Ice cream becomes an emotional "source of happiness"

Data show that the market size of China's ice cream industry in 2021 will be 160 billion yuan, an increase of 8.
84% over 2020, and the market size is expected to reach 167.
2 billion yuan
in 2022.
Alcoholic ice cream, puff ice cream, baked sweet potato ice cream.
.
.
With young consumers occupying the mainstream of the market, the ice cream industry has also ushered in an era
of "a hundred flowers".
After breaking the "off-season curse", how can ice cream better integrate into the winter atmosphere and embark on a new growth path? Industry insiders suggest that we can start from the development of specific flavors, grasp the festive atmosphere, and create "ice cream +" products, so that young consumers can eat ice
happily in winter.

Ice cream with marketing attributes "favored"

The data shows that the average ice cream consumption of Chinese in 2021 is 2.
9 kg, which is still a big gap compared with the global per capita consumption of 4.
5 kg, which means that China's ice cream market has huge potential space in the future, attracting many players to enter the game
.
In addition to several leading enterprises such as Mengniu, Yili and Nestle, emerging brands such as Zhongxuegao and Zhongjie 1942 have also joined the
battle.
Recently, chocolate giant Ferrero Group announced the acquisition of Wells Enterprises, a century-old ice cream company with annual revenue of more than 10 billion yuan
.

After years of development, China's ice cream market pattern has gradually stabilized: Yili, Helu Xue, Mengniu, Nestle 4 enterprises are in the lead, in addition to Zhongxue Gao and other enterprises take advantage of their respective advantages to occupy a certain market share
.
These head players pay attention to "keeping pace with the times", one is to actively follow the current health trends, such as Zhongxuegao's "Teenager" series of ice cream, which focuses on health attributes such as low sugar, low fat and protein; On the other hand, the ice cream flavors of the head players are also constantly upgrading and iterating, and Mengniu has launched a variety of flavors of co-branded ice cream products
during the Qatar World Cup.

In recent years, ice cream has frequently "gone out of the circle", and even appeared on the hot search one after another, and some netizens jokingly said that "ice cream seems to have its own marketing function" and "any brand can be co-branded with ice cream"
.
Industry insiders explained that first of all, the research and development and production costs of ice cream are low, and the shape is diverse, which is a natural cross-border marketing carrier, such as Moutai ice cream, cultural and creative ice cream, etc
.
Secondly, in addition to the function of eating ice cream to cool off, its social attributes and emotional functions are becoming more prominent
.
Whether it is nostalgia for childhood memories such as green tongues, baby heads, and torches, or a taste of high-value, new flavors of ice cream, ice cream is increasingly becoming a part of
young people's social life.

Industry insiders pointed out that behind the attributes and traffic of young people in ice cream is the pursuit of young people by brands
.
Wuling Hongguang has launched a variety of flavors of macaron ice cream for two consecutive years, the shape is Wuling Hongguang MINI model, the explosion of the product has made the brand gain high exposure in a short period of time, and even become a drainage product
.
Some industry experts commented that Moutai's development of ice cream products is "a breakthrough that actively approaches young consumer groups, attracting more young people to pay attention to Moutai, recognize Moutai, fall in love with Moutai, and cultivate and tap the potential customer base of Moutai"
.

Discover the "growing way" of ice cream winter

Nowadays, with the iterative upgrading of ice cream products and the change of consumer consumption concepts, ice cream with "seasonal" characteristics has long broken the "off-season curse"
.
iMedia consulting data shows that in the 2022 survey of Chinese consumers' winter consumption of ice cream, 73.
2% of consumers said that they also eat ice cream in winter, 15.
3% of consumers are unsure of the specific season division of ice cream, and only 11.
5% of consumers choose not to eat ice cream
in winter.

But after defeating the "hard wound" of the season, how can ice cream better integrate into the winter atmosphere and grasp the winter ice consumers? Industry insiders pointed out that brands can work flavor development, and can also actively explore in other fields to create "ice cream +" products and explore the "way of growth"
in winter.

In winter, the connection between people's reasons for buying ice cream and relieving the heat is weakened, and taste curiosity, enjoyment, and self-pleasing have become the main demands of consumers to buy ice cream
.
According to a 2022 consumer survey, taste is the top factor that Chinese consumers consider when buying ice cream, accounting for 86.
2%.

Industry insiders pointed out that ice cream can create a unique winter flavor to attract consumers
.
In 2021, McDonald's launched the rock sugar gourd whirlwind that attracted many consumers to check in, and even sold out on the same day in many places
.
Secondly, chestnuts, hazelnuts, black qiao, etc.
are also popular flavors
of winter ice cream.

In addition to flavor transformation, various winter festivals such as Christmas, Spring Festival, and Valentine's Day are also the best promotional points
for brands.
As early as November, DQ began to preview this year's new Christmas product "Chocolate Christmas Tree Ice Cream", which made chocolate waffle cups into the shape of Christmas trees, which was cute
.
McDonald's and KitKat jointly branded the NovelKitKat Chocolate Whirlwind and Waffle Tube, which used green KitKat wafers to reflect the Christmas atmosphere
.
GODIVA launched a Valentine's Day limited soft serve ice cream series, with pink as the main color, and the ice cream is inserted with rose petals and heart-shaped and petal-shaped decorations made of pink chocolate to highlight romance
.

How to open up new growth points in addition to flavor and shape? Industry insiders pointed out that "ice cream +" is a good choice
.

One is ice cream + dessert
.
This year, Helu Xue launched its first dessert ice cream, covering both puffs and Daifuku
.
He Luxue said that in recent years, consumers have increasingly pursued freshness in taste, and its new products are to cater to the scene
of white-collar afternoon tea, girlfriend dinner, and ice cream after a full meal.
In addition, desserts are gradually becoming a new battleground
for brand competition.
At a hot pot restaurant in Chongqing, "ice cream fritters" became the store's drainage code, and according to consumers, the product was rich in texture and rich in milky aroma
.

The second is ice cream + baking
.
For example, McDonald's China's Heart Corner uses croissants with ice cream to give bread a richer taste, and there are a variety of choices of original, matcha, chocolate, and cookie flavor; Killer Creamery has launched a zero-sugar ice cream sandwich that is gluten and ketogenic free and contains only 2–3 grams of net carbs and 5 grams of protein
per serving.

The third is ice cream + snacks
.
The high value of ice cream and snack combinations will always become a hot topic on social platforms, and in Xiaohongshu, the discussion topic of "high-value ice cream" has accumulated nearly 300 million views, and more than 110,000 related notes
.
Baked sweet potato ice cream, roasted bud rice ice cream, etc.
have all been popular
.

The fourth is ice cream + wine
.
Typical is Moutai ice cream, the wine content is 1.
6% and 2%, and there are three flavors
: original, green plum boiled wine and vanilla.
Not long ago, Yanghe announced the sale of cultural and creative ice cream blind boxes
in the "Dream Blue Community".
As early as 2019, Luzhou Laojiao launched an ice cream called "Fragment" with the Internet celebrity ice cream
brand Zhongxuegao.
In 2020, Jiang Xiaobai also cooperated with Suichange to launch two flavors of white peach and caramel flavored wine heart chocolate ice cream
.

Industry insiders pointed out that the possibilities created by "ice cream +" are more bright than the ice cream itself, but with the rise of product innovation, the change of form and taste has also given ice cream itself greater room for growth, from the basic relief of heat and cooling to the "source of happiness" of emotions, leaving space for winter ice cream is still not filled
.

(Gao Jiaodi, comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News(Version 02, December 23, 2022)

(Responsible editor: Gao Jiaodi)