In recent years, snack brand Bestore has made many moves. At the Shanghai CIIE, Bestore signed a 300 million RMB raw material cooperation agreement for Brazilian pine nuts with HALO FOODS, Pakistan's largest pine nut procurement and processing enterprise. Bestore signs 300 million pine nut order at CIIE On the same day, news came from Istanbul, Turkey, that Bestore had reached a strategic cooperation agreement with a Turkish company to introduce high-quality dried fruits, fruits, and specialty agricultural products from Turkey to China in the future. To date, Bestore uses 190 types of raw materials from 32 countries and regions worldwide, and has developed over 1,000 snack products. The significance of this move is to break down barriers for imported snacks, localize imported categories such as Brazilian pine nuts, macadamia nuts, and dried mango, and lower the consumption threshold. Yang Hongchun, founder and chairman of Bestore, said in a recent interview that Bestore's premium snack strategy is based on products, with product management as the main line, and involves the entire innovation and upgrade of all business elements and behaviors. -01- Premium snacks are not equal to high prices Yang Hongchun's goal is to become the spokesperson for Chinese snacks through premium snacks, making Bestore represent Chinese snacks. When people mention Bestore, they know it means high-quality snacks, benchmarking against Japanese snacks. Why did Bestore propose the premium snack strategy? Yang Hongchun said it is mainly based on future trends. One of the most common categories of information on WeChat is about nutritious and healthy eating, and wellness, representing the potential needs of the people. Especially for the food industry, such as the "three highs" (high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high blood lipids), as well as obesity, and the proportion of myopia among school-age children. Now the proportion of myopia among school-age children continues to deteriorate, all related to eating. In addition to regular meals, there is also the "fourth meal" of snacks, including fitness high-protein diet products. The market is undergoing tremendous changes. In addition, different groups of people have different needs for food at different times, seasons, and physical conditions. When per capita GDP is below $1,000, the stage is mainly about eating enough; at $3,000 to $8,000, it is a stage of extreme material abundance, and needs are extremely satisfied. When per capita GDP reaches $10,000, a major turning point occurs: delicious, tasty, and diverse varieties are generally satisfied, and the core is health. Bestore must also change with the trend, with higher quality standards and better quality. Therefore, on this basis, Bestore repositions its corporate, brand, and product development as premium. Yang Hongchun said that the premium snack strategy is not in the category of brand communication or brand image, but is positioned from the perspective of market demand, industry chain development trends, and corporate social value. This will bring a series of changes to business operations. The first impact is on the product and supply chain system, meeting consumer product needs through the product and supply chain system; this is a fundamental issue. The second change affects channels, marketing, and services, and all business elements and behaviors will undergo innovation and upgrade. Of course, the positioning of premium snacks does not mean they are expensive. Yang Hongchun said that the attribute of premium snacks is still food, and food can never reach the price level of luxury goods. This is a premium demand, not for premium people. In fact, the demand for premium retail is very strong, and there is a large gap in the market. Yang Hongchun communicates with consumers as a customer service representative at the customer service center Yang Hongchun pointed out, "If there is no research on the knowledge of different groups, different periods, and different usage scenarios, then the salesperson is just a cashier or shelf stocker. Is there any benefit or user value?" The company's move towards a premium brand is also related to Yang Hongchun's early entrepreneurship. Initially, Yang Hongchun was a professional manager at Kelon Refrigerator, but the company was acquired by another company. The reason was that Kelon Refrigerator started its business inland, with high transportation costs, resulting in a profit of only 10 yuan per refrigerator sold, while coastal enterprises could earn 800 yuan or even more per unit. This led to a vicious cycle: the lowest wages, lagging technological upgrades, lax quality management, the worst suppliers, and deteriorating corporate finances. The company could not innovate and eventually fell into the fate of being acquired. Therefore, after founding Bestore, Yang Hongchun believed that the company should have correct value growth. Signing the 300 million yuan Brazilian pine nut raw material cooperation is to secure the best things and see whether the proportion and sales of products with the industry's highest quality standards are growing. "All international companies and all industries have experienced price wars, but in the end, the winner is not the one who fights the price war best. When a team or company gets used to winning by price war, this sword can only be wielded for three to five years, and it is very dangerous." Yang Hongchun said that Bestore's mission is to provide high-quality food and move the world with deliciousness. Its values are quality and happiness. The core is to make better products. Only good products can give consumers a sense of gain, and only truly create value for society. -02- 15% growth across all channels validates the premium snack strategy Bestore offline store Compared to Qiaqia Food or Three Squirrels, Bestore has a very different competitive strategy. For example, Qiaqia Food's core is sunflower seeds, but Bestore's core is neither sunflower seeds nor nuts, but snacks. Bestore makes snacks concrete as a category, while most food companies choose a single product and make the demand concrete. Why does Bestore have this logic? Yang Hongchun said that the product concretization strategy is fast, but it is not suitable for Bestore. Bestore's market segmentation is different from competitors' market segmentation, and it has its own business logic for market segmentation. Bestore is a comprehensive brand, and its market segmentation is based on segmenting user needs, not product needs. For example, the idea of making mixed nut products is to segment by age according to the health and nutritional needs of different groups, making children's types, mother types, and elderly types. In terms of product usage, convenience packaging will be made, and then family packaging. Yang Hongchun said, "Bestore's core is to pursue premium demand. All quality standards must revolve around nutrition, health, freshness, deliciousness, and a good experience. This is Bestore's core value." This core value is a premium value direction. Bestore's market and products must be related to people's needs. This is premium snacks. Bestore's strategic logic is product-based, with product management as the main line, segmenting different user needs to meet premium product needs and premium shopping experiences. Therefore, Bestore does not compete with competitors in a specific category, but rather gains more insight into user needs. Yang Hongchun pointed out that whoever grasps the trend will be the future king. If a company does not grasp potential trend demands and only sees the narrow competition at hand, it will have big problems. After determining the premium brand positioning, Bestore made bold moves by successively hiring Kris Wu and Dilraba as spokespersons for premium snacks, and also invested heavily in Focus Media building ads to reach the mainstream urban population and occupy users' minds. On November 5, Bestore's product reviewer Dilraba visited Bestore's Taobao live stream room This is rare in Bestore's growth history. Why does Bestore spend a lot of money on spokespersons and Focus Media ads? Yang Hongchun said that the food industry is still in the early stage of brand building, competition is not fierce enough, and concentration is not high. At this time, brand communication is an important stage. If you remain unknown at this stage and do not invest, you will lose the opportunity. "Bestore is currently in a value transformation period. We must clearly express the value, define and position it clearly, and communicate clearly. Looking at the trend of the next 5 years, brand communication is still a very important stage." Yang Hongchun is very satisfied with the results after this transformation. He said that Bestore's top-of-mind awareness for premium snacks in first- and second-tier cities reached 53%. From the customer perspective, the frequency of loyal customers is increasing, and the frequency of old customers repurchasing and high-value customers is also increasing. Not only that, Bestore's average order value is increasing, both in stores and e-commerce. The growth rate of products with nutritional characteristics and high-quality standards is also increasing. "Our profit margin is increasing, and we have achieved 15% growth across all online and offline channels. These are hard indicators, all validating the correctness of the premium snack strategy." Bestore invests in Focus Media building ads to reach the mainstream urban population Yang Hongchun said that the real correctness is consumer demand. The Bestore team is studying the nutritional differences of different varieties, with partners including research institutions, universities, and laboratories. Bestore's business actions, resources, and learning have all undergone systematic changes. When asked when the premium snack strategy will be considered successful, Yang Hongchun said that it will take at least 3 to 5 years to make everyone feel that competing on low quality and low price is hopeless. -03- Accelerating IPO: Revenue expected to approach 10 billion this year The latest news is that Bestore will be reviewed by the IPO review committee on November 28. In 2019, the company is accelerating its sprint to go public. During its growth, Bestore has also introduced investments from Today Capital and Hillhouse Capital, especially at the end of 2017, when Hillhouse Capital invested 800 million yuan and officially became a shareholder of Bestore. When asked why Hillhouse Capital was introduced, Yang Hongchun said that Hillhouse Capital, as an investor, pays great attention to long-term value. Bestore has strong operational capabilities and sound operating indicators. The reason for introducing Hillhouse Capital is to create greater value. "We cannot sleep on past achievements, or only focus on current sales, growth, and patching loopholes. We must grasp future trends." Yang Hongchun said that after Bestore advocated the concept of premium snacks, the entire industry has actually been taking different paths. Hillhouse Capital itself is also very good at transforming traditional enterprises. For example, after privatizing Belle, the shoe king, Hillhouse Capital recently spun off Belle's sports brand Topsports and successfully listed it on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a market value even exceeding Belle's privatization. After investing in Bestore, Hillhouse Capital used its big data team to develop a store location system specifically for Bestore, predicting store losses, and the prediction accuracy is continuously improving. Currently, Bestore's development has entered a new stage. Lei Di predicts that Bestore's revenue this year may approach 10 billion yuan. In response, Yang Hongchun said that he and his team are stepping on the brakes, not pursuing sales targets too high. A team must not be grandiose, eager for quick success, blindly vain, only sales-oriented, and using price wars as a killer move. This is related to Yang Hongchun's past background. After graduating from university, Yang Hongchun worked in quality inspection, doing quality management on the production line, and later did marketing and sales at the front line. Yang Hongchun believes that precisely when the situation is best, one should operate in reverse. Source: Lei Di Touch Network Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted