---
title: "Joining the Beverage Market Fray: Is Dongpeng Beverage's 'Second Curve' Shuibula and Guozhicha Stable?"
description: "Relying on its blockbuster product, Dongpeng Beverage has already listed on the A-share market. In April 2025, the company submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning an 'A+H' dual listing with a goal of globalization. However, Dongpeng Beverage is not without worries. In the prospectus, it compared per capita annual consumption of its products in Guangdong Province and nationwide, confidently indicating vast market space. Yet, the energy drink market is fiercely competitive. At the start of 2025, the energy drink market saw renewed competition, with multiple brands attempting to replicate Dongpeng's strategy using cost-effective tactics to grab market share, potentially posing challenges to its national expansion."
author: "谢小丹"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-06-25"
categories: "Consumer & Categories"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Zgm4HoibBoncvC1XYhZG-A"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E5%8A%A0%E5%85%A5%E9%A5%AE%E6%96%99%E5%B8%82%E5%9C%BA%E6%B7%B7%E6%88%98-%E4%B8%9C%E9%B9%8F%E9%A5%AE%E6%96%99%E7%9A%84-%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%8C%E6%9B%B2%E7%BA%BF-%E8%A1%A5%E6%B0%B4%E5%95%A6-%E6%9E%9C%E4%B9%8B%E8%8C%B6%E7%A8%B3%E4%BA%86%E5%90%97-ea74614d.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/joining-the-beverage-market-fray-is-dongpeng-beverage-s-second-curve-shu-ea74614d/"
citation: "谢小丹. “Joining the Beverage Market Fray: Is Dongpeng Beverage's 'Second Curve' Shuibula and Guozhicha Stable?.” New Distribution, 2025-06-25. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/joining-the-beverage-market-fray-is-dongpeng-beverage-s-second-curve-shu-ea74614d/"
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---

# Joining the Beverage Market Fray: Is Dongpeng Beverage's 'Second Curve' Shuibula and Guozhicha Stable?

> Relying on its blockbuster product, Dongpeng Beverage has already listed on the A-share market. In April 2025, the company submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning an 'A+H' dual listing with a goal of globalization. However, Dongpeng Beverage is not without worries. In the prospectus, it compared per capita annual consumption of its products in Guangdong Province and nationwide, confidently indicating vast market space. Yet, the energy drink market is fiercely competitive. At the start of 2025, the energy drink market saw renewed competition, with multiple brands attempting to replicate Dongpeng's strategy using cost-effective tactics to grab market share, potentially posing challenges to its national expansion.

**Source** | Entrepreneurial Frontline
Relying on this blockbuster product, Dongpeng Beverage has long been listed on the A-share market. In April 2025, the company submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning an 'A+H' dual listing with a direct goal of globalization.
However, Dongpeng Beverage is not resting on its laurels. In the prospectus, Dongpeng Beverage compared per capita annual consumption of its products in Guangdong Province and nationwide, confidently indicating that it still has vast market space.
Yet, the energy drink market is fiercely competitive. At the start of 2025, the energy drink market saw renewed competition, with multiple brands attempting to replicate Dongpeng's route, using more cost-effective strategies to grab market share, which may bring hidden concerns to Dongpeng's nationalization strategy.
In the future, will Dongpeng Beverage's expansion path be as smooth as expected?
**'Volume King' Enters the Fray**
In February this year, Dongpeng Beverage launched a new product line, a fruit-flavored tea beverage named 'Guozhicha', available in three flavors: Lemon Black Tea, Peach Oolong, and Grapefruit Jasmine.
Image / Dongpeng Special Drink Taobao Official Store
This move signifies that the company, traditionally known for energy drinks, is officially entering the fruit tea market, challenging companies like Master Kong and Uni-President.
This time, Dongpeng Beverage has again employed its signature strategy: the new product line uses 1L large bottles, but the retail price is only 5 yuan per bottle, continuing the '1 Yuan Enjoy' promotion.
From this perspective, the price of Dongpeng's Guozhicha is roughly between Master Kong's 1L iced black tea and Genki Forest's 900mL lemon iced tea. All these products add a small amount of concentrated fruit juice to the tea, with differences hidden in the ingredient lists.
The author noticed that in Guozhicha's Peach Oolong, the addition of concentrated peach juice is ≥1.5g/L, while Master Kong's iced black tea has lemon juice addition greater than 0.1g/L, and Genki Forest's iced tea has lemon concentrate addition of 196mg/L.
In comparison, Dongpeng's Guozhicha has a slight edge in cost-effectiveness. It is known that Dongpeng previously used a similar strategy to capture part of the energy drink market from Red Bull: 'same quality products + larger specifications + lower prices', which can be called Dongpeng's three-pronged approach.
Additionally, Dongpeng has given Guozhicha a clever name.
In the fruit tea beverage field, it is generally divided into two types: fruit-flavored tea and fruit juice tea. According to national standards, fruit juice tea must have a juice content of ≥5%, and the label must indicate the juice content, while fruit-flavored tea has no such requirement.
Besides the cost-effectiveness advantage, Dongpeng also leaves ample profit margins for channels to drive sales. According to a research report from Guotai Haitong Securities, Guozhicha mainly benchmarks against Master Kong, Uni-President, and Genki Forest's iced tea series. With the '1 Yuan Enjoy' activity, a store owner can earn 7.5 yuan more gross profit per box of Guozhicha compared to a box of Master Kong iced tea.
Combined with channel research, Guotai Haitong Securities estimates that the daily sales peak of Dongpeng's 1L Guozhicha new product reached 35,000 boxes in March, driving monthly sales to exceed 70 million yuan, a month-on-month increase of over 130%.
However, the author did not find the Guozhicha series on shelves in multiple supermarkets and convenience stores in Beijing. Ms. Zhang, who lives in Guangdong, Dongpeng's home base, has seen Guozhicha in supermarkets: 'The 1L capacity is relatively large, and the tea flavor is too strong, like tea with saccharin, a bit hard to drink.'
Just as Dongpeng aggressively enters the fruit tea market, its energy drink market suddenly faces a 'fire in the backyard'.
In 2024, Uni-President launched a 1L energy drink, Huanshen, with a retail price of only 6 yuan per bottle. A supermarket owner told the author that Uni-President Huanshen offers better value than Dongpeng Special Drink and Red Bull in terms of specifications.
Image / Uni-President Taobao Official Store
Additionally, Jinmailang Tianbao has also been running promotions. A supermarket owner said, 'I used to sell Uni-President Huanshen, but now I mainly sell Tianbao. Tianbao's promotion has been running for three or four months; originally 5 yuan per bottle, now you can buy two bottles for 6 yuan.'
Image / Jinmailang Beverage Taobao Official Store
The aggressive Uni-President Huanshen has brought some impact to Dongpeng. According to 21st Century Business Herald, a distributor said, 'Dongpeng has been suppressed by Uni-President Huanshen since the start of 2025. Uni-President Huanshen's 1L energy drink retails at 6 yuan, which is more affordable than Dongpeng.'
Thus, Uni-President Huanshen has become a dark horse in this year's energy drink market. According to statistics from Mashangying for the first quarter of 2025 in the energy drink category, Dongpeng Special Drink, Coca-Cola Monster, and Uni-President Huanshen entered the top three in growth. By April 2025, Uni-President Huanshen intensified efforts, launching larger-scale '2 Yuan Enjoy' promotions across various regions nationwide.
In fact, brands are not only competing on price but also innovating in formulas. For example, Uni-President Huanshen promises on its packaging that it contains no preservatives (sodium benzoate), guarantees naturally sourced caffeine, and is rich in taurine, niacin, etc.
Some brands are no longer satisfied with relying on taurine to help consumers relieve fatigue. After all, taurine is not rare; currently, except for a small amount produced in Japan, the vast majority is produced in China. Qianjiang Yongan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is the world's largest taurine producer and a supplier to many functional beverages.
In addition to taurine and caffeine, many brands are competing on ingredients to create differentiated routes. For instance, Want Want launched an energy drink 'Jingbao' in the second half of 2024, adding maca powder; Jinmailang Tianbao uses Changbai Mountain ginseng and small molecule peptides as selling points; Wusu Beer, which entered the market in May this year, added Tianshan snow lotus extract to its new product 'Dianchi'.
Image / Want Want Beverage Taobao Official Store
Dongpeng's old rival, Huabin Group, has also started to re-energize, focusing on niche markets, launching a new product line 'Zhanma Xiaojian' nutrient beverage, targeting the children's market, aiming at scenarios like children's sports, post-study, and family gatherings.
These new market variables could potentially threaten Dongpeng's market position.
**'Second Curve' Hard to Profit**
However, Dongpeng Beverage has firmly secured the top position in the functional beverage market. According to a Qince Consumer Research report, Dongpeng currently ranks first with a 26.3% volume share.
For Dongpeng, the urgent task remains to establish a more stable 'second growth curve'.
In 2023, Dongpeng further established the development strategy of 'comprehensive national development, cultivating a second curve'; in 2024, it further proposed the 'full implementation of the 1+6 multi-category strategy'. In recent years, Dongpeng has frequently emphasized developing a 'second curve' to avoid over-reliance on Dongpeng Special Drink for revenue.
In fact, earlier, Dongpeng had already laid out multiple product lines beyond Dongpeng Special Drink.
In 2019, Dongpeng launched 'Yougan Lemon Tea', focusing on fat reduction, to capture young consumers.
On September 24, 2021, Dongpeng announced the launch of its first ready-to-drink latte coffee beverage, named 'Dongpeng Daka'.
In 2023, Dongpeng made a full-court press, densely launching sugar-free tea 'Pengyou Shangcha', plant-based tea beverage 'Duohe Duorun', coconut juice 'Haidaoye', and electrolyte water brand 'Dongpeng Shuibula'.
In 2024, the pace of new product launches slowed, but it still added the Guozhicha series and cocktail brand VIVI Cocktail.
At one point, Dongpeng wanted to use 'Dongpeng Daka' as its 'second curve' to drive growth beyond energy drinks. But this did not work until the launch of the electrolyte brand 'Shuibula' changed the situation.
From recent performance, Dongpeng's 'second curve' strategy has begun to take effect, with 'Shuibula' sports drink standing out among Dongpeng's many new products.
Image / Dongpeng Beverage Prospectus
As of 2024, 'Shuibula' sports drink's share of total revenue increased to 9.4%, other beverage products grew to 6.5%, while energy drinks correspondingly fell to 84%.
By the first quarter of 2025, 'Shuibula' sports drink further grew to 11.76%, and other beverages grew to 7.74%.
The rapid growth of these new products is partly due to Dongpeng's concession of profits to the market.
According to Caijing magazine, to promote sales, the ex-factory price of 'Shuibula' is very low. In 2024, the average ex-factory price of 'Shuibula' was 2.26 yuan per liter, while Dongpeng Special Drink was 4.31 yuan per liter, but the retail prices of the two products are relatively close.
This has led to gross margins for both 'Shuibula' and other products being far lower than those of Dongpeng Special Drink.
From Dongpeng's 2024 financial report, 'Shuibula' had a gross margin of 29.72% in 2024, far lower than Dongpeng Special Drink's 48.25%. Other products had a gross margin of only 22.27%.
Image / Dongpeng Beverage 2024 Financial Report
In fact, in the short term, Dongpeng will still find it difficult to quickly increase profits through these products. In 2024, Dongpeng's sales expenses, management expenses, financial expenses, and R&D expenses accounted for about 20% of revenue.
After deducting the above operating expenses, it can also be found that as of 2024, sports drinks and other products can bring very limited profits to Dongpeng.
Image / Dongpeng Beverage 2024 Financial Report
Regarding whether profit margins can continue to improve, Dongpeng has already explained. In August 2023, at an investor exchange event, Dongpeng stated that on one hand, the company is still in the process of nationalization, and on the other hand, it is promoting new products. We hope to continue expanding sales revenue.
It can be seen that at this stage, Dongpeng is still using its profit space to exchange for market share of new products. It is foreseeable that before establishing a more stable 'second curve', the vast majority of Dongpeng's profits will inevitably still rely on Dongpeng Special Drink.
**Planning Northward and Southward**
So, does Dongpeng Special Drink still have room for market growth? The answer lies in Dongpeng's recent series of business layouts.
Four years after its A-share listing, Dongpeng has turned its attention to the Hong Kong stock market. On April 3, the company submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. As a leading enterprise in the beverage track, every move of Dongpeng attracts industry attention.
In the prospectus, Dongpeng stated that funds raised from the Hong Kong listing will be invested in improving production capacity layout, advancing supply chain upgrades, consolidating the national distribution channel network, and expanding overseas markets.
In short, Dongpeng plans to further promote nationalization and expand overseas markets.
To further promote nationalization, Dongpeng needs to go north.
Dongpeng was founded in Shenzhen, and Guangdong is the first market Dongpeng laid out. As of the first quarter of 2025, revenue from the Guangdong market accounted for 23.22% of Dongpeng's total revenue, still the market with the highest revenue share.
Image / Dongpeng Beverage 2025 First Quarter Report
Guangdong and Guangxi are also the areas with the densest sales outlets for Dongpeng. According to Caijing magazine, Dongpeng's outlet coverage in Guangdong and Guangxi exceeds 95%; in East and Central China, coverage is about 65%; in the Southwest, about 60%; and in the Northwest and North China, about 50%.
Dongpeng's future growth space also depends on the progress of related strategies. In the prospectus, Dongpeng stated that in 2024, per capita annual consumption of its functional beverage products in Guangdong Province was about 7.5L, while in other provinces nationwide it was about 2.1L.
Therefore, to accelerate penetration into other markets, Dongpeng increased its sales staff in 2024, resulting in a 24.77% increase in employee compensation expenses.
Additionally, Dongpeng further improved its production base layout.
As of the end of 2024, Dongpeng had 9 production bases, and geographically, these bases are mainly concentrated in the south.
Image / Dongpeng Beverage Prospectus
Currently, Dongpeng is further enhancing its production capacity. As of December 31, 2024, it is expanding four original production bases, while constructing Tianjin, Kunming, and Zhongshan production bases, and preparing to build a Hainan production base.
Image / Dongpeng Beverage Prospectus
Among them, the Tianjin production base is particularly noteworthy. Dongpeng can use this base to further expand its sales scope, directly radiating to the North China market.
However, even though Dongpeng has achieved the top market share in the energy drink market, it will inevitably face head-on competition with other competitors in the process of going north. First is Dongpeng's old rival Red Bull, and brands like Zhongwo Tizhi and Lehu are also competing for market share, making market competition even more intense.
During the advancement of Dongpeng's nationalization strategy, its consumer base has quietly changed. On August 6, 2024, Dongpeng disclosed investor exchange minutes showing that the drinking group of Dongpeng Special Drink is quietly changing. Energy drink consumers seem to be transitioning from new blue-collar groups to industries like internet, education and training, advertising and marketing, with a trend of gradually spreading to white-collar groups.
To establish a foothold in the white-collar market, Dongpeng also needs to compete with coffee. Xiaolei (pseudonym) told the author that he has a daily coffee habit, and drinking Dongpeng Special Drink would cause excessive caffeine intake, 'but compared to coffee, Dongpeng Special Drink has a lower retail price, so I might consider using Dongpeng Special Drink as a substitute for coffee in the future.'
In addition to going north, Dongpeng is also actively going south, which is an important market for future sales growth of Dongpeng Special Drink.
Dongpeng's move to submit a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has already indicated that it will further layout globalization in the future.
Currently, Dongpeng has entered multiple markets such as Vietnam and Malaysia through overseas distributors. To further explore overseas markets, Dongpeng has established subsidiaries in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, and will gradually build local supply chain systems.
Dongpeng also stated that it is actively exploring markets in other countries and regions, including the United States. To this end, Dongpeng has established multiple subsidiaries in the United States.
However, Southeast Asia is also highly competitive, and it is also the 'hometown' of Red Bull. Going to the Southeast Asian market, Dongpeng will inevitably have to compete with Red Bull again for market share.
From a single blockbuster to multi-category exploration, Dongpeng is accelerating its transformation, which is also an inevitable path for Dongpeng. Fortunately, in the future, the big single product Dongpeng Special Drink can help Dongpeng open the door to other category markets.
However, the beverage market is also fiercely competitive. New competitors will not easily give up the market like Red Bull did, and whether Dongpeng can establish a foothold in the market is a test for Dongpeng.
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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 谢小丹
- Published: 2025-06-25
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/joining-the-beverage-market-fray-is-dongpeng-beverage-s-second-curve-shu-ea74614d/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Zgm4HoibBoncvC1XYhZG-A

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