Under the consumption upgrade, the "breakthrough battle" of new tea drinks

In recent years, the market scale of new tea drinks in China has grown rapidly
.
According to the iMedia Consulting report, the scale of China's ready-made tea market was only 29.
1 billion yuan in 2016, and it has reached 279.
6 billion yuan in 2021, with an annual compound growth rate of more than 57%.

It can be seen that more and more people are willing to consume new tea drinks
.
With the rapid growth of the new tea industry in recent years, the types of tea drinks available for consumers to choose from are becoming more and more abundant, and new tea drinks are sought after by more and more people, whether it is franchise or direct operation, new tea drinks attract brands, franchisees and individual merchants to enter the nuggets
.
For major brands, it is particularly important
to meet customer needs and enhance consumer stickiness from the aspects of price positioning, taste blending, quality control, raw material supply, and channel layout.

Online channels are less profitable

High costs overwhelm some franchisees

With the gradual decrease in temperature in many places, the current sales of fruit tea have declined, and the turnover in some fruit tea shops has decreased by about 1/3
compared with previous months.
Some merchants are developing new hot drinks to cope with the seasonal off-season
of new tea drinks.

In addition to the direct operation model, the current new tea market also has a franchise model
.
A new tea brand specializing in fruit tea introduced that the brand has more than 50 franchised stores in Tianjin, and the gross profit margin of franchisees is more than 65%, and the repurchase rate is about
70%.

Relevant personnel of another new tea brand focusing on fresh fruit tea said that the gross profit margin of the brand's franchisees is 60%-65%.

"If the payback cycle of a tea shop is more than two and a half years, then the risk is higher and it is not recommended to invest
.
" According to him, the average payback cycle of the brand is one to one and a half years, and the total cost of opening a franchise store is about
230,000 yuan.

The person in charge of a new tea franchise store located near the book building in Hexi District, Tianjin, said that in the past, the new tea shop he opened cost 300,000 yuan
a year.
Now in this store, he will control the rent within 150,000 yuan per year; In terms of labor costs, each person's monthly salary is more than 4,000 yuan
.
"There are a lot of
franchisees who lose money.
" The chief said
.

CAGR of more than 57%

Brands need to find a way to differentiate

Xiaofei is a fan of new tea drinks and drinks a cup
almost every day.
"Compared with traditional milk tea, the new tea is not so greasy, and with fresh fruits, oats and other small ingredients, there is also a feeling of
satiety.
" Xiaofei bluntly said that this is the reason why
he likes new tea drinks.

The illustrator Tong Tong is also a loyal consumer
of new tea drinks.
Unlike Xiaofei, she likes new tea because it is "good-looking"
.
"Many new tea drinks, whether from the appearance packaging or store design, cater to the aesthetics
of young people.
Many young people buy new tea drinks and take photos and send them to their circle of
friends.
New style tea seems to be becoming a social element
.
"Same as saying
.

According to the "Survey and Analysis Report on the Development Status and Consumption Trends of China's New Tea Industry in the First Half of 2022" released by iMedia Consulting, 94% of China's new tea consumers buy new tea drinks every week, and consumer demand will continue to rise
.
There are many players in the new tea industry, and the expansion of brands in the industry will accelerate, prompting the continuous intensification
of competition in the industry.

Zuo Yongjun, co-founder of Danyan Treasure, said that the competition in the new tea market is paying more and more attention to brand influence, and some head brands will be recognized and sought
after by more and more consumers.
At the same time, some regional brands have opened thousands of stores
because they are deeply rooted in the local market.
At present, some differentiated brands have the opportunity to stand out and gain the favor
of consumers and investment institutions.

How much does a cup of new tea cost more than a dozen yuan? A Lai, the person in charge of a new tea shop in Hexi District, answered 5-8 yuan
.
The staff of a tea brand in Shanghai responsible for docking franchisees quoted a lower price: the cost of a cup of milk tea is about 3-7 yuan
.
The staff bluntly said that the average gross profit margin of franchisees of the brand is 65%-70%.

It is understood that compared with franchised stores, the packaging cost of tea shops named by the merchants themselves will be higher
.
Mr.
Wang, who has a store in Hexi District, said that the new tea packaging in his store includes straws, cup holders, branded cups and plastic bags, which cost more than
1 yuan in a "four-piece package".
Mr.
Wang said: "The branded packaging of franchised stores is provided by
the brand owner.
Make your own brand, these branded packaging have to be ordered
by yourself.
Packaging manufacturers have a minimum order threshold, generally we buy a batch of goods at least 40,000 yuan
.
If the amount is low, the manufacturer will not accept the order
.
Therefore, the cost pressure is still quite large
.
”

As early as 2014, Lei Lei joined a new tea brand, and its store is located in the downtown area of Tianjin
.
According to him, in the early stage of joining, the pressure of funds is still very large
.
He said: "At that time, the franchise fee was 39,800 yuan, more than 200,000 yuan was needed to purchase equipment and the first batch of materials, and the annual rent of the store was more than 100,000 yuan, plus decoration, and the total cost was about 400,000 yuan
.
" After opening the store, the franchisee also needs to pay a management fee
of 6,000 yuan to the brand every year.
”

"Basically, we stock once a month
.
The purchase volume of each time depends on the sales situation
at that time.
When sales are high, raw materials
of about 30,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan will be imported at a time.
Drinks made from these raw materials can probably sell for more than 100,000 yuan in turnover
.
According to him, the cost of each flavor of tea is different, some are about 5 yuan, some are about 7 yuan, and most of the prices are more than
10 yuan.
After deducting rent, employees, water and electricity costs, the profit is actually not very high
.

In recent years, with the rise of major online red tea brands in the market, the brands that Lei Lei joined in the past have gradually fallen behind
.
In his words, "this brand cannot keep up with the development of
the market in terms of brand management or taste innovation.
" So, in July, he decided to close the store
.

"Recently, I have decided to join a relatively popular brand
.
" To this end, he also went to the brand's headquarters in Chengdu, Sichuan Province for examinations and interviews
.
At present, the franchise matter has been carried out to the stage
of site selection.
Once the location of the new store is chosen, he can officially sign a contract
with the brand.
After signing the contract, Lei Lei needs to go to the headquarters with the store staff to receive 23 days of training before he can officially take up his post
.
"In terms of site selection, brands require that the store area should not be less than 30 square meters, which means that rent will account for a large proportion
of the cost.
Its franchise fee is also higher, 88,000 yuan, and after opening the store, it also needs to pay a management fee
of 10,000 yuan per year.
He said
.

"Today, the new tea market is highly competitive, with short brand life cycles and fast
iterations.
If a brand is hot, it may be able to fire for a few more years, and once the heat is gone, the brand will be directly cool.

Speaking of the reasons for switching to other brands, Lei Lei said frankly, "The purpose of opening a franchise store is to make money, my idea is very simple, after joining a brand, you can earn a few years is a few years, if not, you will change to the next one
.
" If the brand is no longer profitable, there is no need to consume it with
it.
”

The ingredients used in the production tend to be healthy

There is still room for improvement in quality control

In the past, traditional milk tea gave consumers the impression that it was not healthy enough, and it was easy to think of high sugar, high calories, trans fatty acids and other aspects
.
In the past two years, with the upgrading of people's consumption concepts, the awareness of healthy consumption has gradually increased
.
The "2021-2022 Chinese New Style Tea Development Research Report" released by the Food Treasure Research Institute mentioned that women accounted for 61.
8% of tea consumers; The group between the ages of 18 and 30 accounted for 64.
2%, and the eating habits of this group are more inclined to be low-fat, low-calorie and low-sugar
.

A tea brand franchisee who has been operating for many years said that in recent years, the taste of tea drinks on the market has changed several times, and the raw materials used by major brands have also tended to be healthy
with the change of consumer concepts.
Today, most tea shops have replaced juice
concentrates with fresh fruit pressed juices.
"We've been juicing fresh fruit in our stores for years, and the cost has increased a lot
.
" He said
.

However, tea brands that claim to be healthy are still facing food safety risks
.

"In the past year, there have been frequent food safety problems in tea enterprises, including some very well-known top brands
.
The frequent food safety problems have sounded the alarm for the development of the entire industry and have also become a stumbling block
to the development of the industry.
A person in the tea industry in Guangdong said that the tea industry has attracted the attention of relevant departments, and supervision will become more and more stringent
.

China Food News (October 24, 2022, Edition 07)

(Editor: Luo Chen)