Editor's Note: After ten years of following the development of health wine and ten years of being pessimistic about China's health wine industry, it is not easy to now look at Jing Jiu from the perspective of a bystander! The resetting of some time and space environments in the article allows us to revisit this magnificent history. Where there are shortcomings, because there are more stories, we look forward to more in-depth comments and exchanges here. Text/By Zou Wenwu, Special Expert of Jinxiaoshang In 2012, the baijiu industry experienced a cliff-like halving, but Jing Jiu in the health wine industry stood out, with performance soaring. In 2012, it broke through 5.6 billion yuan in sales, in 2013 sales reached 6.692 billion yuan, in 2014 sales exceeded 7.5 billion, and in 2015 annual sales reached as high as 8.499 billion yuan, with an average annual high-speed growth of 15%, becoming a model for China's liquor industry. From the perspective of market size, in 2001, China's health wine market was only 800 million yuan, in 2006 it reached 5 billion, and in 2013 it reached 20 billion. Such impressive growth performance led the old eight famous liquor brands to join the health wine market one after another: Moutai's Baijin Wine, Wuliangye's Huangjin Wine, Luzhou Laojiao's Health Wine Marketing Company, Fenjiu's health wine park... For a time, health wine became a lifeline for enterprises, and health wine became an indispensable market growth point for enterprises. But looking back, the traditional health wine brand Zhu Yeqing's sales are not even one-twentieth of Jing Jiu's; the once-popular Yedao Lujiu Wine has become a swan song in the rapid growth of health wine. How do we understand why Jingpai can dominate the health wine market? Seizing the Historical Window: Breakthrough in a Small Category It is important to take the right path at the right time. Do not fear the desolation and loneliness of the road, but fear the hustle and bustle of going in the opposite direction.

  • The window of category growth In the 1990s, the predecessor of Jingpai, Daye County New Winery, was also struggling in the big category of baijiu, to the point that by the 1980s it was insolvent. On the verge of bankruptcy, the New Winery decided to abandon baijiu and focus its main efforts on developing health wine. In the early 1990s, the first generation of Jing Jiu was officially launched, mainly sold to Fujian, Guangdong, and Malaysia. The market response was good, and supply fell short of demand. This reform played a role in turning the tide, and also made Jing Jiu another successful case of focusing on a small category. "Better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond." Focusing on a small category and avoiding fierce competition in large categories is undoubtedly a wise strategy. Large categories often have already formed a competitive landscape with many brands. Some leading brands occupy the industry leader position due to their own capital, technology, marketing, and other strengths, and often set up many industry barriers to hinder potential entrants. In such a situation, even if some enterprises barely enter, it is extremely difficult to obtain substantial profits. Facing a fully competitive market, potential entrants should avoid the sharp edge, abandon large categories, and enter small categories with much weaker competition, which is undoubtedly a better strategy. After entering the health wine industry, Jingpai focused on the small category of health wine, avoiding fierce competition in the baijiu industry, and has increasingly developed into one of the largest health wine manufacturers, with sales performance growing at a rapid rate of nearly 30% annually, achieving great success.
  • The window of market competition After the restructuring of Jing Jiu in 1998, it seized the development window under the 1998 Asian financial crisis and the wave of state-owned enterprise reform. At that time, the liquor industry leader Fenjiu had just experienced the fake wine crisis in 1997, and the liquor star Qinchip was also falling to the bottom in the wave of blending products purchased from small distilleries. The baijiu industry entered a deep adjustment period of the previous cycle, and many enterprises struggled to survive. The baton of the industry began to shift from Fenjiu to Moutai, Wuliangye, and Jiannanchun. In addition, the large-scale reform of state-owned enterprises made the traditional baijiu consumption in the three northeastern provinces fall into the wave of layoffs. At that time, the economic center shifted from north to south, and consumption began to popularize. Jing Jiu seized the adjustment window of the baijiu industry. The industry's inability to take care of itself and everyone's confusion became Jing Jiu's hope. In the market environment of overall liquor industry adjustment, Jing Jiu accurately captured the share of the small wine market, seized the development opportunity of the rise of B and C category catering channels, and seized the opportunity of China's economy developing from north to south. It mainly used Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan and other provinces as its main sales areas and niche markets, quickly growing stronger in the small wine market and B and C category catering channels that were blank in the baijiu market. Entering 2002, after four years of transformation, Chinese baijiu began a crazy ten-year golden development period. The soaring prices brought Chinese baijiu to the peak of history. The era of high-priced government and business group purchases made baijiu enterprises even more disdainful of the small wine market. Even the decade when they looked down on the bottled wine market gave Jing Jiu ample development time and also gave Lao Cunzhang ample development space. In an environment where baijiu was frantically raising prices and doing group purchases, Jing Jiu took root in the central China, southern China, and eastern China markets with a consumption atmosphere for small wine and health wine, avoiding the economic downturn in the north and the two mountains in the health wine industry - Fenjiu Group's Zhu Yeqing and Zhangyu Group's Sanbian Wine. From 1998 to 2008, the rise of the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta economies drove the gathering of the national labor force, making Jing Jiu thrive in these regions. The price of 12 yuan became a consumption that was both face-saving and healthy. Systematic Innovation: Health Culture Throughout According to survey company data: In the Chinese health wine market, the product most accepted by consumers is Jingpai. Whether it is the quality, taste, or aroma, it is deeply loved by the public. Although Jing Jiu is derived from the ancient imperial palace's tonic for strengthening the body and yang, in the new era it advocates a new drinking culture: "healthy drinking, moderate drinking, civilized drinking."
  • Healthy drinking deeply embedded in the company's bones Since its naming, Jing Jiu has never highlighted its aphrodisiac effects. Regarding many folk legends about its aphrodisiac effects and the feeling of strength and heat, Jing Jiu only lightly says, "Jing Jiu is good, but don't be greedy," which makes people unable to resist. Positioned as healthy drinking, Jing Jiu fully embodies health characteristics from the body of the wine to the name and packaging. This transmission of the health concept from head to toe has penetrated into the management bones of Jing Jiu Company. The company never advocates excessive drinking or drinking games. Most distillery sales aim to get dealers and partners drunk, but Jing Jiu Company advocates leading dealers to play ball and exercise, with the purpose of controlling drinking, and does not encourage dealers, partners, or consumers to drink excessively. Therefore, everyone who cooperates with Jing Jiu can feel the transmission and recognition of the healthy drinking culture concept from the inside out.
  • Healthy drinking establishes industry standards For a long time, the health wine industry has lacked a unified standard, with a mix of good and bad. The health benefits promoted by health wine are vague and difficult to define, which leads to a direct problem: it is impossible to test and judge the authenticity of products. There is a lot of counterfeiting in the industry, and there is a phenomenon of exaggerating health functions. Therefore, whoever can set standards in raw materials and process flow will occupy an advantageous position in future market competition. Creating industry standards is not only one of Jing Jiu's core competitiveness but also concerns the future of the entire industry. In 2002, Jing Jiu proposed the concept of "digitalization of traditional Chinese medicine," striving to create industry standards through technological innovation. Jingpai Company and Peking University independently developed the patented achievement of "digital extraction of traditional Chinese medicine," overcoming the major technical difficulties of "detection and quantitative extraction of traditional Chinese medicine," reaching the international advanced level. They took the lead in applying the new process of "single herb extraction," rewriting the history of "raw materials determine quality" to "quality selects raw materials"; health wine production was upgraded from "traditional preparation" to "standardized control," with accuracy reaching the domestic leading level. Moreover, Jing Jiu has established strict standards in the entire production process, including raw material collection and storage, single herb extraction and blending, and aging and bottling of base wine, implementing standardized operations. Through technological innovation, Jingpai gradually established its position as an industry giant and gradually promoted its own standards in the industry. With standardized technical control, Jing Jiu's wine body is stable and consistent, and consumers can enjoy the same taste of Jing Jiu no matter when and where they drink it. With this standard quality guarantee, health can be quantified into indicators, while the health advocated by traditional health wine enterprises only stays at the level of concept and raw material health.
  • Healthy drinking capacity is just right Jing Jiu uses small-qu aroma baijiu as the base wine for blending, making the aroma of health wine in its taste more prominent. Moreover, small-qu aroma baijiu has a good market foundation in both southern and northern markets. In the south, rice liquor has cultivated many consumer groups; in the north, Fenjiu and Hongxing have cultivated a large market. More importantly, the brewing cost of small-qu aroma wine is the lowest, the cycle is the fastest, and it can quickly expand production and reduce costs. In addition, according to the healthy drinking indicators published by the United Nations Health Organization, men should not exceed three liang of 38-degree baijiu per day, and women should not exceed two liang of 38-degree baijiu per day. Jing Jiu's 125ml two-and-a-half liang packaging is just within the range of a person's daily healthy drinking amount, suitable for both men and women. In addition, in the 125ml specification packaging at that time, only Hongxing small wine was the national leader, and other regional brands were only Jiuzhong Jiuba and Shaoyang Laojiu. So it is worth mentioning that Jing Jiu can develop to today's annual sales of over 8 billion yuan, especially the 125ml "small square bottle" of Jing Jiu. Although Jing Jiu currently has three series: China Jing Jiu, Shenrong Jing Jiu, and Jingpin Jing Jiu, with two specifications of 125ml and 500ml, occupying different market segments according to different positioning and prices, 125ml is the best-selling single product of Jing Jiu, accounting for 70% of the sales of Jing Jiu series products. Market FMCG-ization: 3A Law Achieves Market Position The issue of FMCG-ization of baijiu has always been a contentious topic in the industry. Since Jiang Xiaobai became popular in 2013, people began to discuss how to FMCG-ize baijiu. Little do they know that 10 years earlier than Jiang Xiaobai, Jing Jiu had already started FMCG operations. Without FMCG-ization as a guarantee, Jing Jiu would probably just be an ordinary liquor brand with a certain market share, but absolutely not have such stable market growth. After the restructuring, Jing Jiu quickly adapted to the rhythm of the market economy, adopted typical FMCG marketing methods, with brand promotion as the core competitiveness, implemented a manufacturer-dealer integrated channel deep cultivation model in circulation channels, entered the market from the mid-to-low end, firmly grasped the catering channel, and gradually cultivated consumers' brand loyalty and drinking habits. High-altitude advertising + manufacturer-dealer integration + mid-to-low-end catering is the secret to the success of many FMCG beverages. Coca-Cola, Wahaha, Wang Laoji, etc., all started from the 3A marketing law of "seen, available, and willing to buy."
  • First, make it visible Jing Jiu adopts a combination of ground and air communication. Air communication mainly uses CCTV TV advertising, while strengthening terminal stores and ground-level strong communication. By creating a market boom atmosphere, it maintains close communication with consumers at close range. In 2008, the global financial crisis began to spread. Many enterprises, especially liquor companies, adopted a contraction strategy in TV advertising. At this time, Jingpai did the opposite. In 2008, Jing Jiu achieved full-year advertising on CCTV for the first time, with an investment of over 90 million yuan. In the then-depressed economic situation, Jing Jiu chose to continue increasing its investment on CCTV, which made the industry take notice. "Jing Jiu is good, but don't be greedy!" A "shout" in the crisis enhanced the confidence of channel merchants and consumers in Jing Jiu, and improved the overall brand recognition and reputation of Jing Jiu. That year, Jingpai achieved sales of 2.451 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.4%; paid taxes of 330 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 77.4%.
  • Second, make it available Jing Jiu mainly uses dealers in prefecture-level cities, avoiding the then-popular provincial agency model, and took the lead in flattening the market to prefecture-level cities. While giving dealers a larger gross profit margin, it also bears the expenses. It relies more on core secondary wholesalers in prefecture-level cities, counties, and towns as the main distribution entities for product circulation, adopts a deep cooperative sales channel model to intensively cultivate the market, starts from B and C category catering hotels, and continuously stirs the catering channel in a diversified way, while relying on a relatively strong brand power for market penetration, so that consumers can buy Jing Jiu products everywhere. When Jing Jiu was first launched, it also used traditional supermarket channels, but when displayed together with baijiu, Jing Jiu had no advantage at all, and its own characteristics could not be reflected. Moreover, Jing Jiu, which always chose low-cost operation, faced high entry fees and barcode fees in supermarkets, and its profit margins were greatly squeezed. Forced, Jing Jiu tried the catering channel and put more energy into the immediate consumption market, which unexpectedly achieved results. In order to ensure that dealers can better cooperate with the company to increase market share and fill blank areas, Jing Jiu sent market teams to help dealers do market work. The market team took on market cultivation and management work, and dealers basically only needed to pay and deliver goods. Therefore, many dealers eventually had to rely on Jing Jiu's team to complete sales. This close manufacturer-dealer cooperation tightly bound dealers and Jing Jiu on the same warship. Everyone divided work and cooperated to give full play to their respective advantages, doing the market solidly, so that consumers could buy Jing Jiu products everywhere.
  • Finally, make them willing to buy When Jing Jiu first came out, the retail price was set at 10-12 yuan/125ml, and it is still this price today. This is a typical immediate consumption market. It cuts into the share of traditional low-end baijiu, based on the understanding of "wine with health function appeal," but downplays the health function and highlights the characteristics of "wine." Consumers tend to prefer the taste of "wine" when purchasing, and the health function is only an additional extra. Consumers can easily afford a bottle of health wine for 10 yuan without any pressure. Once the experience exceeds expectations, consumers will make repeat purchases. Jing Jiu 125ml can become the leader of China's small wine, thanks to its unchanged price for ten years, making many consumers not only willing to buy but also willing to repurchase, becoming a group of loyal consumers of Jing Jiu. Think Tank Veto System: Perfect Collaboration Between Internal and External Brains Many people do not know which external brain company Jing Jiu uses. It can be said that most people only see the excitement. Just as behind a successful man there must be an excellent woman, the success of an enterprise cannot be separated from a closely following external brain team. Jing Jiu's development to today is inseparable from the excellent "woman" of Great Wall Strategy Consulting. Great Wall Strategy Consulting has formed a strategic cooperation with Jing Jiu since 1995. It can be said that it has witnessed every step of Jing Jiu. Although the fees Jing Jiu paid to Great Wall Strategy in the early stage were not high, in order to let Great Wall Strategy play its greatest role in the company, Jing Jiu not only gave Great Wall Strategy original shares as a reassurance, but also gave Great Wall Strategy veto power. In every major market decision, Great Wall Strategy has veto power and can participate in Jing Jiu's high-level decision-making. In order to let the external brain deeply understand the company's operation and decision-making process, in the early days, the secretary of Jing Jiu's chairman was arranged by Great Wall Strategy to follow and serve at all times. This not only reduced the communication time cost between the internal and external brains, but also maximized the organic collaboration between the internal and external brains. When commanding the brand aircraft carrier of Jing Jiu, everyone could maintain a high degree of consistency. This cooperative model of "you have me, I have you" enabled Great Wall Strategy Consulting to follow Jing Jiu well, and also gave Jing Jiu a street lamp on the road of progress, so as not to get lost in the development. Under this think tank cooperation mechanism, Great Wall Strategy Consulting not only participated in the restructuring of Jing Jiu, but also participated in various aspects of Jing Jiu's brand strategy, employee performance management, customization of internal operating software, and market promotion. The respect of Jing Jiu's leadership for Great Wall Strategy has also become a model for the industry. Even when there were differences between senior executives and the chairman, Great Wall Strategy Consulting became the buffer and lubricant in the middle. With this lubricant, Jing Jiu rarely had management conflicts or negative team news. Under this model of mutual wealth, Jing Jiu not only achieved its own wealth, but also achieved the wealth of dealers, employees, and partners. Jing Jiu Group created a miracle of small category development, successfully building itself into the first brand in the health wine category. It not only surpassed the then-popular health wine brands such as Yedao Lujiu and Zhu Yeqing, but also left these brands far behind. This extraordinary development and success earned Jing Jiu the respect of the industry, and also made Daye, where Jing Jiu is located, from an ordinary county to a prefecture-level city, writing a strong stroke for the development of Daye. -END- The best domestic learning platform for FMCG distributors Focus on providing professional, practical, and applicable tutorials for enterprises and distributors Committed to helping Chinese FMCG distributors grow rapidly The most professional and practical knowledge base in the FMCG industry Reply with the red number below to get the corresponding content Reply with number 1 to view the complete knowledge base | 001 Excellent article selection | 002 Distributor market operation | 003 Terminal visit management | 004 Sales supervisor skills | 005 Sales improvement skills | 006 Channel expansion | 007 Managing distributors | 008 Distributor development | 009 Distributor internal operation management | 010 Team management | 011 Efficient distribution skills | 012 Sales manager's eighteen skills | 013 KA operation methods and strategies | 014 First lesson for new sales | 015 Internet, brand | 016 Distributor B2B transformation | [Long press QR code to follow]