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a reporter from the daily economic news found that on august 30, wahaha’s official website released a "freezer maintenance and market launch demand tender announcement", involving the maintenance of 61,735 freezers of different years and the tender for 100,000 smart freezers.

image source: webpage screenshot

zong fuli has increased offline freezer investment since she took over wahaha in march this year. now that wahaha has launched a freezer bidding project, how far is she from her goal of reshaping offline channels? in the fiercely competitive soft drink market, what are wahaha's chances of success?

competition is fierce and freezer placement is a "battlefield"

wahaha's official website disclosed that it currently has more than 3 million sales outlets. now, under the attention of public opinion, wahaha has taken advantage of the situation and increased the number of offline freezers.

in early march, according to media reports, wahaha was investing heavily in offline freezers to speed up the reconstruction of offline channels. china entrepreneur magazine said that this was "zong fuli's 'first shot'".

in mid-march, a reporter from the daily economic news called the yunnan wahaha office as an entrepreneur to inquire about cooperation on freezer deployment. the relevant staff said at the time: "we have recently deployed a lot of freezers. if we run out of stock, we can wait for the next batch."

judging from the bidding announcement disclosed this time, wahaha's offline freezer deployment is still continuing.

according to frost & sullivan data, in 2019, only 6% of the beverage industry's sales came from e-commerce channels, and 94% came from offline channels such as supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants.

the high temperature in the summer of 2024 has intensified the competition in the beverage market, and the price war in the market has heated up. the price of some bottled water has been reduced to 1 yuan, or even lower.

freezers are a battleground for soft drink companies.

in early august, dongpeng special drinks said in response to an investor survey: "in terms of expenses, it is mainly the placement of freezers in channels. the entire industry is scrambling to seize the 'freezing point'. we will continue this action in the next few years and take frozen displays to the extreme. in the first half of this year, we moved up the placement of freezers, and the freezer expenses in the second quarter decreased, which increased the profit margin in the second quarter."

zong fuli reshapes offline business and increases freezer investment

on september 1, regarding the bidding information of wahaha's freezer, a reporter from the daily economic news called the staff in charge of the bidding as a consultant. the person said that the specific information is only open to companies that meet the requirements of the bidding announcement.

on the same day, zhu danpeng, a chinese food industry analyst, said in an interview with the daily economic news: "for beverage companies, no freezers means no sales. the entire area, quantity and quality of freezer display determine the final sales volume. zong fuli certainly saw this deeply, so wahaha's entire freezer display must keep up, otherwise wahaha will not be able to compete with other brands."

however, is the demand for wahaha terminal freezers really that great?

on september 2, the reporter called the wahaha zhejiang office as an entrepreneur. the staff of the office said that the freezers put out by the manufacturer are required to only put their own products, not only wahaha, but other brands will also have such a requirement. "we put in freezers, and we definitely require our products. but in the actual operation, the owners of the terminal retail stores cannot only put our products. for example, those stores with several freezers may be able to put their own freezers in their own freezers. products of the manufacturer, but some small terminals cannot put several freezers. it is certain that one freezer contains both the products of the brand to which the freezer belongs and more or less products of other manufacturers." the above staff said.

regarding the deployment of freezers, the office staff said: "in 2024, there will be more than double the number of freezers last year, and it will increase further in 2025 and cover the whole country. at present, terminal sales are still good."

in addition, the reporter also consulted a staff member of wahaha's office in a southwestern province as an entrepreneur. the staff member revealed: "the freezers are purchased directly from the hangzhou headquarters. it seems that we need to purchase freezers this year. they will directly purchase them and ship them to us. we have to invest in the entire guizhou market. the demand this year is still relatively large. the freezers for 2024 have been invested, and the demand will definitely increase in 2025. what we are purchasing now is the plan for 25 years."

but overall, zhu danpeng believes that the deployment of freezers, especially in first- and second-tier cities, has reached saturation, leaving not much room for wahaha. in the future, beverage brands should still focus on upgrading and iterating the taste and quality of beverages, which is the long-term strategy for development.

daily economic news