly, accompanied by the fact that "sugar-free" has become a new beverage outlet.
The market scale of sugar-free beverages has increased from14 to16.6 billion yuan in 2020, with an annual growth rate of 38.69% and a seven-year growth rate of 609%, far exceeding the total growth rate of the beverage industry.
At the same time, in 2020, 78% of the consumers surveyed indicated that they were more willing to buy sugar-free products, and the penetration rate of people who bought sugar-free or sugar-free drinks increased from 36% in 20 18 to 55% in 20 19.
It's the same this time.
20 1 1 In March, Nongfu Spring just launched "Oriental Leaves", and its "mysterious" taste convinced the world. It's hard to stick to 20 16, but it won the title of "China's worst drink top5".
Today, Oriental Leaf has occupied more than 50% of the market share of 202 1 China sugar-free tea, and its sales volume has doubled, making it the first brand of sugar-free tea for many years. As a result, in April, 2022, one of its limited-edition new products went on the market, which was snapped up in four days, and even triggered a high-priced auction on idle fish.
In addition, there is the emergence of vibrant forests. At the beginning of this year, it was reported that "Two Music" (Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola) tried to surround the dynamic forest on the sugar-free track.
In view of the above phenomenon, Wu Xiaobo Channel New Domestic Products Research Institute released a game between taste and health-a new product report: sugar-free drinks (hereinafter referred to as the new product report of sugar-free drinks).
For sugar-free industry, there are both upstream and downstream industry analysis; There are also some business methods shared by head players.
Today's article highlights some highlights of the report.
With regard to sugar-free drinks, the most discussed topic by consumers is taste, followed by appearance packaging, price and freshness.
Consumers seldom discuss the functions of products, and most consumers buy sugar-free drinks to satisfy their desires without gaining weight.
But in the face of sugar-free, many people still worry that these sugar-free drinks are really zero sugar, zero additives and zero burden-that is, won't they gain weight after drinking them?
Answer the first question first, is sugar-free zero?
A: "Sugar-free" does not mean "sugar-free".
According to the national food safety standard "General Rules for Nutrition Labeling in prepackaged foods", "sugar-free food" means that the sugar content in 100g solid food or 100ml liquid food does not exceed 0.5g ..
So "sugar-free" only limits the sugar content in food.
Then a question arises: Since there is no sugar, why is it sweet?
Because of the sweetener.
Common sweeteners in the market are mainly divided into artificial sugar substitute, natural sugar substitute and sugar alcohol sugar substitute.
But sweetness is associated with safety.
Artificial sugar substitutes are mainly divided into six varieties, such as saccharin, sodium cyclamate and aspartame. They have the characteristics of high sweetness and low cost, but there are potential safety hazards such as carcinogenesis and decreased immunity, which have been banned by health departments in the United States, Japan and other countries.
Natural sugar substitutes mainly extract sugar from natural plants such as Stevia rebaudiana and Siraitia grosvenorii, which also has the advantage of high sweetness. However, the safety of stevioside has not been unanimously recognized by the world medical community, and its carcinogenicity is still controversial in academic circles, which may affect male reproductive ability. At present, stevioside has been banned in many developed countries and regions such as the United States, the European Union and Singapore.
Compared with the former two, sugar alcohol substitutes are safe, and it is easy to cause diarrhea for some people who are intolerant of sugar alcohol or have ingested polysaccharide alcohol.
In addition, according to the current research results, the safety of sugar alcohol substitutes is higher than other kinds.
Erythritol is the most prominent one in the market today.
Its sweet taste, good taste and low hygroscopicity are conducive to prolonging the shelf life, and it is the first choice for many brands to replace sugar.
With the emergence of "sugar-free" tuyere, the output of erythritol in China has increased from 39,800 tons in 2065,438+08 to 80,000 tons in 2020, with a range as high as 65,438+0.065,438+0%, and erythritol occupies an important position in the upstream of sugar-free beverage industry chain.
Nevertheless, the report on new products of sugar-free beverages thinks that there is still a lot of room for growth, because the proportion of sucrose and fructose syrup in the market is as high as 90%, and the sum of artificial sweeteners and other sweeteners is only 10%.
Xiaoji, a friend of minibus's post-90s fashion designer, once worked in Shanghai with a monthly salary of about 20,000 yuan, and later resigned and returned to Hangzhou to start a business.
She has a professional pursuit of body and skin management.
How extreme is it? Usually go out armed, just like beekeepers. In order to protect herself from the sun, she may not be afraid of "social death".
Now, the table in her studio is full of diet soda and diet coke.
Girls like Xiaoji are the core consumers of sugar-free drinks in recent years.
The consumers of sugar-free drinks are mainly young people aged 18-30, accounting for 69.07% of the total consumption population; In terms of gender, nearly 70% of consumers of sugar-free drinks are women; Geographically, consumers are mainly concentrated in first-,second-and third-tier cities, accounting for 62.8%; In terms of preference, consumers in first-and second-tier cities have a stronger preference for sugar-free drinks.
So, is it really healthy to fill it with diet coke?
What the minibus wants to tell Xiaoji is:
According to People's Daily Online, a study found through long-term follow-up that more people drink carbonated drinks, drink sugar-free fat and get diabetes. According to the doctor's analysis, 0 calories and 0 sugar drinks are healthier and safer than ordinary drinks, but psychologically, we think there will be two more cans without sugar. In addition, although the "0 calories and 0 sugar" beverage contains ingredients that stimulate appetite, it will make us want to eat and increase the risk of obesity and diabetes.
In this regard, industry insiders pointed out that boiled water is definitely the healthiest. If you don't have the habit of drinking drinks before, don't deliberately drink sugar-free drinks, because there is no heat in the sugar substitute; But compared with sugary drinks, "sugar-free drinks" are undoubtedly a healthier choice.
So "sugar-free" is good, but remember not to drink too much.
After all, its price is really not high.
The report on new products of sugar-free drinks shows that the sugar-free drinks in 5 yuan with the price range of1-are the most popular. The top 100 sugar-free beverage products on Tik Tok platform are mainly priced at 1-5 yuan, accounting for 73%.
At the beginning of 2022, according to Sina Finance, "Erle" once released malicious words:
"This year, I made up my mind to dry up the vibrant forest!"
Less than six years after its establishment, Yuan Qi Forest broke into the coke hinterland of a century-old brand, which made the two coke giants feel a little worried.
What's more, it's not just a vibrant forest.
From the overall layout of new and old domestic beverage brands, new domestic brands represented by Yuan Qi Forest and traditional domestic brands represented by Nongfu Spring have entered the track of sugar-free beverages, competing with Coca-Cola, the traditional market overlord, in several sub-dimensions, such as carbonated drinks, tea drinks, protein drinks and coffee.
But these rising stars are also masters of international giants.
10 years ago, the supply chain network of consumer goods in the fields of toiletries, daily necessities and food in China was mature, but most of the local production capacity at that time was contracted by international brands.
During the period of 2065 438+02-2065 438+05, the competition in China FMCG market became increasingly fierce. In order to better understand and adapt to the China market, international giants have to transfer some product design functions from their headquarters in Europe and the United States to China. Since then, some young people in China have gradually absorbed advanced experience in designing consumer goods from the complete industrial chain organized by large international companies.
When they started their business, on the one hand, they had advanced international experience, on the other hand, they had a strong and complete supply chain network in China.
Let's take Yuan Qi Forest as an example.
Yuan Qi Forest is a beverage enterprise that introduces the thinking mode of Internet lean entrepreneurship into traditional industries.
They make beverage products, from positioning, taste selection to packaging style, all of which imitate Internet thinking and create MVP (the simplest and most feasible product).
Subsequently, the A/B test method is used to collect user feedback, and then the data is analyzed. By giving users the education of "0 sugar and 0 fat", the user's mind is strengthened.
In terms of marketing and gameplay, in addition to introducing regular models, Yuan Qi Forest will also design seasonal limited tastes and special tastes. Through the circle powder of various flavors, we will seize the characteristics of young people who love early adopters and are willing to share, and form a circle communication in communities such as Xiaohongshu and Douban to further expand their influence.
However, without its own supply chain, it will never stand up.
This is a new experience gained by Erle when it is full of vitality-even high-energy gameplay needs the support of the supply chain.
According to public information, Yuan Qisenlin has been trying to make up for the shortcomings since 20 19.
In three years, the layout of five "forest factories" has been completed: Chuzhou in Anhui, Zhaoqing in Tianjin, Xiqing in Hubei, Xianning and Dujiangyan in Sichuan.
The products favored by young people have naturally become the darling of the capital market, and the sugar-free beverage track has also become crowded.
According to the Red Star News of Chengdu Business Daily, in 2020 alone, a number of emerging sugar-free beverages such as Yiran Milk Mine Bubble Water, Unified Tea Pa, Yinlushan Cloud Tea Painting Sugar-free Tea, Jianlibao Micro Bubble Water, Master Kong Cold Bubble Green Tea, Feng Bingfu Tea, Nestle Youhuo Bubble Water and Xiao Xi Tea Bubble Water appeared one after another.
In terms of categories, sugar-free carbonated drinks and sugar-free tea drinks have become the fastest growing sub-categories of sugar-free drinks, ranking first and second at present, and the scale far exceeds others. In addition, the concept of sugar-free is infiltrating into other sub-categories, such as functional drinks and protein drinks, and sugar-free products have appeared in the vertical field.
What everyone values is the future growth space.
The report on new products of sugar-free beverages mentioned that sugar-free carbonated beverages have at least ten times the development space; Sugar-free tea is in the early stage of its outbreak, and its scale is expected to double in 2024.
In 20 19, the market size of tea drinks in China was 78.7 billion yuan, of which 4.85 billion yuan was sugar-free tea drinks, accounting for only about 6%. According to the forecast of Dongxing Securities Research Institute, the sugar-free tea beverage market in China can maintain a growth rate of more than 20% from 2019 to 2024. By 2024, the sales of sugar-free tea drinks will reach11500 million yuan, accounting for 12% of the market share of tea drinks.
But who can have a moat in it?
Technology upgrading and product innovation are the core issues.
For example, sugar-free tea drinks and "0" preservatives must rely on advanced production lines and high-end technology.
If a brand wants to make its products free of preservatives, it must have a Log6 aseptic filling technology production line with a cost of hundreds of millions of yuan, so as to ensure that its products do not need to be preserved.
Although adding a proper amount of preservatives meets the national standards, a few domestic brands have started the product innovation attempt of "0 preservatives" and actively explored the industrial chain and scientific and technological innovation.
According to the information disclosed by Yuan Qi Forest 202 1, there are less than 30 production lines of Log6 aseptic filling technology in the world, and 8 have been put into production in Yuan Qi Forest, and 16 will be put into production in 2022.
According to the Beijing News, Nongfu Spring currently has high-speed aseptic filling equipment and R&D team that meet Log6 aseptic standards, and can realize independent research and development and production of products with health attributes.
Author | Gu Tingting | Editor on duty | Fan Chengyuan
Edit | He Edit | Zheng Yuanyuan | VCG