Click to read the original article for details. Today is the Chinese Valentine's Day (Qixi Festival), and many people have been 'fed dog food' (a Chinese slang for being shown affection by couples). Seizing this moment, New Distribution had an in-depth exchange with Mr. Zeng Ruilu, co-founder and CEO of the innovative consumer brand 'Single Dog Food'. How did this trendy snack brand, targeting single people, become a dark horse in the snack food industry within just two years? According to the latest data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, in 2018, the number of single adults in China exceeded 200 million, with over 77 million adults living alone. Earlier, Alibaba's 2017 "China's Empty-Nest Youth Atlas" showed that this lonely group has high spending power. Pet economy, mini KTVs, solo travel, and solo dining restaurants are emerging as 'solo joy' consumption trends. At that time, in the same year, the Single Dog Food team noticed the internet buzzword 'single dog' (a self-deprecating term for single people) and thus conceived the idea of launching a snack brand around the single demographic. To date, in just two years, Single Dog Food's sales have exceeded 200 million RMB. In June 2019, it secured a 60 million RMB Series A funding round from Zhuoshi Capital, Tongchuang Weiye, and Chenhai Capital. In July this year, Single Dog Food successively established deep cooperation with well-known FMCG companies such as Baixiang Food and New Hope Dairy, launching the '+ Partner' plan. Recently, New Distribution had an in-depth exchange with Mr. Zeng Ruilu, co-founder of Single Dog Food. Looking back, traditional FMCG companies typically enter a market with a single product or category and then expand. However, Single Dog Food took a different path by initially positioning itself around the single demographic. What is the business logic behind this?
Core Reading: 01 Is Single Dog Food a product brand or an IP? 02 Why did Single Dog Food enter offline channels first in its early days, contrary to the norm? 03 How did the Partner Plan become Single Dog Food's 'trump card'?
Is Single Dog Food a brand or an IP? Looking at Single Dog Food's current product line—fish skin, potato chips, instant noodles, beverages, etc.—you might think it's a snack brand centered around single people, but that's not the case. Zeng Ruilu told New Distribution that Single Dog Food's ultimate goal is to become a single lifestyle brand, focusing on single people, understanding their needs in various aspects of life, and those needs drive product development. In the early stage, Single Dog Food entered through the food category, selecting one or two very specific subcategories to penetrate deeply, allowing the group to form a recognition of the Single Dog Food brand. Our goal is to be a 'single lifestyle brand', but without a specific category initially, accumulating user recognition might be scattered and lack a handle. Frankly, the snack category is a vehicle for Single Dog Food to build brand awareness and shape brand momentum, serving as a phased goal. In the future, Single Dog Food will be a 'single IP', representing a life attitude and lifestyle for the single demographic. Zeng Ruilu mentioned, "Recently, we were in talks with a pet food company about cooperation. When asked how we could collaborate, my explanation was simple: as long as it serves the single demographic and the users are the same, there is potential for cooperation." For example, in the future, Single Dog Food might venture into 'single-person appliances', partnering with Supor to co-develop single-serving rice cookers. At this point, you might wonder: although Single Dog Food's target users are precise, it faces a challenge: "Single Dog Food spends time cultivating these people, but once they leave the single phase and their label changes, won't they be lost?" In response, Zeng Ruilu explained that China's single population has exceeded 200 million. In contrast, in Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the US, single people account for 35-40% of the population. Undoubtedly, the domestic single population will continue to grow steadily. The influx of new singles far exceeds those who leave, so Single Dog Food is not worried about the demographic issue. Assuming China's single population reaches over 30%, Single Dog Food could do business worth 400-500 million RMB, which is substantial compared to most brands. Moreover, the single demographic has very distinct labels and strong social topics. Single Dog Food is an IP that gains insight into new single groups, continuously creates new topics, and constantly explores their new pain points and 'emotions', which is the foundation of its survival. Zeng Ruilu believes that today's young consumers have increasingly diverse needs and prefer change and novelty. It's becoming harder to foster loyalty through a single brand. Single Dog Food aims to be their friend, understand their attitudes, and match their lifestyle philosophies. Single Dog Food's product packaging often features distinctive personalities, with selling points that highlight single life scenarios, such as 'flirt', 'wave', 'hip-hop', 'ha', 'single cafeteria', 'brain-teaser', 'super player', 'binge-watcher', etc. In addition, Single Dog Food engages with these individuals through offline activities like monthly single hiking and single parties in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, or by creating pop-up convenience stores, strengthening face-to-face communication and consumer connections.
Why did Single Dog Food enter offline channels first in its early days, contrary to the norm? Single Dog Food stands out in brand building and also takes an unconventional approach in market strategy. Frankly, most innovative consumer brands that have risen in the past two years started with online e-commerce channels before entering offline. Single Dog Food, however, did the opposite. Facing challenges such as traditional offline distribution, market competition, price wars, and lengthy channel development cycles, Zeng Ruilu explained that in the past two years, Single Dog Food did not make major moves online but focused on offline first. The reasons are both accidental and inevitable. The accidental factor: Although Single Dog Food is a new brand, the team has significant offline experience, unlike other startups with internet or cultural backgrounds. For instance, another co-founder, Mr. Zhan Qinghua, has over ten years of channel operation experience, enabling Single Dog Food to recruit over 600 offline distributors in a short time. From an inevitable perspective, although offline shelf space is limited and competition is fierce, compared to online where you constantly pay for traffic and placement, limited shelf space actually creates barriers. Zeng Ruilu gave an analogy: In the snack category on shelves, usually only four or five brands can be displayed. But when you compete with more efficient market tactics and replace one to put Single Dog Food on the shelf, you gain a competitive advantage. Moreover, compared to traditional 'boring' brands, we are highly competitive in both product and packaging design. This is known in the industry as 'silent selling power' at the point of sale. Additionally, Single Dog Food considered the consumption characteristics of the category and the competitive dynamics between online and offline snack brands, ultimately deciding to focus on offline in the early stages. Looking back at offline achievements: In March 2018, Single Dog Food's potato chips launched and were immediately popular. Production capacity was 6,000 boxes per day, but daily demand reached 13,000 boxes. For example, in a premium supermarket in Xiamen, over 300 bags of chips were sold in a day, far surpassing many well-known snack brands. Of course, Zeng Ruilu also emphasized that focusing on offline does not mean we ignore online. In July this year, Single Dog Food officially established its e-commerce department, opened a Tmall flagship store, and promoted online channel development. Now, having built brand momentum offline, moving online is relatively easier because platforms offer different resources. For example, the recent collaboration between Single Dog Food's 'Liao Mian' (instant noodles), Sprite, and Huang Xiaochu (a celebrity chef) is primarily online. At this point, platforms are willing to cooperate and even allocate strategic resources to 'play big' with us.
How did the Partner Plan become Single Dog Food's 'trump card'? Single Dog Food aims to be not just a snack brand but a 'single IP', giving it strong potential for category expansion. However, while expanding categories is easy, solving the backend supply chain is a major challenge. Unlike the consumer side, where a brand can go viral in a short time, supply chain production is a slow process. Stable product quality and scalable supply systems require long-term accumulation and refinement. For the supply chain, Single Dog Food chose a 'win-win cooperation' approach. Zeng Ruilu told New Distribution that Single Dog Food's strength lies in its deep insight into the single demographic, enabling it to design brands and packaging that captivate young consumers. These established FMCG companies have stable supply chains and corresponding channel resources. Each has advantages, forming the basis for cooperation. Additionally, these FMCG companies face challenges such as brand aging and an inability to reach young consumers. Their past brand culture no longer resonates with today's consumers. Moreover, internal decision-making mechanisms make it difficult for them to integrate and understand consumers. Brand aging also leads to a lack of pricing power for old products. With consumption upgrades, consumers are willing to spend an extra two yuan, but many companies fail to give them a reason to do so. Based on these mutual pain points and strengths, Single Dog Food will establish joint ventures with these companies. "Use your strengths to fill my weaknesses, and use my strengths to fill yours. Through product and brand upgrades, we enhance pricing power, share channel resources, jointly develop markets, and improve operational efficiency," Zeng Ruilu explained. Each takes what it needs to grow the pie. Don't try to do everything; choose the right partners to achieve win-win cooperation. The Partner Plan reveals Single Dog Food's ambition to scale. In summary, as the first brand to propose a single-snack IP, Single Dog Food aims to establish a distinct brand image among young singles and deepen its IP label in the single economy. As the IP evolves, Single Dog Food is transitioning from a snack brand to a representative of a trendy lifestyle for the single demographic.