---
title: "Mid-Year Review of the 2015 'Beverage Year': What Changes Have Occurred in the Beverage Market?"
description: "2014 was widely regarded as a 'small year' for the beverage industry, with giants like Wahaha and Master Kong, as well as small and medium enterprises, reporting declining performance. However, Mizone achieved enviable results with its light beverages, reaching 8 billion yuan in sales in 2014, setting the stage for a major convergence of light beverages in 2015 as Suntory, Wahaha, Uni-President, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Evergrande launched their own versions, igniting a light beverage war."
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published: "2015-08-17"
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# Mid-Year Review of the 2015 'Beverage Year': What Changes Have Occurred in the Beverage Market?

> 2014 was widely regarded as a 'small year' for the beverage industry, with giants like Wahaha and Master Kong, as well as small and medium enterprises, reporting declining performance. However, Mizone achieved enviable results with its light beverages, reaching 8 billion yuan in sales in 2014, setting the stage for a major convergence of light beverages in 2015 as Suntory, Wahaha, Uni-President, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Evergrande launched their own versions, igniting a light beverage war.

**Foreword:**
**2014 was widely regarded as a 'small year' for the beverage industry. Both beverage giants like Wahaha and Master Kong, as well as some small and medium-sized enterprises, reported declining performance. However, against this industry backdrop, Mizone achieved enviable results with its light beverages, with 2014 sales reaching 8 billion yuan. This also set the stage for a major convergence of light beverages in 2015: this year, Suntory, Wahaha, Uni-President, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Evergrande, and others have launched their own light beverages, igniting a light beverage war. With the triple benefits of new product volume, demand recovery, and cost reduction, some companies are also targeting high-end consumers with healthy, suitable high-end fruit juices to compete for high-end market share: Uni-President launched 'Wei Shike', and Reignwood Group introduced the German-origin juice brand Capri-Sun, which also achieved impressive results. Tea beverages, a previously hot sub-category, continued to be deeply cultivated this year. In 2015, Uni-President's 'Xiaoming Tongxue' made a high-profile appearance, occupying a corner of the beverage industry with its 'cute' image marketing and repositioned tea beverage products, widely sought after by young consumers. But the market has always been an arena where 'some are happy, others are worried.' Pharmaceutical companies, due to their own industry downturn, have turned to the food sector, but their cross-industry beverage products seem to show weaker market performance. The cross-industry beverages represented by Jiangzhong Group's Lan Gou and Hougu beverages, and Wang Laoji's 'Cordyceps Drink', once again confirm the awkward situation of 'different trades are as different as mountains.' 2015, beverages are busy; 2015, beverages are hot; 2015, the beverage industry has seen many stories. In mid-2015, let us take stock of the new faces in the beverage industry in the first half of the year, the events that occurred, and the universal patterns we can discern from them!**
## 1. Light Beverages
So-called 'light beverages' are not a specific beverage name but a general term used by the beverage industry for a category of drinks. These beverages are typically formulated with water, vitamins, and trace minerals, are nearly translucent, have more flavor than water, but are not as rich as carbonated or tea beverages. They are collectively referred to as 'light beverages.'
> Mizone 'Suiyue' – Pioneer of Light Beverages
> Mizone can be considered the pioneer of light beverages. This year, Mizone launched a new product, 'Suiyue'. It is understood that 'Suiyue' comes in a 400ml bottle with a retail price of 4 yuan. The bottle shape is very similar to Mizone's, and it comes in two flavors: sea salt kiwi and sea salt grapefruit. The target consumer group is positioned at the middle-aged and young groups born in the 70s and 80s.
> Suntory Qin Ning Shui
> Launched on April 15, 2014, Qin Ning Shui has a lemon flavor, uses imported lemon juice, and adds honey. Its fresh lemon flavor combined with honey provides a delicious and thirst-quenching taste.
> Wahaha 'C Drive'
>
>
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> Wahaha's major effort in the light beverage field this year. It features lemon juice as a selling point, catering to the tastes of young consumers.
> Uni-President 'Sea Words'
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>
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> In the summer of 2014, Uni-President launched its new fruit-flavored beverage, Sea Words. Sea Words achieved good results in 2014 and became the first product to sell over 1 million boxes in the first month since Uni-President entered the mainland market 22 years ago. It has successively launched flavors such as lemon and grapefruit. This year, Sea Words is pressing its advantage and launching a new 'kalamansi' flavor, aiming to differentiate itself from similar products.
> Coca-Cola 'Aquarius'
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>
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> Aquarius launched a new series this year. The current fruit and vegetable series has two flavors: orange and yellow peach. In addition, Aquarius has added new flavors: tangerine and white grape, further enriching the product line. It is now being launched across the country.
> Pepsi 'Wei Dongli'
>
>
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> Wei Dongli is defined as a sparkling vitamin beverage. Adding bubbles to the light-flavored vitamin beverage is its biggest differentiation highlight. Currently, Wei Dongli has three flavors: tropical pineapple, cool lemon, and fresh peach. Each bottle is 600ml, with a retail price of 3.5 to 4 yuan.
> Evergrande Spring 'Bi Ying'
>
>
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> 'Bi Ying' is another major work by Evergrande in the beverage field this year. The product has a capacity of 500ml and comes in flavors such as white peach and orange. Its positioning is similar to Mizone.
## 2. Tea Beverages
> Uni-President 'Xiaoming Tongxue'
>
>
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> 'Xiaoming Tongxue' is one of the core single products that Uni-President is focusing on in the beverage field this year. It was launched nationwide in April, mainly targeting young consumer groups, with distribution concentrated in places where young people gather, such as schools, supermarkets, and internet cafes. 'Xiaoming Tongxue' is priced at around 5 yuan and is an upgraded product of Uni-President's tea beverages. Due to its good quality and marketing image close to young consumers, it is sought after by young people.
>
## 3. High-End Fruit Juice Beverages
> Uni-President 'Wei Shike'
>
>
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> Uni-President's 'Wei Shike' series has three flavors: 'Xing', 'Heng', and 'Qing', boasting 'a mix of 7 fruits and vegetables'. Each bottle is 280ml, with a retail price of 10 yuan, positioning it higher than the group's other products. As the traditional peak season for beverages approaches, Uni-President seems to hope to attract high-end market consumers with this new product.
> Reignwood Group Capri-Sun
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> Capri-Sun fruit juice beverage was born in Germany in 1969. It is a juice brand mainly targeting children, featuring pure natural, no additives, pure taste, and unique packaging, and is widely loved by children worldwide. It entered the Chinese market strongly in April this year, currently available in four flavors: white grape, peach apple, pear, and orange.
## 4. Pharmaceutical Companies' Cross-Industry Beverages
> Jiangzhong Group Hougu Beverage
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> Hougu beverage is a sister product of Jiangzhong Hougu biscuits and another major work by Jiangzhong Group in the cross-industry food field, mainly promoting stomach-nourishing effects. The target audience includes people who often drink alcohol at social engagements, work overtime, stay up late, and overeat. As soon as the product was launched, it emphasized health claims.
> Jiangzhong Group Lan Gou Beverage
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> Lan Gou beverage is a plant-based beverage with eye-nourishing effects launched by Jiangzhong Group in December 2014, made from blueberries and goji berries. The 'Lan Gou' brand is a combination of the 'Lan' from blueberry and 'Gou' from goji. The packaging is another highlight: the combination of blueberry blue and goji red is very eye-catching. The retail price is relatively high at 7.5 yuan per 310ml. It is currently being heavily advertised through television channels.
> Wang Laoji 'Cordyceps Drink'
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>
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> Wang Laoji's 'Cordyceps Drink' is a functional beverage newly launched by Wang Laoji this year. Made from cordyceps, unlike the heat-clearing effect of red-can Wang Laoji, it is a health beverage mainly promoting blood enrichment and qi replenishment. It was launched on January 12 this year and is currently distributed in major supermarkets alongside the red-can product, with a retail price of around 4 yuan.
Analysis: 2015 Beverage Year Shows Four Trends:
New beverage products have emerged in endless succession in 2015, with constant innovation. But overall, different beverages show varying market acceptance and marketing capabilities. Generally, four trends are evident:
Light Beverages' Health Appeal Is Sought After
Overall, light beverages are definitely the major trend in the beverage industry in 2015. In the overall slightly weak FMCG market, light beverages have become the most popular beverage category this year due to their fresh and varied flavors, healthful hydration concept, and good interaction with consumers.
First, refreshing flavors. As people's tastes in beverages change, their choices of fashionable drinks have shifted. More and more consumers prefer refreshing and hydrating beverages, and the refreshing fruit flavors of light beverages exactly meet this need. Currently, there are many flavors of light beverages on the market, including lemon, peach, grapefruit, pineapple, kalamansi, etc., which also satisfy consumers' desire to try new things.
Second, the health concept of vitamin beverages. Many light beverages use vitamins as a selling point, such as Mizone 'Suiyue' and Pepsi 'Wei Dongli', fully aligning with consumers' current focus on health.
Finally, good interaction with consumers. Light beverages are not only frequently advertised on TV to spread health concepts, but in the new media era, they have also done sufficient new media marketing. For example, Uni-President's 'Sea Words': in early January, before the kalamansi new product was launched, Uni-President began to create momentum on WeChat and Weibo platforms, launching a guessing new product voting activity, making consumers strongly anticipate the product before it even hit the market. Wahaha's 'C Drive' also carried out innovative new media marketing on WeChat, such as buying movie tickets and getting a free bottle of Wahaha C Drive, and 'Funny Rainbow Run' events. It also engaged in sports marketing by signing a sponsorship agreement with Manchester United in the English Premier League. The promotional forms are truly innovative and endless.
Youthful and Cute Marketing Becomes a New Trend in the Beverage Industry
Youthfulness and cuteness are also notable characteristics of this year's beverage industry. In the tea beverage field, take Uni-President's 'Xiaoming Tongxue' as an example. Its brand proposition and marketing methods fully cater to the preferences of the post-95 and post-00 generations, focusing on the combination of young consumers' demands and brand connotation. The target group of 'Xiaoming Tongxue' includes not only 'post-90s' but also 'post-00s' students. Its marketing uses a hip-hop advertising style of 'seriously funny, low-key cold brew' to bring it closer to target consumers, and uses the popular star Wallace Chung and others in the show 'I Want to Go to School' to reach the post-95 target group, adopting a spiritual appeal close to young people's psychology, encouraging individuality, fashion, and self-expression.
In addition, this youthful and cute trend has also spread to other beverage fields. This summer, Wang Laoji transformed into the spokesperson for 'youth with attitude'. On Guangzhou's landmark building 'Canton Tower' and the front page of 'Yangcheng Evening News', Wang Laoji's Youth Day declaration appeared: 'The hotter it gets, the more we love Guangzhou; the hotter it gets, the more we love youth; the hotter it gets, the more we love Wang Laoji!' On May 10, Wang Laoji's attitude cans were unveiled. Different from the previous functional slogan 'fear of getting heaty', this time Wang Laoji's attitude cans use more fashionable, relaxed, and fun attitude keywords to attract consumers' attention. 'Night owl', 'go out to play', 'eat hot pot' are all popular summer lifestyle habits and attitudes among young people. It can be seen that this year's summer marketing by Wang Laoji also targets young consumers. This time, Wang Laoji places more emphasis on seeking deep emotional communication with consumers. The mainstream post-80s and post-90s young consumer groups today are eager to release themselves, express opinions, and gain social recognition and understanding. Whether a product can meet the demands of young consumers is becoming increasingly important.
It can be said that aligning with the emotional needs of young people and creating emotional resonance with the younger generation is another major focus for the beverage industry this summer.
Healthy, Additive-Free High-End Fruit Juices Become New Stars
Due to consumers' preference for healthy foods and their willingness to pay higher prices for them, healthy fruit juices and plant fiber beverages have become the new favorites in the beverage industry.
Following new products like Xiaoming Tongxue and Ruyin, Uni-President Foods launched the high-end fruit juice beverage 'Wei Shike'. 'Wei Shike' chose e-commerce platforms as its main sales channel. On June 1, 'Wei Shike' 100% mixed fruit and vegetable juice was trial-sold on the WeChat mall. Without much prior promotion, sales on the first day approached 800 items.
Reignwood Group launched the fruit juice beverage Capri-Sun in April, focusing on quality and health. Unlike 'Wei Shike', Reignwood Group seems to have further segmented the consumer group. Its new product targets the younger children's juice market, entering China with the endorsement of the world's leading children's juice beverage brand from Germany. In marketing, it appeals to parents with rational claims of natural ingredients and no artificial additives, and also attracts children's attention through innovative advertising and product packaging design.
Thus, competing for post-80s and post-90s young consumers, and tapping into the student and white-collar markets, has become a new focus in the beverage industry this year. On one hand, the arrival of the children's economy has increased the proportion and voice of children in family consumption; on the other hand, as adult income and education levels gradually rise, carbonated beverages are considered 'unhealthy drinks', and consumers' professional demands for nutrition, safety, and health in beverages continue to grow.
Analysts point out that under the current 'new normal' pattern of beverages, the future of Chinese beverages lies in consumers' pursuit of rich beverage categories and demand for quality and safety. Healthy fruit juice beverages may become the biggest winner in the industry. In the fierce competition, whoever can better meet consumers' natural, happy, and healthy nutritional needs, and whose marketing strategies can better hit consumers' pain points and excitement points, will be better able to lead the market. High-end fruit juice beverages represented by 'Wei Shike' and 'Capri-Sun' are worth looking forward to in the future.
Pharmaceutical Companies' 'Cross-Industry' Need to Solve Product and Channel Issues
Pharmaceutical companies' enthusiasm for launching beverages this year remains high. While Jiangzhong Group's Hougu beverage is being heavily advertised on major TV stations, the 'eye-protecting' Lan Gou beverage is also making a strong comeback. Earlier, Wang Laoji Pharmaceutical also launched a health beverage product made from cordyceps. Pharmaceutical companies crossing over to sell beverages may seem lively, but in reality, they have achieved little.
From a product perspective: According to a review, the current cross-industry beverages from pharmaceutical companies are generally priced higher than ordinary food and beverages (for example, 'Lan Gou' has a retail price of 7.5 yuan per 310ml), making them less acceptable to consumers. In addition, their beverages generally attach concepts such as reducing heat, clearing oil, detoxifying, and removing haze, but consumer recognition seems low. Moreover, pharmaceutical companies have not put much effort into implementing the 'functions' of their products; these functions mostly remain at the promotional stage, not truly extending their own industry chain.
From a marketing perspective: The hard injuries for pharmaceutical companies entering the beverage industry are the lack of channels, the lack of an executable professional marketing team, and the neglect of consumer needs. These factors are difficult to solve overnight and require a long period of accumulation.
However, the industry also believes that pharmaceutical companies have inherent advantages in making health products. In the future, more pharmaceutical companies will venture into health products and extend their industry chains. More and more pharmaceutical companies will appear in health products, beverages, and other industries, but those that ultimately survive will definitely have strong strength. Pharmaceutical companies may show a pattern of the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker.
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