Every Spring Festival, gatherings are indispensable, and whether you like it or not, liquor is the essential item for every Chinese household's celebrations. 1 Whether it's the lively chatter with relatives on New Year's Eve or a romantic candlelit dinner with a partner on Valentine's Day, the type of alcohol and its pairing with the occasion always differ and complement each other. For joyous celebrations, champagne or domestic baijiu is used; when drinking with friends until drunk, several bottles of domestic or imported spirits add a sense of valor and boldness; those with high spending power might consider expensive luxury spirits like Hennessy or Remy Martin. This is why major liquor companies invest heavily in the usage scenarios of alcohol. Since ancient times, both domestically and internationally, when people mention alcohol, they don't just think of a specific brand's reputation, taste, or price; the subtle scenarios associated with alcohol are what truly resonate with enthusiasts. Consumers can have countless emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, and worry, each with varying degrees of intensity and recurrence. Strictly speaking, every subtle emotion can correspond to a different scenario, even a specific type of alcohol, which is a form of scenario marketing. After all, decades ago on Chinese television, alcohol advertisements had already begun using the "scenario + product" marketing approach. Wherever domestic liquor was present, there was a picture of a happy family, which is not a new insight. Upon closer thought, it's not hard to see that for any product to have a strong label or scenario deeply rooted, especially one that allows the audience to quickly associate it upon hearing, it depends entirely on whether the company, when entering a blank category market, has invested effort in the product's actual value, added value, and hidden value, ensuring that the content not only passively reaches the audience's ears but is also actively perceived in their hearts. From this perspective, some liquor brands that emphasize universal human relationships like family and friendship, or positive emotions like bravery and boldness, have achieved their initial goals. This is the first obvious advantage of the liquor market relying on its own industry. According to the latest data from iResearch, in 2018, regarding New Year goods, the main consumer market in China showed an overall optimistic trend. Online shopping for New Year goods was favored by most post-80s and post-90s, with nearly 30% of consumers budgeting over 3,000 yuan for New Year goods, and beverages and alcohol being the most chosen category. Whether in first- and second-tier cities or third- and fourth-tier cities, this is inseparable from China's traditional advocacy of "benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, and filial piety." Chinese people value gratitude, and if gratitude is made more practical and perceptible, it directly translates into material gifts accompanied by verbal blessings and praise. So in reality, most companies have historically used this as a starting point for various marketing activities, essentially relying on "old capital" and traditional culture, which is the second prominent advantage of the industry. The third unique advantage of the liquor industry is that consumers naturally have a high psychological price for alcohol, which even saves companies promotional expenses. By breaking down consumers' motives for buying alcohol, there are a few factors: they buy it for themselves, for others, or for group consumption. Buying for oneself might be for sipping or health, while buying for others focuses more on grade and face. So the principle of "you get what you pay for" makes consumers naturally think that higher prices mean higher quality and grade, so companies don't need to spend much effort reducing consumers' price resistance, easily lowering their internal resistance to purchase. 2 Currently, overall, it seems that the market has high emotional demand, wide applicable scenarios, and naturally high psychological prices, which could make China's liquor industry a well-developing market. However, at the same time, the liquor market also faces many "anxieties" due to macro-policy environments, corporate management issues, age diversification of audiences, unclear category value, and gender issues. Here, I summarize a few points: 1. Macro-environmental Anxiety The macro environment can be divided into demographic, policy, and liquor industry environments. First, further segmenting by population, the liquor consumer market undoubtedly includes: the 50s, 60s, and 70s who have been addicted to alcohol for most of their lives; the post-80s who are middle-aged but feel young at heart; the post-90s who have mid-life crises but aren't truly mature; and the post-95s and post-00s who are about to become major consumer forces. Each group has distinct preferences and spending power. Due to constraints like capital chains, supplier limitations, and lack of marketing methods, companies cannot play the role of a "jack-of-all-trades"—stretching their market line to please everyone. This inevitably leads to some potentially promising markets being neglected or not on the company's expansion list. If companies rely on path dependence, lack long-term plans to change or supplement supply chains or target markets, or continue to maintain the status quo with old stories, they risk missing the huge demand and motivation of emerging consumer groups, and also risk being outcompeted by new competitors in old markets or related markets. In recent years, due to relevant policies, the slogan "Don't drink and drive" has become widely known. There are even rumors that this policy will be stricter this Spring Festival: civil servants or employees in state-owned systems, if caught, will be directly dismissed from all positions. Behind this lies a choice and reflection for Chinese people regarding two large markets: is alcohol more important or is transportation more important? For those who naturally don't like alcohol, this is almost not a question, but for those who love alcohol but don't want to use public transport, this question is as difficult as "choosing between your wife and mother falling into water." It's extremely hard to make a decisive choice. In the end, more people are reluctantly "giving up" for their careers, and with other policies like anti-corruption, high-end luxury liquor brands are in a tough spot. 2. Value Anxiety If we don't consider the stock price fluctuations of national liquor like Moutai, and from the perspective of a consumer in the liquor market, buying any brand of alcohol from any country ultimately comes down to judging and measuring the product's value. Every consumer decision seems random but actually involves various background and internal factors. The question is whether companies can clearly perceive these decision factors and turn them into product advantages and marketing strategies. From the family gatherings of decades ago to today's increasingly fragmented social environment, the discourse environment that alcohol can carry has gradually become lighter. Unlike the past background of large family reunions and low-quality social interactions, today's internet users prefer social environments with independent choices, strong self-awareness, and heartfelt communication, while also having "internet" characteristics like fragmentation, anytime-anywhere access, and uncertainty. This is precisely what traditional Chinese liquor lacks in spiritual shaping. Compared to traditional liquor's verbose storytelling about ancient heritage, the younger generation cares more about whether it's interesting, relevant to them, and can highlight their personal labels. In past failed communication cases between older and younger generations, the post-80s' stereotypical evaluation of post-90s and post-00s is that they don't care about history and are too self-focused. Actually, this is a misunderstanding. The aversion to textbook-like, dull, and explanatory teaching started with the post-80s, as it reminds them of old teachers with unwashed clothes and outdated thoughts. In fact, they are not tired of history but of the old-fashioned way it's told. They are not indifferent to others but care more about and expect more effective and lasting connections with others. Therefore, if China's liquor industry has plans to shift to the young market, or has already completed the transformation but hasn't gained behavioral recognition from young consumers, it can try more effective strategies that capture the actual psychology of young people. For example, Jiangxiaobai, a national liquor brand that has been praised as a model in recent years, with its founder almost over-praised, created the "communication bottle" and "heart-to-heart bottle," which are undoubtedly the result of deep insight into one of the characteristics of the current young market. The "loneliness" and "anxiety" that young people often talk about can be expressed through the platform built by the brand. At the same time, the rapid information dissemination of the internet and the diversity of offline channels mean that words expressed in Guangzhou can be seen and deeply felt by someone in a supermarket in Beijing. This is somewhat a miracle, brought about by the joint action of internet platforms, brand-provided topics, and offline product terminals. Following this line of thought, more pain points of young consumers, such as high-quality communication (sustained, deep, interactive), new ways of listening to stories (curious, interesting, beneficial to self-development), and preferred IPs for various reasons (film, TV, stars, ACG), can all be explored by liquor brands for more business models to capture the minds of the new generation. The so-called value anxiety is more about whether the product can meet all the value needs of the target consumer, including practical utilitarian value and the spiritual value that more people now emphasize. Of course, everything must fully conform to the characteristics of the internet. 3. Other Hidden Anxieties The "Me Too" movement that started in the United States in 2017 has also been burning in China. Gender conflict has never been a pain point for a specific country or interest group. Gender stereotypes often hinder market development in some industries. For example, in any region, there are always women who love drinking, but traditionally, the potential drinking pattern binds women with red wine. Elegance, intellect, and nobility are probably the highest praises for a woman sipping red wine from a glass. But in reality, this is also a narrow market planning based on gender. Especially in the high-alcohol spirits market, both domestically and internationally, there is a lack of effective gender differentiation because the market's usual thinking is male customers, leading to many products lacking conditions for female choices and marketing directly ignoring the female group. At the same time, problems like counterfeit alcohol, false marketing, and cheating the elderly with ultra-low prices are repeatedly prohibited. These cancers also damage the further development of this market. Finally, I hope China's liquor industry can deeply reflect on past problems, current hidden dangers, and effective transformation strategies for the future, so as not to miss potential stocks and maintain long-term industrial value. Source: Changjiang Business Review (ID: CKReview) -END-