Recently, it is reported that several new tea beverage brands have launched promotional activities for 9.9 yuan or even lower in recent months, including some limited time discounts and long-term fixed packages. The overall pricing of these activities is aimed at the market under 10 yuan. According to a research report released by Wanlian Securities at the end of June, some new tea drink brands are showing a certain trend of price reduction due to the weak high-end consumption, reflecting consumers' increasing sensitivity to prices. High cost-effective products will gradually become the mainstream of the market, and low price strategies may become a new marketing trend for freshly made tea drinks. Is the "price war" of new chain tea beverage brands starting in disguise? High cost-effective beverages seem to be gradually becoming the mainstream of the new tea beverage market. According to a survey, multiple mainstream freshly made tea beverage brands have launched promotional activities related to 9.9 yuan in recent months, and the average double-digit price of mid to high end new tea beverages has begun to decline. Brands with moderate prices, such as Chabadao, have launched a 9.9 yuan 6-for-1 promotion for medium cups through third-party platforms. After adding to the community on the mini program, customers can receive a one month 9.9 yuan coupon for drinking designated beverages, which is valid for some products; Shanghai aunties enter the community to drink designated products for 9.9 yuan per day; Shuyi Shaoxiancao launched a new product for 9.9 yuan promotion at the end of June. In mid July, Heytea, a high priced brand, opened multiple new stores in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Qingdao and other cities across the country, launching a collective 9-yuan Heytea drinking and lottery activity; Nayuki Tea has launched a 9.9 Value Breakfast promotion for its coffee series through a third-party platform. But there are also some new high-end tea beverage brands that have not participated in the "10 yuan price war", such as the average price of medium cups of Bawang Tea Lady being around 15 to 16 yuan, and large cups being around 20 yuan. Discounted prices on multiple platforms are generally around 10% off. With the internal competition in the tea beverage industry in recent years, high-end tea beverage brands such as Heytea and Nayuki Tea, which were originally priced above 20 yuan, continue to seize lower price bands by launching new products such as light fruit tea and light milk tea. Nowadays, the prices of most high-end tea beverage brands have dropped to around 16 yuan. This also means that there are more and more players in the price range of 10 yuan to 18 yuan. Previously, brands such as Heytea and Nayuki's tea had carried out large-scale price adjustments and reductions. In 2022, Xicha announced that the public claimed that the price adjustment had been completed, and the price of Zhizhi Mang, Zhizhi Berry, Zhizhi Duorou Green Tea was adjusted from 32 yuan to 29 yuan, making the tea menu no longer available for drinks beginning with 3 words; And we guarantee that beverages priced at 29 yuan or more will no longer be released within 2022. Nayuki Tea announced in 2022 that its milk cap products, which originally had an average price of over 20 yuan, will launch the Easy series, with some product prices lowered. The entire product line will bid farewell to 30 yuan, and it promises to launch new products every month for tea drinks that do not exceed 20 yuan. Meixue Ice City, which focuses on cost-effectiveness, has been occupying the sinking market for many years with its low price range of 2 to 8 yuan. With the arrival of this summer, low-priced lemon water has also become a new favorite in the industry. Targeting the low price strategy, Meixue Ice City launched a new 1 yuan ice cup on July 3, opening a price war with convenience stores. Its classic product lemon water can be reduced to 4.6 yuan through group purchases; Sweet Lala, a low-priced strategy brand of the same type, competes with Meixue Ice City with its 4 yuan lemon water product; The group purchase price of Book, Grass, Golden Orange, Lemon Water on the platform is 4.9 yuan, which is close to that of Honey Snow Ice City. It seems that no matter which tea beverage brand is priced, they are all implementing varying degrees of price reductions or promotions. According to a research report released by Hua'an Securities at the end of May, in the past three years, the growth rate of affordable tea drinks has been faster than that of medium and high priced tea drinks. The proportion of tea drink brands with consumption below 10 yuan has increased from 7% to 30%, while the proportion of tea drink brands with consumption above 20 yuan has dropped from 33% to 4%. If it weren't for the promotion of low-priced freshly made tea drinks in Meixue Ice City, it is estimated that the prices of freshly made drinks in recent years would have skyrocketed to 20-30 or even higher. The competition in the current chain freshly made tea beverage market is too fierce, and discounted packages and disguised price reductions have become a common promotional tactic Recently, a well-known chain tea beverage franchise store manager revealed. However, the store manager further explained that there are many packages on the market that cost less than 10 yuan per cup, which are usually not directly available in offline stores or official mini programs, and are generally offered as discounts on third-party platforms. "Discounts have been gradually introduced, but it can be said that the new tea beverage market has launched large-scale discounts or price reductions for the first time in recent years. Especially for many newly opened stores, many high priced brands are also using '9.9 yuan' as a gimmick to attract customers." Behind the intensive promotions, there is a close connection with the fierce competition in the current Chinese freshly made tea beverage store market. According to a research report released by Hua'an Securities, high priced milk tea brands have been forced to downgrade due to their bottom rise. Currently, Naixue Tea and Heytea have lowered their prices and entered the mass market (with a minimum of 10 yuan) and opened up franchising, leading to increasingly fierce competition in the market. The aforementioned store manager also revealed that according to his understanding, for franchisees, the gross profit of the freshly brewed tea beverage industry is generally high, with some reaching over 80%. In recent years, many new brands have entered this track, and market competition has intensified. "Taking the commercial street in my area as an example, more than ten tea beverage brands have gathered. The store manager further pointed out that under the influence of fierce market competition, an increase in negative incidents related to food safety, and some popular online events, the sales volume of multiple stores has been affected to some extent. "In the area where I am currently located, the average daily net operating revenue of two stores is about 2000 yuan, and on weekends it can reach three to four thousand yuan. Compared to the beginning of this year, the sales volume has shown a downward trend." In order to reduce the impact of negative incidents related to food safety in the industry on the brand, the store manager also stated that the headquarters' inspections of stores have become stricter after the 315 shopping festival this year. Taking its franchise brands as an example, there are three levels of inspections, including spot checks, flight inspections, and external evaluations. Can you make money on a cup for 9.9 yuan? The 9.9 yuan promotion has a certain effect on increasing the store's revenue, as it will not make a profit from losing money The store manager stated that the discount is to attract new customers and also to encourage more loyal customers to repurchase. Usually, brands also balance the sales and costs of beverages by offering discounts on popular drinks with moderate prices. "In the two stores I am responsible for, the daily redemption rate of 9.9 yuan coupons accounts for 20-30% of total orders, sometimes reaching about 40%, which is still quite popular." With the increasingly fierce market competition, the store manager also expects that the limited time discounts of multiple tea beverage brands may evolve into long-term promotional measures. The collective price reduction trend of tea beverage brands may continue for a relatively long time. New tea drinks are searching for new growth points in their performance. Previously, in the prospectus of a tea drink brand, it was disclosed that based on the retail sales in 2023, the top five participants accounted for over 40% of the market share. With the intensification of industry competition, expanding store networks and accelerating store openings have become the main means for chain tea beverage brands to expand their market share. The expansion trend of freshly made tea drinks is also reflected in the competition for the sinking market. Previously, Heytea, Nayuki Tea, and Lele Tea have successively opened up franchise opportunities, and several new tea beverage brands have announced plans to open stores. According to a research report released by Wanlian Securities, the prosperity of high-end consumption has declined, while the consumption of cost-effective tea drinks has grown rapidly. The trend of chain operation in various tracks has accelerated, and affordable market brands have rapidly expanded based on franchise models, accelerating their efforts to seize the sinking market. The store manager of the aforementioned chain tea beverage franchise store stated that in addition to directly or indirectly lowering prices, "roll" research and development, "roll" quality, "roll" technology, and "roll" collaboration are also important. Among them, franchisees can enjoy the fastest traffic brought by brand collaboration. How to find brand differentiation and strive for a larger market share requires the marketing and research and development efforts of various brands. As a new quality productivity in the new tea beverage industry, the rapid development and widespread application of smart devices are expected to elevate the level of store automation in the new tea beverage industry to the same level as modern coffee chain brands In terms of technology, HEYTEA has stated that thanks to the maturity of independently developed intelligent and automated equipment, HEYTEA's global store consistency and food safety stability are guaranteed, and the cost of product operation training is greatly reduced, which strongly supports HEYTEA's growth of over 2300 stores in 2023 and will accelerate its overseas business development in the future. At present, tea making machines in the industry have not been widely promoted, and it is expected to be popularized in most stores within two years The aforementioned store manager pointed out that the headquarters has been issuing documents encouraging franchisees to purchase relevant tea making machines. "On the one hand, the main reasons for complaints about the store include errors in the formula or ingredients during production, and the use of tea making machines can be largely avoided. On the other hand, tea drinking machines can reduce the pressure of manually memorizing tea drinking formulas and ensure that brand formulas are not leaked." Returning to the tea drinking products themselves, more and more tea drinking brands are launching healthy tea drinking standards to provide consumers with healthier tea drinking products. For example, as for the definition of new tea drink products, Xicha clearly stated in the standard that it is a "on-site prepared drink without adding essence, milk essence (fat powder), hydrogenated vegetable oil, instant tea powder, fructose syrup, and trans fatty acids". In previous standards issued by some institutions, new tea beverage products were defined as freshly made drinks that can add vegetable fat powder and fruit glucose syrup, which has also led to confusion in the current market regarding the definition of healthy tea beverage products. New Chinese style tea drinks have different core KPI indicators at different stages. In the initial stage, there may be more focus on brand effect and quality effect; In the second stage, there is a greater pursuit of economies of scale and supply chain construction; The third stage will pursue intensive effects, risk resistance, comprehensive strength, and so on Previously, Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng stated that the competition in the new tea beverage market is gradually entering the second half, and the top players have reached a point where they need to compete in the basic skills of the supply chain. There is no shortcut to building supply chain capabilities, and brands need to give sufficient attention from a strategic perspective and invest real money to lay a solid foundation bit by bit. (New Society)