In the past two years, the development of the consumer market has released a clear signal, that is, on the basis of traditional food, more young consumers begin to pursue healthier products. From the popularity of sugar free food to the fire of low-fat zero calorie food, not only a number of new consumer brands have been born, but also traditional enterprises have laid out a big health food track. The most obvious category of change is beverages. Plant based drinks are moving from niche products to mass consumption market. In 2022, plant-based drinks have received frequent good news. 01 good news spreads frequently On April 11, Hebei Chengde Lulu Co., Ltd. released its performance report for 2021. During the reporting period, the company achieved an operating revenue of 2.524 billion yuan, an increase of 35.65% over the same period of last year, and a net profit of 568 million yuan, an increase of 31.06% over the same period of last year. Chengde Lulu 2021 financial report Even compared with the revenue of 2.255 billion yuan and net profit of 465 million yuan in 2019, it has also achieved growth. As the largest almond dew producer in China, the reason given for the revenue growth in 2021 is the increase of domestic demand and the strengthening of blank market development. The former is the external reason, the latter is the enterprise's own efforts. Of course, when it comes to vegetable protein drinks, we have to talk about six walnuts. Although the six parent companies of walnut Yangyuan beverage have not yet released the financial report of 2021, the 2021 performance express released on March 10 shows that in 2021, the company achieved an operating revenue of 6.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 55.99%, and a net profit of 2.11 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.77%. Yangyuan beverage 2021 performance express There are two reasons for the growth of the six walnuts. One is the recovery of the market, and the other is the efforts of the brand itself, such as channel optimization and deepening brand positioning. At the same time, Yangyuan beverage has also cut into the vegetable milk track. From the performance of the two giants of plant protein beverage, the common reason for their performance growth comes from the growth of market demand, which means that more consumers begin to take plant protein beverage as a health drink. In fact, since 2020, the plant-based beverage track has gradually warmed up. In addition to Chengde Lulu, six walnuts and coconut milk, which are well known by consumers, more new brands also use plant milk to open the market door. At present, there are many plant-based beverage enterprises. In addition to a number of new consumer brands, domestic brands such as Yili and Mengniu also have layout one after another. The period from 2020 to 2021 is the outbreak period of plant-based beverage brands. In these two years, dozens of brands appeared around us. For example, the plant-based ready to drink beverage Milo released by Nestle in Asia last year, the plant-based brand selection of Yili, and many new consumer brands dominated by oat milk. If the plant-based beverage is a water test in the Chinese market in the past two years, the plant-based beverage will enter a stage of rapid growth from 2022. Recently, Coca Cola has entered the plant-based field. Its brand Zhibai said that it has launched an official flagship store on tmall, mainly selling coconut milk, oat milk and plain soymilk. As we all know, at present, Coca Cola has involved hot tracks such as bubble water and low alcohol wine. The overweight of plant-based drinks is enough to show that Coca Cola is optimistic about the prospect of plant-based drinks in China. Coca-Cola's bottom line comes from sales. Recently, tiktok said that the sale of 5000+ in the 4 days was a sufficient proof that young consumers had accepted the plant based beverages. Recently, coconut juice and Ruixing coffee jointly established hot search news in the food industry. Although the joint names of coconut and Ruixing rely on the copywriting design of coconut style, it indicates that plant-based drinks have begun to enter a more diversified development. In addition to coconut tree and coconut milk, oatly brand has also entered the tea industry. At the end of March, oatly and shuyishaoxiancao jointly launched a new plant-based tea drink, which perfectly combines category and scene application. As the first plant-based beverage brand to enter the Chinese market, oatly can be said to have opened the door for Chinese consumers to recognize plant-based beverages. Although before that, plant protein drinks have developed in the Chinese market for many years, and even formed head brands dominated by coconut, Chengde Lulu and six walnuts. But what really brings the concept of plant-based beverage to Chinese consumers is oatly. At the same time, Guangming dairy has recently applied for multiple plant-based trademarks of "zhiaoli" and "zhiology", involving 29 food and 32 beer and beverage. From the performance growth of plant protein brand, to Coca Cola, Guangming layout plant-based beverage, to coconut, oatly cross-border joint tea brand and a series of activities, we can find the hot plant-based beverage market in 2022. So why does this happen? 02 behind the good news The concept of plant-based beverage has existed in China for many years. At the beginning, it was used as a niche product to meet the needs of some people. In the past two years, with the entry of many brands, plant-based beverage has gradually grown. The reasons behind this are roughly as follows. The first is the continuous growth of market scale. According to the analysis report on market demand and investment planning of China's vegetable protein beverage industry from 2020 to 2025 issued by the prospective industry research institute, the market scale of vegetable milk is expected to exceed 300 billion yuan in 2025. We can find that plant-based drinks in the Chinese market can be divided into three plates. The first stage is a vegetable protein beverage based on coconut milk, almond dew, walnut milk and soybean milk. I believe everyone is already very familiar with it. The second stage is mainly vegetable milk dominated by oat milk, which is also the main category of most new consumer brands. It is also our common products in the market. This part supports half of the current plant-based track. The third stage is the functional beverage based on plants and herbs. At present, it is in the embryonic stage in the Chinese market, but in fact, some brands have begun to layout. Thus, with the support of many brands, the market scale of plant-based track must be developing continuously. This part can be called product driven. Behind the product drive is demand. The demand for healthy consumption has stimulated the outbreak of plant-based drinks. Since 2020, the emergence of extreme events has made us realize the importance of health. For most ordinary people, health preservation and healthy diet have become the key to improving their own health. Back to the food field, consumers have greater and greater demand for healthy food. In this case, plant-based drinks with healthier formulas have become one of the preferred products for consumers. Finally, the development of channels. The reason why plant-based drinks can quickly obtain market recognition is inseparable from the progress of media and the development of diversified channels. Live broadcast, short video, social media and content e-commerce make the concept of plant-based beverage quickly enter the hearts of consumers through brand advertising, and stimulate our brain all the time through viral fission. Therefore, we can accept the concept of plant-based beverage in a short time. At the same time, diversified channels such as online platforms, offline convenience stores and new retail can make plant-based drinks reach young consumers faster and form product exposure. Through the trial drink and promotion activities of the manufacturer, consumers can quickly experience the taste of plant-based drinks. Of course, the curiosity and courage of young consumers to taste fresh food and greater purchasing power have also become the key to the rapid development of plant-based drinks. So we can't help asking, how should plant-based drinks play in the future? - 03 the future of plant-based beverages At present, most brands of plant-based drinks regard highlighting the health attributes of products as their selling points. In the short term, this can indeed attract the attention of consumers, because it meets our demand for healthy food. But in the long run, it seems too paranoid. Because the essence of consumers buying drinks is to please themselves and meet their needs, rather than solve their physical discomfort like drugs. In fact, we can look back at coconut tree, Chengde Lulu and six walnuts. Although they are plant protein drinks, health is not the main marketing content in their marketing. Coconut tree and coconut juice are the main feelings, which can be drunk from childhood to adulthood; Lulu in Chengde pays attention to the atmosphere and becomes a new year gift by starting with the festival scene; Six walnuts highlight the function of Tonifying the brain. Although it is a health drink, the brand does not deliberately highlight the health element, but integrates it into the scene closer to consumers. On the contrary, oat milk on the market mostly takes health as the marketing content, and transmits the health attributes of plant-based drinks to consumers all the time. It can be attractive in the short term, but in the long run, it is difficult for consumers to remember without scenario marketing. Moreover, it is the taste. Oat milk products that highlight health are jokingly called "anti human" products by many consumers, because some products are really bad to drink. Although the ingredients are very healthy, the taste and taste are the most direct expression in the eyes of consumers. After all, the drink itself is used to delight the body, and you don't need to be hard headed to drink it. Therefore, the improvement of taste is the biggest challenge for plant-based drinks in the future. The last is the price. Compared with traditional drinks, the price of plant-based drinks is relatively high. Especially in oat milk products, the high price may screen some consumers, who will turn to other relatively healthy and delicious drinks. Similarly, the high price will also affect consumers' repurchase, especially when they encounter products with poor taste. Will make consumers give up directly. Of course, the high price may be related to the production technology and raw materials of the products. It is believed that with the growth of production technology and scale, the price of plant-based drinks may be reduced in the future. In the future, plant-based drinks are expected to develop to these points. First, the layout of plant-based beverage track by large brands will produce some explosive products; Plant based beverage will become the inevitable development direction of traditional beverage brand innovation; New consumer brands will be eliminated by the market if they fail to take the lead in subdivided fields or become bigger and stronger quickly; Offline channels are the main channels of plant-based drinks, and need to interact with consumers at the same time. However, it has to be said that as an emerging sector of beverage category, the future of plant-based beverage must be bright. (Xinhua News Agency)