A number of wine companies have achieved soaring results in the third quarter Wine companies have changed channels and innovated marketing to seize the market

Our reporter Wang Jinchen

Recently, many wine companies such as Moutai, Fenjiu, Jinshiyuan, Laobai Dry Wine, and Shuijingfang released their performance forecasts
for the first three quarters of 2022.
From the data point of view, these wine companies are expected to achieve positive growth in operating income and net profit year-on-year, and the red performance has boosted the confidence
of the industry to a certain extent.

The second half of the year is the peak season for alcohol consumption, and the good performance of wine companies in the third quarter may be related to
it.
However, the latest data released by a number of retail platforms shows that during this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and the "Eleventh" Golden Week, the atmosphere of liquor consumption was flat compared with the same period
.
Distributors also reported that the shipment of liquor during the "two festivals" period this year was not as good as in the previous two years
.

Traditional channels are not selling, how can various wine companies break the situation? The reporter combed through the above-mentioned listed company announcements and found that many wine companies mentioned that the growth of the third quarter performance was related to
factors such as product structure optimization, substantial growth of mid-to-high-end products, and the adjustment of marketing policies.

In addition, some enterprises have converted channels in a timely manner, turning to the development of group buying channels, small-batch customization channels, and increasing online marketing efforts
.
For example, in order to seize the rural banquet market, many local wine brands have increased their efforts to
promote the rural market.

Liquor sales "peak season is not strong"

In the first half of this year, the epidemic repeatedly caused the lack of consumption scenarios and poor sales, so traditional small peak seasons such as Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day were expected
.
However, from the perspective of many data, the popularity of liquor sales during the "two festivals" is not high
.

Data from platforms such as Hema and Convenience Bee show that driven by consumption, the terminal sales of alcohol during the "Eleventh" Golden Week this year performed well
.
According to Hema data, alcohol maintained double-digit growth of about 15% year-on-year, but it was mainly due to
the increase in sales of several niche drinks that matched the demand for leisure vacations.

For example, white wine increased by 38% from the same period last year, rice wine increased by 30% from the same period last year, sake and shochu increased by more than 40%, while among foreign liquors, gin and rum increased by 125% and 89%
respectively.
On the contrary, the atmosphere of liquor consumption is flat compared with the same period, and consumers' purchasing power is not high
.

According to feedback from distributors, the shipment of liquor during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day this year is not as good as in the previous two years
.
"Overall sales are good, but still slightly lower
than in previous years.
" Some dealers bluntly said that considering cash flow, there is not much willingness to
stock up at present.

At present, the original inventory on the channel is not low
.
According to the "2022 Wine Merchant Status and Development Report", about 39.
7% of wine merchants have inventory for more than 5 months, and 33.
6% have inventory for 3-5 months
.

The popularity of liquor can also be reflected in the fluctuation of price
.
In previous years, the price increase before the liquor festival was the norm, and it is reported that during the "two festivals" this year, the terminal retail prices of mainstream liquor brands remained stable, and distributors bluntly said that "no rise"
.

The reporter saw from third-party data that during the "Eleventh" period this year, the price of mainstream famous wine was basically flat, and a few fell
slightly.

The research report released by Soochow Securities pointed out that from before the Mid-Autumn Festival to after the National Day, the dynamic sales of liquor were affected by repeated epidemics and stricter management, and inventories in various regions showed flat or increased, and the National Day consumption replenishment was not obvious, and most channels and terminals were more cautious
this year.
Looking forward to the fourth quarter of this year and the Spring Festival, wine companies are facing certain pressure
to destock and pay.

Promote new ways for marketing

Except for categories with strong scarcity such as Moutai, most regions and price bands have encountered "peak season failure"
during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day this year.
In the case of insufficient terminal consumption activity, how to drive sales has become a common challenge for
wine companies.

The reporter combed through the latest three quarterly performance forecasts released by a number of listed wine companies and found that many companies mentioned "product structure optimization"
.
For example, Shanxi Fenjiu is expected to achieve operating income of 6.
77 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 31.
7%.

It is expected to achieve a net profit of 1.
95 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.
3%.

The growth in performance is mainly due to the company's flexible adjustment of marketing policies in response to the point epidemic, continuous optimization of product structure, and significant growth
in mid-to-high-end products such as Qinghuafen wine series.

Specifically, the company adheres to the product strategy of "grasping two ends and bringing the middle", so as to achieve the four-in-one of "low-end stable quantity, mid-end increment, high-end volume, and key quantity assurance", and it is expected that the blue and white series will continue to grow at a high rate in the third quarter, of which the blue and white 25 caters to the structural upgrading in the province, with the highest growth rate, the blue and white 20 continues to grow rapidly, and the confidence of the blue and white 30 revival version of the mobile sales is restored
.
As the mid-autumn peak season in the province was not affected by the epidemic, the Fenjiu channel continued to expand
.
In the first three quarters of the channel, the payment collection progress has reached 85%-90%, and the inventory is less than 10%.

In the case of overall weak consumption, the active promotion policies of some manufacturers have also played a role
.
It is reported that Laobai Dry Wine chose to increase promotional gifts, opening activities such as gifts and 100% winning cash prizes, and mainly targeting sub-high-end products
with a high proportion of sales.
Driven by the promotion policy, the terminal sales of its core sub-high-end products (ancient 20 years, five-star, etc.
) during the "two festivals" remained flat, better than the overall situation
.

According to the performance forecast for the first three quarters of 2022 released by Laobai Dry Wine, during the reporting period, the net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company is expected to be about 533 million yuan, an increase of about 113% compared with the same period of the previous year; It is expected that the net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses will be about 316 million yuan, an increase of about
41% compared with the same period of the previous year.
Among the listed wine companies that have released their third-quarter performance forecasts, the net profit growth rate of old white dry wine is leading
.

In addition, some wine companies have turned to developing group buying channels and small-batch customization channels
.
For example, in July this year, Cai Hongfang Wine Industry, a local wine company in Henan, launched three rural special products, covering the township market and seizing the rural banquet market
.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day this year, the company achieved counter-trend growth, and the rural sales rate increased by more than
60% year-on-year.

The November long holiday is also the peak wedding season, and there are many wine companies that keep an eye on the wine track for wedding banquets
.
It is reported that Shuijingfang has created an innovative wedding banquet IP of "New Jubilee Gift" for its Jingtai (Dragon and Phoenix) Collection Series, promoting sales
with its supporting services for creative wedding planning.

Due to the narrowing of offline consumption scenarios, wine companies have also put their growth space online
.
The reporter noted that on online platforms such as Taobao, some white hotel shops have begun to warm up for Double 11 activities, including price reductions, early purchase and other activities
.

Since October 8, Luzhou Laojiao's light bottle wine "black cap" launched the "open lid scan code, another bottle" marketing strategy campaign
.
It is reported that the event will end
in June 2023.
During this period, Luzhou Laojiao plans to put millions of bottles (500ml) of "black caps" on the market, half of which are prizes
for "one more bottle".
Consumers also have the opportunity to get up to 2,222 yuan in WeChat cash red envelopes and mall points rewards
by opening the lid and scanning the code.

Luzhou Laojiao said that by scanning the code to send wine, it not only realized the accumulation of user data, but also established a foundation
for subsequent big data marketing.

The final results of the above measures and the follow-up sales of liquor still need to be paid attention to
.
Most research institutions believe that the subsequent scenes will resume in an orderly manner, and the terminal sales of liquor are expected to further improve
.

Responsible Editor: Zhao Yu Review: Wang Jinchen