Entering April, although the scorching sun has not yet scorched the earth, the battle for freezers, which is the lifeblood of the beverage industry, has entered a white-hot stage.
New distribution public data show that 79% of consumers will choose to buy frozen drinks in summer, of which 81% of consumers will choose other companies’ frozen products because the target drink is not frozen; end point store freezer can increase sales point sales by 29%, taking the market common single door freezer as an example, you can immediately increase about 50 rows and 20 pieces of sales orders.
In addition to providing instant cooling, freezers are often located in the prime location of the store, providing a natural advantage of close contact with consumers. Companies can bring their products to consumers’ attention, which not only broadens the distribution surface, but also increases the exposure of the product.
It can be said that the freezer, the "invisible battlefield" of the cold drink market, has undoubtedly become a golden fulcrum for brands to promote sales, increase exposure, and then increase performance, and its importance is self-evident.
In this context, major brands continue to put up the ante offline freezer in 2024, trying to occupy a favorable position in the limited end point retail space, in order to achieve better results in the upcoming sales season.
So, from the offline visits, what is the intensity of the freezer battle in 2024? Which beverage companies have seen a significant increase in their investment in 2024? Can they achieve the desired results?
01 Drink giants are fighting hand-to-hand, and offline freezers are fighting fiercely
"In the summer, there is no sales without frozen display, which is the accepted market law in the sales industry of fast-moving consumer goods." A beverage marketer who has been in the industry for many years revealed to the media that frozen display is the last part of the offline sales channel, which often requires salespeople to visit one by one and give enough generous discounts or subsidies, so that the physical bosses at each end point will be willing to display brand products.
Every morning at 8:30, Li Hao, the salesperson, immediately took his colleagues to the offline store after the company’s morning meeting. The sales area he is responsible for has 100 to 200 customers, and he runs an average of 20 to 40 end point stores every day.
Every store, Li Hao will be in the Nongfu Spring internal business App clock in record, each store stay time to be controlled in 5-30 minutes, during the period in accordance with the company’s very detailed product display regulations, sorting freezer goods and record data, find abnormal timely report.
"Just after the Chinese New Year this year, the salespeople of cold drink brands have started to come to the door one after another." According to Su Kexin, the owner of a convenience store in Jiangsu, the three freezers in the store are all given away by different brands, and the monthly subsidy ranges from 120 to 200 yuan. The subsidy has increased a little this year. But the condition is that the corresponding freezer can only sell products of the brand, and the owner cannot mix other products. Once discovered, the subsidy will be cancelled.
Ding Xiao, a cold drink salesperson from Mengniu, also admitted frankly: "This year, the pressure is particularly high. In order to win a small supermarket, we went to the boss every now and then to get close to each other. In addition to giving corresponding subsidies, we also did a lot to help move goods, but unfortunately we lost to another cold drink brand because the other party’s subsidies were higher."
Ding Xiao also revealed that the competition between supermarkets and convenience stores has always been fierce, but this year it has become even more "involved". The entrance fee alone has increased by more than 10%. Even if you win this area, you will have to pay the "rent" of the freezer every month.
Behind the increasingly "rolled" freezer battle, naturally there are beverage companies that continue to sell up the ante end point, and in 2024, the most powerful one is Wahaha.
The owner of a store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, revealed to the odd-even faction that on the seventh day after Zong Fuli took office, Wahaha’s regional manager came to his store and took the initiative to send three freezers.
Jiangxi agent Wu Qizhen also confirmed the news to the odd-even faction, saying that Wahaha is currently actively putting freezers to offline end points, and dozens of freezers have been placed in each nearby county.
This freezer not only has a positioning function, but also has a camera inside. According to the real-time sales situation, a staff member will contact to replenish the goods, "If the freezer is empty and put some other brands of water, wow haha, the other side will turn a blind eye, but when replenishing the goods, the other party also hinted that the water is selling well now, and advised us to prepare more goods in the warehouse."
But they also said that although Wahaha attaches great importance to end point sales this year and puts all its efforts into offline freezers, in the past five years, Nongfu Spring’s freezers have been all over major convenience stores, firmly occupying the prime area of convenience stores in prime locations. Even if Wahaha starts to make efforts from now on, it is impossible to form a match in the short term, let alone in this kind of offline sales, which requires relatively heavy assets such as self-purchased freezers.
In addition to the freezer sales of giants such as Nongfu Spring, Wahaha, and Mengniu up the ante end point, some beverage companies that are not so "big business" have also shown an aggressive attitude, and have made a lot of efforts in the display contract and frozen delivery.
Boss Lin of Jingzhou, Hubei, described the odd-even faction that in the past three years, the most active regional agency brand he has come into contact with is (), whether it is the placement of its own freezers or the subsidy for renting freezers. Naturally, Dongpeng Beverage’s products have also been placed in the most prominent position in the beverage area.
"Dongpeng’s hydrating products are also being promoted vigorously this year. According to the current promotion efforts, we will naturally put them in a place where consumers can see them at a glance. Customers can pay for a bottle before checking out, and there will be very good sales in summer."
While brands continue to increase their investment in offline channels, and products are seen by consumers, there will naturally be some brands that have been squeezed into less prominent positions due to insufficient investment.
As a child growing up in central China, () has been one of the must-have drinks for the post-90s generation since childhood, but after this round of offline visits, the star products that have been placed in the middle of the shelves in memory seem to be "hidden". If you don’t pay special attention, it is difficult to see the plum garden placed in the corner.
"It’s normal, other brands have freezers and subsidies, so they must put their products in the most conspicuous position. Although the purchase volume of Plum Garden is OK, they are all old faces, especially in summer, almost no one will choose Plum Garden." When asked about the offline channel situation of Plum Garden, Boss Lin also said that it is just a normal sales relationship, and there is no subsidy from other brands to make him excited. "If there are not many people coming to buy, Plum Garden will not continue to buy."
02 Wahaha and Dongpeng Beverages, storming the hinterland of Nongfu Spring?
The battle for freezers among beverage companies is actually nothing new, but Wahaha’s strategic adjustment to offline channels in 2024 is even more eye-catching. Looking into the reasons, it is not difficult to find that this is not only a realistic choice to deal with fierce competition, but also a long-term layout to adapt to consumer trends and reshape market position.
After the death of Wahaha founder Zong Qinghou, Wahaha was pushed to the forefront of the traffic trend, its products were sold out, and the brand also ushered in an unprecedented "super traffic".
But just after the online products were bought out by consumers who were "wild consumption", everyone also found the shortcomings of Wahaha, that is, the end point of the offline is not complete or even impossible to see Wahaha’s related products. Instead, Nongfu Spring, the "target" set up by public opinion, has deeply controlled all convenience stores.
And Zong Fuli, who took over Wahaha, naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity.
According to media reports, a letter to all sales staff "circulated on the Internet in mid-March, which mentioned:" Now is the moment when Wahaha receives unprecedented attention; to fight the end point distribution surprise battle, the goal is to "let everyone see and buy Wahaha products".
When it comes to specific operations, Wahaha will make every effort to increase the delivery of freezers, with the intention of reconstructing offline sales channels. However, Wahaha, which has always adopted the joint sales model and has not been closely related to extensive end points, may still be difficult to match compared with Nongfu Spring, which has been deeply cultivating offline channels for many years.
According to Nongfu Spring’s financial report, as early as 2019, Nongfu Spring has shown a strong channel control. Its products cover more than 2.37 million end point retail outlets across the country, and more than 360,000 freezers are displayed at various sales end points. And in the next two years, Yuan Qi Sen Lin played a vigorous "freezer" defense battle.
At that time, Yuan Qi Sen Lin offered a high subsidy policy, encouraged cooperative stores to dedicate their custom freezers, and even took tough measures such as deducting display fees for stores that violated the display agreement, aiming to exclusively occupy the refrigerated display space of the core retail point, aiming at Nongfu Spring.
And Nongfu Spring also launched the "God of Wealth" campaign, under the banner of "Seize the competing freezers and buy back our freezers". For stores that dare to put Nongfu Spring sparkling water in the freezers of competitors, it has launched a radical promotion method of "placing a bottle and giving away a bottle of Changbai mineral water".
Under the continuous up the ante, Nongfu Spring with strong funds finally won, and in this round of sparkling water dispute, continued to increase the investment in freezers. As of now, it is roughly estimated that Nongfu Spring has more than 800,000 freezers, and they are all "golden" positions in the round of competition.
For Wahaha, which officially opened full offline sales in 2024, it is still too difficult to cross the mountain built by 800,000 freezers.
In addition to Wahaha, Dongpeng Beverage has also shown a high degree of enthusiasm and decisive determination in the delivery of freezers, making it the most radical force among non-giant beverage companies.
Dongpeng Beverage, which started with low-cost, rebate marketing, has focused on channels after gaining initial recognition from consumers, the most important of which is the placement of offline freezers.
At an investor exchange meeting at the end of last year, when asked "what is the goal of the future freezer launch?" Dongpeng Beverage said: "The company has accumulated more than 100,000 freezers in the city and will continue to increase investment next year. We have always believed that frozen is the best display, display is the best advertising. With the increase in the number of outlets and the development of multiple categories, the company will continue to increase the number of freezers."
The odd-even faction has also contacted Dongpeng Beverage. When asked about the pace of freezer placement in 2024, Dongpeng Beverage responded that the company’s offline network expansion has always maintained a high growth rate, of which freezer placement is the core strategic move. This strategic direction will not change in the next few years.
The other party also said that in view of the limited channel resources, the company that takes the lead in large-scale installation of freezers will control the sales initiative. Based on this insight, Dongpeng Beverage made it clear that the deployment of freezers in the next few years will be promoted at a more rapid pace, and all freezers will be purchased by themselves, rather than leased, to ensure full control of the freezer network and long-term return on investment.
In addition, Dongpeng Beverage revealed that in addition to the existing functional beverage business, the second and third growth curve products that the company is actively cultivating will also rely on this growing network of self-owned freezers to achieve market penetration and rise. Through the refined operation of the self-owned freezer channel, these new products can not only reach consumers efficiently, but also quickly gain market share.
It can be said that in the face of the intense battle for freezers, various beverage companies are making efforts to gain an advantage in this key battle related to the restructuring of the market, but offline channels have formed a preliminary pattern in the past few years. The competition in 2024 will also become more intense under the joint promotion of new entrants and players.
03 is written at the end
In 2024, whether it is the old giant Wahaha’s turn to a strong attack, or the continued aggressive advance of Dongpeng Beverage in the non-giant camp, both reveal the increasingly irreplaceable strategic value of the freezer in the cold drink market.
However, in the face of the already formed channel landscape and increasingly fierce competition, whether new entrants and players can break down inherent barriers and achieve a counterattack in market share remains full of unknowns and challenges.
This battle for freezers is not only a test of the brand’s financial strength and channel control, but also a deep baptism of the company’s strategic vision and market resilience.
At present, the freezer is no longer just a container for refrigerated drinks, but an important carrier for brands to reach consumers and shape brand perception. And in this battle for the future direction of the cold drink arena, whoever can win the freezer battlefield will be able to lay a solid foundation for brand victory.
