---
title: "Reflections on Haidilao's New Yogurt Launch: How to Judge Whether a Product Has Explosive Potential"
description: "Recently, news of Haidilao launching a new yogurt product caught attention, with several comments expressing interest in becoming distributors. Before investing resources, it's essential to assess whether a product has the attributes of a bestseller. This article analyzes Haidilao's yogurt through the three elements of a hit product—selling well, selling fast, and selling at a premium—and discusses how to judge a product's potential and what constitutes a brand."
author: "苏醒"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2020-01-08"
categories: "Brand Marketing, Management & Methods"
language: "en"
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original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/C1K3srBnM1FomQwaW8qZbQ"
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citation: "苏醒. “Reflections on Haidilao's New Yogurt Launch: How to Judge Whether a Product Has Explosive Potential.” New Distribution, 2020-01-08. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/reflections-on-haidilao-s-new-yogurt-launch-how-to-judge-whether-a-produ-53647b8f/"
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# Reflections on Haidilao's New Yogurt Launch: How to Judge Whether a Product Has Explosive Potential

> Recently, news of Haidilao launching a new yogurt product caught attention, with several comments expressing interest in becoming distributors. Before investing resources, it's essential to assess whether a product has the attributes of a bestseller. This article analyzes Haidilao's yogurt through the three elements of a hit product—selling well, selling fast, and selling at a premium—and discusses how to judge a product's potential and what constitutes a brand.

Recently, I saw news that Haidilao launched a new yogurt product. I thought it would be a quickly overlooked piece of news, but unexpectedly, several comments appeared in the comment section claiming they wanted to become distributors for Haidilao's yogurt.
Whether anyone wants to distribute a product is not inherently right or wrong, but before distributing a product, one should learn to judge whether it has the attributes of a bestseller, or be able to see the product's advantageous attributes, and have certainty about future development before investing resources.
This is also a basic quality of navigating the business world.
**In the FMCG industry, there are three elements for a hit product—selling well, selling fast, and selling at a premium.**
Let's look at these three angles to understand what factors should be considered for a basic judgment of a best-selling product.
**-01- Selling Well**
**Whether a product sells well is usually judged by results.** We invest resources and ultimately get returns, and whether those returns meet our expectations.
So how can we predict with high probability whether a product will sell well before choosing it? Of course, we can.
To determine if a product will sell well, you need to think about what problem we are solving first—the problem of demand.
People buy products hoping they will solve a problem, i.e., meet their needs. If this need is shared by most people, the probability of the product selling well naturally increases.
So before consumers encounter a product, how do they know if it can meet their needs? **For the vast majority of FMCG products, the first point of contact between the product and the consumer is the packaging and copy. Packaging conveys emotion, and copy conveys the product's selling points.**
Let's look at the packaging of Haidilao yogurt. From 2018 to 2019, the information conveyed was "hotpot companion" and "reducing spiciness."
They clearly emphasize through packaging that consumers are in a hotpot scenario, suggesting their yogurt can satisfy the need to alleviate spiciness.
The hotpot scenario and the need to reduce spiciness are a foothold for product differentiation, but not a large demand, ultimately capturing only a small market share in specific scenarios.
Clearly, there is no intention to push the product into a broader market.
**-02- Selling Fast**
**Whether a product sells fast depends on the category's recognition in consumers' minds.**
For the yogurt category, consumers' first associations might be aiding digestion, reducing greasiness, lowering blood pressure...
Haidilao yogurt's main selling point is its function of reducing spiciness, which is not a universally recognized perception in the minds of mass consumers. Without basic recognition, the cost of educating the market will be very high.
Without long-term advertising repetition and extensive advertising dissemination, relying on the catering channel to change consumer perception is almost impossible.
This is not something Haidilao can achieve alone to link yogurt with the need to reduce spiciness in consumers' minds.
**-03- Selling at a Premium**
Selling at a premium does not only refer to the unit price.
When we say "premium," **on one hand, there needs to be a reason for the premium, and on the other hand, consumers need to accept that reason.**
**First, in the FMCG industry, in consumers' subconscious, the price of a product is determined by the form of packaging.**
PET bottled water is perceived to be priced between 2-3 yuan; milk in Tetra Pak is perceived to be between 2.5-3 yuan; aluminum or iron canned beverages are perceived to be around 4 yuan...
This is why Xiangpiaopiao's meco milk tea and fruit tea can sell for 6-10 yuan, because their packaging form directly benchmarks against street-side milk tea packaging represented by Heytea and Naixue, while street-side milk tea prices generally range from 15-30 yuan.
Xiangpiaopiao uses a "first impression" packaging strategy to anchor consumers' price expectations to the 15-30 yuan range of street-side milk tea, so the 10 yuan price point does not feel expensive to consumers.
This is a packaging strategy.
**Second, the value emphasized by the product makes consumers feel it is worth more than the price.**
This is a very broad topic, and each product or category may have different approaches.
But we can benchmark against competitors. For example, does Haidilao yogurt at the 12 yuan price point have any special features compared to competitors like Kasi, Ambrosial, and Chunzhen at the same price point? Is there enough differentiation, and does that differentiation provide a reason for consumers to abandon their previous purchases and switch to your product?
From these two points, Haidilao yogurt's 12 yuan pricing does align with high-end brands like Kasi and Ambrosial in terms of packaging, but this packaging form has not yet formed a price band in consumers' minds.
Additionally, whether the differentiation of meeting the need to reduce spiciness can actually make consumers abandon other brands may require a certain scale of market research and consumer interviews to determine if consumers will pay for it.
Besides the product itself, the brand is also a key factor affecting sales, but most people do not have a clear concept of whether a product is truly a brand.
Here, we provide two approaches to help you judge what constitutes a brand:
**1. From a product perspective.**
For FMCG products, to become a brand, three elements must be met—**rigid demand, ultimate taste, and significant efficacy.**
Rigid demand refers to the earlier point about selling well; the product must meet a need that is broad, widespread, and painful, forming the basis of a brand.
Ultimate taste is to leave a memory point in consumers' minds, on one hand to stimulate, and on the other hand to give consumers certainty when choosing to repurchase.
**Significant efficacy is a way for the product to establish a connection with consumers, a reason for long-term choice, and a process of building trust. The essence of a brand is solving the trust problem.**
**2. From a market phenomenon perspective.**
Consumer and market behavior do not lie. We can use market appearances to establish three elements for judging a brand:**
> **(1) Consumers accept its brand premium and accept that it sells at a higher price; (2) Many people are willing to take selfies with the product; (3) Channel distributors are willing to introduce it even if they don't make money.**
So, based on these three points, Mengniu and Yili's Ambrosial and Chunzhen are brands. Is Haidilao yogurt a brand? That requires everyone to make their own judgment.
So, Haidilao launching a yogurt category is essentially the same as Xibei launching a yogurt category.
**First, it aims to meet more consumer needs in the dining scenario.**
**Second, it aims to maximize the average order value.**
As for whether Haidilao wants to use its brand power, like it did with hotpot base, to gain a share in the FMCG market,
I think yogurt may not quite fit Haidilao's style.
Once the tip is adopted, a reward of 400-2000 yuan will be paid.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 苏醒
- Published: 2020-01-08
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/reflections-on-haidilao-s-new-yogurt-launch-how-to-judge-whether-a-produ-53647b8f/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/C1K3srBnM1FomQwaW8qZbQ

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