In earlier years, with the popularity of the slogan "Jing Wine is good, but don't overindulge," Jing Wine gained fame and became a leader in the health wine sector. But the niche market of health wine could no longer sustain Jing Brand Co., Ltd. From health wine and herbal baijiu to sauce-flavored liquor, Jing Brand has chosen a path full of challenges and opportunities. Long hovering around the 10 billion yuan revenue line Jing Wine was founded by Jing Brand Co., Ltd. in 1953, initially as a state-owned distillery mainly producing light-aroma baijiu. In 1980, Wu Shaoxun was assigned to work at this distillery after military service, and within just seven years, he rose from an ordinary worker to factory director. During an inspection trip to the south, Wu Shaoxun noticed the trend of medicinal herbs soaked in wine and decided to shift the distillery's business toward health wine. In 1989, Jing Wine was launched, and the concept of "health wine" was first proposed in China. In 1993, the slogan "Jing Wine is good, but don't overindulge" appeared on CCTV and quickly opened up the market. In 2006, Jing Wine entered a fast development track, with sales exceeding 1 billion yuan. By 2017, the company's scale broke through 10 billion yuan for the first time. However, development after breaking through 10 billion was not ideal. In 2017, Jing Brand's revenue reached 10.49 billion yuan. From 2018 to 2021, sales fluctuated between 10.2 billion and 11 billion yuan. In 2022, Jing Brand's revenue was approximately 10.619 billion yuan. According to news from January 2025, by operating year, from July 2023 to June 2024, Jing Brand's liquor business segment (including e-commerce) achieved sales of 13.05 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.81%; by calendar year, from January to July 2024, sales were 5.934 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.66%. It can be seen that in recent years, Jing Brand's revenue has not fluctuated much, remaining trapped around 10 billion yuan. It has clearly fallen behind the top liquor companies in the industry. In 2023, Moutai's revenue was 147.694 billion yuan, Wuliangye's was 83.272 billion yuan, Yanghe's was 33.126 billion yuan, Fenjiu's was 31.93 billion yuan, and another company's was 30.233 billion yuan. Jing Wine's persistent hovering around the 10 billion line is largely related to the limited growth space of health wine. Data from Zhiyan Consulting shows that the scale of China's health wine market was 25.85 billion yuan in 2015 and 33.76 billion yuan in 2021, with an average annual compound growth rate of only 4%; it is expected to reach 37.715 billion yuan in 2023. Moreover, health wine mainly targets middle-aged and elderly groups, with an average price of 20 yuan, and its business value is not high. It is worth noting that in the health wine track, Jing Wine also faces many competitors, such as national brands like Yedao Deer Turtle Wine, Hongmao Medicinal Wine, Zhu Ye Qing, and Golden Wine, as well as regional brands like Zhi Zhonghe, Ningxia Red, and Wubi Health Wine. Jing Brand once placed its hopes on herbal baijiu. It began experimenting with herbal baijiu in 2002, launched Maopu Tartary Buckwheat Wine in 2009, and upgraded it to the Herbal Vintage series in 2022. In May 2023, it also released the "Qingxiang Era" brand, launching light-aroma baijiu products such as Qingxiang Era vintage wine and bottle wine. From a performance perspective, herbal baijiu has indeed contributed good revenue growth. It is estimated that in 2024, Maopu Wine contributed more than 5 billion yuan in performance. But herbal baijiu still failed to change Jing Brand's overall situation. Layout of sauce-flavored liquor to raise the performance ceiling Laying out sauce-flavored liquor has become a new highlight for Jing Brand. In 2014, Jing Brand entered the core production area of Moutai Town to build a factory and brew. In 2015, it acquired Guizhou Taixuan Liquor Industry. On November 8, 2017, Jing Brand Moutai Town Liquor Industry was listed and its second phase was put into operation, officially proposing the "Ten-Year Sauce Strategy," which means using another 10 years to focus on brewing, storing more old liquor, pursuing quality, and having all products leave the factory after November 8, 2027. Industry insiders point out that Jing Brand's layout of sauce-flavored liquor was not a hasty entry, but rather a long-standing commitment. From production capacity and inventory, raw material security, and talent development, Jing Brand's achievements in sauce-flavored liquor can be seen. Currently, Jing Brand Moutai Town Liquor Industry has 16 production buildings, 1,036 fermentation pits available for production, 168 steaming units, 1 sewage treatment station, an annual raw liquor production capacity of 8,500 tons, and more than 80,000 tons of stored sauce-aroma raw liquor, ranking third in annual production capacity in Moutai Town. In Tongzi County, Yuqing County, Wuchuan County, Bozhou District, Suiyang County, Pingtang County, Xifeng County, and other places, Jing Brand Moutai Town Liquor Industry has successively built sorghum bases, and has now established stable bases covering more than 200,000 mu. In addition, it has increased investment in human resources; as of 2024, Jing Brand Moutai Town Liquor Industry has more than 1,000 employees on staff. Ma Yong, Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Food Industry Association, believes, "In Moutai Town, there are very few liquor companies I can see that have a considerable brewing scale foundation as support, and Jing Brand Moutai Town is very large, laying a solid production capacity for producing good liquor. Moreover, the on-site management of the brewing workshop is excellent. Whether it is the workers' operations or the execution of processes at each stage, it has reached the level of a modern enterprise, worthy of learning from peers." For Jing Brand, choosing sauce-flavored liquor means choosing a business with broader imagination space. According to relevant forecasts, the market size of the sauce-flavored liquor industry will reach approximately 298.474 billion yuan in 2025, with an average annual compound growth rate of about 12.43%, potentially accounting for nearly 40% of the baijiu industry's market share. Other data shows that in 2022, sauce-flavored liquor profits accounted for about 39.51% of China's total baijiu profits. Moutai, with revenue of 149.5 billion yuan in 2023, is the leading brand in sauce-flavored liquor. In addition, Sichuan Langjiu and Guizhou Xijiu are leading enterprises, with both companies' revenues exceeding 20 billion yuan in 2023. Compared with health wine and herbal baijiu, sauce-flavored liquor is expected to raise Jing Brand's performance ceiling and break through the dilemma of 10 billion yuan in revenue. It is understood that currently, Jing Brand's sauce-flavored liquor production capacity is more than 20,000 tons, with a medium- and long-term plan to reach more than 30,000 tons, stepping onto the threshold of the top ten in sauce-flavored liquor. But challenges also exist. The positions of leading brands such as Moutai, Xijiu, Langjiu, and Guizhou Zhenjiu are relatively stable, with advantages in brand influence, market share, and consumer awareness. In the 2023-2024 Sauce-Flavored Liquor Brand Influence Top 100 list, the brand indices of Moutai, Xijiu, Langjiu, and Guizhou Zhenjiu all exceeded 1,200. Latecomers who want to leverage new growth obviously need more competitiveness. In this regard, Jing Brand Moutai Town Liquor Industry stated that the company continues to conduct research and innovation in raw liquor brewing technology, focuses on the production and storage of sauce-flavored liquor, goes all out to make a big deal of the quality, output, and inventory of raw liquor, and strives to build Moutai Town Liquor Industry into a high-quality sauce-aroma liquor brewing enterprise in China and the most beautiful sauce-flavored liquor manor in Moutai Town. Jing Brand's official website states that the company has three major business segments: "health wine, herbal baijiu, and traditional Chinese medicine," focusing on the research, development, production, and sales of health products, and has created three core product brands: "China Jing Wine, Maopu Herbal Wine, and Chizhengtang." In the future, whether sauce-flavored liquor can reshape Jing Brand's business segments and become a new growth pillar remains to be seen. 【New Order · Symbiosis】 The 10th China FMCG Innovation Conference Time: March 17-19, 2025 Location: Chengdu, China