"Doing business with Genki Forest for three or four years, this year is the best." Recently, while visiting the market, a distributor boss in Shandong who mainly deals in beverages told New Distribution this. He showed a statistical table: in May, June, and July 2023, there were 2,003 terminal sales orders, while in the same period this year, it reached 3,364 orders, a year-on-year increase of 68%. In the current market environment of intense competition and difficult business, the performance of Genki Forest products is a rare bright spot. Behind the performance growth is product support: Sparkling Water and Alien are already mature and stable big products. In 2024, Genki achieved unexpected growth in Ice Tea and Zizai Shui, with Zizai Shui even facing supply shortages in the first half of the year.
The unexpected growth of Ice Tea and Zizai Shui proves that Genki Forest's product innovation capability remains as excellent as ever, but what changes have occurred in its channel capabilities, which have long been criticized?
"Genki is becoming more and more professional in the channel. Genki is no longer aggressive; it's more like a mature beverage company." Multiple distributor bosses have expressed this.
Learning from predecessors in the traditional industry, respecting industry rules, and embracing traditional experience—Genki Forest founder Tang Binsen has repeatedly stated this over the past two years. Clearly, this is not just talk. After two years of adjustment and consolidation, Genki Forest's transformation is very obvious, which has given distributor bosses great confidence.
The "Believe in Young People" Hit-Making Machine
Driving Performance Growth
"Completing the sales task in 2024 is relatively easy. Sparkling Water and Alien are growing steadily, and the sales of Ice Tea and Zizai Shui have exceeded our expectations," a Genki Forest distributor in Jiangsu told New Distribution. Genki Forest's Ice Tea project started in 2020, was fully launched in 2023, and by May this year, monthly sales exceeded 100 million yuan, making it another big product for Genki Forest. A local distributor who also represents multiple black tea beverages said that after competitors raised prices, the market didn't accept it. In June, Ice Tea launched a 900ml large bottle, which immediately met market demand. At the same 5 yuan price point, Genki Forest's Ice Tea does not add tea powder or flavorings, tastes better, and is low-sugar and healthier. After being distributed to the market, it sells quickly with no returns. He believes this product will break through further next year. In addition to Ice Tea, Genki Forest's Zizai Shui is even hotter. Reports say that this product was even out of stock in the market this year. Some distributors said that in the first half of the year, there were indeed difficulties in stocking, mainly because market demand exceeded expectations. Genki Zizai Shui was launched in February 2023, positioned as a traditional Chinese wellness drink. According to data from the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute, the market size for traditional Chinese wellness drinks in 2023 was 450 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 350%. Genki Zizai Shui ranked first with a 58.6% share, and the overall market capacity is expected to reach 10 billion yuan by 2028. These two products are growing fast, but Sparkling Water and Alien, as mature category big products, remain Genki Forest's market mainstays. Based on feedback from multiple distributors, Sparkling Water and Alien account for about 60% of their total Genki Forest sales. In 2024, Genki Forest continues to increase innovation efforts for Sparkling Water and Alien. For example, the new Vitamin C orange flavor sparkling water launched in March this year, with 0 sugar, 0 fat, and 0 calories, invited Xiao Zhan as spokesperson, sparking a vitamin C health trend. Alien's innovation is even richer, adding lychee sea salt, coconut, and grapefruit flavors, and launching a professional version of Alien electrolyte water for medium-to-high intensity exercise. Along with the Vitamin C water launched in 2023, this is a vertical extension in the electrolyte water category, making Genki Forest's product matrix increasingly diverse. "Genki's product innovation capability is definitely top-tier in the industry, not inferior to traditional giants," a distributor said. In the beverage industry, Genki Forest has always been known for its super-strong product innovation capability, which is closely related to the "believe in young people" culture encouraged by founder Tang Binsen and the new product incubation and testing mechanism he created. The average age of employees in Genki Forest's main product lines is 29. The company encourages employees to actively propose and initiate projects to innovate products. The big products that have emerged in recent years, such as Alien and Zizai Shui, were all led by product managers born in the 1990s. Through continuous optimization, from R&D and testing to supply chain and channel distribution, Genki Forest now has a mature and efficient new product incubation mechanism. Genki Forest's main consumer group is mostly "post-90s" and "post-00s," showing a clear trend of youthfulness. In the eyes of distributors, Genki Forest's integration with young people is correct, after all, young people are the main consumer group for beverage products. Capturing their needs is equivalent to locking in future market space.
Channel Refinement Becoming More Professional
Distributor Confidence Soars
As a "hit-making machine," Genki Forest's strength has never been doubted by distributors; the only issue was in offline channel operations. At the beginning of 2023, New Distribution did an in-depth report when Genki Forest was undergoing a phased adjustment. Tang Binsen said they would embrace distributors and learn from traditional industry predecessors. Nearly two years later, what is the current state? "Genki doesn't force inventory, price stability is maintained, and cross-region selling problems are rare," multiple distributor bosses said. One distributor boss gave an example: the profit margin per box of products is now basically achievable, but previously it wasn't; they often sold at cost or at a loss to clear inventory. This was the most headache-inducing problem for distributors in Genki Forest's offline channels two years ago. The company set high targets, and each level had to complete them, which put pressure on distributors. They had to find ways to dump goods, eventually disrupting the market, and distributors didn't make money, creating a vicious cycle. Based on feedback from multiple distributors, compared to the previous practice of setting doubled targets, the growth targets Genki Forest gave distributors for 2025 are relatively rational, especially given the unexpected hot sales of multiple products. With good products frequently emerging, market demand growing, and the company setting rational targets, distributors no longer have the desire to dump goods, and profits are objective. The entire system has entered a virtuous development state. "Genki is becoming more and more professional in channel operations, and marketing actions are more precise," a distributor boss told New Distribution. This shows that Tang Binsen's words about respecting rules and learning from traditional experience are truly being implemented. One of the most obvious changes mentioned by distributors is that, unlike the early days when internet people managed offline operations, the sales organization is now mostly composed of people from traditional FMCG companies who understand the industry and have experience. For example, in 2023, Genki Forest launched a co-construction model, where distributors' own sales representatives handle specific tasks such as product shelving, material placement, and activity execution in the region, with part of their salary borne by Genki. This year, Genki Forest continues to invest in terminal execution. Through the "Sharp Blade" project, it has greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of supervisors and sales representatives, leading to continuous improvement and enhancement in terminal execution. To help terminal sales, Genki Forest has also introduced special policies, such as restocking discounts and display support, to stimulate terminal store owners' enthusiasm for promoting products. This has increased the penetration rate of Genki products and provided great assistance to distributors in regional market operations. Genki Forest has also done a lot of work in empowering distributors, such as using the Feishu system to let distributors monitor inventory turnover data in real time and more clearly calculate costs and profits. All these efforts aim to help distributors do well in the market and make money. "The beverage business approach is similar, but in the past, we didn't know which things were right. Now Genki knows what is correct and they persist. As a distributor, I am still optimistic about Genki's development," a distributor said.
Deepening the Industry Chain
Genki Grows into a Mature Beverage Company
Genki Forest's move towards traditional companies is timely, and its learning ability is strong, which gives distributors more confidence. Many people think that the core of a distributor choosing a brand is whether it can make money. This is certainly correct, but it is a very simple summary. Truly excellent distributors have deeper thinking. "It must have its own factories, achieve market leadership in sub-categories, focus on consumer research, and have product innovation capability. " A regional top distributor, who is also a Genki Forest agent, told New Distribution that this is the kind of manufacturer he is willing to cooperate with long-term. "I don't favor brands that blindly follow trends, making whatever is hot in the market, and don't have their own factories," the distributor said. This view represents the opinions of a large number of excellent large distributors in the market. New Distribution has long focused on the FMCG industry, especially channel research. We have found that the larger the scale and the more regional top distributors, the more they value a company's systematic strength. The so-called systematic strength includes, on the market side, the ability for product innovation, channel expansion, and brand marketing, and on the supply chain side, strong manufacturing capability. Genki Forest's product innovation and brand building have always been excellent. In terms of channels, in addition to the refinement of distributor channels, Genki Forest has been doing all-channel layout, which is what mature big brands do. Now, Genki products can be seen on e-commerce platforms, live streaming, O2O, community group buying, and other platforms. Online and offline linkage not only expands the exposure of Genki Forest products but also helps improve overall sales conversion. This year, Genki Forest has also strengthened special channels, such as scenic spots, sports, internet cafes, and schools. Taking the sports channel as an example, the number of various sports venues is increasing, becoming a major consumption trend for young people. Genki Forest's expansion in this channel has achieved remarkable results, with all indicators exceeding 100% completion, doubling sales in the sports channel, and accumulating effective channel expansion methodologies. In addition to continuous efforts in products, channels, and brand, Genki Forest's investment in the supply chain is also unsparing. As of now, Genki Forest has 6 self-owned factories, located in Chuzhou, Anhui; Zhaoqing, Guangdong; Tianjin West Green; Xianning, Hubei; Dujiangyan, Sichuan; and Taicang, Jiangsu, with a total investment of 7.25 billion RMB.
This allows Genki Forest to basically achieve a comprehensive layout in East China, South China, North China, Central China, and Southwest China, fully covering key markets such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Southwest Sichuan and Chongqing, and the two lakes and central south regions. "Genki is more like a mature traditional beverage company now." The distributor's feeling is related to Genki's changes in channels and also inseparable from Genki's layout and construction in the supply chain over the past few years. A mature beverage company must not only innovate products and build brands, but also manage distributors, expand all channels, and deeply cultivate and control the upstream supply chain. Only in this way can a company understand consumers, realize products, control costs, and ensure product quality. This is the systematic capability that a mature beverage company must have to maintain long-term development in the market. This is also the real reason why excellent distributors are willing to continue cooperating with Genki Forest and are optimistic about its long-term development.
Summary
Genki Forest founder Tang Binsen mentioned in the company's eighth anniversary internal letter: "Do users still need Genki Forest? After thinking for a week, I finally understood: As long as Genki Forest insists on making good products that meet user needs, the world needs us. "
In the beverage industry dominated by giants, Genki Forest is one of the few success stories in recent years.
Relying on the ability to create good products, it started online and then entered offline channels—the real battlefield of the beverage industry.
Genki Forest stepped on some pitfalls and took some detours in the early stage. Fortunately, Genki Forest did not stick to its own ways. Respecting rules, being patient, and adjusting the pace—Genki's transformation is very timely and very successful.
"From many aspects, Genki Forest has the conditions to become a true beverage giant," a distributor boss said.
As long as it continues to leverage its product innovation capability, Genki Forest can continue to create "good products that meet user needs", coupled with brand marketing advantages, increasingly professional channel operations, and a supply chain with obvious scale effects. I believe more distributors will agree with this distributor's judgment.