This is an era of product surplus, but also an era of extreme scarcity of good products. In this context, it is not easy for brands to create a blockbuster single product. Even so, the new alcoholic beverage market has produced a dark horse—Meijian. From starting research on green plum varieties in 2014, to launching in June 2019, to now being popular nationwide, Meijian has filled the gap in Chinese table wine. In the "rolling torrent" of new alcoholic beverage development, Meijian has been advancing triumphantly with increasingly steady steps. In 2022, its total retail market scale exceeded 2.5 billion yuan, making it the first 10-billion-yuan-level brand in the new alcoholic beverage sector. The industry also calls this the "Meijian Phenomenon." Why can Jiangxiaobai continuously launch good products that ignite the market? What unique product principles does it have? Besides Meijian, what other treasure products does Jiangxiaobai currently have? Can they become the next business growth opportunity for distributors? To this end, we invited Li Xiang, the brand manager of Jiangxiaobai's liquor brand department, and Yan Shun, an excellent liquor distributor and general manager of Shandong Haochunte Trading Co., Ltd., to discuss:
In the era of product surplus, why can Jiangxiaobai continuously launch good products that ignite the market? 2. Will the product principle of "old flavor, new life" become the next growth point for distributors?
At the brand factory direct sourcing meeting, what policies and opportunities will Jiangxiaobai bring? Era of Product Surplus Why Can Jiangxiaobai Continuously Launch Good Products That Ignite the Market? Almost all successful single products come from simple, subtle user insights. In the past, the main consumption scenarios for baijiu were business banquets and family dinners, and in the high-end baijiu market, the status of old brands like Moutai and Wuliangye was unshakable. Therefore, Jiangxiaobai chose to enter from a small point, focusing on young people and creating new baijiu consumption scenarios: small gatherings, small drinks, small moments, and small moods. These small scenarios are marginal for baijiu consumption, but under the huge population base, they represent a massive demand. Jiangxiaobai insightfully recognized such scenarios that were often overlooked by the industry, created a drink suitable for young people, and quickly rose to fame across the country. Similarly, Meijian also identified a new scenario: the Chinese food pairing scenario. China has thousands of years of drinking culture, but in the past, the table wines on the market were mostly Korean soju and Japanese sake. Chinese table wine had not yet formed a brand, and the category opportunity was huge. In Chinese drinking culture, green plum wine is a traditional accompaniment to fine dishes, with low alcohol content, refreshing taste, and sweet-sour flavor that cuts through grease. Its earliest historical origins can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, and by the Yuan Dynasty, it was popular among literati. However, after several changes, it was not well passed down. Even so, in some regions of China, such as Guangdong and Fujian, the tradition and habit of drinking green plum wine are still preserved, providing a certain consumption base. "With the improvement of China's national strength, cultural confidence will also grow stronger. Therefore, we have reason to lay out this track in advance and express it in a new way," revealed Li Xiang, brand manager of Jiangxiaobai's liquor brand department. Since 2014, they have established a new alcoholic beverage division. Although the brand and product were not yet defined, they were already committed to researching green plum wine and other categories. Green plum wine has long been in a state of having a category but no brand in China. The launch of Meijian in 2019 broke this state. As a pioneer in the green plum wine track, "flavor" and "standard" are Meijian's product keywords. To find the most suitable variety, the Meijian team traveled extensively, going deep into green plum production areas, conducting over 1,700 flavor tests, and selecting China's top ten native green plums from nearly 200 plum varieties. They also completed the layout of four major green plum bases in Dayi, Sichuan; Puning, Guangdong; Zhao'an, Fujian; and Eryuan, Yunnan. To ensure the best flavor of green plums, each plum must be hand-picked to avoid skin damage; from picking to wine making, each plum undergoes six rounds of manual screening with millimeter-level precision. "From the initial product positioning of Meijian, it was not just about making a delicious drink, but about relationship and cultural identity. Therefore, it requires both deep product strength and full emotional power. 'Long time no see' is not just the moment of drinking at the table, but more about emotional expression: who am I drinking this cup with?" said Li Xiang, brand manager of Jiangxiaobai's liquor brand department. "Eastern green plum wine, elegant and refined for the world." From the first day Meijian came out, it aspired to become a beverage brand carrying Eastern romanticism. In product promotion, Meijian is also deeply tied to Eastern culture. Literati have qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, flowers, wine, and tea. Meijian combines promotional activities with elegant Chinese culture, using a capillary-level channel team to activate the genes of Eastern elegance culture through a night banquet. While promoting products, it also promotes Eastern wine culture. At the same time, Meijian has made many attempts at culinary flavor co-branding, exploring Eastern romanticism and continuously penetrating consumer minds. "Products are just carriers. Generation Z consumers love a product not just for the product itself, but more importantly for the culture or meaning it carries behind it." Yan Shun, general manager of Shandong Haochunte Trading Co., Ltd., said that both Jiangxiaobai and Meijian are products that break through traditional industry cognition. Before Jiangxiaobai came out, the baijiu industry was dominated by traditional liquor companies that loved telling historical stories and focusing on mellow flavors. Compared to baijiu, foreign spirits and fruit wines were more favored by young people. Jiangxiaobai anchored this point, concentrated all efforts on the young demographic, established strong emotional connections with young consumers, and created a miracle; Meijian can be said to have doubled the consumer base on the basis of Jiangxiaobai's original one. Regardless of gender, age, or Chinese or Western cuisine, Meijian can be chosen. According to Li Xiang, brand manager of Jiangxiaobai's liquor brand department, Jiangxiaobai currently has, in addition to the well-known baijiu and plum wine business lines, a very important business line: Jiangji Winery and Jiangxiaobai Farm. To meet consumers' demand for more high-quality, high-cost-performance products in current consumption scenarios, the company is continuously enriching its product matrix and widening the price band. On March 14, at the "Extreme Supply Chain" brand factory direct sourcing meeting, Jiangxiaobai's sub-brands [Cat and Butterfly Ancient Shochu] and [Time Plum Wine] will be presented, with prices and policies for channel partners participating in the meeting that are better than market distribution prices. The product principle of "old flavor, new life" Will it become the next growth point for distributors? Chinese people are reserved and introverted, only releasing when drinking. Ancient people drank, from the earliest naturally brewed rice wine, to later fermented yellow wine and grape wine, to the rise of shochu and baijiu. With the continuous advancement of brewing technology, ancient people also began to pursue the concentrated aroma and flavor brought by higher alcohol content. In 640 AD, Emperor Taizong of Tang defeated Gaochang (present-day Xinjiang) and brought back distillation technology. In "Shennong's Herbal Classic Annotations," it is recorded: "The burner removes the grape vine, now with Daqu to brew vinegar, take it into a steamer, collect the dripping dew with a vessel, red and lovely, ancients brewed it with fine rain." This is the world's earliest record of shochu. By the Song Dynasty, "Dream Liang Lu" recorded: "At the entrance of Xiaorenfang, crystal red and white shochu, its flavor fragrant and soft, melts in the mouth." From Tang Dynasty grape shochu, to Song Dynasty rice shochu, to Ming Dynasty sorghum shochu, shochu experienced several periods of glory. However, as one of China's four ancient liquor types, shochu was gradually replaced by baijiu in the course of history. Even in the cognition of many young consumers, shochu belongs to Japan and Korea, not the ancient Chinese shochu category. "Shochu is like a hidden line in Chinese history, always engraved in the bones of Chinese people. But when we did user research, we found that, similar to plum wine, consumers' perception of shochu is either Japanese or Korean shochu, or bulk liquor, not ancient Chinese shochu." Li Xiang, brand manager of Jiangxiaobai's liquor brand department, said, "Unlike the 'elegance' of plum wine, shochu carries a sense of heroic boldness. We can see in film and television works that 'two liang of shochu with half a jin of soy sauce beef' and 'drink big, eat big meat' are standard for knights-errant. So we thought, since it is also an ancient Chinese liquor with profound heritage and beauty, why can't we revive it? Let it regain consumer love? " Thus, restoring the charm of ancient shochu, [Cat and Butterfly Ancient Shochu], improved from Tang and Song Dynasty formulas, was born at the right time. In ancient times, there was a tradition of painting "cat and butterfly" in art. "Cat butterfly" is homophonous with "maodie" (meaning octogenarian). In the late Tang and early Song dynasties, literati often painted "cat playing with butterfly" to express longing for longevity, auspiciousness, and a beautiful life. The most famous is Emperor Huizong of Song's cat and butterfly painting. This is also the cultural anchor of the brand name [Cat and Butterfly Ancient Shochu]. While inheriting and promoting Chinese liquor culture and conveying good wishes and cultural confidence to consumers, it also aims to restore the relaxation and unrestrained spirit of ancient people when drinking. According to Li Xiang, brand manager of Jiangxiaobai's liquor brand department, the ingredient list of [Cat and Butterfly Ancient Shochu] is very clean, only water, rice, and grapes. Rice and grapes represent two very important raw materials from the prosperous period of shochu. Each bottle is fermented and distilled from new rice. After opening, there is a very obvious rice aroma, followed by a light floral and fruity fragrance. The taste is refreshing, allowing you to experience the most original flavor after distillation of the raw materials. Then this refreshing sensation gradually turns into a warm feeling jumping in the throat, which is the unique flavor of shochu. Since distillation technology was not advanced during the Tang and Song dynasties, the alcohol content of shochu could only reach 16-25 degrees. This shochu also restores the charm of Tang and Song shochu, with an alcohol content of 18 degrees. For young consumers, baijiu is too strong for daily gatherings, and beer is too filling. This [Cat and Butterfly Ancient Shochu] just meets the needs of party drinking and getting slightly tipsy. As Mr. Tao Shiquan, founder of Jiangxiaobai, said, liquor is a Chinese national treasure. If it cannot be understood and accepted by young people, it would be a great sorrow for traditional Chinese culture. Jiangxiaobai's repeated attempts at "old flavor, new life" bring China's thousand-year liquor culture back to consumers in a new way, conquering young people and the world with flavor, and allowing more and more people to understand and love traditional Chinese culture. And the ancient charm of [Cat and Butterfly Ancient Shochu] is bound to bring new growth points for liquor distributors! At the Brand Factory Direct Sourcing Meeting What Policies and Opportunities Will Jiangxiaobai Bring? "We always firmly believe that good products can withstand testing. First, let consumers drink them," said Li Xiang, brand manager of Jiangxiaobai's liquor brand department. As another seed product of Jiangji Winery, Jiangxiaobai's [Shochu Series Products] will be showcased at the "Extreme Supply Chain" brand factory direct sourcing meeting during the Chengdu Spring Sugar Fair, inviting everyone to taste and experience the ancient shochu charm from the Tang and Song dynasties. In addition to [Cat and Butterfly Ancient Shochu], the shochu series will also share a [New Flavor Shochu] that is about to be launched, as well as the 1L sharing pack of another Jiangxiaobai sub-brand [Time Plum Wine]. At the direct sourcing meeting, a trial sales opportunity will be given to channel partners with ultra-low thresholds and prices far below the daily agency brand policy calculation prices. If you are interested in the products, if you have confidence in your channel capabilities and terminal network, why not come to the "Extreme Supply Chain" brand factory direct sourcing meeting and give it a try! In addition to the above products, the direct sourcing meeting will invite more than twenty excellent brand owners, select over a hundred high-quality products, bring brand owners and distributors together, and establish a no-tricks, equal procurement cooperation based on "factory prices." Every new product comes from the professional team of a well-known brand and is produced by a strong factory; Every new product has been pre-tasted, reviewed, and approved by the review panel of excellent distributors in 5 categories organized by "New Distribution" before it can meet everyone at the direct sourcing meeting; Every new product has no brand premium, and marketing and management costs are removed. They are all factory prices. Extreme supply chain is the ultimate low price based on excellent quality; Every new product has a very low order threshold. Above the minimum order quantity, whether it's a few hundred pieces or tens of thousands, it's up to you. Under the attraction of ultra-high profits, the only test is your vision and confidence in your team. On March 15-16, the "Extreme Supply Chain" brand factory direct sourcing meeting will make a grand appearance at the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference. All excellent brand owners and channel partners are welcome to participate in the "Extreme Supply Chain" brand factory direct sourcing meeting! From March 14-16, 2024, the 9th China FMCG Innovation Conference, themed "Supply Chain Revolution," will be held on time in Chengdu. This conference is hosted by New Distribution, co-hosted by Ande Zhilian and Yonyou Digitalization; the 2nd China FMCG Distributor Conference is co-hosted by Zhoupu Data; the 2024 Supply Chain Digitalization Innovation Summit is co-hosted by Yonyou Group. Over 3 days, there will be one main forum, one China FMCG Hard Discount Conference, one China FMCG Distributor Conference, and more than ten sub-forums and closed-door exchange meetings. Together with thousands of FMCG brand owners, distributors, retail transformers, and industry service providers from across the country, we will meet in Chengdu for continuous brainstorming to discuss the challenges and opportunities, changes and solutions in the era of supply chain revolution. The "Extreme Supply Chain" brand factory direct sourcing meeting will be one of the standout innovative activities during this conference!