New Distribution: "The beverage market competition has reached the next level." Three years ago, this phrase meant intense competition over zero-sugar, zero-calorie formulas, traffic frenzies from cross-industry collaborations, and dense new product battles on shelves. But now, when supermarket shelves are so crowded that there's no room to step, convenience store freezers are stacked so high that lids won't close, and e-commerce subsidies have shifted from "burning money" to "routine operations," countless beverage brands face the same dilemma: products are getting better, but sales are getting harder to grow. It's not that consumers aren't buying; it's that the "attention battlefield" of traditional channels is already saturated. Walk into any convenience store, and similar sparkling waters and energy drinks are squeezed onto the same shelf. Changing packaging or adjusting sweetness can't make a product stand out in the consumer's 3-second selection window. Behind this "aesthetic fatigue" is the complete failure of traditional channel logic—when the old model of "people looking for products" meets the new consumption of "products finding people," the path to breakthrough is not on crowded shelves but in those once-overlooked "nooks and crannies," such as billiard halls, bath centers, and airline cabins.
Consumption Logic Reversal: From "Purposeful Purchase" to "Scenario-Based Trigger"
Many brands still cling to old thinking: distribute more products, create denser displays, and run bigger promotions, without realizing that consumer shopping logic has been rewritten by the times. In the past, buying beverages was "need-driven": when thirsty, you walk into a convenience store and grab a bottle; after seeing an ad, you go to the supermarket to find a product. Either way, it was "people with needs looking for products," and channels were the terminal for needs. Brands just needed to distribute well and wait for consumers. But now, the rise of instant retail and content e-commerce has completely severed this traditional path. Ele.me and Meituan Waimai's 30-minute delivery has fully offset the "convenience" of convenience stores—no freezer is closer than the one on your living room coffee table. Short-video and live-streaming product recommendations fill consumers' shopping carts with desired new products before they even step into a convenience store. A joint report by NielsenIQ and Ele.me shows that in summer 2025, the growth rate of ice cream and alcoholic beverages in instant retail channels was 3.5 times that of all channels. Behind this is the explosion of consumers' "instant gratification" needs and the comprehensive victory of the "products finding people" logic. The core of traditional channels is "people waiting for products," where consumers passively choose from limited shelves; the core of new consumption is "products waiting for people," where algorithms and content push products in front of consumers before they even have a need. The direct impact of this shift is that convenience stores have transformed from "terminals for essential needs" to "temporary supply stations," where only the most urgent scenarios (like suddenly getting thirsty while walking) trigger transactions. As traffic in conventional scenarios is continuously diverted, brands finally realize: instead of "fighting to the death" on saturated shelves, it's better to seek out scenarios with "clear needs and scarce competition"—the need for refreshment in billiard halls, hydration in bath centers, and convenience in airline cabins. These special channels in such scenarios have become the core key for brands to break through.
Special Channels Rise: Billiard Halls, Bath Centers... Why Do These Scenarios Stand Out?
For a long time, special channels were seen as "optional" by brands. Supermarkets and convenience stores were the key distribution channels, while "niche scenarios" like billiard halls, bath centers, and gas stations were mostly treated with a "let it be" attitude. But now, these former "scrap" channels have become "must-fight territories" for leading brands, especially billiard halls, bath centers, and airline cabins, which have stood out on their merits and hold unique advantages exclusive to special channels.
First, let's talk about the hottest one: billiard halls, a veritable "gold mine for beverage consumption." Whether young people gather for a game of billiards or old friends meet for mahjong, they stay for two to three hours or even longer. Prolonged focused play and competitive matches easily lead to thirst and drowsiness, making hydration and refreshment strong needs. More importantly, there is almost no intense competition from similar products in billiard halls. Often, the entire venue has only one or two dedicated freezers, so consumers don't have to deliberate much, maximizing the open-bottle rate and repurchase rate. Energy drinks, in particular, seem tailor-made for this scenario.
Next, look at bath centers, which have transformed from "a place for the older generation to relax" into a check-in spot for young people, becoming a new arena for beverage brands. Bath centers are typical "immersive stay scenarios." From bathing to sauna to leisure dining, people stay for four to five hours, and the long stay brings continuous needs for hydration and energy replenishment. Moreover, the environment is relatively enclosed, with no other alternative purchase channels nearby. This natural monopoly on time and space makes beverages a necessity—after a sauna, drinking an ice-cold sparkling water to cut through the greasiness and quench thirst is almost a must for every consumer.
There's also the overlooked airline cabin, which seems niche but can achieve "precise product seeding." For example, Quanyangquan, which trended on social media last year for being too delicious, was first tasted by many netizens on airplanes. That's the charm of the airline special channel. Passengers on flights, especially long-haul ones, have clear hydration needs, and the beverage options in the cabin are limited. As long as a brand can enter this channel, it can expose its products to passengers of different ages and consumption levels, leveraging taste and experience to create word-of-mouth, which then drives offline and online sales.
Beyond these three scenarios, the boundaries of special channels are continuously expanding. For instance, in buffet restaurants, the Chinese buffet market reached 150 billion yuan in 2025, with 79,000 buffet restaurants nationwide consuming up to 1 billion liters of beverages annually. Leading brands like Genki Forest and Nongfu Spring have launched mini packages of around 300ml, precisely matching the need for "cutting through grease and consuming small amounts frequently." Other new scenarios being tapped include e-sports venues, gas stations, pharmacies, and even corporate tea breaks and areas around hospital inpatient departments.
Special Channels Are Not a "Smooth Sailing Track" but a "Refined Battlefield"
From Dongpeng Beverage's organizational restructuring to Genki Forest's scenario-based layout, and the multi-scenario penetration of Tongrentang and Chengde Lulu, it's clear that special channels have upgraded from "supplementary items" to "core strategic priorities" for brands. Especially high-frequency scenarios like billiard halls and bath centers have become the next core battleground in the beverage market. Every unmet scenario could be a potential trillion-yuan market—this is the incremental dividend in an era of stock competition. However, it must be warned that special channels are not a "smooth sailing track," nor is it "once products are placed, everything is fine." Many brands blindly follow the trend in special channels but overlook a core point: the operational logic of special channels is completely different from traditional channels. Traditional channels emphasize "broad distribution and high display," while special channels emphasize "high alignment of product, people, and place," requiring refined operations with "one strategy per location, one strategy per store." For example:
Billiard halls are suitable for small, portable energy drinks that are easy to drink with one hand without interrupting the game;
Bath centers are suitable for ice-cold sparkling water and electrolyte drinks, matching hydration and greasiness-cutting needs;
Airline cabins are suitable for drinks with a refreshing taste and simple packaging, balancing convenience and experience;
Campus channels are suitable for products promoting health and no additives. In regions like Guangdong, carbonated drinks are even restricted in schools, and Tongrentang's herbal drinks have successfully entered this channel thanks to their health attributes.
Chinese industry analyst Zhu Danpeng once stated that in 2026, China's FMCG industry will enter a new operational model, and the beverage industry is moving into a period centered on scenario-based and refined operations. When growth in traditional channels hits a ceiling, the rise of special channels is essentially an inevitable result of refined consumer demand—consumers are no longer satisfied with "buying beverages anytime, anywhere" but hope to "buy the right beverage in the right scenario." In the future, competition in the beverage market will no longer be a single contest of formulas and packaging, but a battle of scenario operation capabilities. Brands that can precisely capture the needs of scenarios like billiard halls and bath centers and refine their adaptation strategies will truly reap the dividends of special channels; those that blindly follow trends and make perfunctory layouts will ultimately be eliminated in this "street fight." After all, the end of involution is never "more involution" but "changing tracks"—abandoning crowded shelves and entering overlooked scenarios like billiard halls and bath centers is the way to find your own new growth curve.