---
title: "“Excessive” Innovation Hurts Ice Cream Distributors"
description: "As temperatures rise, ice cream distributors are questioning whether the 2025 market is worth pursuing. Despite stable or even increased consumption, consumers have lost trust in pre-packaged ice cream after the \"ice cream刺客\" (pricey ice cream) incidents, largely due to brands' excessive innovation. This article advises brands to focus on quality, distributor profitability, and brand building rather than chasing novelty."
author: "百万食饮人都在看"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-04-20"
language: "en"
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# “Excessive” Innovation Hurts Ice Cream Distributors

> As temperatures rise, ice cream distributors are questioning whether the 2025 market is worth pursuing. Despite stable or even increased consumption, consumers have lost trust in pre-packaged ice cream after the "ice cream刺客" (pricey ice cream) incidents, largely due to brands' excessive innovation. This article advises brands to focus on quality, distributor profitability, and brand building rather than chasing novelty.

**Source** | All Food Online
It's getting hot. Have you been buying ice cream more often this year?
Yesterday, in the distributor group I'm in, there was a discussion about whether the 2025 ice cream market is worth going for.
Some said they have to go for it, since they've already stocked up on so much inventory and tied up so much capital.
Others said they really don't want to do it anymore; it's too tiring, and mainly because they put in the effort but don't get corresponding returns.
Is it that fewer people are eating ice cream?
Actually, not fewer—maybe even more. It's just that after the "ice cream刺客" (pricey ice cream) incidents, consumers no longer trust pre-packaged ice cream.
And all of this stems from brands' excessive innovation.
In early 2025, chicken drumstick ice cream suddenly went viral on social media. Some said the ice cream industry finally had a hit product that could withstand competition. Within just one month, dozens of chicken drumstick ice cream brands appeared on the market.
Products were all the same, packaging colors identical, the only difference being the brand name on the package.
However, before summer even arrived, chicken drumstick ice cream seemed to disappear from social platforms. Some distributors reported that sales were not ideal, and in some areas, sell-through was slow.
It seems that this time, the mold makers won again.
If you are an ice cream distributor, you probably have mixed feelings about brand innovation—love and hate.
Love because this year they've officially launched new products, maybe you can take a gamble; hate because after seeing the products, you wish you could take back what you said.
Because the products are too out of touch with reality.
Since 2018, the ice cream industry seems to have entered an era of whimsical new product innovation, like the coconut ash ice cream that turned your mouth black, or the double-yolk egg ice cream that was a bestseller.
These two products can be considered representatives of industry innovation, after all, distributors made money, consumers got to try something new, and they even led the trend toward premium ice cream.
But then, the innovation trend in ice cream seemed to go off track.
Brands deliberately pursued bizarre shapes, leading to products like Northeast iron pot stew ice cream. They also pursued cross-industry innovation, like peach-shaped ice cream and persimmon-shaped ice cream. Last year, the melon-shaped ice cream, which was imitated by many brands, gave distributors a harsh lesson.
Of course, we don't deny that these new products did bring marketing traffic to brands and allowed the first batch of distributors to taste some sweetness.
But the FMCG industry relies on repeat purchases and consumer loyalty, not on a boom built on novelty.
In today's market with product oversupply, consumers' novelty fades quickly, especially for non-essential categories.
Why do we say 2018-2020 were the golden years for the ice cream industry? Because back then, consumers dared to spend, were willing to try new things, and were happy to pay for enjoyment.
So brands seemed to think that as long as ice cream was whimsically innovative, they could gain incremental growth.
In fact, that's just a dream.
You'll notice that many big brands never launch "radically innovative" products. They basically stick to the same categories and just upgrade packaging and flavors. That's all.
Some say big brands lack the courage to innovate; others say their innovation process is too long and decision-making costs are high.
But in fact, the micro-innovation strategy of big brands is what aligns with the market development laws of the FMCG industry.
Some say they've been eating a certain brand's ice cream for over a decade, and now, apart from price changes, the products haven't changed much.
But we always remember these brands: Mengniu Suibian, Yili Green Mood, Walls Cornetto, Nestlé 8 Times, Baxy, Bright, etc.
But if you ask which brands the chicken drumstick ice cream or "One Mu of Melon Field" represent, you probably can't say.
That's the key reason why many distributors can't sell viral products.
Consumers haven't formed brand memory for the product, or the brand that over-pursues product innovation hasn't made consumers remember the brand symbol.
Then distributors inevitably can't sell the products.
Now we complain that big brands' products lack innovation and profits are getting lower, but in fact, the ones that can still back up distributors are the big brands, the "old-fashioned" products that we might look down on ourselves.
But it's these products that are the backbone of China's ice cream industry, because consumers are very familiar with them. As long as they have a need, they know immediately what to buy.
If a few years ago distributors would light up at innovative ice cream, today they probably get dizzy at the sight of innovative products. If they don't stock up, they might miss an opportunity; if they do stock up, they're afraid it'll be a flash in the pan and end up stuck with inventory.
So, we take this opportunity to offer a suggestion to ice cream brands that focus on product innovation.
Don't deliberately pursue product innovation; instead, focus on product quality. Within the same price range, provide consumers with an ice cream that tastes good, that they are willing to eat, and dare to eat.
Don't deliberately pursue product shape personalization; instead, focus on distributors and channels. If distributors can make money, they will naturally be willing to promote.
Don't deliberately pursue packaging differentiation; instead, focus on brand operation. Packaging is like decoration style—it goes out of style eventually, but a brand is like your house. Once you build influence, people will naturally pay attention.
Now it seems there is something we can learn from big brands: how to make a product sell for a long time, and how to make a category known to the world.
Please don't let "excessive" innovation hurt ice cream distributors' hearts.


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