Are foreign brands at the top of the chain?
Currently, most foreign brands are active at the top of the drinking water contempt chain. And China’s water companies have been deploying high-end water businesses for some time. In 2005, Tibet Glacier Mineral Water Co., Ltd. was established to “provide the best quality water to the world” and launched 5100 Tibet Glacier Mineral Water. In 2010, Jiaduobao Group launched Kunlun Mountain Snow Mountain mineral water, claiming to create the Chinese’s own high-end water. In 2013, Evergrande launched Evergrande Ice Spring, officially entering the high-end mineral water market. But these three high-end water brands have had a bumpy journey on the high-end road.
Why does China’s high-end water enter the arena in a high-profile manner but can’t make a sound?
From the point of view of the water source, whether it is the 5,100-meter-high Tibetan primitive glacier, the Kunlun Snow Mountain or the Changbai Mountain, they are all rare high-quality water sources. But looking at the packaging, these three lose out first. Emphasizing the source of water in the brand name or packaging is the commonality of these three high-end water companies. As soon as Kunlun Mountain mineral water was launched, netizens complained about the name, and the packaging was too old-fashioned, but it was positioned as high-end packaging but not high-end. In terms of marketing, all of the three companies regard water quality as their main selling point, instead of telling stories and labeling consumers.
In terms of channels, according to a report in Time Weekly in 2014, Kunlun Mountain once launched the market with the help of Jiaduobao’s strong distribution channels. However, selling water like herbal tea and promoting sales in supermarkets is obviously “losing status” for high-end water.
Tibet 5100 mainly used the cooperation with China Railway Express to transport water out of Tibet through the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. According to the Beijing Morning Post, Tibet 5100 supplies approximately 150 million bottles of water to China Railway Express every year. In the peak year, nearly 90% of Tibet 5100’s water was sold to China Railway Express. However, in 2015, the China Railway Corporation ceased its cooperation with Tibet 5100 and announced that the trains “no longer give away free mineral water.” Without China Railway, Tibet 5100 is tantamount to losing a big tree to enjoy the shade.
The promotion rhythm is too impatient and the positioning is lost, which is also a thunder that China’s high-end water has stepped on. When Evergrande Bingquan first went public in 2013, Xu Jiayin made a high-profile military order of “Success, no failure”, and proposed a sales target of 10 billion yuan in the first year, 20 billion yuan in the second year, and 30 billion yuan in the third year. . In order to quickly increase sales and spread the market, Evergrande Bingquan spent 1.3 billion in advertising expenses in 20 days and laid out sales terminals. However, its 2014 financial report showed that the sales of Evergrande Bingquan