---
title: "Children's Beverages: A Durable and Lucrative Business?"
description: "From Want Want milk to Nutri Express, children's beverages have evolved into a diverse and booming market. New products like honeysuckle and pomelo juice are gaining popularity, with some brands achieving sales of over 100 million bags in half a year. The industry is projected to generate 2-3 billion yuan in revenue for this single product this year, highlighting the enduring profitability of this sector."
author: "杨硕"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-12-15"
categories: "Consumer & Categories, Retail Formats"
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# Children's Beverages: A Durable and Lucrative Business?

> From Want Want milk to Nutri Express, children's beverages have evolved into a diverse and booming market. New products like honeysuckle and pomelo juice are gaining popularity, with some brands achieving sales of over 100 million bags in half a year. The industry is projected to generate 2-3 billion yuan in revenue for this single product this year, highlighting the enduring profitability of this sector.

**Source**丨Blue Shark Consumption
Yang Shuo
For the post-80s generation, from the "I'll drink you up if you look again" Want Want milk to the "Nutrition line" Nutri Express, these familiar slogans and names have captured magical moments of childhood, connecting a generation's warm taste memories. Today, the children's beverage category is increasingly rich and diverse. Whether it's sports drinks for children targeting exercise scenarios, fruit-flavored drinks with various tastes, or children's lactic acid bacteria drinks and yogurt drinks rich in probiotics, a variety of products are emerging, showing vigorous market vitality. For example, a product called honeysuckle and pomelo juice has recently become popular, from Douyin online to offline supermarkets, convenience stores, snack discount stores, and pharmacies... It can be seen everywhere, and some brands have sold over 100 million bags in half a year, attracting many parents. An insider in the children's beverage industry revealed to Blue Shark Consumption that the revenue of the honeysuckle and pomelo juice single product this year may reach 2-3 billion yuan. New brands are constantly entering, traditional brands have a solid foundation, and the children's beverage market is showing a thriving scene. However, does the surface prosperity truly herald sustainable growth and opportunities?
A Durable Money-Making Business
Before the concept of modern children's beverages was born, children around the world had no special treatment in terms of drinks. In early America, children typically drank the same beverages as their parents, sometimes even including undiluted alcoholic drinks. In the late 19th century, nutritionists began to vigorously promote the value of milk, praising it as the "perfect food" for children, and the dairy industry also actively advertised the health benefits of milk for children through advertising. Milk, as the first widely recognized "children's exclusive nutritional product," thus established its status. In addition to dairy products, another children's beverage also began to sprout. In 1927, Edwin Perkins invented a powdered concentrate that later became popular worldwide under the brand name Kool-Aid. With its low cost and colorful appearance, it was the first to connect a beverage explicitly with children's happiness on a large scale. In 1959, General Mills developed a vitamin-fortified orange-flavored powdered breakfast drink and launched it under the brand name Tang. Due to its claimed high-tech content and nutritional fortification, it quickly became a favorite on many family breakfast tables. In China, in 1988, Wahaha launched the "Children's Nutritional Oral Liquid," which is regarded as the first truly modern children's beverage in China, opening the local market's awareness of children's specific nutritional drinks. Subsequently, Wahaha Group built on this foundation to launch products such as AD Calcium Milk and Nutri Express, becoming a giant in China's food and beverage industry.
Image source: Wahaha
In the early 1990s, mainland China's investment promotion policies released huge dividends, with tax incentives, land support, and other measures attracting capital from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. At that time, the domestic snack food market was a blue ocean, and Taiwanese enterprises such as Want Want, Uni-President, and Hsu Fu Chi entered one after another. Want Want founder Tsai Eng-meng avoided the fierce competition on the coast and chose Changsha, Hunan, to build his first factory. In the following years, Want Want expanded its market with big products like Lomianxian, Want Want Senbei, Snow Crisp, and Want Want Milk. Among them, the catchy advertisement for Want Want Milk, "I'll drink you up if you look again," through high-frequency bombardment during the golden age of television media, implanted the brand image into the memories of a generation of consumers. Whether it's Wahaha or Want Want, their business logic is clear and unified: create a few national-level big products, pursue scale and mass production to reduce costs, and distribute densely to offline terminals through a hierarchical dealer network. To this day, AD Calcium Milk, Nutri Express, and other children's beverage products remain important pillars for Wahaha. Want Want Group also relies more on Want Want Milk. In fiscal year 2024, dairy and beverage business revenue accounted for approximately 51.50% of Want Want Group's total revenue, with 90% of that coming from Want Want Milk. In China, there is another unexpected children's beverage giant—Coca-Cola. After Coca-Cola's Qoo landed in China in 2001, its cute cartoon character image successfully brought it closer to young consumers, once triggering a sales boom. To this day, Qoo still sells well. An industry insider, when communicating with Coca-Cola's national marketing director, found that Coca-Cola has almost never invested any marketing expenses in Qoo, yet Qoo contributes over 1.5 billion yuan in factory revenue to Coca-Cola each year. This shows that children's beverages are a durable and profitable business.
** _Increasingly Diversified_**
Children's beverages, labeled as "children's exclusive" and "baby edible," are often priced more than 30% higher than ordinary food, which has also attracted many new players to enter the market.
Another background of the times is: the increasingly severe global problems of childhood obesity and dental caries have triggered deep reflection from all sectors of society, leading to a revolution in the children's beverage market centered on "health."
Under this trend, "clean labels" have begun to become the entry ticket for children's beverages. Parents have started to scrutinize beverage labels like studying ingredient lists. Additives such as artificial flavors, synthetic colors, preservatives, and high-fructose corn syrup have become the primary items to avoid.
In contrast, "0 additives," "no added sugar," and "natural fruit juice" have begun to become standard for new products. For example, Nestlé launched flavored water designed specifically for children under its bottled water brand Pure Life, composed of 100% pure water, natural fruit flavors, and electrolytes, with no sugar, no sweeteners, no preservatives, or artificial colors.
While "subtracting" unhealthy ingredients, some brands are also actively "adding" by precisely fortifying nutrition according to different needs of children's growth, introducing specific functional ingredients such as probiotics (regulating the stomach and intestines), DHA (supporting brain development), dietary fiber (promoting digestion), and lutein (protecting vision).
For a time, children's beverage products with various "nutritional elements" continued to increase, such as fruit juice drinks for children to supplement vitamins, vegetable drinks for children to supplement dietary fiber, lactic acid bacteria drinks for children to aid digestion, yogurt drinks for children to supplement protein, and even functional children's electrolyte drinks, etc.
It is worth noting that unlike the vague brand positioning of beverage giants in the past, some emerging brands established their positioning as "children's healthy drinks" at the start, with more distinctive children's beverage labels.
For example, Jindouya, whose products mainly target the 3-12 age group, its star product honeysuckle and pomelo juice strictly selects high-quality ingredients such as honeysuckle, snow pear, and lemon. While strengthening the effect of reducing internal heat, it optimizes the taste for children and adheres to "0 additives," precisely hitting consumer pain points.
Image source: Jindouya Douyin flagship store
Driven by the awakening of consumer sovereignty and the popularization of scientific parenting concepts, the children's beverage track is rapidly splitting: continuous category innovation and increasingly diverse patterns. This market is gradually breaking free from the control of traditional giants, releasing more vigorous and complex vitality.
The Business of a Thousand-Billion Blue Ocean
****Every child is the "apple of their parents' eye," and from birth to growth, parents invest a lot of effort in their children. According to data from CBNData related articles, in 80% of families with children in China, children's consumption expenditure can account for 30%-80% of total household consumption expenditure. Among this, children's food and beverage consumption accounts for 24% of total children's consumption expenditure, becoming the area where parents are most willing to spend money on their children after education consumption. As mentioned above, given the special nature of children's consumer groups for beverage products, filling the gap between children's needs and existing products has become a huge opportunity for beverage companies to innovate. But beyond product innovation, how can children's beverage brands more easily "occupy" consumer minds? The uniqueness of the children's beverage market lies in the dual nature of its consumption decisions: children are the direct experiencers, and parents are the purchase decision-makers. Therefore, successful brands must meet the needs of both simultaneously. For children, fun, taste, and packaging design are key factors that attract them. Elements such as animal-shaped bottle caps, bright colors, and interactive packaging can instantly capture children's attention. For parents, ingredient safety, nutritional health, and brand credibility are the core considerations. Taking a well-known domestic children's yogurt brand as an example, its success lies in cleverly balancing these two needs: using cute cartoon images on packaging to attract children, while prominently labeling information such as "no artificial flavors or colors" and "rich in calcium and vitamin D" to reassure parents. Building diversified channel capabilities is also key for children's beverage brands to reach consumers. Taking the aforementioned honeysuckle and pomelo juice as an example, it initially opened consumer awareness through the Douyin channel, and later, with the full development of its offline channels, it quickly became a phenomenal hit. It is worth noting that in addition to extensive shelf placement, display, and continuous promotional activities in various supermarkets, the unique feature of honeysuckle and pomelo juice is its activities in pharmacy channels. Such special sales venues greatly enhance the product's safety and consumer trust. However, for current children's beverages, the products are still "food," so the scale of efficacy claims still needs to be controlled. According to Article 71 of the Food Safety Law, "Labels and instructions for food and food additives shall not contain false content, nor involve disease prevention or treatment functions." In the Chinese market, where food safety is highly concerned, brands need to build trust through ingredient transparency, nutritional fortification, and authoritative certifications. For example, Jindouya's honeysuckle and pomelo juice holds a national invention patent, ensuring a gentle heat-reducing effect with a scientific formula; it has also won honors such as the 2025 iMedia Consulting "0-additive children's honeysuckle and pomelo juice pioneer" certification and Douyin's "Food and Beverage Health Industry Annual High-Growth Brand." It is worth noting that children's beverage brands cannot just stay at the product level; they need to establish emotional connections. Successful children's beverage brands often accompany children's growth memories and become part of their childhood. In fact, Wahaha, Want Want, and others have already established first-mover advantages through advertising and marketing. In the new era, some emerging children's beverage brands further let their brand image accompany children's growth through IP collaborations or self-built IPs. For example, Duomaomao launched a brand image IP of three kittens, inspired by its founder's three children, corresponding to children of different ages and personalities, etc. To this day, the children's beverage market has undergone several changes—from the single demand of "drinking it makes you fragrant" to the multi-dimensional considerations of ingredients, nutrition, and brand. With new product forms such as plant-based beverages and functional beverages constantly emerging, this market once dominated by big brands is being segmented and reshaped. On this track related to the health of the next generation, every brand faces the dual challenge of catering to children's tastes while meeting parents' health expectations. This is a long-term battle that requires patience and wisdom.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 杨硕
- Published: 2025-12-15
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/children-s-beverages-a-durable-and-lucrative-business-dc6fd940/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ro3eag53zpYvmRadeXBpog

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