---
title: "Making Water: A Few Words for Yili and Red Bull"
description: "Amid a cold FMCG market, bottled water stands out as a warm spot. While giants like Yili and Reignwood Group aggressively enter the premium water segment, niche player Xipin Tiancheng offers advice: focus on unique water sources and functional benefits, as it did with its selenium-rich water from Qinling."
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published: "2019-03-21"
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---

# Making Water: A Few Words for Yili and Red Bull

> Amid a cold FMCG market, bottled water stands out as a warm spot. While giants like Yili and Reignwood Group aggressively enter the premium water segment, niche player Xipin Tiancheng offers advice: focus on unique water sources and functional benefits, as it did with its selenium-rich water from Qinling.

Recently, FMCG giant Procter & Gamble was rumored to be delisting, and the market values of the top ten FMCG giants—Nestlé, P&G, PepsiCo, Unilever, AB InBev, Coca-Cola, Tyson Foods, L'Oréal, Philip Morris International, and Kraft Heinz—have all dropped significantly.
The FMCG sector has been cold for the past two years, with no signs of warming. Distributors are tightening their belts, preferring not to take on new products rather than risk a bad deal, fearing that the last straw could break the camel's back at any moment.
**Yet amid this bleakness, we see a ray of sunshine—bottled drinking water.** In 2016, China's bottled water retail sales reached 137.855 billion yuan, growing 17% in 2017 to 161.2 billion yuan. Although 2018 figures are not yet out, surpassing 180 billion yuan is a foregone conclusion. Globally, bottled water sales in 2018 exceeded the combined sales of all other soft drinks.
In the bottled water market, premium water (5 yuan/L) grew 20% in 2017, prompting numerous giants to enter the premium segment. Among them, Yili and Reignwood Group are particularly aggressive. Yet a niche water company, less famous than Yili or Reignwood, has a few words for them.
In 2018, Reignwood consecutively attended the Changsha Autumn Sugar Fair and the Zhengzhou Wan Shang Conference. Reignwood's unusual activity stems from the unresolved Red Bull trademark issue, prompting the company to find a replacement product. Its self-developed War Horse energy drink has shown little progress after over a year, even lagging behind established brands like Dongpeng, Lehu, and Tizhi Nengliang.
In fact, before the Red Bull trademark battle, Reignwood had already prepared. Since 2014, it has acquired several internationally renowned brands: Vita Coco, Capri-Sun, and VOSS, covering coconut water, children's juice, and premium water markets.
After four years of market exploration, Reignwood has designated VOSS as its next key product. To this end, it found a Chinese water source for the Norwegian premium water—Danxia Mountain in Zhuxi, Hubei. The pricing is quite accessible: domestically produced VOSS retails at 5 yuan/330ml and 6 yuan/500ml, compared to 19.9 yuan for the Norwegian original 375ml.
Although much cheaper than the Norwegian original, it's still too expensive for average Chinese consumers. For mid-to-high-end customers, it clearly lacks the prestige of Evian, which, despite Chinese media stripping away its French Alps halo, has over a decade of brand equity and a loyal following.
Premium water either has a status symbol (like Evian or San Pellegrino) or specific functional benefits for targeted groups. But domestic VOSS clearly lacks these attributes. First, names like Evian, San Pellegrino, and Perrier evoke imagination through their Chinese transliterations, while "Fusi" (VOSS) neither sounds appealing nor sparks imagination. Comparing Fusi to Evian, Perrier, and San Pellegrino is like comparing "Kekou Kela" (a poor transliteration) to Coca-Cola. Second, Chinese consumers, educated by Nongfu Spring, place great importance on water sources. Domestic VOSS's source is Danxia Mountain in Zhuxi, under Shiyan, Hubei; Nongfu Spring's Hubei source is Danjiangkou, also in Shiyan. Nongfu's water from Danjiangkou sells for 2 yuan, while VOSS sells for 6 yuan—three times the price, just because the bottle is prettier? That bottle is too expensive. Remember, Hengda Ice Spring was often ridiculed for sharing the same water source as Nongfu Spring.
Yili attended the 2019 Chengdu Spring Sugar Fair to recruit distributors for its new health beverage division.
In recent years, Yili has not only excelled in dairy but also made a big push into beverages, launching lactic acid bacteria drinks, soy milk, walnut milk, functional drinks, and bottled water.
In December 2018, Yili invested in a Changbai Mountain natural mineral water company, marking its return to bottled water after a 23-year hiatus. If the earlier failure was due to immaturity, this time Yili is determined to succeed. But as with VOSS, will Yili's determination pay off? Experts question whether Yili will become the next Hengda Ice Spring.
Changbai Mountain in Jilin is China's best water source, so almost every water company has built a plant there, making it crowded. The bottled water market is highly monopolized, with over 76% controlled by Nongfu, C'estbon, Wahaha, Master Kong, Coca-Cola, Danone, Nestlé, etc. For a latecomer like Yili to enter this crowded market and source area is not easy.
**Making water is the right move; it's never too late to enter the industry.** But successful latecomers like Ganten and Kunlun Shan share a key trait: they didn't build their sources in crowded areas.
Yili once had such an opportunity but missed it. In April 2018, Yili inspected the Yuejia mining area in Shimen County, Hunan, which has four natural selenium-rich water zones. This could have been Yili's best choice—just as beverages initially focused on quenching thirst and taste, now functional drinks dominate. Similarly, water is evolving from basic thirst-quenching to functional water. Quenching thirst and tasting good are basic requirements; addressing specific needs determines how far you can go.
The famous Southern Song patriotic poet Lu You said: "Great writing is heaven-made; a skilled hand stumbles upon it." The same applies to making water. When you find the right method, you achieve twice the result with half the effort. **While Yili missed the functional water opportunity, another company didn't let this 'heaven-made' gift slip away—Xipin Tiancheng.**
As its name suggests, precious and rare products are 'naturally formed'; it's just a matter of who sees the opportunity and seizes it. The market will not treat you unfairly.
A good product starts with a good name that evokes associations. "Xipin Tiancheng" is such a name—literally meaning 'rare product, naturally formed,' and implying 'naturally formed selenium product.' Its sub-brand is "Bu Xi Shui" (Selenium-Supplementing Water), a name that appeals to both refined and popular tastes—elegant like 'heaven-made writing' yet instantly understandable to consumers.
Second, a unique water source. Xipin Tiancheng didn't compete in crowded areas but found its own source in the Qinling Mountains—Ziyang County, Ankang City, Shaanxi. Though less famous than Changbai Mountain or Danjiangkou, it has its own advantages: known as China's Selenium Valley, it holds the country's largest selenium reserves, with natural selenium water dating back over 7,500 years.
Finally, targeting a niche market. Xipin Tiancheng understands its product and its consumers. It doesn't aim for high-profile launches but starts with those who know and need selenium. The selenium supplement market is vast—72% of China's regions are selenium-deficient, leading to various diseases. The potential market is in the hundreds of billions, too large for Xipin Tiancheng to capture alone. It's just carving out a piece before others react.
More consumers are learning that **selenium is known as the 'cancer killer.'** This awareness has led some unscrupulous merchants to artificially add selenium to non-selenium products, creating fake selenium-enriched products. Worse, some products like "XX Cui Water" claim to contain selenium, but a slight name difference leads to a huge gap: a 500ml bottle of genuine selenium water consumed twice daily meets the minimum selenium requirement, while these impostors require 20-30 bottles daily—impossible for anyone to drink 15 liters a day. This deceives consumers and plays with concepts, irresponsible to both customers and their own companies.
Xipin Tiancheng's Bu Xi Shui is pure natural mineral water—note that Nongfu Spring, after several water wars, achieved 16 billion yuan in sales trying to equate itself with mineral water, yet still can only label itself as natural drinking water.
Xipin Tiancheng's first seed customers are its consumers—many with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, or cancer—who, after seeing results from drinking Bu Xi Shui, decided to become distributors. They are the most powerful advocates and experiencers, because distributors must love the products they sell to share them with those in need.
Some may see this as buzzword marketing, but it's not; it's about making a great product and not fearing comparison. Though Xipin Tiancheng is less known than Reignwood or Yili and lacks their resources, **the market always rewards those who are prepared. All are latecomers wanting to enter this market. Some have abundant resources but go in the wrong direction; others are nimble and choose the right track.**
The future belongs to those who choose the right track, not necessarily the big players. Otherwise, we wouldn't see so many giants fall and so many new companies rise.
This Spring Sugar Fair, Xipin Tiancheng is waiting for you—let's talk...


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