It has been more than a month since the end of Double 11, and major beer companies have not made any high-profile performance shows. So far, only Tsingtao Beer (600600.SH) and Carlsberg have announced their sales during Double 11. Tsingtao Beer said that during this year's Double 11, its beer category brand sales on the five major platforms of Tmall, JD.com, Douyin, Pinduoduo, and Vipshop ranked first; Carlsberg said that during Double 11, the total exposure exceeded 110 million, ranking at the top of the beer category list on the three major platforms of Tmall, JD.com, and Douyin.
According to data provided by the alcoholic beverage service platform, during Double 11, the overall sales of the platform's beer category increased by 23% year-on-year, and the top five brands in sales were Heineken, Tsingtao, Budweiser, Snow, and Wusu (ranked in no particular order).
Affected by the macroeconomic environment and weather, the beer business this year is not ideal. Even the four leading listed companies, including Budweiser Asia Pacific (1876.HK) and Chongqing Beer (600132.SH), recorded a decline in revenue and net profit in the third quarter.
However, a dark horse has emerged in the sub-category of beer - tea-flavored beer.
According to the Double 11 alcohol data released by JD Supermarket, the transaction volume of tea-flavored beer increased by 5324% year-on-year from 8 pm on October 14 to November 11. During the same period, the sales volume of 1919 tea-flavored beer increased by as much as 10390% year-on-year.
When the overall beer market is sluggish, how can tea-flavored beer break through the siege? Douyin sales exceeded 190,000 orders, and some leading anchors are also bringing goods
Ms. Zhao, who runs a restaurant in Shandong, has observed that many customers have recently bought different brands of Xinyang Maojian beer to drink in the store, and many stores in Qingdao are also selling Xinyang Maojian craft beer.
Xinyang Maojian beer comes from the Zhenxi Black Beauty series of beer, a local old-fashioned enterprise in Shandong. Zhenxi Black Beauty Beer was founded in 2005, and the group has an annual beer production capacity of 600,000 tons. At present, more than 50 beer storage centers have been established in more than 20 provinces including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Henan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangdong, Hainan, etc.
In August, Zhenxi Black Beauty series beer launched Chinese craft beer with many flavors such as Longjing Green Tea Beer, Jasmine Tea Beer, Xinyang Maojian Beer, Tieguanyin Beer, and Rose Craft Beer. The prices of 500ml and 1L specifications are 9.9 yuan/can and 21 yuan/can respectively. The customer service staff of Zhenxi Black Beauty Series Beer Douyin Store told Times Finance that the company is currently promoting Chinese craft beer.
Times Finance observed that Zhenxi Black Beauty Series Beer Douyin Store has been on the Douyin Wine Cargo List in the top ten for many days recently. At present, the product with the highest sales volume in the store is Xinyang Maojian Beer (1L*6 cans/box), and the page shows that 150,000 cans have been sold.
After the intensive store broadcast of Zhenxi Black Beauty Beer for several months, the voice of Xinyang Maojian Beer has further expanded.
"Zhenxi Black Beauty Beer has developed a Chinese craft beer series, adding tea leaves to the beer. This product has accumulated more than 190,000 orders on the Douyin platform, and has been ranked in the top 3 of the Douyin craft beer hit list." During the Double 11 period. With the help of Douyin live broadcast and the Double 11 stage, the sales of tea-flavored beer soared.
Relevant people told Times Finance that tea-flavored beer is also sold in some provinces, including brands such as Venus, Qing Master, Locomotive, and Chaoli Edition.
It is worth noting that the surge in sales of tea-flavored beer is related to the low base last year. Relevant people said, "Because tea-flavored beer had almost no sales last year, the year-on-year growth data is exaggerated. According to current data, the sales of tea-flavored beer in the beer category on our platform is still very small."
After Xinyang Maojian beer became popular, imitators followed suit. According to incomplete statistics from Times Finance, there are currently more than ten brands of Xinyang Maojian beer on the market, and they are extremely similar in terms of outer packaging. Most of these brands are from Shandong. Some brands have their own factories, while some brands entrust factories to process on their behalf.
Many consumers pointed out that Art Craft Beer from Chongqing was the first to invent the product. "Art Craft Beer was authorized by the Xinyang Tea Association in January. After three months of research and development, it was launched in May and sold well. The brands that followed were all imitations."
On November 19, Times Finance asked the customer service staff of Art Craft Beer Taobao store about the origin of the product. From the pictures provided by the customer service, it can be seen that Art Craft Beer Xinyang Maojian Beer is also commissioned for processing. The customer service staff said that the factory specializes in high-end craft beer and has quality assurance.
Regarding the question of who is the first to create it, the above customer service staff said, "We launched it in May, but it has not been sold enough. Zhenxi Black Beauty started selling more than a month later than us." However, the staff added that there is no question of whether it is authentic or not, and each brand has its own taste.
In fact, tea-flavored beer is not a new product. As early as 2017, Beijing Machine, a well-known domestic craft beer brand, launched Longjing Beer before the Qingming Festival, which has a high acceptance and reputation in the industry. There are many tea-flavored beers on the market, including the Qingmei Pu'er of Fenghuaxueyue, a brand under Carlsberg, and the Guihua Shiyun of Tsingtao Beer, as well as niche craft beers such as Chier Oriental Jasmine.
An industry insider said in an interview with Times Finance that the popularity of tea-flavored beer can actually be traced. He visited offline craft beer bars and observed that Longjing wheat is one of the hottest items in offline craft beer bars in recent years, and is very popular with consumers.
"In terms of flavor, the tea flavor is more in line with the characteristics of wheat beer. Although there is still controversy over who first launched Xinyang Maojian beer, the product innovation is successful, and the market performance has confirmed this." The above person added.
Although the sales of tea-flavored beer have soared, it is an indisputable fact that the beer industry is generally sluggish. This year's hot summer and sports year cannot drive beer consumption.
On December 18, a strategic cooperation was reached with Snow Beer, and the offline experience store of Snow Craft Fresh Beer Bar officially entered the operation stage. As of the 28th of the month, the number of districts and counties signed with agents exceeded 90 in just ten days, covering 10 provinces!
As the peak performance of beer companies in a year, in the third quarter of this year, the revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company of Budweiser Asia Pacific, Tsingtao Beer, Chongqing Beer and Lanzhou Yellow River (000929.SZ) all declined. Among them, the net profit attributable to the parent company of Lanzhou Yellow River in the third quarter fell by 381.52% year-on-year, with a loss of 30.4841 million yuan.
| Beer manufacturers | Q3 2024 Revenue (RMB) |
Q3 2023 Revenue (RMB) |
Year-on-year change | 2024 Q3 Net profit attributable to parent company (100 million yuan) | 2023 Q3 Net profit attributable to parent company (100 million yuan) | Year-on-year change |
| Tsingtao Beer | 88.91 | 93.86 | -5.28% | 13.48 | 14.82 | -9.03% |
| Yanjing Beer | 48.00 | 47.91 | 0.19% | 5.30 | 4.42 | 19.84% |
| Chongqing Beer | 42.02 | 45.24 | -7.11% | 4.31 | 4.79 | -10.10% |
| Pearl River Beer | 19.01 | 17.78 | 6.89% | 3.07 | 2.77 | 10.60% |
| Huiquan Beer | 2.43 | 2.44 | -0.38% | 0.48 | 0.42 | 15.36% |
| ST Xifa | 1.06 | 0.98 | 8.01% | 0.14 | -0.13 | 203.76% |
| Lanzhou Yellow River | 0.63 | 0.66 | -4.94% | -0.30 | -0.06 | -381.52% |
A-share beer listed companies' third quarter performance. Data source: financial reports of various companies
Near the end of the year, the Double 11 promotion is also the last chance for beer companies to sprint performance. But so far, only Tsingtao Beer and Carlsberg have announced this year's Double 11 "battle report".
Tsingtao Beer said that from October 14 to November 11, its beer category brand sales ranked first on the five major e-commerce platforms. Specifically, in its official live broadcast room on Tmall, the sales of the full-cycle live broadcast room increased by 163% year-on-year, and the number of new members increased by 15 times year-on-year; in JD's self-operated live broadcast room, the sales of the full-cycle live broadcast room increased by 82% year-on-year. As for specific data such as sales volume, Tsingtao Beer did not disclose further.
According to Carlsberg China, during the Double 11 period, the total exposure of Carlsberg beer exceeded 110 million, ranking at the top of the beer category list on the three major platforms of Tmall, JD, and Douyin. Among them, the sales of Hongwusu Fengjing Canju new products TOP1, with cumulative sales of more than 5 million yuan on Double 11, and a total of more than 900,000 cans sold; 1664 mixed flavors (double flavors/triple flavors) Double 11 cumulative sales exceeded 3 million yuan, and a total of more than 300,000 cans sold.
