Click 'Read Original' for details Source: Tech Planet (ID: tech618) | Author: Qiao Xue Cover image source: Visual China Genki Forest is making a new move, but this time it's not launching a new drink. Tech Planet exclusively learned that a company called Maihou Technology, sharing the same office space and employee badges with Genki Forest, is developing and selling instant rice noodles such as Luosifen and hot and sour noodles. When Tech Planet sought confirmation from a company executive, the executive initially admitted to being under Genki Forest, but upon a second inquiry, denied it. (Employees' desks uniformly feature Genki Forest sparkling water and newly developed products) (The poster shows the company's newly developed Luosifen and hot and sour noodle series) Public records show that the investment company behind Maihou Technology is Shanghai Honghan Investment Management Co., Ltd., whose legal representative and investor is Wang Pu. Further tracing reveals that Wang Pu is also the legal representative of Horgos Challenger Venture Capital Co., Ltd. and Beijing Jiuzhekou E-commerce Co., Ltd., both of which share the same supervisor and investor: Tang Binsen, founder and director of Genki Forest. These clues collectively suggest that Genki Forest is about to enter the Luosifen and hot and sour noodle market. Genki Forest, which opened the "0-sugar sparkling water" trend and reached a valuation of $6 billion in less than five years, has firmly imprinted "sparkling water = Genki Forest" in consumers' minds. But after sparkling water, where does it go next? By entering the instant food market, Genki Forest is searching for its next "forest" after rapid expansion.
Behind Sparkling Water: A Diversified Product Layout Genki Forest's ambition to expand its product categories is not new. Tracing its growth history, it's clear that from the start, Genki Forest was never just a sparkling water company. Its first product was "Ran Tea," a sugar-free tea drink aimed at cutting grease. Until 2020, Ran Tea was Genki Forest's mainstay, until the "sugar-free, fizzy" Yuanqi Water appeared. According to 2019 official data, Ran Tea accounted for nearly one-third of Genki Forest's nearly 1 billion yuan in sales, while Yuanqi Water later surged to 60%-70% of sales, becoming its flagship product. But Genki Forest was not content to be just a sparkling water company. After solidifying its market position, it chose to advance on multiple fronts. The "Manfen Micro Bubbles" launched at the end of 2020 became this year's key product, continuing to expand the sparkling water segment and marking the first product in its juice line. Additionally, its "Alien" brand targets functional drinks like Mizone and Red Bull, and it has also entered the mineral water market. In the tea sector, after Ran Tea, Genki Forest developed several products. In April this year, it launched Qingjian Yulu Green Tea, using a dual-tea formula of "Yulu green tea + ground matcha," further expanding its tea offerings. In dairy, Genki Forest's controlled subsidiary Beihai Ranch, with its Japanese-style design and consistent low-sugar products, entered the niche market, recently launching two new products: a probiotic drink and a soy milk. The former is a sugar-free, fat-free, room-temperature probiotic drink with Bifidobacterium and dietary fiber; the latter is a low-sugar, low-fat, high-calcium, dual-protein breakfast soy milk. In coffee, Genki Forest did not go it alone but invested in Never Coffee. In alcohol, Genki Forest has already launched products and invested in Guanyun Baijiu, Panda Craft Beer, and Bishan Beer. Recently, Tech Planet exclusively learned that Genki Forest has acquired the trademark for "Libao Beer," a Shanghai local beer brand with nostalgic appeal. The logo is consistent with Genki Forest's style, but no new products have been released yet. (Genki Forest and Libao Beer logos share a unified style) With continuous expansion in beverages, Genki Forest has achieved full-spectrum coverage in the drink sector and is now extending into other categories. On its official online mall, the product range is diverse: besides its own soda water, milk tea, Ran Tea, Alien functional drinks, and yogurt, it also sells cod skin, oats, chicken breast, corn kernels, dried tofu, and more. Recently, Tech Planet also found that Genki Forest is selling third-party products, including "if coconut water" from Thailand, jelly, and even fresh produce like mangosteen. In the staple food sector, Genki Forest invested in "Shangui Ramen" in January this year, which operates two stores in Beijing offering Japanese-style ramen and chicken soup, as well as instant "Ramen Talk" products. Combined with the possible noodle products mentioned earlier, Genki Forest's staple food layout is comprehensive. In the light meal sector, Genki Forest invested in "Tianyuan Zhuyi," a simple meal brand offering chicken breast and other weight-loss foods and meal replacements, including low-calorie, low-sugar seasonings. Genki Forest is no longer just a sparkling water company; it has laid out a vast map of new consumption.
The "Genki Effect" Is Waning: How Long Can Genki Forest Stay "Trendy"? Behind Genki Forest's aggressive category expansion lies a pressing question: where is the next "Genki Forest"? And how long can it remain popular? Regarding the first question, Tech Planet learned from internal sources that this year's key product is "Manfen Micro Bubbles," the first juice drink after the "fake sugar-free" controversy, marking a certain rebellion against the "sugar-free" trend. This product, launched at the end of 2020, has not achieved a second hit despite over six months of marketing and hype. This is the first time Genki Forest has included sugar, breaking from its usual "0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 fat" style. This compromise signals that the "Genki Effect" is weakening. Genki Forest's typical strategy is to use its existing brand to nurture new brands, creating a youthful "Genki Effect" in each new category. This also helps better understand and discover users' potential needs, guiding product development. Notably, Genki Forest uses new category names for its expansions, distinguishing them from the original brand. Before the new brands are established, the flagship store sells products like "Alien functional drinks, Ran Tea, and Guo Manfen," after which separate flagship stores are opened for each brand. In Trout's "Positioning," the core concept is that human minds have limited capacity, and entering consumers' minds is difficult, but once a brand occupies a fixed perception of a category, it's hard to replace. Genki Forest relied on "0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 fat" to occupy consumers' minds, and now it wants to expand with "sugar," which is undoubtedly harder. Starting new brands seems costly and time-consuming, but extending the old brand is even more costly. This is a compromise Genki Forest must make. By its fifth year, Genki Forest is experiencing growing pains; the "internet-famous" formula is no longer a panacea. Even in its original beverage sector, and certainly in the diverse food categories it's entering, no product has yet achieved the breakout success of Genki Forest, proving that the path to internet fame is not easy. The aggressive expansion through self-development and investment seems aimed at preparing for a future capital market listing. Reviewing Genki Forest's financing history, it's a VC game of "big efforts create miracles." In April 2021, Genki Forest completed a new funding round at a post-money valuation of $6 billion, tripling its value from the previous round in spring 2020. This valuation exceeds that of established beverage brands like Xiangpiaopiao, Lulu, and Weiwei Soy Milk. An IPO seems only a matter of time for Genki Forest, but whether a single sparkling water product can support such a high valuation is questionable. Therefore, Genki Forest's journey is to build a full-category food "universe," becoming a Chinese "Coca-Cola" or "Nestlé" empire. But every new brand entering the market, like David challenging Goliath, faces an uphill battle.
The Infinite War of New Consumption "2021 is the real year of products for Genki Forest," a statement founder Tang Binsen made at the 2020 distributor conference is about to come true, but the "75 billion yuan sales target" for 2021 may be hard to achieve this year. The sugar-free beverage arena has seen a flood of imitators, including "Qingting," founded by a former Genki Forest executive with near-pixel-level imitation, and "Qingqi," which is similar in design and positioning. New products also face strong competitors who entered the field earlier, such as "Hankou No.2 Factory," along with cross-industry newcomers like Heytea and Naixue Tea. Heytea, after its sugar-free sparkling water, has extended into juice drinks, launching its second bottled beverage, juice tea, in two flavors: Mediterranean Peach and Phoenix, and Iberian Grapefruit and Green Yan. On the other hand, Genki Forest, following the internet-famous route, faces competitive pressure from beverage giants like Nongfu Spring, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. Currently, Coca-Cola has launched "Xiaoyuzhou Sparkling Water," Nongfu Spring has "Soda Sparkling Water," Yili has sparkling milk, Mengniu has lactic acid bacteria sparkling water, and Jianlibao has launched "Micro Bubbles" sugar-free sparkling water, directly targeting Genki Forest. In June this year, Pepsi introduced its sparkling water brand "bubly" to China. In this sugar-reduction trend and increasingly mature market, giants may be late, but they will never be absent. The increasingly competitive beverage industry has forced Genki Forest to change. Its former "asset-light, operation-light" model is gone, and Genki Forest is gradually becoming heavier. To date, Genki Forest, which once relied on OEM, has completed the layout of five self-built factories. The five factories in Tianjin Xiqing, Anhui Chuzhou, Guangdong Zhaoqing, Hubei Xianning, and Sichuan Dujiangyan form a layout covering North, East, South, Central, and Southwest China, including key markets like Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Southwest Sichuan, and Central China. According to Tech Planet, the combined capacity of these factories will exceed 1 billion bottles. What does 1 billion bottles mean? Coca-Cola has a 135-year history with annual sales of around 30 billion bottles (at 3 yuan per bottle). Genki Forest, just five years old, has reached one-tenth of Coca-Cola's sales volume. Undoubtedly, Genki Forest is moving fast, but expansion may also plant hidden dangers. Wahaha is a case in point. Once like Genki Forest, after initial success in mineral water and dairy, it rushed into other sectors. In 2008, Wahaha launched a zero-alcohol mixed tea drink called "Pir Chun Shuang"; later, it introduced "Jingjing" and "Tianyan Jingjing" drinks, claiming to relieve visual fatigue, similar to today's functional drinks. Wahaha also launched "Miaomian" sleep-aid yogurt and Edison cheese yogurt. Beyond beverages, Wahaha entered infant formula and baijiu, but all these ventures became casualties of their time. In people's minds, Wahaha is still most closely associated with AD Calcium Milk and Nutrition Express. Infinite expansion requires core technology. Genki Forest has no unreplicable "secret recipe," no invincible distribution channels, and no historical story to tell. "Holding the current market" might be the first step in the Genki universe's origin. After all, the consumer goods market is an infinite war where "attacking is easy, defending is hard," and rankings change rapidly.
PS: From September 23-25, 2021, the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference, hosted by New Distribution, will open in Shanghai. Focusing on industry trends + practical cases + growth connections, 3,000 FMCG practitioners will gather. Ten themed forums cover new retail O2O, community group buying, short-video e-commerce, distributor transformation, new consumer brand rise, new alcoholic drinks, distribution B2B supply chain, omni-channel marketing, B2B2C new technology applications, etc., with operators from various segments sharing the latest case studies. Confirmed heavyweight guests include: 1. Tao Shiquan, founder of Jiangxiaobai; 2. Yao Xuhong, general manager of Meiyijia Holdings; 3. Lu Xiuqiong, global expert partner at Bain & Company and former VP of marketing at Coca-Cola China; 4. Chen Xiaodong, senior VP of Nestlé Greater China; 5. Zhang Fujun, president of Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group China; 6. Bi Chaojiao, general manager of China Resources Snow Breweries marketing center; 7. Yang Hongbin, VP of Junlebao Dairy Group; 8. Yang Shun, COO of Lipton Greater China; 9. Zhang Yipeng, general manager of Kuaishou E-commerce SKA Brand Operations Center; 10. Li De, e-commerce general manager of Gold Hong Ye Paper Group... A grand gathering for FMCG professionals—you must be there! Are you "watching" me?