Introduction: Top-selling for three consecutive years, Kongke Pasta seizes the momentum to expand offline channels During the 618 promotion, total online sales exceeded 100 million yuan, achieving the No.1 position in the pasta category on Tmall, Douyin, and JD.com for three consecutive years; ranked first in national pasta retail sales from 2021 to 2022; cumulative sales exceeded 100 million boxes by early 2023... Times always reward the brave who dare to be the first. As the pioneer of the convenient pasta segment, Kongke has spent four years deeply cultivating the once "small category" of pasta, bringing the delicious, safe, and convenient star-rated pasta experience into thousands of households. While winning the love of many consumers, it has also established itself as the undisputed No.1 in the pasta consumer goods track, which is now not to be underestimated. The instant food industry, which grew on the dividends of the "stay-at-home economy" and "lazy economy," has a market size of hundreds of billions, but to cater to the diverse tastes of different consumer groups, product categories are continuously being subdivided, leading to rapid iteration of trending products and short cycles, which is an undeniable fact. If 2019 is called the first year of new consumption, by 2023, over four years on the instant food track, after experiencing capital ebb, pandemic tests, and low consumption, many players have entered, broken through, or exited. After the waves of elimination, new consumer brands are actively focusing on offline channels to open new growth points. Collaborating with Online Platforms to Drive Incremental Growth Solidifying the Brand Moat Before Kongke was born, most brands in the instant food industry focused on Chinese-style convenient foods, such as ramen, self-heating hot pot, snail noodles, and hot and sour noodles, while the Western-style instant food market was still in its infancy. At the same time, domestic consumers had a preliminary understanding of pasta, but the sales logic for pasta in the market was similar to that of dried noodles, requiring consumers to cook and season it themselves at home. Instant pasta was still in the "category without brands" stage. Based on this, Kongke Pasta created the new category of "convenient pasta," turning pasta into "instant noodles," and pioneered the small colorful box format, providing all the seasoning packets needed for a star-rated pasta meal in one box. In 15 minutes, consumers can enjoy restaurant-level pasta crafted by a Michelin three-star chef at home, giving them the delightful experience of "easy to make, always delicious." Pasta, once a niche category only found in Western restaurants, requires collaborative efforts from all parties to expand demand during its localization and popularization stages. From its inception, Kongke began a mutually reinforcing and co-developing relationship with sales channels. From the data, the biggest insight Kongke brought to the industry since its founding in 2019 is: Kongke Pasta did not compete for market share in the existing pasta industry but sought incremental growth within the existing market, working with sales channels to enlarge the pasta market pie. The imitation of Kongke's products and strategies by many subsequent brands also validates the practical success of Kongke Pasta in this niche category. It is understood that before Kongke was born, the pasta market on Tmall was only about 150 million yuan, but three years later, this figure grew to 700 million yuan. In October 2020, Kongke entered Douyin, and over the past two years, it has explored pasta category growth with Douyin e-commerce, with an estimated market share of about 70%. For three consecutive years, it has held the top position in the pasta category on leading domestic e-commerce platforms Tmall, Douyin, and JD.com, and has been climbing the ranks in the broader convenient food category. From 2021 to 2022, it advanced from 8th to 1st place on Douyin. In 2022 and 2023, it broke into the top 10 of the food category during Tmall's 618 promotion for two consecutive years. 2022/2023 Tmall official 618 promotion report - Food category From a "small category" that couldn't be listed separately to a new market that cannot be ignored in the food industry, the expansion of the entire pasta industry pie is inseparable from the joint efforts of Kongke and its online partner platforms. Breaking through the sales ceiling of the pasta category has created a win-win situation for pasta brands, sales channels, and consumers. While continuously solidifying its brand moat online, Kongke's forward-looking offline layout has also entered a harvest period. Joint Creation Exploring New Category Growth with Offline Channel Partners According to the "2022-2027 China Pasta Industry Market Comprehensive Survey and Investment Value Evaluation Research Report" released by China Research Institute of Puhua Industry, the Chinese pasta market size was $2.26 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $3 billion by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.1%, higher than the global pasta industry's 2.2% compound growth rate. In an era of constantly changing consumer demands, Kongke relies on its online traffic advantages to continuously increase its offline layout. In the vast convenient food market, Kongke Pasta offers consumers new product choices while also sharing the market dividends brought by its first-mover advantage in the instant pasta track with more offline channels, thereby creating new performance growth points for itself and its partners. As an important piece of Kongke's growth puzzle, offline, Kongke is expanding its offline team size, accelerating its entry into offline supermarket systems, and continuing to deepen new retail channels. After two years of national layout from 2022 to 2023, Kongke achieved an offline advance beyond expectations: from a market layout perspective, Kongke series products are now present in all provinces across the country, covering 90% of high-end KA stores, and in June 2023, it made its first offshore move by entering Hong Kong. Moreover, in terms of offline channel sales performance, Kongke Pasta continued its impressive online performance. In Jiangsu Datonghua and Hangzhou Lianhua Huashang, it ranked first in pasta category sales in 2022, and from January to September 2023, offline supermarket performance had already exceeded the full-year achievement of last year, with Jiangsu and Shandong provinces seeing more than double the growth compared to last year. In KA systems like Tianhong and Aeon, POS sales doubled... In the FMCG industry, channels are king, and the accelerated expansion of offline supermarkets has brought significant results to Kongke. According to a research report previously released by Industrial Securities on its parent company Baoli Food: In 23H1, direct/non-direct sales increased by +19.34%/+28.77% year-on-year, with non-direct sales growth of over 28%, mainly due to the offline layout of Kongke supermarkets and new snack expansion. C-end offline business grew by over 60%, and both team size and KA store coverage achieved over 100% growth. For emerging brands entering offline, it requires not only courage but also overcoming "acclimatization issues." The thinking of short-term online hits does not apply offline; long-termism and brand thinking are the business logic for offline channels. Unlike many new consumer brands that rely on "OEM manufacturing," Kongke Pasta can be called a true "factory brand," meaning it owns both "factory" and "brand." Its own factory, in terms of R&D and supply chain, has become a solid and powerful backing for its aggressive expansion in the sales market. The 40,000 square meters of standardized workshops and over 10 advanced production lines are equipped with high-pressure sterilization, high-speed emulsification, and other advanced equipment to ensure process stability. Michelin chefs are specially invited to join a research team of over 100 people to establish the Kongke Taste Laboratory, with professional personnel strictly controlling every process. Taking the sauce packet as an example, the sauce is first stir-fried over an open flame, then cooked at high temperature and high pressure, transported entirely through pipelines, and then sealed using aluminum foil retort pouch technology to better preserve the sauce's flavor without adding preservatives, ensuring that each sauce packet contains the real ingredients that pasta sauce should have. To better preserve the sauce's flavor, the packaging uses aluminum foil retort pouches with stronger barrier properties. After filling, the sauce packets undergo a series of strict sterilization processes, and each finished sauce packet must pass 8 inspections before reaching consumers. In terms of offline channel empowerment, Kongke actively explores ways to co-create new category growth with offline channel partners, such as diverting online traffic to offline channels for further marketing conversion. This multi-channel online marketing and online-offline synergy has achieved good results. At the same time, to help partners reach consumer groups faster and enhance their understanding of the convenient pasta category in a more three-dimensional way, offline stores support consumers to try Kongke series products. In terms of business development, they provide "image soft support" for merchants, integrating common materials such as shelf displays and floor stickers to facilitate refined operations for each merchant and partner. Practicing "Star-rated Experience" Driving Brand Efficiency through Product Innovation With the popularization of the omni-channel concept and the trend of online-offline integration, omni-channel development has become one of the trends in new retail. Whether online or offline, Kongke has always focused on quality and innovation, continuously polishing high-quality product strength and practicing the "star-rated experience" of "star-rated pasta." In terms of new product innovation, Kongke Pasta fully leverages its leading position in the pasta market, actively pays attention to consumer needs, prioritizes consumer value, and continuously creates new pasta shapes and flavors to provide consumers with unique taste enjoyment. Currently, based on the Candlelight Pasta and Huayang Pasta series, the "Kongke Pasta Youth Edition" series, which better suits young people's tastes, has launched four spicy pasta flavors. From standardized products to personalized products, adhering to the original intention of "easily making restaurant-level pasta," Kongke Pasta is continuously exploring more global delicacies and paying tribute to every consumer who loves life with more surprising "pasta" experiences. Kongke has also established friendly cooperation with more than 20 brands, including Nestlé Coffee, BMW, MINI, and Never's Family. On the occasion of Disney's 100th anniversary, Kongke has reached deep cooperation with Disney's "Mickey and Friends" in products, gifts, offline pop-up stores, and centennial celebration activities, conveying carefree childlike fun while also awakening people's emotional satisfaction with "companionship" and "cherishing." From 2022 to 2023, Kongke launched "land, sea, and air" advertising in over 40 cities nationwide, with exposure reaching over 10 billion person-times. Leveraging the information dissemination attributes of elevator media, it continuously breaks through circles to attract new customers and enhance brand awareness. In addition, Kongke is also making efforts in industry summits, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable development. The brand image of a "major brand" is taking shape, supporting the brand's offline development and influence expansion, and co-creating win-win outcomes with more channel partners. As the economy continues to recover, offline consumption scenarios are showing obvious signs of recovery. While ensuring stable development in the online market, Kongke is further developing its offline sales network through active marketing and interaction, deeply exploring young consumer groups, using various marketing activities to promote customer flow and sales conversion, and obtaining more consumer feedback through offline channels to further enhance the consumer experience. With the continuous development of the huge potential of lower-tier markets beyond first- and second-tier cities, the superposition of Kongke's online head advantages and offline distributor channel advantages is believed to be more than just simple 1+1>2.