---
title: "Brands Rush to Dominate the Icebox Battlefield: Who Will Win?"
description: "Since ancient times, during the beverage peak season, the icebox has been a battleground for major beverage brands. In April, temperatures are rising across the country, and summer is approaching. The scorching heat drives consumers to seek cold drinks, making iceboxes a crucial sales point. Data shows that in summer, 79% of consumers choose to buy iced beverages, and 81% will switch to other brands if their preferred drink is not chilled. Placing an icebox in a retail outlet can boost sales by 29%, and with a typical single-door icebox, it can add about 50 facings and 20 orders. Thus, brands like Nongfu Spring, Coca-Cola, and Wahaha are fiercely competing for icebox placements, with strategies ranging from free iceboxes to subsidies and price wars. The battle is intense, and the value of iceboxes in the beverage market is undeniable."
author: "张子涵"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2024-04-16"
language: "en"
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---

# Brands Rush to Dominate the Icebox Battlefield: Who Will Win?

> Since ancient times, during the beverage peak season, the icebox has been a battleground for major beverage brands. In April, temperatures are rising across the country, and summer is approaching. The scorching heat drives consumers to seek cold drinks, making iceboxes a crucial sales point. Data shows that in summer, 79% of consumers choose to buy iced beverages, and 81% will switch to other brands if their preferred drink is not chilled. Placing an icebox in a retail outlet can boost sales by 29%, and with a typical single-door icebox, it can add about 50 facings and 20 orders. Thus, brands like Nongfu Spring, Coca-Cola, and Wahaha are fiercely competing for icebox placements, with strategies ranging from free iceboxes to subsidies and price wars. The battle is intense, and the value of iceboxes in the beverage market is undeniable.

Since ancient times, during the beverage peak season, the icebox has been a battleground for major beverage brands.
In April, temperatures across the country are gradually rising.
In the north, the weather has recently reached above 25°C,
Summer is approaching,
In the hot summer, how could one not have a bottle of ice-cold beverage?
I remember when I was in school, students who had just finished physical education under the scorching sun would rush to the school convenience store, open the icebox, grab a chilled drink, and gulp it down, letting out a satisfied sigh. It truly is the "life-saving神器" of summer.
The high temperatures have ripened the beverage market, and with the peak season arriving, cooling down with cold air is essential. The iceboxes in supermarkets, convenience stores, and small shops are working non-stop.
If you actually walk into a street-side supermarket, you'll notice.
The iceboxes of major beverage brands are ready to go, engaging in all-around competition.
We can see brands like Nongfu Spring, Coca-Cola, and C'estbon actively vying for icebox placement positions.
In the summer beverage market, it can be said that **"those who get the icebox get the world."**
New Distribution public data shows: In summer, 79% of consumers choose to buy iced beverages, and among them, 81% will choose other companies' frozen products because their target drink is not refrigerated; placing an icebox in a retail outlet can increase sales by 29%. Taking the most common single-door icebox as an example, it can immediately add about 50 facings and about 20 sales orders.
During the beverage peak season, even in the northeastern region, the coldest part of China, chilled beverages sell 7-8 times more than room-temperature ones. If it's like this in the north, the gap is even larger in the southern provinces with higher temperatures.
**If the icebox is placed well, sales will be high.**
Especially when it's hot, consumers' demand for cold drinks increases significantly. As an independent display space, the icebox not only grabs shelf space but also serves as an advertisement for the brand, increasing exposure. It creates a new point of sale, bringing the product directly to consumers and enhancing their attention and memory of the product.
The display function also shows the beverages to customers directly, improving the efficiency of purchase decisions. Compared to these multiple functions, the original cold storage and preservation function of the icebox seems somewhat dim.
Moreover, although brands mainly place iceboxes in supermarkets or convenience stores, their consumption scenarios are not limited to these places. They can often be seen at roadside fruit stalls, small restaurants, and cinemas, thereby expanding the sales market for beverages.
In addition, when beverage brands place iceboxes in supermarkets and other stores, they usually have some requirements, such as not allowing competitors' products in the icebox; the arrangement order should follow product popularity, etc.
At the same time, some brands also ensure that only their products are sold in the icebox by providing discounts or subsidies, to maintain brand image and improve sales performance.
**With so many benefits of placing iceboxes at sales terminals, major beverage brands naturally won't miss this opportunity.**
**The icebox war among brands has already begun.**
In 2024, the most attention-grabbing was [Wahaha], which frequently appeared on hot searches. As the first reform measure after Zong Fuli took charge of Wahaha, [Wahaha] indeed attaches great importance to placing iceboxes, continuously increasing offline icebox placement, and also attracting attention from inside and outside the industry, as well as upstream and terminal channels.
As soon as it launched, the order volume for Wahaha iceboxes exceeded 10 million units, with orders scheduled months in advance. After articles about Wahaha iceboxes were published, netizens from various regions also wanted to contact their sales representatives to apply, showing its popularity.
Besides Wahaha, let's talk about the veteran in icebox placement—[Coca-Cola]. Coca-Cola has always had great confidence in icebox placement, with offline placement almost never stopping. It was also one of the earliest players. I believe many offline retail terminals got their first icebox from Coca-Cola.
Then there's [Nongfu Spring], which has the highest placement volume in recent years. Not only does it place many, but it's not satisfied with just single-door refrigerators, showing great drive. In 2022, it invested a huge 3 billion yuan to purchase multi-door iceboxes. Although the final results didn't meet expectations, it fully demonstrated Nongfu Spring's emphasis on icebox placement.
In addition to the above, many other brands have also joined this summer showdown, including Ganten, Dongshen Te Yin, Mengniu, Genki Forest, Master Kong, etc., all continuously expanding their offline icebox placements.
As the number of iceboxes in the market increases, market competition intensifies, and prime locations become scarcer. Major brands are constantly vying for good positions, using increasingly diverse tactics.
**It is understood that brand icebox sales representatives are under immense pressure now.** Shortly after the Chinese New Year, sales reps from various beverage brands were already on the move. To secure an icebox placement in a small supermarket, they repeatedly visit store owners, not only introducing the brand's preferential policies but also providing emotional value to the supermarket owners, often chatting about daily life, doing physical labor like helping with stocking and moving goods, and working hard to win the deal.
This is considered good. Many sales reps have put in effort and done the work, but ultimately lose to other beverage brands with better preferential policies.
**For icebox placement, brands are competing fiercely.**
[Wahaha] at the initial stage of icebox placement, generously gave away a batch of iceboxes to offline stores in various regions, winning the favor of many merchants with its extravagant style; [Mengniu] provides free small iceboxes to merchants, which helps increase brand exposure and sales at the terminal, and also provides certain electricity subsidies to terminal customers;
[Nestlé], to increase its market share, also provides free iceboxes to partner merchants in competition, and offers sales rebate policies based on the merchants' sales performance. This means that after merchants sell a certain quantity or amount of Nestlé products, they can receive a certain profit return, thereby incentivizing them to promote and sell Nestlé products more, and also provides icebox repair and maintenance services to ensure normal operation and extend service life.
Some brands have even started price wars, with subsidies escalating from 60 to 70, and so on, until they win the battle.
For more intense competition, recall the fierce icebox defense war between Nongfu Spring and Genki Forest in the past.
Currently, after years of deep cultivation in offline channels, [Nongfu Spring] undoubtedly occupies the central position in icebox placement. Its terminal placement volume has now exceeded 800,000 units, and the number is still increasing.
This is not good news for other brands. Even a leading brand like Wahaha, with its thunderous approach to offline icebox channels, cannot shake Nongfu Spring's icebox position in a short time.
After all, there are only so many locations.
**However, this war once again proves the value of iceboxes in the beverage market.**


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