Friendly reminder: Click the ↑ above on "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" to learn more about marketing and distributor internal management.
Back when I first started in marketing, it was an era where loosening your belt meant loosening the rules. The basic requirement for a marketer was that your drinking prowess reflected your character—if you could handle half a jin, you had to at least down eight liang. That's why marketers earned the nickname "academicians" (because after too much drink, you'd end up in the hospital).
In the old days, I'd finish small cups, then move to big cups, and after big cups, I'd chug straight from the bottle. But these days, there are too few beauties and youth fades fast. Now, a single small bottle lays me flat. From guzzling to sipping, I've learned that time waits for no one.
Of course, I'm not just an old tippler—my main gig is selling goods, and my side hustle is writing. A "talented" guy naturally wants to make his mark with words, so I'll inevitably share my two cents on the small bottles I've drunk. Whether you applaud or throw bricks, it's entirely up to you, dear readers.
Wai Zui Lang: Old Tree, New Blossoms
As an old tippler, my memory of small bottles starts with Wai Zui Lang. Famous liquors launching small bottles—"Wai Zui" wasn't original. Years ago, Wuliangye released a trial pack that sparked a buying frenzy at the Chengdu Sugar and Wine Fair. But in the eyes of cash-rich Wuliangye, small bottles were just "a drop in the bucket," so they modestly ceded the top spot to Langjiu.
As the undisputed king of small bottles, the little Langjiu's success boils down to four things. First, it did the right thing at the right time—"Wai Zui" launched during the golden decade of baijiu, and with boozehounds cheering it on, "Little Langjiu, Big Brand" stood out without competitor interference. Second, the 100ml size appealed to those who love the taste but can't hold their liquor. Third, at around twenty-odd yuan, Langjiu's brand power let consumers save face. Fourth, the aroma—strong at the front, sauce at the finish—not only tasted great but carried a good metaphor, making it hard not to shine.
"Wai Zui Lang" is a rich second generation—it started with an advantage and innovated in marketing, focusing intensely on offline channels and terminal operations. It developed a rigorous five-level ground breakthrough: winning over store owners, waitstaff, consumers, secondary distributors, and distributors. All five prongs working together, push and pull combined, secured its top spot. Even when rivals like Wuliangye appeared, they haven't seen a chance to overtake.
Red Star Erguotou: Long Gone from the Top Spot
"Red Er" is a real pity. Who started small bottles is lost to history, but Red Star Erguotou was once the undisputed leader—the only one without controversy. "Red Er" wasn't just the only national light-aroma small bottle brand; it was the first to put small bottles in millions of homes.
For "Red Er," I need to write a bold stroke. "Red Er" and I were once kindred spirits. Some joke that revolution isn't a dinner party, but marketing absolutely requires one. With all sorts of people, I've met plenty of posers who insist on Wuliangye or Moutai, yet their profit contribution to me wouldn't even buy two bottles of Moutai. That's when "Red Er" would make a grand entrance—I'd say, "I'm a nostalgic guy; I only drink erguotou in my life." Then even the biggest poser had to join me in nostalgia. Thank you, "Red Er," or I might have gone bankrupt long ago.
But that's the past. "Red Er" hasn't been the leader for years. Even though it was once inseparable from me, we've drifted apart and I nearly forgot it. A quick review reveals a few issues: First, the 60-proof body is too harsh for many. Second, the erguotou family has humble origins, stuck at the bottom of the brand ladder; "Red Er" swept the country largely thanks to farmers and workers. Third, it failed to keep up with the times—aging, outdated, low-end positioning couldn't elevate the product. Finally, "Red Er" relied on traditional distribution channels to go national, a model that should've been in a museum long ago.
No leader wants to give up reclaiming lost glory. In recent years, "Red Er" has learned from its shame and surged forward, promoting red culture and youth culture with slogans like "Young means red" and "With brothers, there's a camp." Targeting the post-80s generation, it aims to empower youth with passion and dreams, using flamboyant personality and unique language to convey positive energy. With trendy, retro design, it promotes cool culture while expressing nostalgia. You can see confusion and struggle, but success or failure is hard to judge right now.
Jiangxiaobai: A Fire in Winter
This literary youth Jiangxiaobai is on fire. How popular is this small bottle born in Chongqing in 2012? Let facts speak: First, Jiangxiaobai's dad, Comrade Tao Shiquan, has won awards until his hands are sore. Second, venture capitalists are crying and begging to walk with this literary youth, money bags in hand. Third, in Chongqing, Chengdu, and Changsha—three base markets—Jiangxiaobai is everywhere, with sales that make peers envious. Fourth, a bunch of self-media claim to be brothers with Comrade Lao Tao, saying Lao Tao is Jiangxiaobai's biological dad and they're the godfathers.
With experts and media working together, Jiangxiaobai was thoroughly dissected. What everyone sees is this: fashion and trend as the top element, precise positioning targeting post-80s and post-90s consumers; making baijiu entertaining, using pop language to craft personality quotes, closing the distance with young consumers and enhancing immersion; with low-proof, small-format specs, approachable product names, and a cute brand image, Jiangxiaobai is shaped as an entertainment small-bottle brand.
Many think this is the essence of internet brands, sparking a wave of imitators, including rich second-gen Lu Xiao'er. But copying Jiangxiaobai won't get you far or fast. Jiangxiaobai's root is brand personification; its legs are terminal operations—that's Comrade Lao Tao's secret weapon. Jiangxiaobai's ground team is already several slopes ahead of the industry.
BOMB Erguotou: Early Riser, Late to the Fair
For youthful, trendy small bottles, Jiangxiaobai is the benchmark, but it's not the original—someone did it earlier. Innovating drinking methods and igniting a drinking revolution, BOMB Erguotou's "Blast one at happy hour" once had drinkers in stitches.
BOMB Erguotou innovated from production to packaging and drinking methods. Compared to traditional erguotou, it created new ways to drink, mixing with Sprite, 7UP, lemon, orange juice, etc.—trendy and creative. In packaging: a pure grenade shape—individualistic; silver metal cap—tough; thick, stylish feel—full; bold, heavy label—grand and simple. BOMB Erguotou is plastered with youthful, passionate cultural tags, boasting features like "hard to get drunk on, quick to sober up, smooth on the throat, no headache after," eventually forming the "bomb drinking method" loved by young consumers.
This little bomb exploded across North China, but awkwardly, it didn't achieve national coverage like "Red Er" or Jiangxiaobai's market influence. It has three fatal flaws: BOMB Erguotou pursues a blend of classical and modern, East and West—an impossible task in itself. Second, its youthful positioning only shows in advertising, not fully integrated with the brand. Third, bomb liquor has become a category concept, flooded to the point of saturation.
Recently, BOMB Erguotou has been playing with fan marketing, but for this little bottle to conquer the central plains, it seems it needs to work on its internal skills.
Jingjiu: Undefeated and Lonely
If you were to pick the king of shipments in China's baijiu industry, it would be Jingjiu. If you change the criteria, the true champion of small bottles is also Jingjiu, even though most people's champion, Wai Zui Lang, is several levels behind. The odd thing is the stark mismatch between its volume and its market status.
First, Jingjiu has health benefits but follows the baijiu route—a quite precise strategy. Neither baijiu nor health liquor sees Jingjiu as a competitor, giving it a space free of interference. Second, Jingjiu sells health products the way baijiu is sold, precisely grasping customer psychology. Jingjiu's function is kidney tonifying or, say, virility. The problem is that kidney tonifying and virility are private matters—even a "soft guy" won't admit his kidneys are weak. Think about it: when have you seen someone pop Viagra in public? If it were labeled a health product, channels would be limited. In China, health products are taken like medicine, drastically reducing the audience. But health products aren't medicine, so they lack medicine's effects, leading to accusations of being a big scam. Good products get drowned in customer spit. Jingjiu positions itself as liquor, and with a beautiful woman telling you affectionately, "After drinking Jingjiu, 'he's good, and I'm good too,'" this powerful suggestion stirs men's ambitions. So Jingjiu is good, and of course, you'll drink too much, accidentally hitting nearly 8 billion yuan in sales.
Jingjiu has no rivals, and what's even more formidable is its sales capability, fully FMCG-izing the liquor. Jingjiu boasts the strongest and largest sales team in China's baijiu industry, making Jingjiu ubiquitous and within reach—a lead of many years over the rest. Currently, only Jiangxiaobai in its base markets can wrestle with Jingjiu's team.
Fenjiu Zhuyechun: The Eternal Second Blossoms Anew
If you must ask who could become Jingjiu's biggest enemy and surpass it years later, you have to mention Fenjiu Group's small bottle—Zhuyechun.
Zhuyeqing liquor, as a unique brand in China, truly deserves savoring by many tipplers. Having been in the liquor circle for years, I've always loved Zhuyeqing for its distinctive taste and health benefits. It's a pity this brand—born into nobility, Zhuyeqing was once synonymous with Chinese health liquor. But this brand with over 1,000 years of history has always been the second child in the Xinghuacun Fenjiu family. In the tide of market economy, the empire's focus stayed on Fenjiu, missing opportunities, giving Zhuyeqing less and less support, until Jingjiu overtook it, relegating it to second place in the health liquor market. So it rightly earns the title of China's only "eternal second."
Fortunately, Zhuyeqing has solid foundations—besides lagging sales, it has no shortage of loyal fans. Its glory and history are no less than Fenjiu's. With the golden signboard of being China's only famous health liquor, it could live forever. Of course, if Fenjiu Group had nurtured Zhuyeqing as the heir apparent, no one could have competed in China's health and wellness liquor categories, and a 10-billion scale would have been easily achievable.
Now, Zhuyeqing launches the small bottle Zhuyechun, catching the small-bottle trend and riding the health liquor wave. It hopes to leverage the heritage of a famous brand and the advantages of a 10-billion group to fill the gap in competing with Jingjiu's small bottles. From this, little brother Zhuyechun seems unassuming, maintaining Zhuyeqing's low-key style, but it's full of market threats. Its highlights and future shouldn't be underestimated. If it truly returns to sales fundamentals in market operations and does meticulous work, given time, it might create another miracle!
Source: Sales and Market