Guide to Success in China: Beverage Brand
This is a series from our weekly newsletter in which we send out original content covering trends, social campaigns and advice on how to grow your brand in China. This series, GUIDE TO SUCCESS covers the audience, channels, and strategy for an imaginary brand entering the China market. We hope this gives you a starting point to better understand the type of information you'll need to know about your customer and how to use the right channels to reach them. Get this sent directly to your inbox instead of having to visit our website next time.
THE BRAND
Beverage brand
THE TARGET AUDIENCE
Age: 18-35 yrs
Living in: Tier 1, 2 cities
ANALYSIS
The pandemic has had an undeniable impact on the food and beverage market in China over the past 3 years. More and more brands focus on "health, nutritional benefits, immunity, and sustainability”. At the same time, there are also subtle adjustments happening in the subdivision of functional ingredients, flavor characteristics, application characteristics, etc. These trends are driving innovation acceleration in the industry's R&D.
As a brand that wants to stand out in the Chinese market in 2023, adapting to these demands, developing innovative products, and creatively capturing the attention of young consumers on social media will be the main challenges.
CHANNELS
Share new product launches and celebrity collaborations
Interactive prize-winning activities
Xiaohongshu (RED)
Leverage the tagging (标记) function on the account home page to facilitate the collection of product-related information posted by users
Douyin (TikTok)
While it may be difficult to get high interaction on Douyin for brand videos, but it is a platform that cannot be ignored to achieve sales growth with its powerful live-stream functions
Set up a 24-hour livestream on home page, and carry out promotion and livestream collaborations with influencers with a large number of fans
INFLUENCER STRATEGY
Xiaohongshu (RED) is the best platform for young female consumers to discover new beverages. Currently, there are two content directions becoming popular which many influencers will be attracted to promote;
beverages that can inspire made-at-home drinks
beverages that can help with beauty management, such as weight loss or skincare benefits
Related to these two trends, consumers who engage in a daily routine are interested in brands that can offer options for bulk purchases in order to save costs on daily consumption.
On Douyin, there are plenty of active influencers producing beverage videos in a similar style as on Xiaohongshu. Due to the differences between platforms, Xiaohongshu may be more suitable for product seeding, while Douyin is more suitable for driving traffic to e-commerce platforms during promotional activities.
ECOMMERCE
Major supermarkets such as Tmall, JD.com, Hema, and Sam's Club are all popular channels for people to buy beverage products. Offline convenience store chains such as Family Mart and Lawson, etc. are distribution places that beverage brands should also consider.
OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
1. Trends shaping the direction of innovation in the food and beverage industry;
Plant-based products continue to "extend". Among them, soy milk, oat milk, and coconut water have become popular because of their relationship with coffee culture.
The "same origin of medicine and food”(药食同源) beverages mainly based on plants and herbs have become the focus of attention in the new era.
Low-calorie, low-fat, low-carbohydrate and zero-added-sugar beverages continue to be popular, while the trend of adding personalized nutrition (such as amino acids, proteins, antioxidant ingredients, etc.) is worthy of attention.
The market for non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beverages is growing, and vegan and gluten-free labels are also being applied to alcoholic products.
Flavored alcoholic beverages are on the rise. The mixing of wine and tea, wine and various fruits is being welcomed by more and more young people.
People are looking for alternatives to caffeine. There are a number of ingredients that fit the bill, including ginseng, ashwagandha, vitamin B, chicory, and more.
2. Generally speaking, summer is the time to promote sports and functional drinks, and autumn is the season for hydrating and healthy drinks. However, if the main flavor of each season can match the "seasonal" characteristics of Chinese culture, it will be even more popular with consumers.
3. In the summer, placing an elevator advertisement is a smart choice. Because the core audience of summer drinks is young consumers, and this group will come into contact with elevators with high frequency. Seeing advertisements on the way to work, and then going directly to convenience stores or e-commerce platforms to buy related products, this kind of behavior will become very common in this season.
4. For Chinese consumers, consumption of beverages also rises significantly during the Chinese New Year due to family dinners. Drinks that are suitable for various people should seize the opportunity to expand their publicity during this time.
5. Joint activities in the beverage industry have also been very active in recent years, but as consumers feel more fatigued, it will prompt brands to be more cautious when choosing joint partners and designing collaboration content.
6. Packaging design is very important for beverage brands, but what is more important is to create a distinctive visual image rooted in the brand DNA.
