Introduction: As a pioneer in the track, continuously leading the new trend in konjac leisure snacks.
The leisure snack industry is waiting to be redone. Although this is a cliché, this year, the leisure snack industry probably feels it deeply.
According to New Distribution's observation and reporting, the leisure snack industry is undergoing an unprecedented revolution, with channel changes at the forefront, followed by the entire supply chain transformation driven by channels.
From the perspective of the entire FMCG industry, compared to fully competitive and highly involuted categories like beverages, the leisure snack track is relatively easier. Its entry barriers are not high, and the industry competition pattern is relatively fragmented with low concentration.
However, precisely because of this, the dangers and opportunities hidden within are also very significant.
From an industry perspective, leisure foods have high penetration, high impulse, and high frequency characteristics, with broad market prospects; from consumer demand, trends towards diversification, health, and emotional value have spawned many unmet needs; from channel changes, the emergence of new hard discount retail formats has stirred up an unprecedented industry transformation.
The author believes that the era of 'new snacks' has arrived, and all leisure snack manufacturers should go all out to respond actively, finding opportunities from crises and gaining new growth momentum.
This article takes the Weilong brand as a case study to see how the leading brand in the snack industry, Weilong, is doing it.
Weilong Launches New Konjac Product Diversified Product Structure
Following Weilong's announcement in Chengdu on September 6 of its重磅 new product "Bàodào Xióngmāo" (Overbearing Panda) spicy latiao, New Distribution has learned that this month, Weilong's konjac subcategory welcomes a new member - "Xiǎo Mónǚ" (Little Witch) konjac vegan tripe.
From the brand name "Little Witch," one can guess the product's association with female consumers. The author learned from Weilong's official channels that the core target audience for this product is young women, primarily positioned as college students and new职场 people.
Konjac is a food low in calories, carbohydrates, and fat, while being rich in dietary fiber. Dietary fiber helps the digestive system function properly, provides a feeling of fullness, helps control appetite, and maintain a healthy weight. Therefore, konjac products have become a choice for people pursuing a healthy lifestyle, especially attractive to young women who focus on body management.
In addition to improving digestive health, konjac, as a versatile ingredient, is suitable for various dietary needs and has been continuously developed into various flavors and forms, such as konjac noodles, konjac vermicelli, konjac candy, etc. These innovative products meet consumers' demand for diverse choices and increase the appeal of konjac products.
As a popular single product among konjac products, konjac爽 (konjac snack) first appeared in public because of Weilong.
As the originator of the konjac爽 subcategory, konjac爽 has been on the market since 2014, pushing Weilong into a new growth stage, becoming another representative hot product of Weilong, and gradually developing into a popular category, attracting many brands in the industry to follow.
In 2022, Weilong's financial report showed that two categories had annual retail sales exceeding 1 billion yuan. Konjac爽, as a major single product under one of these categories, had annual sales exceeding 500 million yuan, with global sales of over 6 billion packs, leading the industry in sales volume.
Now, as a leader in the snack industry, Weilong has taken the lead by innovatively launching Little Witch konjac vegan tripe on the basis of konjac爽 to enrich the konjac product category. Behind this is Weilong's active embrace of consumer changes, insight into consumer needs, and continuous efforts to provide value to consumers.
Behind the New Product Design: Scenes as Channels
With changes in consumer demand and shopping habits, the logic of product sell-through has changed, and so has the product design thinking.
Products are no longer a single dimension in the marketing 4Ps, but an important section that needs to be considered holistically with multiple dimensions.
In the past, marketing was brand-driven in transaction scenarios, but now marketing is consumer pain-point-driven in consumption scenarios.
To explain in one sentence: In specific consumption scenarios, products must give consumers an irresistible reason to buy.
How can manufacturers make it irresistible? This requires manufacturers to洞察 consumer needs and behaviors in specific scenarios, design products combining sell-through logic and scenario needs, and sell through channels related to these scenarios.
What thinking is behind Weilong's new product design?
1. Little Witch vegan tripe targets young women. What snack needs do they have?
Starting from both functional and emotional value, first at the functional level - satisfying cravings with less burden.
Konjac products themselves are rich in dietary fiber, which helps maintain normal intestinal function. A pack of vegan tripe (18g) has only 18.17 calories, roughly equivalent to one-sixth of an apple's calories, meaning eating 6 packs is like eating one apple. So it can be both delicious and healthy.
Next, at the emotional value level - creating an unforgettable experience.
Little Witch vegan tripe emphasizes 'real large slices, truly satisfying', with upgraded cutting technology, generous 35*35mm slices, 24 processes, and 2-3mm fine scoring for better flavor, filling the mouth with one bite, bringing a super satisfying feeling.
Also, it achieves a 'crispy' texture comparable to real tripe. Cooked at 95 degrees Celsius high-temperature steaming, the tripe is more Q-elastic and smooth, then quick-frozen at minus 25 degrees Celsius for over 5 hours, giving it an overall crispy texture that makes people want more.
From the overall product packaging, the characteristics of 'slim', 'large', and 'crispy' are prominently highlighted, with the image of spicy and fragrant hot pot tripe vividly presented, and the bright red design is very eye-catching.
2. Behind the product design, what channel sell-through logic is hidden?
Focusing on the brand slogan 'real large slices, truly satisfying' and the brand tone of 'vitality, joy, and playfulness', Little Witch vegan tripe first gained insight into the target audience's needs. Besides meeting the target audience's needs, what scenarios can find these people? In the past, people looked for goods; now goods need to find people.
Therefore, Weilong Little Witch vegan tripe focuses on four major consumption scenarios to precisely match target customers, using scenarios to drive consumer pain points, thereby achieving product communication and transactions.
The corresponding main scenarios include: in home leisure scenarios, becoming a companion for binge-watching; during fitness and exercise, becoming a craving-relief神器 (artifact) with low calories to reduce guilt; during office breaks, stimulating taste buds, satisfying hunger and cravings; during outings and gatherings, a small pack is easy to carry, one bite at a time without dirtying hands, becoming an essential snack.
The creation of consumption scenarios helps manufacturers find suitable channels to precisely promote products. By choosing appropriate scenarios and channels, manufacturers can interact more directly with target consumers, enhance brand awareness, and promote sales growth.
Behind Weilong's Innovation New Momentum for Manufacturer Growth
Once upon a time, no one would have thought that a small pack of latiao could achieve such a big business. Now, Weilong has not only successfully listed, becoming the first stock in the latiao industry, but also led the latiao industry to go global.
What's more worth mentioning is Weilong's continuous self-creation, self-breakthrough, and self-change during its development. After years of R&D and innovation, Weilong, which started with latiao, is no longer just latiao; it has become a spicy leisure food group covering seasoned flour products, vegetable products, soy products, and other product categories.
As a first-line brand in the leisure food industry, Weilong currently has rich subcategories and numerous SKUs. Seasoned flour products (i.e., latiao) mainly include Dàmiànjīn, Xiǎomiànjīn, Málàbàng, Xiǎolàbàng, Qīnzuǐshāo, and Bàodào Xióngmāo Málà Málà; vegetable products mainly include Konjac爽 and Fēngchī Hǎidài; soy products and others mainly include Ruǎndòupí, 78° Lǔdàn, etc.
Looking back at Weilong's product structure changes, it can be found that by breaking free from the limitations of a single latiao product, Weilong's overall product portfolio has become more diversified, with more revenue growth points, and the rich product matrix has also enhanced its risk resistance and competitiveness.
Generally, new products from leading companies quickly spark industry discussion and attention. As the industry leader in the konjac爽 subcategory, it represents the new insights of the top players in this track into consumer needs, and this insight and understanding are also worth dealers' attention, understanding, and trial. New products are not only significant for Weilong but also beneficial for Weilong's dealers.
New Distribution believes that dealers' growth ideas mainly come from two aspects. One is covering more stores, and the other is selling more products. A high-margin good product can bring new profit growth opportunities for dealers.
The arrival of the 'new snacks' era and the impact of new channels have caused many leisure food dealers to feel a strong crisis. At this moment, dealers need to be on high alert. To maintain a place in the fierce market competition, they need to improve their organizational management, product selection operations, market insight, and other capabilities.
For industry giants, new products are not casually launched; once launched, it means the company concentrates its firepower on new product investment. Dealers selling new products not only seize new profit growth points but also, through promoting new products, test their own channels and organizations. Each new product test also means an improvement in dealers' own capabilities.
For a long time, Weilong has adhered to the product strategy of 'multi-category, big single products', ensuring that every product launched has been refined through repeated trials. Konjac爽, which has maintained a leading advantage in the konjac track, is one of the successful representatives under this product strategy. The new product Little Witch konjac vegan tripe is expected to continue the product advantages of this category, becoming Weilong's new hit product and providing new momentum for manufacturer growth.