The National Sugar & Wine Fair has always been known as the "barometer" and "weather vane" of China's food industry, attracting millions of industry professionals each year. Manufacturers and distributors interact, and distributors select products to inject new vitality into their businesses. On April 12, the 108th National Sugar & Wine Fair was held as scheduled in Chengdu, with hundreds of thousands of distributors from across the country attending to find their preferred products. In the snack food exhibition area, the most eye-catching was Meidong, a brand under Umei Group, well-known in the industry. New Distribution observed that at the Meidong product tasting area, a steady stream of distributors came to sample Meidong; the negotiation area was also full of distributors consulting and discussing... One distributor, after witnessing the hot sales of Meidong in both online and offline channels, signed a cooperation agreement with Umei Group. Some industry insiders noted that Meidong has established long-term cooperation with foreign equipment manufacturers since its launch, and the strict control over product raw materials, packaging, and functionality reflects Umei Group's emphasis on Meidong... From the on-site feedback, Meidong products won the recognition of many distributors, becoming the most dazzling "protagonist" among Umei Group's main products.
In fact, as an innovative brand and product of Umei Group, Meidong has dominated the bestseller position since its launch. Whether it's its quality, taste, nutritional value, or its technical packaging, supply chain, and marketing chain, Meidong can be regarded as a "polygonal warrior" without weaknesses in the natural healthy snack field, demonstrating impressive strength both internally and externally. Of course, the popularity and attention behind it are not only because it is a brand under Umei Group with a natural, healthy, and effective marketing chain. More crucially, the launch of Meidong has led the industry's category upgrade, bringing the "traditional" jelly category to a new dimension, namely: making jelly consumers not limited to children, meaning Meidong is not a "traditional jelly" but an "innovative jelly product" meticulously crafted for a broader consumer base. Mei Huixiang, Chief Brand Officer of Umei Group, once stated: The new consumer brand created by Meidong's innovation targets young consumers chasing the Z generation, from students to white-collar workers, and to sophisticated mothers. In the view of New Distribution, it is precisely based on "innovation" and innovation that conforms to market development trends that Meidong has achieved its current results. It must be remembered that only innovation can create incremental growth and is the source of confidence for future development.
Natural Good Taste Defining New Industry Standards It is understood that as of December 2022, the scale of China's jelly market has expanded to 32 billion yuan. As an FMCG with a total consumption of over 10 billion, jelly has become a snack food category with huge development advantages. Moreover, with the rise of the "she economy" and the awakening of national consumer health awareness, jelly is showing characteristics of fun, high-end, and natural health. Meidong, precisely by recognizing the trends and direction of this jelly segment, innovated accordingly. As a latecomer in the jelly industry, it achieved a curve overtaking with the differentiation of "natural health," redefining industry standards and leading the development of high-end jelly. Several sets of data can support this: Meidong's sales have grown over 100% in the past three years; from 2020 to 2022, Meidong's sales increased from 45.56 million yuan to 470 million yuan, a 10-fold growth, almost leapfrog development; on the consumer side, Meidong's repurchase rate is as high as 60%. On February 17, 2023, at the Umei Group·Meidong comprehensive upgrade launch event, Meidong launched a new flavor—White Peach Meidong—and introduced its exclusive IP image—Dongdongzai. A month later, on March 17, the new generation Meidong was officially announced and launched, with hot sales. Data shows that the main Meidong gift box sold out on the same day, and some netizens even exclaimed: "I want to buy 10 bags; buying fewer isn't enough to eat." Whether it's the strong sales from C-end consumers or the pursuit of B-end distributors, I think there must be a "hidden secret" behind this. From the perspective of distributors, why would they choose Meidong among the many products during the Spring Sugar Fair? This is worth our in-depth exploration.
Reasons Distributors Choose Meidong Obviously, in the current fiercely competitive market environment, consumers are not short of products, and distributors are not short of products either. If distributors want to select a product now, they not only need to look at the current sales momentum of the product but, more importantly, the future sustained popularity of the product. Without the current hot sales in the segment, there will be no future mass market popularity. Why do distributors choose Meidong, and what trends do they see in Meidong? The author summarizes three reasons:
1. Conforms to the trend of consumer demand In today's consumer market, we can deeply perceive the changes in consumer demand. From the past "rigid demand" to aesthetics, fun, and personification; from the past "practical" to emotion, atmosphere, and scene; from the past "need" to want, trend, and soothing the soul; from the past "low price" to quality, brand, and satisfaction. When refining the changes in consumer demand to the jelly category, compared to traditional jelly, the new generation of consumer groups increasingly pays attention to health, product quality, and spiritual pleasure experiences. Meidong's biggest core selling point: natural and healthy, precisely fits this demand change. Based on "natural good taste," with 0 fat, 0 preservatives, and 0 artificial colors as the foothold of product quality. In addition to natural and healthy demands, there are also emotional demands for fun and trend. On February 17, at the upgrade event, to further communicate with the new generation consumer groups represented by the "post-00s" and "post-10s" and deepen young people's awareness of the Meidong brand, Meidong officially released its IP image—Dongdongzai. According to Liu Shu, founder of Umei Group, at the event, in the future, Dongdongzai will use its natural, cute, and adorable image to convey "natural good taste, eat Meidong" to consumers more closely. On March 17, spokesperson Xiao Zhan took the lead in releasing a new TVC on his official Weibo platform, officially firing the first shot of Meidong's marketing upgrade. Xiao Zhan, as a new-generation actor, is a top-tier celebrity in the entertainment industry. The cooperation with a top celebrity also shows Meidong's "determination to win" the young consumer group.
2. Conforms to the trend of category upgrade With the upgrading of consumer groups and consumer demand, the jelly industry is also in urgent need of innovation. Meidong, by entering the jelly market with an innovative category and introducing natural green concepts, not only extends the category width but also opens up a blue ocean market. Compared to traditional cup jelly, fruit jelly, and sucking jelly, konjac jelly has differentiated characteristics such as health and safety, deliciousness, and convenience. Therefore, in terms of the width of consumer groups, it is wider. Since its launch, Meidong has covered a broader consumer base, including not only children from traditional jelly but also students, white-collar workers, sophisticated mothers, and celebrity fans, attracting more young and fashionable people, broadening market boundaries, and opening new growth space. It can be said to play a leading role in the entire industry. Of course, to lead the category, there must be sufficient confidence in the product. According to the Meidong brand introduction, Meidong selects global natural ingredients, freshly squeezes sun-ripened fruits on the same day into pulp, and increases the natural fruit pulp content to over 40%. In addition, Meidong has invested heavily in building a world-class intelligent Meidong technology factory, gathering global leading product processes and professional equipment, introducing world-class ORIHIRO processes and equipment manufacturing, using positive pressure filtration and aseptic locking technology, 0 preservatives, 0 artificial colors, 0 fat, integrating fresh fruit pulp into high-fiber konjac. Meidong can achieve a shelf life of 9 months under the condition of 0 preservatives. Meidong, made from natural organic raw materials, has obtained the Food Authenticity (FA) certification and also passed the certification of the world's top natural laboratory BETA and ETA Analytic, Inc., indicating that the tested materials are pure natural and contain no synthetic ingredients.
3. Conforms to the trend of win-win cooperation between manufacturers and distributors Distributors' high attention to Meidong comes from the heat of whole-network communication, the concept of manufacturer-distributor cooperation, and channel promotion strategies. We can summarize with four keywords: high heat, not blind, not greedy, and positional warfare. High heat: Inviting traffic star Xiao Zhan as spokesperson, the TVC was officially announced on March 17, quickly attracting attention with high volume across the network. The topic #一袋3000万的果冻# (A bag of 30 million jelly) hit Weibo hot search, and as of 12:00 on March 17, the cumulative topic reading volume exceeded 30 million, with the day's reading volume and the official operation topic #天然好味吃梅冻# (Natural good taste, eat Meidong) both exceeding 100 million. In addition, the natural hot search related to the TVC #肖战水果森林动画短片# (Xiao Zhan fruit forest animation short film) had already exceeded 16,000 discussions by 18:00 that afternoon. At the same time as the Xiao Zhan TVC announcement, in the core locations of eight major cities—Shanghai, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Xi'an, and Shenzhen—large screen placements launched the "Natural Dream Factory" wonderful strong screen domination. Meidong also opened a "Natural Dream Factory" themed offline pop-up store in Qingdao, Shandong, from March 18 to March 19. Through this series of officially planned innovative marketing activities, online and offline linkage quickly penetrated the Meidong consumer group in a short time. Not blind, not greedy, positional warfare: According to the introduction at the February 17 upgrade launch event, to fight the comprehensive upgrade battle for the Meidong brand, Meidong will lay out core distributors, implement refined management models, and use the strategy of "incentive system + precise support plan" to continuously strengthen the manufacturer-distributor alliance and achieve mutual progress and win-win. Meidong continues to intensively cultivate channels and strengthen terminals. It fully lays out KA, CVS, and new retail channels to achieve 100% coverage of key markets, thereby meeting young consumers' high-end and immediate consumption needs. According to relevant channel leaders, Umei Group will continue the "Weaving Network Plan" to continuously build the green plum experience station into a forward position for promoting big single products. Behind this series of specific marketing and channel strategies, it is enough to see Meidong's determination and confidence in developing the offline market.
Summary Why can Meidong stand out in such a competitive jelly industry? From the perspective of a third-party industry observer, to put it simply, under the premise of adhering to "innovation," Meidong has done the following three things: First, as a new entrant in the jelly industry, Meidong did not try to grab existing market share but thought about how to raise the industry's ceiling. Meidong has broadened the path of the jelly industry. Second, as a new entrant, Meidong also fully leveraged its late-mover advantage to introduce quality concepts such as natural, healthy, and 0-additive into the industry, leading the industry's high-end development. Third, steady and solid progress. With a good product, it did not rush to spread nationwide but proceeded step by step with rhythm, planning, and a clear path. "Intensive channel cultivation, refined management, building forward positions for big single product promotion..." From these keywords, we can see Umei Group's expectations for the Meidong brand: not short-term and quick, but long-term rooted, becoming the company's second growth curve. The jelly industry needs innovators and transformers. And how to transform and innovate, Meidong provides us with a set of model cases. This is also the key reason why, during the Spring Sugar Fair, amidst a sea of products, Meidong attracted the attention and rush orders of many distributors.