The alcohol category can break through time cycles MissBerry is a brand I founded in 2020. At this time last year, I also participated in New Distribution's event and shared my original intentions and feelings at the time. A year later, I'm glad to return to the New Distribution stage to report on MissBerry's growth over the past year. ** △MissBerry Founder Tang Huimin** __ MissBerry has grown very fast, and I believe the reason behind this is our deep insight into the industry, as well as our previous industry experience. Today, I'd like to share my views on alcohol. First, I believe alcohol is definitely a good business. The reason it's good is that it has high gross margins, appeals to human nature (specifically, it's highly addictive), and can break through time cycles—these are excellent attributes. So, to survive in this category, you need to follow the industry's changing rules. For example, when facing market demand changes due to shifting consumption scenarios, alcohol brands need to segment according to different consumer needs. In fact, being able to break through original time cycles and respond quickly is also a market requirement for this category. What should low-alcohol drinks focus on? Although alcohol is a very good category, it's also very difficult to do in China. I believe alcohol, tea, and coffee have become the three most difficult categories in China's FMCG sector. The reason it's difficult is that alcohol has cultural attributes and cultural labels. You can see that red wine is marketed by origin, white liquor by craftsmanship, and the common attribute of alcohol products is that they are marketed by spirit and culture. What should low-alcohol drinks focus on? Over the past two years, we've gained some insights in this industry. Today, I'd like to share our original intentions and thoughts. First, let's consider a few questions we think about when drinking. 1. Are we really drinking when we drink? Imagine: when we eat birthday cake, are we really eating cake? The answer is definitely "no." When we eat birthday cake, we're not just eating cake; when we drink, we're not just drinking. We focus on the culture and ritual of drinking, including the relaxation and indulgence that alcohol brings. 2. Do young people really not drink anymore? For example, in company gatherings, when you invite young people to drink, you often encounter people saying they need to go home to take care of their cat, or someone saying they need to go home to collect their laundry... Is it that young people really don't drink? The answer is also no. There are those who don't like drinking, but there must also be some who like drinking but don't like being pressured to drink, so they choose to go home and have a drink alone, or have a drink while petting their cat. Unlike the traditional "drinking culture" of toasting, "light drinking" pursues a hazy, lazy state of slight intoxication. They don't overindulge or get drunk; their main drinking needs are for fun and companionship. Low-alcohol beverages that taste good and are hard to get drunk on are more preferred by female consumers, who also pursue aesthetics and ritual. 3. Is drinking really divided by gender? Drinking is a ritualistic thing. In our previous research, we found that drinking is clearly divided by gender. For example, when we did research, men's need for sparkling wine was refreshing and thirst-quenching, while women's needs for sparkling wine were many, such as appearance, taste, and ritual. For women, there is currently no product on the market that can meet their drinking needs. For them, a glass of wine, an aromatherapy candle, a piece of music, or an atmosphere can spark the joy of drinking. Low-alcohol drinks only account for 3% of beer in China China's low-alcohol beverage market is about 15-20 billion yuan, which is still significantly behind the beer market's 600 billion yuan. Low-alcohol drinks only account for 3% of the beer market, but compared to neighboring Japan, where the low-alcohol market is more mature, this ratio can reach 30%, indicating huge development space. Learning from Japan, the Japanese market data shows us a localized matrix, which is actually very valuable for reference. For example, Suntory's corporate culture: to meet different customer needs, they listen to customer opinions, challenge, and innovate. For instance, they divide products into many branches and different alcohol levels for different consumer groups. Currently, 60% of low-alcohol beverage consumers in China are women, so I believe the development of low-alcohol drinks in China should first center on women. Women's independence has already been reflected in other new categories, and national trend brands have also been proven to be a rapidly growing channel. Second, consumers are more accepting of low alcohol and flavors. As you can see, it has now become a phenomenon of starting low and rising high. MissBerry brings social value to consumers MissBerry actually captures the consumption gaps in the category through emotional decision-making, scenario-driven, and high-aesthetic appreciation. I believe people's reasons for buying have shifted from economic value to experiential and social value. 1. MissBerry always stands with female consumers, abandons traditional drinking culture, pursues a true and multifaceted self, and feels the beauty and difference. 2. Precisely solves female users' pain points, including appearance, natural attributes, and drinking scenarios. Since its inception, MissBerry has had its own R&D team and self-owned laboratory. From taste market research to formulation and testing, the R&D team is fully responsible. Using the "real fruit, slow fermentation" process, with 365 hours of low-temperature slow fermentation, it maximizes the preservation of the fresh taste of fruits. Unlike the previous market impression of low-alcohol drinks as "factory OEM," MissBerry abandons flavoring, alcohol, coloring, and blending elements, which is more in line with modern women's healthy eating concepts. From the initial launch of 5 fruit-flavored series, which became bestsellers upon release and ranked first in Tmall's fruit wine category for three consecutive months, the Peach Oolong Wine was also the first "peach oolong" flavored wine on the market. Later, it launched canned sparkling fruit wine, collaborated with brands like Daily Black Chocolate, Yuansu Food, and Mystery Creatures, and launched chocolate wine, cold brew latte coffee wine, Northeast Big Board ice cream gift boxes, and spicy hot pot wine, among other creative flavors, focusing on meeting women's diverse drinking needs in different scenarios such as girls' gatherings and solo drinking at home. In addition, in packaging, the team innovatively designed a brand-exclusive small square bottle. MissBerry draws on the development paths of women's cosmetics and fragrances. On this small square bottle, they added some expectations for sweetheart fruit wine: wine, like fragrance, embellishes life, allowing everyone to relax in the gaps of life, enjoy, and love life. We found that the best way to verify whether we bring social value to consumers is whether they share it on their social circles. Some people put MissBerry together with Moutai and drink them together during the New Year, which is very scenario-based. According to our top-down and bottom-up product logic, we plan to launch a food and beverage series by the end of this year or next year to enter larger scenarios. Compared to traffic tactics, products are more valuable to the brand In recent years, a common trend in young women's demand for alcoholic beverages is: while being healthy and tasty, they also want to please themselves. Compared to high-alcohol drinks in traditional business social occasions, low-alcohol drinks better suit women's tastes and can create emotional value. In a dynamic market, MissBerry continuously breaks through its own barriers, takes consumers as the core, and continues to productize scenarios. First, it drives emotions with scenarios, then uses emotions to drive purchase desire. It brings young consumers a diversified product experience, and the pursuit of taste and value. Only then do we further do marketing. After online and offline verification, if we find that the product indeed has the social value mentioned, we will then do more extensive promotion. For example, top KOLs bringing goods. Traffic tactics are valuable for current brands, but products cannot rely on traffic to become a brand. Truly good brand products should return to the original intention. Here's a simple case. We are currently doing some high-altitude tactics. I believe consumer goods must have both high-altitude and ground battles. With precise customer positioning and innovative, diverse product flavors, combined with products creating drinking scenarios and atmosphere, we drive emotional marketing, triggering strong resonance among consumers, and influencing them to have the idea of drinking. Product power and marketing power are double insurance. Only with mutual cooperation and giving our consumers more communication can we succeed. In May this year, MissBerry signed a new brand spokesperson, INTO1-Liu Yu, who was the C-position debut of the hottest boy band at the time. Within 90 minutes of INTO1-Liu Yu's official announcement, 9,500+ customized gift boxes were sold out, with total online sales reaching 3 million+. MissBerry has also achieved remarkable results in this track. Through INTO1-Liu Yu, we also captured a large number of young female consumers aged 18-25, and in this tactic, we can see that MissBerry ranks in the top five in all spokesperson rankings this year. Through INTO1-Liu Yu's endorsement, MissBerry brought out the brand's image of "Sweetheart has more than one side," which triggered a lot of consumer self-propagation. These all serve online and offline consumers and distributors. Today, I'll report on our offline situation. We started offline after the Chinese New Year this year. So far, we have covered 17,000 mid-tier stores, including FamilyMart, Lawson, 7-Eleven, Hema, and Metro, the top KA and CVS systems. This year, we expect to cover more than 30,000 stores and mid-tier outlets offline, and with our online marketing matrix and offline mid-tier breakthrough tactics, we hope to expand into the food and beverage channel with more product lines in the future. Taking women as the entry point has become the path for low-alcohol drink growth After more than a year of verification, MissBerry has basically verified that taking women as the entry point is the path for low-alcohol drink growth, and it has been verified as the absolute leading brand in the industry. We are first in fruit wine and first among new low-alcohol brands, achieving five-fold growth this year. And we have verified in various offline channels that we are a national fruit wine brand. We have verified our sell-through in CVS. MissBerry's brand repurchase rate on Tmall is 24%, which actually exceeds the industry average. With a series of marketing tactics implemented, our omnichannel investment effect is 3.2 times higher than before. Many people ask: although taking women as the entry point has been successful now, will this be a ceiling? Is there a ceiling for this track? When we look at the ceiling, we find that if there is no ceiling in an industry, it may not be a good thing, and if there is a ceiling, it may not be a bad thing, because we need to look at the future. What will MissBerry become in the next ten years? This is the most important step in strategic planning. First, in the first step, we verified its two stages. The first stage verified that taking women as the entry point is the best way for low-alcohol drinks to grow. Next, we will reuse our channels, marketing, and insights into the industry and products to do our second and third brands. Based on the sharing just now, we also see that multi-brand, multi-segment penetration, and multi-brand, multi-category matrix are actually the best way to do low-alcohol drinks. So in the second stage, we will build such a matrix and continuously reuse the methodology. Ultimately, I believe MissBerry can become a very well-known alcoholic beverage group brand in China. Thank you all! Note: This article is from a keynote speech by MissBerry founder Ms. Tang Huimin at the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference, organized and published after her review and authorization. Click Read Original to see more highlights of the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference... Are you "watching" me?