This generation of young people has its own way of maintaining health. From red bean and coix seed water, longan water, to goji berry and red date water, traditional Chinese wellness drinks have become the new favorite of young consumers due to their health attributes, quickly occupying the "C-position" on supermarket and convenience store shelves. According to the "2024 China Traditional Chinese Wellness Drink Industry Development Trends Insight Report" by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, the market size of traditional Chinese wellness drinks in China grew to 450 million yuan in 2023, with an annual growth rate exceeding 350%. It is expected that the compound annual growth rate of the traditional Chinese wellness drink market will exceed 88% in the next five years. Driven by consumer demand, New Distribution has observed that the time-honored national brand Panpan is also continuously innovating in the "light wellness" field. With dual efforts in product strength and channel strength, it has successfully broken through, quickly becoming popular, and opening a new growth curve. Recently, Panpan Food Group's sub-brand "Shennong Henmang" has made another move, launching two customized products for Yonghui Superstores at once - Coix Seed Seven-White Water and Jasmine Five-Flower Tea. At the same time, this type of product will also be launched at Jiajiayue, precisely targeting young consumers' emotional and functional demands for "light wellness." So, from entry to breakout, how did Panpan Beverages achieve this? What product logic and market strategy lie behind it?

Yonghui Customized Channel Co-creation: Deepening Supply Chain Cooperation and Precise Product Selection

In this era of overcapacity and product explosion, consumers do not lack products; they pay more attention to product value and personalized needs. The brand logic has also shifted from "selling whatever we have" in the past to "producing whatever consumers want" now. This change has completely broken the traditional game between retailers and suppliers, and everyone has begun to rethink "how to better serve consumers?" For brands, whoever can understand consumers earlier and react faster will have market discourse power. This not only requires strong R&D and manufacturing capabilities but also requires brands to actively access channel data and create truly demand-matching customized products. For retailers, products must not only "sell well" but also "move" consumers, which places higher demands on product selection standards. To meet market and consumer needs, retailers and brands are gradually moving from "game" to "co-creation," jointly polishing products.

Deep Supply Chain Collaboration, Quality First to Create Exclusive Products

In fact, it is not new for brands to cooperate with new retail channels to customize products; it has even become a trend. Yonghui, after its adjustment, has proposed a goal of "40% private label, 30% customized packaging and specification products." Through the "customized channel co-creation" model, it establishes long-term, in-depth, and stable strategic cooperation with core brands and source suppliers, using strict product selection standards and precise consumer insights to create a differentiated, high-quality-price-ratio product matrix. The core of this model lies in "co-creation, co-selection, and co-control," controlling quality from the source to ensure that every customized product precisely matches market demand and gains consumer recognition.

Upgraded Product Selection Logic: Data-Driven + Strict Quality Control, Precisely Matching Consumer Needs

Yonghui's customized product selection is not only based on big data analysis but also emphasizes "quality first," ensuring that every product can withstand market testing. This high-standard selection method has also made Yonghui's customized products favored by consumers. The author has seen many genuine reviews on multiple platforms: "Meniye soybean milk sandwich bread is love at first bite," "Customized fresh milk is a must-stock item," "Craft beer is super delicious," etc. The cooperation between Panpan Beverages and Yonghui is a typical practice of this trend. Leveraging Yonghui's terminal data and user evaluation feedback, Panpan precisely insight into young consumers' "wellness" needs and launched two new traditional Chinese wellness products - Coix Seed Seven-White Water and Jasmine Five-Flower Tea, meeting users' pursuit of moistening and nourishment. The launch of new products not only reflects the brand's proactive response to consumption trends but also realizes reverse customization driven by user consumption data, revealing a new paradigm for future retailer-supplier co-creation.

Social Platform Word-of-Mouth Confirmation: High Quality Brings High Repurchase

Yonghui's customized products, with their "high quality and affordable price" strategy, continue to receive spontaneous recommendations from consumers on social platforms. At Yonghui, "Shennong Henmang" launched its first customized product, Loquat Stewed Pear, as early as January. "A treasure drink discovered by chance," "Explosively delicious juice," "Very clean ingredient list," - the social platforms are full of praise for Loquat Stewed Pear. With the continued success of Yonghui and Panpan's co-creation, it is not difficult to see that the new retailer-supplier relationship is iterating and upgrading. Brands are no longer just "suppliers" but innovative partners for efficient cooperation with retailers. The entire retailer-supplier relationship is also shifting from "who gives more profit" to "who understands consumers better." From game to co-creation, this is a true transformation and upgrading.

Creating Product Differentiation: What Makes Panpan Different?

In the highly homogeneous sub-track of wellness water, how to truly move consumers and escape the traps of "trend-following ingredients" and "empty functions" has become the key to brand breakout. The two new products launched by Panpan this time demonstrate a clear differentiated approach in product design and R&D, using a more consumer-friendly way to create their own characteristics.

1. Coix Seed Seven-White Water: Combining Herbal Wellness and Quality Endorsement

Panpan insight into the common problems of young people today, such as irregular schedules, unhealthy diets, and high stress, and focuses on the core needs of "regulation and light burden," launching a 0-sugar, 0-calorie herbal wellness drink - Coix Seed Seven-White Water. In the theory of "five colors entering five organs," "white" mainly belongs to the "lung meridian," echoing modern people's attention to regulation. The product selects seven medicinal and edible ingredients: coix seed, almond, polygonatum odoratum, poria cocos, euryale seed, lily, and lotus seed, combined with an ancient formula from the Ming Dynasty classic "Zhengyin Maizhi" for blending. Compared with single-ingredient products on the market, the compound formula makes the product nourishing and moisturizing, with richer layers. More importantly, this product is jointly developed by Panpan and the time-honored Chinese brand Tonghanchuntang, using high-temperature boiling technology to retain herbal nutrition, with a warm and mellow taste. Tonghanchuntang's professional endorsement enhances the product's professionalism and trust, meeting consumers' expectations for "health."

2. Jasmine Five-Flower Tea: Equal Emphasis on Taste Upgrade and Function Optimization

Compared with the pain points of traditional sugar-free tea on the market, such as single taste and vague functions, Panpan's Jasmine Five-Flower Tea achieves a dual breakthrough in raw materials and concept. The product selects five flower materials: rose, osmanthus, acacia flower, honeysuckle, and jasmine, integrating the concept of "flowers nourish five organs, five elements and five colors." The ingredients are clean and do not harm the spleen and stomach, especially suitable for women and people who sit for long periods. The taste is softer and richer than traditional sugar-free tea, combining daily drinkability and health needs. In terms of process, high-temperature hot extraction technology is used to retain floral fragrance and nutrition, presenting a "freshly brewed tea" taste experience, and it is also simpler to operate compared with tea bags. In addition to product differentiation, these two products also fully rely on Yonghui Superstores' offline network of more than 500 stores nationwide, as well as the "30-minute delivery" instant delivery service, achieving the scenario-based experience of "wellness just downstairs at home." This systematic approach from formula, process, to scenario experience allows Panpan to break out in a category that is competitive on price and ingredients, truly winning the market with product strength and differentiation.

From Product Breakthrough to Category Layout: Panpan Relies on Hard Strength!

But what does product differentiation rely on? In the FMCG industry, product competition is becoming increasingly fierce. It is no longer just about creativity and marketing, but about whose supply chain is more efficient and whose technical R&D is more solid. These two are not only the foundation of brand differentiation but also the key support for achieving category breakthroughs. From an industry perspective, a strong supply chain system means that a brand can more efficiently control costs, ensure quality, accelerate delivery speed, and have the ability to respond to market fluctuations. Scientific research capability is the key to continuous innovation, differentiation, and seizing niche markets. In the view of New Distribution, Panpan's rapid rise in the light wellness track is the result of these two aspects working together. At the supply chain level, Panpan has achieved full-chain control from source to market: on the one hand, it lays out upstream resources by building its own raw material bases and cooperating with high-quality raw material bases, firmly controlling raw material quality; on the other hand, relying on 4 modern factories and 36 advanced beverage production lines, it connects the entire process from raw material collection, processing, production to factory exit. At the same time, Panpan has built a sound new product incubation mechanism. It is understood that Panpan has invested more than 10 million yuan in Shanghai and Fujian to build "pilot test" platforms, realizing the product launch process of "small test - pilot test - mass production." What used to take a month for new product testing can now be completed in 3 days for concept product sampling. This not only speeds up the launch of new products but also provides strong support for channel customization and rapid response to market changes. In terms of scientific research, Panpan's strength should not be underestimated. It is understood that in 2024, Panpan's R&D investment accounted for more than 5%. The company has cooperated with Jiangnan University, Hainan Tropical Agriculture College Coconut Research Institute, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, and other higher education institutions and research units, developing "plant-based enzymatic hydrolysis technology" and launching Thai coconut water, restoring the Thai flavor... Scientific research achievements are continuously transformed into product advantages, allowing the brand to go further and further on the niche track. As Panpan's success proves - true blockbusters are not accidental, but a perfect fusion of product strength, supply chain strength, and consumer insight. Yonghui's customized channel co-creation is based on this logic, working with core partners to create customized products with "high repurchase, high word-of-mouth, and high sell-through" through refined product selection standards, strict supply chain requirements, and in-depth consumer research. It is precisely with its "hard strength" that Panpan can precisely match Yonghui's high requirements for quality, efficiency, and differentiated product selection. It can not only quickly launch customized new products but also truly move consumers to promote sell-through, achieving a win-win for both brand and retail.

Final Thoughts

It is not difficult to see that Panpan is using a more systematic and long-term approach to respond to consumers' genuine expectations for "healthy products." Of course, it is not just beverages. In 2024, Panpan launched Indonesian shrimp crackers, obtaining the country's first clean label certification, and also launched low-GI nutritional oat bread, low-GI sugar-free oat high-fiber biscuits, and other products, actively responding to consumers' demands for healthy food. Facing ever-changing consumer demands, whether in beverage or food layout, Panpan has never stayed in a comfort zone but is constantly adjusting and breaking through. In the future competition, it is not about who shouts the loudest, but who is closer to consumers and understands them better. Panpan is using tangible changes to re-engrave the four words "national brand" into the hearts of a new generation of consumers.