---
title: "Signals from Tang Binsen's Internal Letter: From New Consumption to Mainstream Consumption, Broadening Hero Products and Strengthening Channels"
description: "On January 14, 2023, Genki Forest founder Tang Binsen released an internal letter reviewing 2022 achievements and outlining 2023 priorities, including organizational adjustments and a focus on sales. The letter also highlights the success of the electrolyte drink 'Alien' and the potential of 'Fiber Tea' as the company's third growth engine."
author: "康治强"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2023-01-16"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/signals-from-tang-binsen-s-internal-letter-from-new-consumption-to-mains-3b104ca6/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/signals-from-tang-binsen-s-internal-letter-from-new-consumption-to-mains-3b104ca6.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/GMh3xlo6GjBmfCxJA3RhSg"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E7%94%B1%E5%94%90%E5%BD%AC%E6%A3%AE%E5%86%85%E9%83%A8%E4%BF%A1%E7%AA%A5%E6%8E%A2%E4%BF%A1%E5%8F%B7-%E4%BB%8E%E6%96%B0%E6%B6%88%E8%B4%B9%E8%BF%88%E5%90%91%E4%B8%BB%E6%B5%81%E6%B6%88%E8%B4%B9-%E6%8B%93%E5%AE%BD%E5%A4%A7%E5%8D%95%E5%93%81%E6%98%AF%E5%85%B6%E4%B8%80-%E5%BC%BA%E5%8C%96%E6%B8%A0%E9%81%93%E6%98%AF%E5%85%B6%E4%BA%8C-3b104ca6.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/signals-from-tang-binsen-s-internal-letter-from-new-consumption-to-mains-3b104ca6/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Signals from Tang Binsen's Internal Letter: From New Consumption to Mainstream Consumption, Broadening Hero Products and Strengthening Channels

> On January 14, 2023, Genki Forest founder Tang Binsen released an internal letter reviewing 2022 achievements and outlining 2023 priorities, including organizational adjustments and a focus on sales. The letter also highlights the success of the electrolyte drink 'Alien' and the potential of 'Fiber Tea' as the company's third growth engine.

**Introduction: Today's niche will not remain niche forever. As long as it is good for users and healthier, it is worth doing.**

On January 14, 2023, Genki Forest founder Tang Binsen released an internal letter titled "Getting Through the Difficult 2022, Embracing the Challenging 2023 with Full Effort." In the letter, Tang reviewed the achievements and hardships of 2022, calling it an unforgettable year in his life. Facing an external environment still full of challenges in 2023, he outlined key priorities including organizational structure and work focus. (Image: Screenshot of Genki Forest's internal letter to all employees)

**Review of 2022**

**Alien Becomes the Second Growth Engine**

The internal letter noted that Genki Forest made breakthrough progress in offline channels in 2022. According to Nielsen's offline retail data for beverage manufacturers, from January to November 2021, Genki Forest ranked 15th among domestic beverage manufacturers, but in the same period of 2022, it rose to 12th. In addition to offline channel progress, Genki Forest continued to advance its international business. Its products entered over 40 countries and regions, including Europe, America, Southeast Asia, and Oceania, and became one of the few brands to successfully enter mainstream channels in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other countries. For two consecutive years, during the US Black Friday shopping season, it ranked in the top 10 on Amazon's sparkling water bestseller list. As the company's second growth engine, the Alien electrolyte drink, launched in 2021, delivered better-than-expected results in 2022. The internal letter disclosed that Alien's highest monthly sales exceeded 190 million yuan, with annual sales reaching 1.27 billion yuan. Regarding Alien's achievements, Tang stated that Alien truly solved a demand problem. Its sudden popularity this year was not due to marketing tactics but to three years of diligently implementing this simple and pragmatic product philosophy.

Genki Forest, as a rapidly rising beverage brand in recent years, has achieved many industry breakthroughs through product thinking, and its growth speed has exceeded external expectations, making it a key brand in the beverage industry. Indeed, Genki Forest has become a trendsetter in the industry. In this regard, teacher Liu Chunxiong mentioned in the "Li Feng New Distribution" series live broadcast "What Development Directions Does the 2023 Genki Forest Distributor Conference Bring to Brands and Distributors?" that Genki Forest, as an industry trendsetter, first broke the price ceiling of domestic FMCG brands, and second, broke the ceiling of brand speed. Teacher Liu emphasized: What is a trendsetter? First, it has the function of observing directions; second, it can drive development trends. Teacher Liu explained that Genki Forest's five-yuan sparkling water surpassed most multinational and domestic brands. Previously, Hengda Ice Spring priced at four yuan failed, but why did Genki Forest succeed? Two observations: **First, precise target audience.** One, the target audience is Generation Z, who were born into the internet and are naturally influenced by it. Two, they have high spending power; Generation Z no longer bears the responsibility of buying a house and has more money for consumption. Three, Generation Z no longer looks down on domestic brands; the rise of national trends has given consumers more confidence to choose domestic brands. **The second observation comes from leveraging online momentum.** Genki Forest's online marketing accelerated brand awareness, but the most important thing was stabilizing offline channels and achieving a balance between online and offline, that is, online for awareness and offline for sales, accelerating brand speed. Pure online consumer brands have seen rapid decline from last year to this year, so companies that can combine online and offline are very good. Therefore, by leveraging online brand awareness and continuously expanding offline channels, a dual approach can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Additionally, regarding the dual growth of Genki Forest's awareness and sales, Chen Zhenyu, founder of "Fan Xiaoqi" and also a guest in the live broadcast, believes that Genki Forest made excellent use of the internet as a tool. Through the internet, Genki Forest first found consumers' long-term demand points, then turned those demands into specific products, marketed around the target group, and ultimately connected demand, group, and scenario, igniting the product.

**2023**

**Resources Tilt Toward Sales; Channels Become a Focus**

After briefly reviewing 2022 achievements, Tang Binsen will promote 2023 work under the theme "Survive and Develop." First, in organization and management, continue open-loop construction, increase clarity of boundaries between departments and positions, and emphasize execution in management style, with clear results and no ambiguity. Second, in work focus, fully increase attention and support to sales. All middle and back-office departments should provide management resources to sales, and upstream and downstream departments should bear sales-related performance. The supply chain department should make sales forecasting a main work content, and brand work should focus on terminal selling power. Departments should provide professional and team support without interfering with business, and solve communication issues between regional sales and headquarters. Third, in work methods, respect budgets and plans, and ensure the scientific nature of budgets and the foundation for future iteration. At the end, Tang stated that the uncertainty of 2022 cost Genki Forest a lot of tuition, but from a longer time axis, short-term pain is not the most important. It requires patience and resilience to learn over ten years, and also to learn long-term thinking in pain, using long-term values to guide self-iteration.

Genki Forest event (Image source: Weibo @Genki Forest Official Weibo)

It is worth noting that Genki Forest urgently hopes to create the company's third growth engine in 2023, with resources increasingly tilted toward sales.

It can be seen that Genki Forest will further efforts in building hero products and channels, which aligns with what Teacher Liu Chunxiong said in the live broadcast "What Development Directions Does the 2023 Genki Forest Distributor Conference Bring to Brands and Distributors?"

Teacher Liu mentioned that Genki Forest still has two hurdles to overcome. **The first hurdle is the width of hero products.** Having only one hero product makes it difficult to compete with other companies because a single target is easy to aim at; other companies can target sparkling water and easily bring it down. If there are three or more hero products, competitors cannot aim accurately, and three barriers are established invisibly. Therefore, Genki Forest needs more than three hero products, otherwise it cannot compete with traditional beverage giants like Coca-Cola. **The second hurdle is channels.** Genki Forest faces a huge challenge competing with traditional beverage giants in channels. Although many companies now talk about deep distribution, Coca-Cola has already achieved direct distribution, with canning plants selling directly to retail stores, and even the role of distributors has been marginalized. Similarly, Uni-President's distributors have been marginalized into delivery providers. But the cost of a direct distribution system is too high and cannot be achieved overnight, but the direction is correct. So, breakthroughs in hero product width and channel model, completing these two major breakthroughs, can better establish Genki Forest's foundation as an industry giant.

**Can Fiber Tea Become the Third Growth Engine?**

As the company's second growth engine after sparkling water, Alien has delivered an outstanding report card: highest monthly sales exceeded 190 million yuan, with annual sales of 1.27 billion yuan. Alien's unexpected popularity is a typical case of "believing in young people," and the birth of Fiber Tea is similar. In this internal letter, Tang Binsen specifically emphasized his expectations for Fiber Tea, assigning the Fiber Tea team a task: Can it become the company's third growth engine in 2023? Clearly, Fiber Tea is highly anticipated. Fiber Tea was launched in 2021, a product concept centered on "medicine and food homology." It offers five flavors: corn silk tea, Hangzhou white chrysanthemum tea, mulberry leaf tea, green tangerine peel tea, and mulberry black tea, targeting consumer needs such as "de-swelling," "improving eyesight," "clearing heat," "controlling sugar," "soothing throat and aiding digestion," "supplementing qi," and "nourishing hair," catering to the health needs of urban white-collar workers. It also incorporates ingredients like mulberry leaves and tangerine peel into beverages, providing consumers with innovative functional products. In traditional Chinese culture, there has always been a dietary habit of "food therapy," where dietary regulation is closely linked to health. Plant extracts are used to improve body functions, achieving ideal effects of preventing or regulating diseases, thus extending concepts like "medicinal diet" and "health tea." Fiber Tea's "medicine and food homology" concept and "sugar-free" ingredients align perfectly with traditional Chinese dietary habits. Last September, Genki Forest officially announced that Fiber Tea's sales exceeded 100 million yuan, a 10-fold year-on-year increase. Especially among the "sub-healthy" consumer group, Fiber Tea has become a hit product. In the top 5 sugar-free plant tea brands, it ranks first in both repurchase and recommendation willingness. It can be seen that Fiber Tea's health positioning hits the new trend of "convenient health preservation" among modern people. Careful observation reveals that Fiber Tea, sparkling water, and Alien share a commonality: first find consumer needs, then turn them into products, precisely segment consumer groups, and around scenarios, connect the three to form a closed loop, thus becoming a hit. On January 12, Genki Forest held a new product launch for Fiber Tea, announcing an upgrade and disclosing more details, introducing a concept new product "Shiquan Tea." Andy, the head of Fiber Tea, said this is another challenge to internal R&D and product capabilities, and also provides consumers with more convenient health solutions. However, Genki Forest stated that Shiquan Tea is still a concept product with no large-scale distribution plans for now. In fact, Fiber Tea's predecessor, "Jianmeiqing Tea," was initiated in 2017, sparking internal discussions at Genki Forest. Most believed that herbal tea had not been validated in China and there was no need to take risks. But ultimately, Tang Binsen made the decision: "Today's niche will not remain niche forever. As long as it is good for users and healthier, it is worth doing." Today's niche will not remain niche forever, just like sparkling water and Alien, which went from niche to mainstream. Whether Fiber Tea can live up to expectations and become Genki Forest's third growth curve, we will continue to track.


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671