---
title: "Weiwei Group Ventures into Ambient Yogurt in Another Cross-Industry Bid for Growth"
description: "Weiwei Food & Beverage Co., Ltd. (Weiwei Group), having recently returned to its core business, is again diversifying by launching a strategic product, Tropical Rainforest Ambient Yogurt Juice. The product will start production in late December and hit the market in January 2019, as the company seeks new growth amid sluggish performance."
author: "方彬楠&高春艳"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2018-12-13"
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# Weiwei Group Ventures into Ambient Yogurt in Another Cross-Industry Bid for Growth

> Weiwei Food & Beverage Co., Ltd. (Weiwei Group), having recently returned to its core business, is again diversifying by launching a strategic product, Tropical Rainforest Ambient Yogurt Juice. The product will start production in late December and hit the market in January 2019, as the company seeks new growth amid sluggish performance.

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Weiwei Food & Beverage Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Weiwei Group"), which had just returned to its main business, is once again attempting cross-industry expansion. On December 12, a Beijing Business Today reporter exclusively learned that Weiwei Group has launched a strategic product, **Tropical Rainforest Ambient Yogurt Juice**. The product will begin production in late December, start distribution in January 2019, and is currently seeking distributors.
This is not Weiwei Group's first cross-industry venture. Since 2000, Weiwei Group has successively ventured into milk, liquor, coal, finance, tea, real estate, and other industries, but many of these cross-industry moves have not yielded ideal results. Economist Song Qinghui believes that Weiwei Group's attempt to diversify again shortly after returning to its main business is intended to compensate for its poor performance in recent years. Although Weiwei Group, as a former industry leader, has certain advantages in channels, the effectiveness of this move remains to be seen.
> **National distribution starting January next year**
After several unsuccessful cross-industry attempts, Weiwei Group is again diversifying into yogurt. It is understood that Weiwei Group's ambient yogurt juice is priced at 6-8 yuan, targeting cold chain, vending machines, bakeries, and high-end convenience stores, aiming to attract more mainstream consumers from the "post-80s," "post-90s," and "post-00s" generations. Meanwhile, Weiwei Group's customer service stated that "Tropical Rainforest Ambient Yogurt Juice will be distributed nationwide."
In terms of marketing, to attract more consumers and enhance product interactivity, Weiwei Group will launch two promotional activities during the product's initial launch: "One Yuan Exchange" and "Weiwei Fanleduo." It is understood that the One Yuan Exchange promotion allows consumers who purchase the promotional pack of Weiwei Tropical Rainforest "Double Grand Prize, Joy Shared" to open the bottle cap and find the words "One Yuan Exchange" printed inside, enabling them to exchange the winning cap plus 1 yuan for one bottle of the same specification. The winning rate is over 30%. Weiwei Fanleduo is a collaboration between Weiwei Group and Beijing Digital Communication Company, where each bottle has a unique code; scanning the code gives a red packet, with the highest prize being 66 yuan.
Weiwei Group's launch of a yogurt product is undoubtedly driven by the promising domestic ambient yogurt market. **Data shows that in 2016, the domestic ambient yogurt market exceeded 20 billion yuan, and it is expected to surpass 30 billion yuan in 2018.** Song Qinghui commented on this, saying that although ambient yogurt has a large market, competition for market share in the entire yogurt juice industry is fierce. Weiwei Group's increased promotional efforts are clearly aimed at attracting consumers. However, the specific effect of this approach still needs market verification.
A Beijing Business Today reporter noted that since its listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June 2000, Weiwei Group has frequently attempted diversification: while further consolidating and expanding its soy milk business, it has also made industrial layouts around the strategy of "big agriculture, big grain, big food," venturing into milk, real estate, liquor, coal, tea, biopharmaceuticals, and other sectors.
An industry insider who requested anonymity analyzed that **due to Weiwei Group's diversified layout after listing, its share in the domestic soy milk market has gradually declined. This latest cross-industry move is nothing more than seeking new business growth points.**
> **Slowing performance**
In fact, Weiwei Group's flagship brand, Weiwei Soy Milk, once held a significant market share. In 2000, Weiwei Group's soy milk powder annual sales reached 73,000 tons, accounting for 80% of the domestic soy milk market. In 2001, after listing, Weiwei Group entered the dairy industry by establishing Weiwei Dairy Company, and subsequently spent heavily to acquire Zhujiang Special Zone Milk Company, Xinjiang Hutubi Yiran Dairy Company, Wuhan Xiangmanlou Dairy Company, and others.
At that time, some industry insiders analyzed that **Weiwei Group's cross-industry move into dairy was aimed at expanding new categories to achieve better performance. However, due to the highly concentrated milk market, already monopolized by companies like Yili, Mengniu, and Bright, Weiwei Dairy did not make a breakthrough amid fierce competition.**
In the following decade or so, Weiwei Group also ventured into liquor, coal, finance, tea, real estate, and other fields. After not gaining much, Weiwei Group reluctantly "returned to its main business." An analyst said, "Diversification dispersed 'strength,' not only failing to increase Weiwei Soy Milk sales but also leading to poor performance. After multiple failed cross-industry attempts, Weiwei Group chose to return to its main business, but even in returning to soy milk, it faces competition from plant-based protein beverages such as Yili's ZhiXuan Soy Milk, Dali's Doubenben, and Six Walnuts."
This has also led to negative growth in Weiwei Group's non-recurring profit for several consecutive years. According to Weiwei Group's financial reports, from 2014 to 2017, its non-recurring net profits were 68.0746 million yuan, 31.3912 million yuan, 17.2461 million yuan, and -85.9168 million yuan, respectively. Weiwei Group's 2018 semi-annual report shows that from January to June this year, it achieved operating revenue of 2.743 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.13%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 96.4433 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.08%.
From Weiwei Group's financial reports, it is not difficult to see that although its performance has improved recently, it also reflects that Weiwei Group's own cash-generating ability is not strong: it mainly relies on selling assets to stop losses. For example, in September 2017, Weiwei Group's subsidiary Weiwei Innovation Investment transferred 10% of Wuxi Chaoke Food Company's equity for 65 million yuan; in December 2017, Weiwei Group's subsidiary Hubei Zhijiang Liquor Industry Co., Ltd. transferred 0.93% of Hubei Bank's equity for approximately 111 million yuan; in June 2018, Weiwei Group transferred its 55% equity in Guizhou Chun Distillery Co., Ltd. to Weiwei Group for 275 million yuan, divesting it from the listed company.
> **Missing the best period**
It must be mentioned that Weiwei Group, which once became famous nationwide for Weiwei Soy Milk, despite its unsatisfactory development in recent years, does have certain brand and channel advantages in entering the yogurt juice market. A Beijing Business Today reporter noted that after years of accumulation, Weiwei Group has not only laid out channels in first- and second-tier supermarket channels but also in fourth- and fifth-tier cities and townships.
At the same time, to lock in young consumer groups, Weiwei Group is also innovating channels, focusing on catering channels, campus channels, e-commerce channels, and new retail channels where young people gather. Notably, Weiwei Group is actively embracing the internet and new retail formats. For example, Weiwei Group has already launched new collaborations with JD.com, Tmall, Ele.me, Alipay, and others.
However, regarding this cross-industry launch of yogurt juice, Song Qinghui believes that **compared with companies like Yili and Mengniu, Weiwei Group's advantages in launching ambient yogurt are not obvious, and it also faces huge challenges of sluggish performance growth and repeated setbacks in diversified development.**
Dairy analyst Song Liang analyzed the overall yogurt industry, stating that the yogurt industry is not simple to succeed in. Weiwei Group only sees the macro growth of the ambient yogurt market, but other large enterprises have strong market control and upgrading capabilities. Although yogurt is not "high-tech," companies need to continuously develop yogurt strains; only with better strains can nutrition and taste be improved. "As a new entrant, how Weiwei Group can compete with other companies or find differentiation is an urgent problem for Weiwei Group to solve."
Data shows that currently, there are 40-50 domestic enterprises producing ambient yogurt, with over a hundred brands, including Yili Ambrosial, Mengniu Pure Select, Bright Momchilovtsi, as well as Royal's Molafil, Weigang Fresh, and Shengmu Whole Organic Yogurt. Market competition is very fierce.
"At present, the overall yogurt dividend has become much weaker. In the next two years, China's dairy consumption growth will not be too good, which will also bring greater pressure to Weiwei Group. Weiwei Group's Tropical Rainforest Ambient Yogurt Juice cross-industry product cannot be directly distributed on a large scale; promotion should start from a few cities, and the reaction of the target population to the product should determine whether to carry out national promotion," Song Liang also gave suggestions.
Song Qinghui bluntly stated, "At present, Weiwei Group has many main businesses, which is a sign of not focusing on its proper work. In the future, Weiwei Group should continue to focus on its main business, increase support for advantageous industries such as soy milk powder, liquid milk, and grain storage, and further increase innovation in these formats to seek new breakthroughs."
Regarding questions about the goals of Weiwei Group's launch of Tropical Rainforest Ambient Yogurt Juice, a Beijing Business Today reporter contacted the company's spokesperson for an interview, but as of press time, no response was received.
Source: Beijing Business Today


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