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reporter wang ziyang yan xia li yunqi

intern guo xujun

a "quiet" change announced that zong fuli officially "took over" and became the chairman of hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd.

on august 31, tianyancha showed that hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd. had recently undergone industrial and commercial changes. zong qinghou resigned as the legal representative, chairman and general manager, and was replaced by zong fuli. at the same time, zhang hui, guo hong and other senior executives withdrew from the positions of directors and supervisors, and ye yaqiong, fei junwei and others were added as directors, and wang guoxiang was appointed as director and deputy general manager.

tianyancha also shows that zong qinghou has withdrawn from the ranks of shareholders. hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd. is currently jointly held by three shareholders: hangzhou shangcheng district cultural, commercial and tourism investment holding group co., ltd., zong fuli, and the hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd. grassroots trade union joint committee (employee stock ownership association), with shareholding ratios of 46%, 29.4% and 24.6% respectively.

taking on the role of chairman and taking over shares is zong fuli's latest response in a silent but formal way after she was caught up in "resignation" rumors in july this year. it also announced that zong fuli has become the "head of the family" of hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "wahaha").

01

zong fuli officially took charge and was caught in a "resignation storm"

before becoming the chairman of wahaha, zong fuli, the daughter of zong qinghou and the second-generation successor, faced a "resignation" vortex in the middle of this year.

on july 18 this year, a "resignation letter" from zong fuli, vice chairman of wahaha group, circulated on the internet. its content showed: "recently, the people's government of shangcheng district, hangzhou city and some shareholders of hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd. have questioned the rationality of my management of wahaha group since the death of chairman zong qinghou, which made it impossible for me to continue to perform my management responsibilities for wahaha group and its holding companies. therefore, i have decided to resign from the positions of vice chairman and general manager of wahaha group from now on and no longer participate in its management. i have sent the above-mentioned resignation letter to hangzhou wahaha group co., ltd. and all its shareholders, and also urged the relevant parties to take a responsible attitude and re-elect the general manager in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the articles of association in a timely manner and have him perform management duties to ensure the normal operation of wahaha group and safeguard the common interests of wahaha group, customers and all employees in accordance with the law." at that time, the person in charge of the relevant department of shangcheng district, hangzhou city said: "the relevant situation is still being further verified, and someone will contact the reporter for further feedback later."

on the evening of july 22, wahaha's official website released a statement saying that in order to ensure the company's stable and healthy development, after friendly consultation among shareholders, ms. zong fuli decided to continue to perform the relevant management responsibilities of wahaha group. wahaha also expressed its gratitude for the recent attention from all walks of life and the media, and apologized for occupying media resources.

from july 22 to august 31, zong fuli's position was promoted from vice chairman to chairman, and she became one of the three major shareholders, which is also a strong response to the previous "resignation" rumors.

public information shows that zong fuli entered the food and beverage industry in 2004 and has served as president of hongsheng beverage group since 2007, leading hongsheng to become one of the top 500 private enterprises in china. since april 2018, zong fuli has served as the director of the brand public relations department of wahaha group, and has served as the deputy general manager of wahaha group sales company since march 2020. in december 2021, zong fuli became the vice chairman and general manager of wahaha group, responsible for daily work.

it is worth noting that after the death of wahaha founder zong qinghou in february this year, zong fuli has taken over several companies under her father's name. recently, zong fuli is still taking over companies under her father's name. not long ago, she just took over lhasa wahaha food and beverage marketing co., ltd. as the legal representative, director and manager.

tianyancha app shows that as of august 31, zong fuli served in 181 companies, including hangzhou wahaha qili food group co., ltd., guangzhou hengfeng beverage co., ltd., hangzhou wahaha e-commerce co., ltd., etc., all of which are subsidiaries or upstream and downstream companies of the wahaha group, covering beverages, food, e-commerce, logistics, packaging, marketing, advertising, investment and other fields. zong fuli mostly served as chairman, director, manager and other positions.

02

where is wahaha heading after the “huge traffic”?

after firmly sitting in the "top chair", zong fuli urgently needs to use her own strength to win recognition from shareholders and the market.

previously, as a national old brand, wahaha's sales were "lukewarm". data revealed by wahaha at the 2023 annual commendation conference showed that wahaha's performance in 2023 was about 50 billion yuan. on the list of "top 500 chinese private enterprises in 2023" released by the all-china federation of industry and commerce, wahaha's sales performance in 2022 was 51.202 billion yuan, a decline of 700 million yuan compared to 2021. as early as 2013, wahaha achieved a revenue of 78.28 billion yuan.

in february this year, after the death of zong qinghou, the founder of wahaha, a wave of remembrance and nostalgia caused wahaha's sales to surge. with the blessing of "traffic", wahaha became a hot-selling product for a while, and it was sold out in many areas. according to jd supermarket data, the sales volume of bottled drinking water in the first half of this year increased by 30% year-on-year. wahaha's sales in the past six months increased by 4 times compared with the same period last year, and its market share also increased significantly.

so, after this wave of "huge traffic", what kind of changes and breakthroughs will wahaha face in the "zong fuli era"? according to a wahaha insider, "zong fuli is well versed in production and marketing. she not only has rich experience in production and operation, industrial chain building, and corporate management, but also has a deep insight into the consumer market. she has led and presided over many important brand building projects and made important contributions to the brand upgrade of wahaha."

zong fuli has a clear development plan for 2024. she proposed to truly open up new sales channels, which should be both "comprehensive" and "focused."

at the "2024 national sales work conference" attended together with zong qinghou at the end of 2023, zong fuli stated that after 36 years of development, wahaha has woven a dense and comprehensive product network, with more than 200 products in more than ten categories covering packaged drinking water, protein drinks, carbonated drinks, tea drinks, fruit and vegetable juice drinks, coffee drinks, etc., which can meet the needs of consumers of different age groups and different places of residence. in this regard, we should do a two-pronged approach of new and old products, and adopt multiple measures to launch a "combination punch" of products in order to seize opportunities and release advantages.

at the meeting, zong fuli proposed that in 2024, wahaha will focus on health, adhere to the big health development strategy, and establish a characteristic product chain and sales network.

previously, zong qinghou attached great importance to the manufacturer-distributor relationship, which is also what zong fuli is inheriting and continuing. at the above-mentioned meeting, wahaha also announced the 2024 distributor annual reward plan on the spot, revealing that it will further increase incentives for outstanding distributors, expand the scope of rewards and increase the intensity of rewards, and plan to give out 100 million yuan to reward outstanding distributors.

at the same time, zong fuli is also promoting the innovation of wahaha products. wahaha has also plunged into the hot sugar-free tea this year. on march 5, the douyin account of wahaha's official flagship store released a video, launching four new flavors of wahaha sugar-free pure tea.

as a veteran in "brand public relations", what new brand connotations will zong fuli inject into wahaha after taking power? what "new ideas" will this old company bring to the market?