New Distribution has learned that LePur, a popular internet-famous yogurt brand in China, has received a strategic investment of several hundred million RMB led by Coca-Cola, making Coca-Cola its second-largest shareholder, with existing investors IDG Capital, ZhenFund, Dahe Capital, and Maixing Investment all following the round. This marks Coca-Cola's first strategic investment and partnership with a startup in Asia.
LePur Yogurt – An Internet-Driven FMCG Company
What is the background of LePur yogurt, which has caught Coca-Cola's eye?
LePur was founded in 2015, with its full company name being Beijing LePur Youpin Trading Co., Ltd. Initially focusing on Greek yogurt (high-protein strained yogurt), the brand has leveraged digital marketing and user-centric operational strategies. The team now launches two new products per month, has accumulated millions of users on online platforms such as WeChat and Tmall, and ranks first in the low-temperature dairy category on Tmall.
LePur's additive-free yogurt sells for 15-16 RMB, while competitors' similar products sell for only 3-4 RMB. Its WeChat official account, a primary online channel, has over a million followers, with hundreds of thousands placing orders and tens of thousands consuming a box of LePur yogurt every two days. Ninety percent of its users are female.
In less than three years, LePur's daily production capacity has grown from an initial 100 boxes to 100,000 boxes and then to 200,000 boxes. Its distribution network now covers convenience stores in all second- and third-tier cities nationwide. Its channels have expanded from the initial 35-square-meter store to include WeChat official account, Tmall, offline stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, and even five-star hotels and Western restaurants.
According to sources familiar with LePur's operations, the company's entire operating system is highly internet-oriented: user-driven product development, with consumers defining flavors, and new products launched within three months. This is completely different from traditional food and beverage companies, which typically undergo an 18-36 month R&D cycle, then invest in advertising and branding, followed by channel development and sales.
LePur's internal structure is organized around user operations, such as product operations (user-driven product development), content operations (brand building through content output), user growth (leveraging user consumption to drive brand advocacy), CRM system management (analyzing end-consumer data), and a user experience department that continuously optimizes and updates user experience on a bi-weekly basis.
This structure completely abandons the traditional FMCG company model where product, marketing, and sales departments operate largely independently.
Why can brands like LePur emerge in this era?
Without any background or capital, LePur has gained a large base of loyal followers through product refinement and marketing.
The maturation of the startup investment environment, the abundance of marketing and payment platform tools, consumers' higher and more personalized upgrade demands for existing products, and users' need for participation and self-identification are all factors that have contributed to the rise of brands like LePur.
The future is no longer dominated by giants and large corporations; small, beautiful independent brands can win competitive advantages through differentiation in product and positioning.
However, for a small yogurt company like LePur, there are still many issues to address in the future.
It is understood that in 7-Eleven convenience stores, ordinary yogurt sells for 5-6 RMB, with the most expensive around 10 RMB, while a box of LePur sells for 15-16 RMB, about 2-3 times the price of ordinary yogurt. LePur faces a consumption and display scenario completely different from its online direct sales, requiring adjustments to its product and operations to adapt to new consumption and display scenarios.
This path is not easy. Some distributors have revealed that Mengniu and Yili, the two giants, have high annual marketing and sales expense ratios, and they spare no expense in reinvesting their earnings into marketing and sales, with the goal of spending heavily to expand market share and compete for channel space.
At this point, Coca-Cola, which controls extensive channel resources in China, may help resolve LePur's difficulties.
LePur CEO Liu Danni stated, "This strategic investment and partnership from Coca-Cola will allow us to benefit from Coca-Cola's deep industry experience and ability to scale new businesses. It also gives LePur more energy and opportunities to continue innovating in the context of new retail and omni-channel operations, and to create more touching experiences together with LePur's consumers."
Coca-Cola Upgrades to a "Comprehensive Beverage Company"
As early as 2015, Coca-Cola proposed its "all-beverage" development strategy, determined to expand into non-carbonated beverage areas. Carbonated drinks, which have accounted for 80% of its overall business, have brought in substantial cash flow, but in an era where the "Coke" myth no longer holds, carbonated beverages have become a "tightening spell" for Coca-Cola.
Health, personalization, and functionality have become mainstream consumer demands. Among these, functional drinks, packaged water, and protein drinks are the three categories most favored by young consumers. Beverages with light flavors and rich nutrition, which better cater to consumers' health-conscious needs, have become the winners in the beverage industry upgrade.
Clearly, Coca-Cola has recognized this. While managing with "asset-light" principles, it is also diversifying its product lines to spread development risks.
There is reason to believe that this investment by Coca-Cola China is a manifestation of this philosophy.
Coca-Cola China stated that this investment is a strategic investment in LePur, and the two parties will actively explore strategic cooperation in areas such as product innovation, digital innovation, and innovative brand incubation. It described the investment as an "important move" for Coca-Cola to expand its category portfolio under its consumer-centric strategy.
"Coca-Cola is accelerating its transformation into an all-category beverage company," said Fu Guang Sheng, President of Coca-Cola Greater China and Korea. "LePur's high-quality products, innovative business model, and consumer-driven philosophy align perfectly with Coca-Cola."
One is a beverage giant with a century-long history, the other is an industry newcomer with internet thinking. We look forward to the sparks that Coca-Cola and LePur will create together.
This article was compiled and edited by New Distribution.
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