In the context of consumption upgrading, the food industry, driven by consumer demand, must keep up with trends while strengthening quality management to win in the market, and the rational use of the internet and digital marketing can further enhance brands. The 'Tmall V List' is a category-specific recommendation list based on consumption data from Alibaba's platform users, combined with consumer selection results. It releases 10 to 20 star products monthly and serves as Tmall's official 'good products' list, a 'quality life shopping guide' that 'makes choices simpler'. The March 2020 'Tmall V List' has been launched, so let's see which food products made the list! -01- Beverages: Premium Coffee and Sparkling Water, Favorites of Young Consumers 1. Saturdrop No. 1-6 Ultra-Instant Premium Coffee: Dissolves in 3 Seconds, Combining Health, Environmental Friendliness, and Convenience The strong collision of 'instant' and 'premium' has brought Saturdrop's ultra-instant premium coffee, widely welcomed by consumers. On the 2019 'Double 11' day, Saturdrop's instant premium coffee topped Tmall's global coffee brand list, becoming a popular emerging coffee brand among consumers. In today's pursuit of a lazy economy and quality life, solving how to quickly and conveniently enjoy high-quality coffee is undoubtedly in line with consumer demand and can quickly win consumer favor. Saturdrop coffee has achieved this. Compared to instant coffee, Saturdrop's instant premium coffee is closer to freshly ground coffee in taste, flavor, detail, and aroma. It dissolves quickly in 3 seconds, is naturally sugar-free, healthy and convenient, adapting to the fast pace of modern life. The professional extraction system, exclusive blends of premium coffee beans, low-temperature slow extraction, micro-batch and intelligent drying technology maximize the preservation of the original flavor of the coffee beans. Founded in 2015, Saturdrop Coffee, as an original premium coffee brand, owes its success to paying attention to and meeting consumers' demands for consumption upgrading. Based on this, Saturdrop Coffee proposed the coffee design concept of 'Exploring Planet Flavors' and subsequently implemented the 'Navigator Program' and 'Return Program': through word-of-mouth marketing, they identify KOCs from existing users who are willing to share and spread, and co-create content with them, which is the 'Navigator Program'; at the same time, Saturdrop launched the 'Return Program' in the second half of 2019, regularly collecting product packaging and exchanging it for new coffee and coffee merchandise. Positive interaction and feedback closely link the brand with users, fostering mutual trust and growth. The outbreak of the pandemic has created huge business opportunities for 'contactless consumption', and online consumption has also gained capital favor. Saturdrop Coffee, which mainly sells online, recently received a new round of financing from Sequoia Capital. It is believed that Saturdrop Coffee, with capital support, will continue to build its scenario-based coffee consumption concept and inject new strength into China's coffee sales industry. 2. Genki Forest White Peach Soda Sparkling Water: 0 Sugar, 0 Fat, 0 Calories, Starting a New Trend of Sugar-Free Drinks All Genki Forest beverages use natural sugar substitute erythritol, low in sugar and calories. At the same time, Japanese-style white peach paired with fine bubbles brings consumers a different fresh and refreshing experience, very popular among the internet generation. On 2019 Double 11, Genki Forest ranked second in online sales nationwide, second only to Vitasoy, beating Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the two major carbonated beverage giants, becoming one of the most popular beverages. Behind the hot sales and popularity are precise user positioning, mutual achievement with modern channels like convenience stores in the early stage, and extensive precise marketing online and offline. Genki Forest targets young people, especially young women. Because this group has strong purchasing power, they are the main force in the current beverage market and online consumption, and they are easily influenced by online 'seeding', pay more attention to product quality, and pursue individuality. Therefore, Genki Forest uses its product's '0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories' slogan and Japanese-style fresh high-value packaging to directly hit the pain points of young female consumers, and leverages these users' social media habits of 'showing off, sharing, and flaunting' to create secondary dissemination through consumer circles, making consumers an invisible part of brand marketing. The discussion about 'fake Japanese goods' has further expanded the brand's visibility on social media, bringing many potential users. The extensive placement in convenience stores in the early stage and precise online and offline marketing also helped the brand achieve profitability in a short time. Genki Forest initially focused on the convenience store market in first- and second-tier cities, riding the convenience store boom to complete initial capital accumulation; then e-commerce gained momentum, expanding marketing scale, cooperating with celebrities and popular variety shows to increase visibility, building its own brand fan circle, completing loyal user accumulation, and achieving a breakthrough in brand value. Today, Genki Forest has become a popular beverage brand with an estimated value of nearly 4 billion yuan, with huge market potential. But its success path is not unrepeatable; major established beverage brands have begun to notice the 'health' consumption hotspot and are competing to develop 'sugar-free' products, with some achieving success; at the same time, many similar new brands are emerging to compete with Genki Forest for market share. To break through, Genki Forest needs to pay more attention to product R&D, consolidate its audience with irreplaceable product content, and explore more possibilities. 3. Nongfu Spring Natural Drinking Water (Baby Water) Nongfu Spring baby water originates from the Moyaquan No. 2 spring in Changbai Mountain, with moderate mineral content and naturally weak alkalinity. Since there are no international or domestic drinking water standards for baby water, Nongfu Spring has specially formulated a very strict enterprise standard for natural drinking water (suitable for infants) by referring to foreign regulations and professional institutions' special requirements for infant drinking water, and it undergoes high-temperature sterilization, making it suitable for infants to drink or for preparing infant formula and complementary foods. The maternal and infant industry has always been favored by capital. With the change in parenting concepts and the improvement of living standards, the desire to consume maternal and infant products is increasing, and it is developing towards quality consumption. In such a market environment, Nongfu Spring also actively acted, taking the lead in using the concept of 'baby water' to enter the maternal and infant product market. Facts have proven that the concept of 'baby water' has brought Nongfu Spring the expected gains. In 2015, Nongfu Spring launched three new products, including Nongfu Spring infant natural drinking water, but unlike the promotion strategies of other brand beverages, baby water adopted a low-key promotion strategy, only carrying out highly targeted precise marketing. However, due to the domestic baby water market still being in its infancy, the public's lack of understanding of the concept, and distrust of domestic brands, it was unable to achieve extremely high profit growth. 4. NESPRESSO Capsule Coffee Set NESPRESSO capsule coffee is positioned as high-quality Italian coffee, with three aroma profiles: intense, balanced, and fruity. NESPRESSO uses a natural decaffeination method, preserving the original flavor of coffee while producing low-caffeine coffee through blending coffee beans and fine roasting. This popular selection set contains 100 capsules in 10 flavors, extracted according to different flavors and cup sizes to better release the characteristics and quality of the coffee. You can enjoy high-quality coffee from around the world without leaving home. If you want fancy coffee, you can add milk foam to make delicious coffee to your taste. NESPRESSO is a sub-brand of Swiss Nestlé, mainly producing capsule coffee machines and related products. It was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Switzerland. By 1996, NESPRESSO was already selling well in nearly 20 countries. In 2000, NESPRESSO launched decaffeinated coffee capsules. Speaking of which, everyone should be familiar with capsule coffee. It emerged after instant coffee could not meet the taste requirements of urban white-collar workers. Compared to instant coffee, capsule coffee is closer to freshly ground coffee in taste and flavor, and is more convenient and time-saving than freshly ground coffee. However, due to the threshold of requiring a corresponding capsule coffee machine, capsule coffee cannot be widely popularized. But with the change in Chinese consumers' beverage preferences, capsule coffee has begun to grow rapidly. Senior management of NESPRESSO capsule coffee revealed that the capsule coffee business is growing at a double-digit rate, exceeding the overall 'medium single-digit growth' of the Chinese market. At the same time, NESPRESSO capsule coffee has also become the fastest-growing business under Nestlé. -02- Milk and Dairy Products: Creating Unique Features and High Quality, the Maternal and Infant Economy Rises 1. Le Chun Milk In 2015, an article titled 'Sanlitun Now Has a Le Chun Yogurt Company with a Weird Price' quickly gained over 100,000 clicks, and Le Chun began to become popular online; by 2017, Le Chun yogurt had become a yogurt brand with a daily production capacity of 100,000 boxes and monthly sales of over 10 million yuan, loved and chosen by 1.2 million health-conscious foodies. The yogurt industry in China has many 'big mountains', such as Yili, Mengniu, Guangming, etc. How to break through these 'mountains' and win a place is the primary problem every emerging brand needs to solve. Big brands have highly advantageous national recognition and mature supply chains, but they do not pay much attention to the new field of the internet, which provides an opportunity for Le Chun yogurt. Using word-of-mouth marketing, Le Chun yogurt gained a lot of attention on the internet, and the brand's insistence on a 'rich' taste also made the 'foodies' attracted by KOLs stay. 'In the early days of entrepreneurship, due to limited resources, we couldn't focus on all aspects (of the 4Ps). We spent the most time doing the product well and making it sufficiently differentiated.' Therefore, Le Chun yogurt focused on the pursuit of a 'rich' taste in the early stage. At the beginning of the brand, Le Chun 'used the cost of two boxes to make one box of yogurt', making 'thick, whey-strained yogurt (Greek yogurt)'. Two years later, Le Chun had become 'three-three-three times yogurt', that is, 'fermented with three times fresh milk and three times lactic acid bacteria, and then using patented technology to remove 2/3 of the weight of water, leaving only three times the pure nutrition. This approach created the differentiation of Le Chun yogurt in the market and quickly made it memorable to consumers. In 2018, Le Chun received an investment of several hundred million yuan from Coca-Cola, marking Coca-Cola's first investment in a startup company. Le Chun CEO Liu Denny said: 'This strategic investment and cooperation from Coca-Cola will allow us to benefit from Coca-Cola's deep industry experience and ability to scale emerging businesses, and also give Le Chun more energy and opportunities to continue innovating in the industry environment of new retail and omni-channel operations, and co-create more touching experiences with Le Chun consumers.' 2. Zhong Xue Gao 'Not One Less' Series Ice Cream The luckiest thing is not having everything, but having what you like together. Zhong Xue Gao's 'Not One Less Series Ice Cream' includes five signature flavors: special milk ice cream, Irish aged cheese ice cream, hand-cooked jasmine ice cream, velvet cocoa ice cream, and half-chocolate ice cream, allowing consumers to experience the charm of Zhong Xue Gao at once. Zhong Xue Gao Food (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was established in March 2018. Founder Lin Sheng hoped to create a 'Chinese-style quality ice cream', so he named the product 'Zhong Xue Gao', a homophone of 'Chinese ice cream'. In product development and design, Zhong Xue Gao firmly implements this concept, whether it is the 'tile arc' shape design or the development of product flavors, all are committed to integrating 'Chinese style' into its own brand concept and becoming part of the brand image. This has become an important reason why Zhong Xue Gao stands out from many ice cream brands in the market. According to the founder of Zhong Xue Gao, Zhong Xue Gao does not have a clear brand positioning. He believes that as an ice cream product brand, Zhong Xue Gao does not need rigid brand positioning; it only needs to meet consumer expectations. Compared to brand positioning, founder Lin Sheng pays more attention to the supporting role of the supply chain for the product. He invested half of the first six months' investment in the supply chain. The core products are additive-free, the stick is made of degradable straw, and the tray material for the ice cream is also baby food grade. Such strict pursuit of quality has earned high loyalty and good reputation from the audience, which has become the driving force and guarantee for Zhong Xue Gao to continue moving forward in the ice cream market. In the second half of 2018, Zhong Xue Gao Food (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. conducted two rounds of financing. Last week, the brand joined hands with the national beverage brand Wahaha to launch a co-branded 'Underage Ice Cream', starting another wave of 'nostalgia'. 3. Mead Johnson Blue Zhen Stage 3 Infant Formula Mead Johnson is an established brand in the maternal and infant nutrition industry, founded in 1905, with a high market share in many countries, and entered the Chinese market in 1993. The Mead Johnson Blue Zhen series formula is a high-end product developed by Mead Johnson for the Chinese market, using the 'latest technology and advanced technology' in infant formula, and also incorporating the company's 'global in-depth research and findings' on breast milk. The product contains 20 times lactoferrin, which can stimulate the baby's innate immunity; MFGM# milk fat globule membrane + DHA stimulates the baby's dual brain vitality; prebiotics PDX+GOS promote the baby's digestion and absorption. Mead Johnson's brand reputation as a classic old brand is the foundation for its market favor. On this basis, Mead Johnson is also actively adapting to the transformation of brand marketing strategies in the internet era. After fully studying the group characteristics and consumption habits of internet-era users, Mead Johnson has begun digital marketing on the basis of traditional marketing strategies, through online and offline linkage, e-commerce layout, and word-of-mouth marketing to bring the brand into the sight of the younger generation of 'expectant mothers' and 'pre-mothers'. Not only focusing on traditional media audiences, Mead Johnson now pays more attention to how to impress young mothers in the 'Generation Z'. On February 10, 2017, Mead Johnson was acquired by Reckitt Benckiser Group, the parent company of Durex and a British consumer giant. Since then, the two sides have joined forces. According to the 2018 financial report released by Reckitt Benckiser Group, after integrating Mead Johnson's formula business, both parties achieved annual revenue growth targets. According to Reckitt Benckiser Group's development strategy for Mead Johnson, Mead Johnson will continue to focus on the Chinese market and will invest heavily in e-commerce and digital, which is also the confidence behind Mead Johnson's vigorous implementation of digital marketing today. 4. Aptamil Profutura Stage 3 Infant Formula Aptamil Profutura series contains Aptamil's unique all-stage lactose formula, without added sucrose, more affinity, easier for babies to absorb, and rich in a variety of nutrients to help babies grow healthily. Aptamil formula is produced in Germany and was once a brand under the German Milupa Group. Founded in 1921, Milupa Group developed Aptamil formula in 1968 with unique genetic medicine technology. In 2014, Danone Group, on the basis of popular brands such as Dumex, Nutrilon, and Karicare, also introduced Aptamil, a well-known milk powder brand, to China, completing the comprehensive layout of its popular brands in the Chinese market. According to the latest infant formula consumption report released by authoritative institutions, maternal and infant users in first- and second-tier cities prefer foreign formula, with foreign formula brands accounting for more than 80% in first- and second-tier cities. Users in first- and second-tier cities attach great importance to brand background when choosing formula. They prefer internationally renowned formula brands with over a hundred years of R&D experience and no quality safety issues. They believe such infant formula is more mature in R&D, formula, production experience, and other aspects. This is also the reason why foreign formula brands sell far more than domestic brands in all channels so far. On the 2019 'Double 11' shopping carnival day, Aptamil's cross-border direct mail sales tripled compared to the same period last year, ranking first on the formula list, and it was also the formula brand with the highest number of user inquiries. Mature R&D formula, strict market supervision, detailed segmentation, high-quality milk sources, and all-stage fresh milk raw material production make German Aptamil stand out and become the most popular foreign formula brand. Danone's 2019 financial report showed that in 2019, Danone achieved overall sales revenue of approximately 25.3 billion euros, a year-on-year increase of 2.6%. Thanks to the outstanding performance of the Aptamil brand on 'Double 11', Danone Group's early life nutrition business in China achieved another success in the fourth quarter, with growth of over 20%. However, under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the beverage and formula markets will be affected to a certain extent. How to deal with the uncertainty and challenges brought by the pandemic is also something that formula brands like Aptamil and beverage brands need to consider. -03- Snacks: How to Capture Consumers' Hearts is a Big Subject 1. Wangbaobao Baked Cereal As people pay more attention to health, the food field has also begun to delve into the topic of 'health'. 'Fat-reducing meal replacement' has begun to enter people's vision and quietly occupy a place in the food market. Wangbaobao cereal has also ridden this trend to become a new generation of internet-famous snack brands. Wangbaobao cereal mainly focuses on ready-to-eat dry cereal, paired with rich ingredients. Existing products include yogurt fruit and nut dry version, pork floss control dry version, fruit and dried fruit cereal, fruit and nut cereal, matcha latte konjac soup, etc., and new products are launched every two months. Since Wangbaobao officially launched sales in May 2018, sales exceeded 2 million yuan in the first month, and on Double 11 day, sales reached 3 million yuan. Speaking of Wangbaobao cereal's popularity, it is undoubtedly due to a large number of KOL promotions and the product's own natural topic potential. In content marketing, Wangbaobao cereal has a presence on new media channels such as Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Xiachufang, cooperating with KOLs on new media platforms, and further opening up brand awareness through cooperation with well-known celebrities like Ouyang Nana. Apart from the heat brought by brand marketing, Wangbaobao cereal itself also carries topic potential. When founder Yao Jing initially worked as a food self-media, she found that young people are very concerned about topics related to 'weight loss' and 'slimness'. In addition, even foods with high calories and sugar content, as long as they look good in photos, can often form good topic interaction among girls. This gave Yao Jing inspiration for product development. In terms of product uniqueness, Wangbaobao cereal has also explored its own direction. Unlike instant cereals represented by Quaker and puffed cereals represented by Calbee, Wangbaobao cereal focuses on ready-to-eat, using low-temperature baking technology, pursuing low calories while ensuring the taste of the cereal, and pairing with high-value dried fruits, yogurt chunks, etc., achieving both appearance and taste, capturing the hearts of the target audience. At the beginning of 2019, Wangbaobao gained capital favor, completing a tens of millions yuan angel round financing, and brought higher market attention to the brand. As its founder said: 'The product itself is the core of the brand.' Marketing can bring new consumers, but the product is the key to maintaining user stickiness. -04- Bakery: Health is the Ultimate Secret, Flavor Innovation and Building IP to Retain Fans 1. Pacific Soda Crackers Pacific biscuits, with the brand concept of 'Natural Taste, Leisurely Life', have been exploring the development of delicious and nutritious healthy biscuits for many years. They are low in sugar and not greasy, making them the first choice for healthy snacks. Pacific is a brand under Mondelez International, loved by consumers of all ages for its health and deliciousness. The earliest Pacific biscuits can be traced back to the birth of digestive biscuits in the UK in 1892. Now, Pacific soda crackers have become a leading brand in China's soda cracker category. After the company acquired Danone's biscuit brands in 2008, Danone's three-layer high-calcium soda crackers also joined the Pacific brand in 2009. Nielsen pointed out that the three major directions that young Chinese consumers pay most attention to are health, convenience, and quality. Data shows that China's biscuit industry has maintained rapid development momentum, and by 2020, total retail sales are expected to approach 90 billion yuan. A good market development environment is the premise for the hot sales of Pacific soda crackers, and the snack eating habits of the younger generation ensure stable sales. At the same time, Pacific soda crackers also keep up with market trends, seize the current consumption hotspot - health - and use this to shape the unique competitiveness of its products and capture market share. In 2018, after Mondelez signed a strategic contract with JD Super, conducting in-depth cooperation in big data, precise marketing, data sharing, product customization, efficient logistics, and other fields, Mondelez's snack brands achieved further rapid growth. 2. Oreo Sandwich Cookies Compared to Pacific biscuits, also under Mondelez, Oreo has higher product awareness and, with its classic advertising slogan 'Twist, Lick, Dunk', has shaped an irreplaceable brand image different from similar brands. Oreo was born in New York, USA, in 1912, and is now the world's best-selling biscuit brand, with annual sales of $1.5 billion. The classic 'black and white' design and the exquisite embossed patterns on the edges have become Oreo's unique features, accompanying global consumers as they grow up. Today, Oreo, with the spirit of 'Play Together with Oreo', continues to innovate, with a continuous stream of new product series and deliciousness. At the same time, Oreo also calls on consumers to create their own Oreo-related delicacies, combining deliciousness and fun, bringing more deliciousness and more joy to more people. In 1996, Oreo came to China, began to explore this world's second-largest market after its birthplace, the United States, and continuously innovated and developed new flavors to conquer the taste buds of Chinese consumers, successfully entering the Chinese market. Oreo has built its brand IP, captured the taste buds of young consumers with creative flavors; created creative gameplay to trigger consumers' spontaneous promotion; developed creative merchandise to enter multiple fields and build a brand ecosystem. A series of operations have created its current status as a 'world national brand' and 'biscuit overlord'. -05- Candy: Quality Drives Reputation, the High-End Luxury Market is Growing 1. Patchi Chocolate Gift Box Patchi chocolate's raw material comes from cocoa in Côte d'Ivoire, the only remaining native cocoa population on Earth. Patchi's unique process can neutralize the sourness of cocoa fermentation with very little sugar, allowing the chocolate to emit the unique aroma of single-origin cocoa. While controlling calorie intake, you can enjoy the original fragrance of cocoa. In the world chocolate industry, the Lebanese chocolate brand Patchi is known as the 'Hermès of chocolate'. It is highly favored by the royal family in Dubai, and four top European design companies that serve the LVMH group have long provided design support for Patchi, covering brand image, store design, packaging design, and many other aspects. Since 2005, many international first-line fashion brands, including GUCCI and Valentino, have co-branded with Patchi to produce fashionable gift chocolates; Patchi's top-of-the-line sheepskin gold leaf gift box is priced at up to £5,000 and enjoys a high reputation in British and French high society. With the improvement of national living standards and the change in consumption concepts, Chinese consumers' luxury spending is constantly increasing. McKinsey's recently released 'China Luxury Report 2019' shows: In 2018, Chinese people's luxury consumption at home and abroad reached 770 billion yuan, accounting for one-third of global luxury consumption. On average, each household spending on luxury goods spent nearly 80,000 yuan on luxury goods, with post-80s and post-90s becoming the backbone of China's luxury market consumption. At the same time, the national food consumption has shifted from price-oriented to paying more attention to quality and taste, causing many foreign high-end food consumption brands to enter the Chinese market one after another. Patchi chocolate, with its high-quality product taste and packaging that can be called art, has also gained the pursuit of Chinese 'chocolate lovers'. 2. GODIVA Gold Chocolate Gift Box GODIVA Gold Chocolate 15-piece set, presented in a noble gold gift box, exudes refinement and luxury. The rich chocolate and various ingredients dance on the tongue, interweaving deliciousness. Like Patchi, both are world-famous high-end chocolate brands. GODIVA adopts the same marketing strategy, using quality to drive reputation and attract capable customers to buy. GODIVA chocolate from Brussels, Belgium, was founded by chocolate master Joseph Draps and named after the legendary noble Lady Godiva. It is known as the 'Rolls-Royce of chocolate'. In 1926, Joseph Draps opened the first GODIVA chocolate shop in Belgium. He improved the secret recipe for brewing rich chocolate, creating a unique silky texture for chocolate. At the same time, with extraordinary observation, he set the exquisite continental shell design and ingenious packaging as GODIVA's fixed specifications, which have been passed down to this day. In 1968, GODIVA was officially designated as the chocolate supplier for the Belgian royal family. In addition to the Belgian royal family, many world celebrities such as former US President Clinton and actress Elizabeth Taylor are loyal fans of GODIVA. At the end of 2007, Yildiz Holding, which owns Turkey's largest consumer goods company, bought the GODIVA chocolate brand for $850 million. Unlike Patchi, which only has Tmall flagship store or official website purchase channels in China, GODIVA has opened sales channels both online and offline. It opened its first domestic store in Shanghai Hong Kong Plaza in the autumn of 2009. Now, it has also opened offline stores in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chongqing, and Shenzhen, facilitating purchases by its main consumers. -06- Summary A comprehensive analysis of the food and beverage brands on this list shows that many food companies have begun to turn their attention to key concepts such as health and environmental protection. Analyzing Chinese consumers' consumption tendencies in the food field in recent years, it can also be seen that health has become a new trend. In addition, innovation and individuality have also become keywords that are easily favored by young consumers. Many emerging brands have attracted many young consumers with unique packaging designs and novel product design concepts. Of course, quality is still the most fundamental pursuit in the food industry; quality ensures the product's lasting competitiveness in the market. In general, in the context of consumption upgrading, the food industry, driven by consumer demand, must keep up with trends while strengthening quality management to win in the market, and the rational use of the internet and digital marketing can further enhance brands. Source: Foodaily Daily Food (ID: foodaily) Author: Iris Jiao Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once adopted.