This Summer, How Does Instant Retail Use Small "Ice Cups" to Play Big "Business"?

The FMCG market has experienced a rapid development period of over a decade and has shifted from an incremental market to a stock market. For brands, finding new growth in a stock market is actually a difficult task. Why is that? Finding growth in a stock market is essentially competition among peers, where the source of growth is seizing market share from competitors. But this kind of growth is not truly new growth; it is merely a redistribution of the existing market. For brands, true new growth is not about re-cutting the existing market or shifting sales between new and old channels, but about creating new consumption scenarios through marketing to stimulate more potential consumer demand, thereby enlarging the overall pie , thus expanding the total market and bringing overall consumption increases for the brand. In the current market environment, instant retail is definitely one of the channels that can maintain continuous growth. So, is the growth in instant retail channels a shift in sales from new and old channels, or is it truly new growth? In reality, both situations exist. The former occurs when brands simply list their products online, while the latter requires brands to create new consumption scenarios in the instant retail space to activate new consumer demand and achieve growth. How can brands find and activate new scenarios in instant retail channels to achieve new growth? Recently, NielsenIQ and Ele.me jointly released the "2024 Summer Instant Retail Ice Products and Alcoholic Beverages Consumption Insight Report," which shares cases of ice products and alcoholic beverages activating new local consumption scenarios through instant retail. This article uses cases from the report to analyze from an industry perspective how brands can work with platforms and retailers in instant retail channels to jointly explore new scenarios and achieve new growth.

Instant Retail "Ice + X" Activates New Consumer Demand for Ice Products and Alcoholic Beverages This summer, the new favorite in the cold drink market is the ice cup. Offline, ice cups are ubiquitous in convenience store freezers; online, posts on major social media platforms such as "homemade drinks with ice cups" and "ice cup DIY" number in the tens of thousands, making "Ice + X" the new summer heat-relief favorite. Driven by "Ice + X," segmented consumption scenarios are constantly emerging, bringing new growth opportunities for ice products and alcoholic beverages. According to the "2024 Summer Instant Retail Ice Products and Alcoholic Beverages Consumption Insight Report," around the Great Heat solar term, the volume of ice cup deliveries increased by 350% year-on-year, and the volume of deliveries pairing ice cups with beer and other alcoholic beverages also increased by approximately 300% year-on-year. In instant retail channels, the growth of summer ice products and alcoholic beverages is particularly significant. The report shows that in the summer of 2023, sales in instant retail channels for alcoholic beverages increased by 14% year-on-year, significantly higher than the overall channel growth of 4%. In June this year, Ele.me's alcoholic beverage orders increased by 22% year-on-year, and around the Great Heat solar term, beverages and ice products saw a year-on-year increase of over 40%. Take Ele.me's "Ice Ice You Li Jie" marketing campaign this summer as an example to see how they helped retail and brand merchants achieve new growth through the "Ice + X" scenario.

First, quickly and timely meet consumers' strong demand for "ice." In the hot summer, consumers' demand for ice products and alcoholic beverages increases sharply. Ele.me ensures that ice products and alcoholic beverages are delivered to consumers in the shortest possible time through its "guaranteed ice delivery" service. This instant gratification experience greatly enhances consumers' purchase desire and satisfaction.

Second, break the "ice cup price trap" and hit consumers' hearts with a 0.01 yuan ice cup. Ele.me partnered with 50,000 retail stores to provide consumers nationwide with 10 million ice cups that could be added to orders for just 0.01 yuan. The popularity of ice cups directly drives sales of highly related categories such as alcoholic beverages and drinks: cola, purified water, and beer are the most popular pairings. The delivery volume of ice cups paired with fruit and vegetable drinks increased by 320% year-on-year, and the volume paired with beer and other alcoholic beverages also increased by approximately 300% year-on-year. Low-threshold, high-frequency purchase behavior effectively boosts sales of ice products and alcoholic beverages.

Third, collaborate with brands for customization to increase consumer loyalty to the platform and brands. Ele.me also launched limited-edition custom merchandise "Bing Bing Le Cup" in collaboration with brands such as Mengniu Ice Products, Yili Ice Products, Wall's, and Ambrosial, providing consumers with unique added value. This not only enhances the user's purchase experience but also strengthens brand loyalty in consumers' minds, leading to continuous repurchases.

Fourth, leverage the "Ice + X" consumption scenario to stimulate potential consumer demand and bring in more target consumers. With the "Ice + X" scenario, brands can find more consumers and business growth points in segmented scenarios. For example, Wall's broke historical peaks in instant retail channels during the ice products festival, with national orders during the brand campaign period increasing by 103% year-on-year; Yili Ice Products achieved its annual order peak on the day the campaign launched, with new customer growth for sub-brands "Zhenxi" and "Qixuan" reaching 256% and 369%, respectively.

Deep Dive into Segmented Scenarios Cross-Category Collaboration to Increase Market Penetration Looking at the development of instant retail, there is a clear shift: scenarios have evolved from being primarily emergency-driven in the early days to meeting diverse segmented needs. Scenarios trigger demand, and demand stimulates purchases. In instant retail channels, brands and retailers need to match corresponding segmented scenarios to stimulate potential consumer demand. Ele.me proposed a new consumer insight model called OAIPL, which mentions 12 potential scenarios, and eating ice is one of them. How does Ele.me use the OAIPL model to help brands penetrate segmented scenarios effectively?

First, use the new consumer insight model OAIPL to help brands find growth segments. For example, the demand for eating ice in segmented scenarios such as offices and hotels is also growing rapidly. The report shows that in June this year, ice product orders delivered to office buildings increased by 30% year-on-year, with orders for late-night overtime scenarios increasing by 40% year-on-year. Another example is that in summer, the demand for instant ice products in travel scenarios such as hotels and sports venues is also growing strongly, with weekend ice product orders accounting for over 40% of total orders, and order volume increasing by over 80% year-on-year.

Then, based on segmented scenarios, find matching consumer groups and activate demand with corresponding product combinations. For example, in the core stay-at-home scenario, consumers who constantly balance "pursuing cost-effectiveness" and "pursuing self-pleasure" find a self-consistent consumption method through instant retail, DIY-creating their own "online bar" and "home water bar." Taking Ele.me's June data as an example, the delivery volume of "alcohol + ice cubes + beverages" combinations increased by 211% year-on-year, significantly higher than the growth rate of alcohol orders alone, and the delivery volume of "beverages + ice cubes" combinations also increased by 142% year-on-year.

Finally, use marketing methods such as brand crossovers to expand the incremental growth of segmented scenarios from the dimensions of people, regions, channels, and products. During the ice products festival, Ele.me collaborated with multiple brands for cross-category integrated marketing, such as Genki Forest and Mars Wrigley, Mengniu Pure Zhen and Tsingtao Beer, Liushen and Trident, etc. Each brand has strong influence in its respective sub-category. Through cross-category cooperation, they can complement each other's strengths and provide consumers with a richer product selection. At the same time, both brands can reach each other's customer groups, achieve cross-marketing, attract more potential consumers, and achieve broader coverage. Through cross-category marketing, each brand has achieved business conversion. For example, Mars Wrigley Ice Cream and Genki Forest saw business growth of 232% and 190% respectively on the campaign's peak day compared to the same period last year. From "barbaric growth" to "refined operations," in today's instant retail channels, the potential of segmented scenarios has become an opportunity that brand merchants cannot ignore.

Tripartite Co-construction, Cross-Sector Integration Building a New Field for Brand and Performance Integration The instant retail channel consists of three important roles: brands, retailers, and platforms. To deeply explore the value of instant retail, the three parties need to collaborate deeply, achieve resource sharing and complementary advantages, and improve the efficiency of the entire retail chain and consumer experience. In the "Ice Ice You Li Jie" campaign, Ele.me successfully built an efficient cooperation model by integrating the resources of brands, retailers, and platforms, achieving the goal of brand and performance integration. For example, in the case of Ambrosial x Shizu x Ele.me, CVS and the brand were deeply bundled, and in key cities such as Hangzhou and Wenzhou, Shizu convenience stores launched the limited-edition custom merchandise "Bing Bing Le Cup." The three parties leveraged a popular variety show IP, jointly carried out marketing around the brand's new products and ice-cold merchandise, and for the first time combined with urban convenience store channels to create a city-wide promotion of the Bing Bing Le Cup, promoting brand business growth. Convenience stores, as the main channel for consumers to purchase snacks and beverages daily, can bring more exposure and sales to the brand. This diversified consumption scenario not only meets consumers' immediate needs but also enhances the presence of the Ambrosial brand in daily life. The results achieved are also significant: Ambrosial's overall business during the campaign period increased by 67% year-on-year, with an 85% increase in Hangzhou.

In addition to tripartite co-construction, "dining + retail" is also an important consumption field in current instant retail. Report data shows that this summer, the demand for ice products and alcoholic beverages in daily meal scenarios such as family gatherings and late-night dinners is also strong. Among them, the delivery volume of ice products to restaurants increased by 50% year-on-year, and the delivery volume of orders that included both food and alcohol within one hour during the early morning hours increased by 44% year-on-year. It can be said that the "high-potential traffic pool" of "dining + retail" is an excellent field for retail brands and merchants to build brand and sales integration. The report shows that instant retail platforms are also aware of this. For example, Ele.me has added a "retail + sales" venue on restaurant merchant pages, partnering with liquor merchants such as 1919 and Liquor Boy to enter dining establishments suitable for "late-night snacks with alcohol" like barbecue and crayfish restaurants. Through the exclusive venue, consumers can add both food and alcohol to their cart with one click. By combining "dining + retail," brands can effectively penetrate more consumer groups in dining consumption scenarios. This combination not only expands brand exposure but also leverages the high frequency and immediacy of dining consumption to enhance brand awareness and favorability in consumers' minds.

Final Thoughts As previously shared in articles by New Distribution, in the next five to ten years, the channel that can sustain growth is instant retail. From the popularity of ice cups this summer and the high growth brought by the "Ice + X" consumption scenario, it is clear that there are still many segmented consumption scenarios in instant retail worth exploring. Through the case of Ele.me's "Ice + X," it can be seen that instant retail platforms represented by Ele.me are continuously providing brands with new growth space through refined operations, and they remain a key channel for brands and retailers to expand their upward space.