From October 9 to 11, the 5th China FMCG Conference and the 1st China FMCG Distributor Conference were successfully held at the Shenzhen Denghill International Hotel. Over the three days, more than 1,500 FMCG industry professionals from across the country participated in this grand event, with over 80 speakers delivering精彩 content. On October 9, Ms. Zhu Yingying, CEO and Partner of Laojin Mofang, a brand that has risen rapidly in its niche category, was invited to attend and deliver a keynote speech. Ms. Zhu previously served as Vice President of PepsiCo Greater China, COO of Baicaowei, CMO of Walmart China and Vice President of E-commerce, and was a founding member of Alibaba's New Retail team, making her a seasoned operations expert. Laojin Mofang, founded in 1912, has adhered for three generations to the health philosophy of "pure natural, no additives" and "medicine and food homology." By integrating traditional culture with modern lifestyle trends, the brand has developed a series of new-generation Chinese-style light nourishment products that are "attractive, substantive, fun, and loving," redefining consumers' perception and imagination of Chinese dietary supplements. How does a century-old time-honored brand construct a unique expression of new Chinese-style consumption? At the conference, Ms. Zhu Yingying delivered an insightful presentation titled "Unlocking the Creative Power of New Chinese-style Health Consumption," discussing changes in the environment and trends over the past two years and the emergence of new opportunities.
A good product is the starting point for everything. After the three-year pandemic from 2019 to 2021, a trend has become very evident and is relevant to everyone: "health." Whether white-collar workers, meticulous mothers, established middle-class, or silver-haired trendsetters, health is an unavoidable topic. Everyone has become more attentive to personal wellness and family health, seeking healthier lifestyles in both food and daily necessities. Laojin Mofang originated in 1912 in Daming Prefecture, one of the eight prefectures, and has been passed down through three generations. What does Laojin Mofang represent? "Lao" (old) signifies a century-old time-honored brand; "Jin" (gold) represents a good product, a golden signboard; "Mo" (grind) symbolizes meticulous grinding; and "Fang" (square) indicates generous and authentic ingredients. Zhu Yingying believes that a good product is the starting point for everything. As a century-old brand, Laojin Mofang places great emphasis on product quality, craftsmanship, and meeting consumer needs.
Adhering to long-termism for a century, Laojin Mofang has now encountered a period of health awareness explosion and has come to the forefront. As early as 2012, Laojin Mofang was already the top seller in the online natural health powder category. Since 2012, the brand has continued to invest in product R&D and innovation. In 2018, it pioneered the sesame ball product, becoming the top seller in the health ball category across all channels. After 2018, Laojin Mofang continued to grow rapidly, expanding from sesame balls to health balls with various functions, as well as health teas and snacks, aiming to leverage the "medicine and food homology" concept and the broader health track to bring better products to consumers. The data behind the century-long journey reflects the growing consumer demand for nourishment and health care.
There is a significant difference in consumption of nourishing and health products between China and developed countries. As of 2022, per capita consumption of nourishing and health products in China was only $23, while developed countries' consumption was more than ten times that figure. This track has grown rapidly in the last decade, especially in the years after the pandemic, and the overall market size is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan. Choosing the right track is the starting point for success, so the health concept and health consumption track discussed today deserve everyone's attention.
Behind the health track, different users have different needs. People want to be healthy, but face pain points such as being overwhelmed by 996 work schedules, economic downturn, and intense competition; feeling like they've aged from 90s/00s to 60s; experiencing hair loss, qi deficiency, liver weakness, spleen weakness, and various other issues. Under economic pressure and significant life stress, people hope for healthier lifestyles and foods. The market demand is growing rapidly, but given China's vast scale, this track is still in a state of high growth and low penetration. Moreover, in this blue ocean, brand concentration is not high. Everyone can pay attention to this opportunity and this track.
Laojin Mofang, as a century-old time-honored brand, has continuously innovated and developed the internet-famous sesame ball product. The starting point for this product's popularity was a pain point everyone faces: the psychological fear of hair loss. Consumers have a strong need for hair nourishment and anti-hair loss, but not to the extent of taking medication, and they worry that daily use of various shampoos and topical treatments might worsen the problem. After a series of research, it was found that ancient medical texts advocate "medicine and food homology" to address such issues, i.e., consuming black Chinese ingredients like black sesame, black beans, and black rice, combined with meticulous grinding and proportioning, can achieve the nourishing effect of "nourishing black with black." Therefore, Laojin Mofang entered this huge market by addressing both the dietary and psychological needs of those concerned about hair nourishment and hair loss, developing the sesame ball product targeting meticulous mothers, new white-collar workers, and established middle-class consumers.
Continuously adapting to user needs. Of course, the new generation of consumers not only wants the nourishing effects of "medicine and food homology" but also expects attractive packaging, fun content, and more ready-to-eat, snack-like formats and scenarios. Whether for breakfast, afternoon tea, staying up late, or gifting, the product should be convenient to consume. After continuous adjustments, the sesame ball that became a hit online was born. In 2021, over 350 million Laojin Mofang sesame balls were sold online. The brand has been the top seller in its subcategory for over three consecutive years. Driven by this hero product, the brand has gained over 20 million online users and covered over 100,000 retail points offline in a very short time. Of course, the sesame ball is just a starting point, as Laojin Mofang aims to cover "medicine and food homology" products and the nourishing health track. After the classic sesame ball, Laojin Mofang further developed a series of products to meet consumer needs. For example, sesame balls for hair nourishment, almond balls for whitening, nut balls for brain health, and red bean and coix seed balls for dampness removal. This series of health balls covers various health needs, and to make them more delicious and snack-like, the brand innovated with a molten-core format, creating the industry's first molten black sesame balls and almond seven-white balls. In addition to health balls, the brand also offers teas and pocket-sized health snacks, covering consumers' various nourishing scenarios throughout the day. Based on health and wellness insights, we also developed a health gift series for festivals, hoping consumers can choose healthy nourishing products for Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year. This series will be launched during the Spring Festival, featuring nourishing gold cans, gold boxes, and gold bars, all carrying auspicious meanings that consumers love while being healthy to eat.
Unified online and offline strategy. Behind the series of best-selling products lies continuous innovation and R&D, high-quality quality control, and strong supply chain support. Although Laojin Mofang is a new online brand, it has invested in R&D for many years. In recent years, Laojin Mofang has been a drafting unit for the group standard of "medicine and food homology" products and has collaborated with hospitals, pharmacies, nutrition societies, and other research institutions on product development. After pioneering the sesame ball and molten-core series, the brand has newly developed and applied low-temperature cold-pressing technology to address the long-standing consumer concern about oil content in sesame balls. In the future, Laojin Mofang will continue to invest heavily in R&D resources to tackle cutting-edge industry technologies and continuously upgrade products based on consumer insights.
In terms of quality control, as a food company, Laojin Mofang's main products are all produced in its own factories, ensuring the highest standards of quality control for food safety and environmental health. In production, although the brand is primarily online, it has established a health industrial park of over 30,000 square meters in Anhui, continuously investing in automated equipment to make production more efficient and overall management more intelligent. Good products need to be supported by R&D, quality control, and production, which are the most critical factors for a company to go further.
In the future, the track size will reach at least 300-500 billion yuan. As long as everyone sees the imagination in it, we can completely make health products snack-like and snacks healthy, working together to drive the upgrade of health consumption and provide consumers with better products and services. Zhu Yingying stated that Laojin Mofang has already achieved full-channel coverage, with comprehensive offline layout, and looks forward to future cooperation to jointly unlock the imagination of new Chinese-style consumption.
PS: For those interested in the on-site speeches, please follow the WeChat official account of New Distribution for recent posts. We will compile and publish all speakers' speeches for our readers.
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