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Our reporter Zhou Mengting (chinatimes.net.cn) reports from Beijing

The Paris Olympics is halfway through, and not only the global audience but also many corporate brands are paying close attention to this luxurious sports feast. In order to seize the great opportunity of Olympic publicity, many Chinese companies such as White Elephant Food, Bawang Chaji, and Heytea went to Paris and opened stores at the "gate of the stadium."

Judging from these brands, they basically have experience in going overseas or operating overseas. The current domestic market competition is extremely fierce, and the domestic consumption environment has been relatively sluggish in the past two years. For various reasons, expanding overseas markets has become the choice of many Chinese companies. However, in the eyes of industry insiders, it is not easy to gain a foothold overseas. Local consumer habits, preferences, supply chain management, etc. are all issues that companies need to consider.

Chinese brands gather in Paris

With the opening of the Olympic Games, Paris attracted audiences, media people and tourists from all over the world. During this period, many Chinese brands also took advantage of the Olympic spirit and appeared on the streets of France.

White Elephant Food, which has become popular on social networks in the past two years, has opened a White Elephant Noodle Soup Restaurant on Saint Martin Street. A reporter from the China Times learned from relevant staff of White Elephant Food that the White Elephant Noodle Soup Restaurant is a limited pop-up store during the Paris Olympics. It is reported that during the event, White Elephant will also invite sports and cultural celebrities including many world champions to visit the store. Among them, the famous volleyball coach Lang Ping and Asia's first UFC world champion Zhang Weili will start a live interview at the White Elephant Noodle Soup Restaurant as the "White Elephant Chinese Noodle Champion Experience Officer" and cheer for the athletes together with the White Elephant Chinese Noodle.

In addition to White Elephant Food, another instant noodle brand, Master Kong, has also opened a noodle restaurant in Paris. The official video account of Master Kong Holdings' instant noodles, Master Kong Food Diary, released a video on August 2, saying that the Master Kong Paris noodle restaurant was officially opened.

At the same time, new tea brands Bawang Cha Ji and Heytea also opened pop-up stores in Paris. It is understood that on July 5th local time, Heytea’s pop-up store "Heytea Paris Game Viewing Tea Room" officially opened in Paris, France, and took the lead in firing the first shot of the new tea brand's Olympic marketing; Bawang Cha Ji followed closely behind. This reporter learned from Bawang Cha Ji that on July 22, on the eve of the Paris sports event that was about to ignite global passion, Bawang Cha Ji Paris TEA BAR offline flash appeared in France. The event will last for 20 days.

"On July 22, we received nearly 2,000 people, more than half of whom were tourists from all over the world. During the entire flash mob event, we will receive tens of thousands of people in total." Bawang Tea Princess told our reporter.

Regarding the fact that Chinese companies have generally adopted the pop-up store format to appear in Paris, Lin Yue, chief consultant of Lingyan Management Consulting and analyst of the catering industry, told our reporter that "taking advantage of the popularity of the Olympics is an opportunity that no fast-moving consumer goods brand should miss. The pop-up store format has relatively low costs and is more likely to attract traffic from young groups, which has an immediate effect on brand exposure and sales."

Breaking out the “involution”

The current domestic food and beverage industry is extremely competitive. Take the instant noodle industry where White Elephant Food and Master Kong are located as an example. In addition to these two instant noodle companies, there are also Uni-President, Jinmailang, small and medium-sized brands represented by Synear and Huafeng, and foreign brands represented by Samyang and Nongshim.

In a situation where competition within the industry is already fierce, the survival space of the instant noodle market has also been squeezed in recent years by the impact of other convenient fast foods such as hot and sour noodles and self-heating hot pot.

Take Master Kong as an example. From 2017 to 2022, the revenue of Master Kong Holdings' instant noodle business increased by 16.64% in 2020 due to the impact of the epidemic. The revenue growth rate in other years remained below 6%. At the same time, its net profit from instant noodles declined by 26.67% and 31.42% in 2021 and 2022 respectively. In 2023, the revenue of its instant noodle business fell again by 2.84% year-on-year. In addition, the instant noodle business of Uni-President China is also not optimistic. According to the financial report, the company's instant noodle business revenue in 2023 was 9.594 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.65% from 10.62 billion yuan in 2022.

In the new tea beverage field, "volume" has become a synonym in recent years. Whether it is the price range of less than 10 yuan, the price range of 10-20 yuan, or the price range of 20-40 yuan, there are many mature brands. In order to quickly seize the market, "expanding scale and sprinting to 10,000 stores" has become the goal pursued by a number of new tea beverage brands. Brands such as Gu Ming, Cha Bai Dao, Shanghai Auntie, Shu Yi Shao Xian Cao, and Tian Lala have all shouted the slogan of sprinting to 10,000 stores.

According to a research report released by Wanlian Securities on June 27, in 2022, brands with more than 5,000 stores in my country's freshly brewed tea beverage market will account for nearly 15%, nearly three times that of 2020, and the proportion of chain brand stores will increase significantly. In addition to the scale of the volume, listing has also become one of the main areas of competition for new tea beverage brands. At the beginning of this year, Mixue Bingcheng, Guming, and Shanghai Aunty successively submitted prospectuses to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In April this year, Cha Baidao was successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the second new tea beverage brand to be successfully listed after Nayuki's Tea.

At the same time as the competition in the market is involution, coupled with the increasingly cautious consumption level in the domestic market, going overseas has become a breakthrough for many companies. Lin Yue told our reporter that the domestic market competition is becoming increasingly fierce, the market saturation is getting higher and higher, price wars are everywhere, the resources of core city business districts are becoming increasingly tight, and operating profits are facing greater challenges. Although going overseas is not easy, it is relatively a blue ocean with more potential.

“Olympic Marketing” adds support

Under the strong attraction of the vast overseas markets, many Chinese companies have chosen to "go overseas", hoping to further expand their development space by expanding overseas markets.

Our reporter learned from Baiyang Foods staff that its overseas business has been ongoing. It is understood that Baiyang's instant noodles, dried noodles and other products have been sold to 76 countries and regions. In the European and American markets, Baiyang's Chinese channel laying rate has exceeded 90%. Specifically in France, 95% of Chinese supermarkets have Baiyang products. Other instant noodle brands such as Jinmailang also have a special section on international trade contact information on their official websites.

New tea brands are one of the main areas for going overseas. Bawang Chaji, Heytea, Nayuki's Tea, and Chabaidao are continuing to go overseas. It is understood that in November 2018, Heytea opened its first overseas store in Singapore, becoming the first new tea brand to expand overseas, and has since begun the development of overseas business and the internationalization of new tea. In 2023, Heytea accelerated its overseas business layout and increased its investment in the European and American markets. It has successively entered the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the United States and other countries, and opened its first stores in high-potential cities such as London and New York.

Our reporter learned from Bawang Cha Ji that on August 2 this year, Bawang Cha Ji's first store in Singapore opened, and another two directly-operated stores in Singapore will also open in August. As of now, Bawang Cha Ji has more than 100 stores overseas, currently concentrated in the Malaysian, Singaporean and Thai markets.

In addition, other Chinese companies such as Haidilao and Xiabu Xiabu have also launched an impact overseas. In order to develop its overseas business, Haidilao spun off and listed its overseas operating company, Tehai International. At the same time, in June this year, Haidilao's former CEO resigned and took over as CEO of Tehai International to increase Haidilao's overseas business. This reporter learned from relevant staff of Xiabu Xiabu that Xiabu Xiabu opened its first store in Singapore on January 25, 2023. So far, there are 3 Coucou and 1 Xiabu Xiabu in Singapore, and all restaurants adopt a direct-operated model.

However, the development of overseas business for Chinese food and catering enterprises is not all smooth sailing. Xiabu Xiabu staff told our reporter that the main problems faced by catering enterprises going overseas are local employment and business regulations, as well as differences in cost, culture and taste. Haidilao staff also told our reporter that in the process of developing overseas business, enterprises need to conduct in-depth market research on target overseas markets, understand the needs, preferences, consumption habits and market conditions of local consumers, determine product positioning and market strategies, and also take into account supply chain management to cope with the complexity and challenges of overseas operations, and consider establishing localized production bases overseas or finding local suppliers to optimize costs and improve cycle supply efficiency.

"Brand marketing activities during the Olympics can play a role in strengthening the brand image, which is a plus for increasing brand empowerment and improving the supply chain. Olympic marketing can not only give companies a healthier brand image, but also greatly increase consumers' trust and favorability towards them." Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng told our reporter.

Editor-in-charge: Huang Xingli Chief Editor: Han Feng