According to conservative estimates, the annual output value of potato chips market in China has reached tens of billions of yuan. When the cake grows bigger, naturally more people will compete. Take compound potato chips as an example. At present, the annual sales volume is about 1- 1.5 million tons. Among them, the domestic output is about 5,000 tons, and the main brands are Kobik, Dabaobao and Yuanyuan. The rest of the market share is divided by foreign brands such as Pinke, Xerox, Tecuixing and Baileshun, and the competition is fierce. At present, the annual per capita potato consumption in China is about 18kg, of which 90% are fresh potatoes, and the potato processing rate only accounts for about 4% of the total. According to the relevant statistics of the United Nations, the western European countries with the highest per capita potato consumption can reach an average of 90 kilograms per year. In contrast, the consumption of potatoes in China is relatively low. In other words, the potato chips market in China still has great potential.
It is precisely because of coveting the broad development space of China potato chips market that Pinke potato chips, which has been ranked first in the world for a long time, began to enter the China market as early as 1997 and embarked on its uneven road. So far, it happens to be the tenth year. As a pioneer of foreign original food entering China market, we can read some intriguing contents from Pinke.
Opportunities across the ocean
Pinke potato chips is a brand owned by Procter & Gamble, a world-renowned enterprise. From the birth of Pinker 1970 to its entry into the China market, only two factories in the United States and Belgium are producing Pinker potato chips, with an annual output of about 50 million boxes. Advanced production technology gives Pinke potato chips three unique brand advantages: curved potato chip packaging, unique canned food and crispy taste.
According to an insider who used to work in Procter & Gamble, Pinke potato chips first entered the China market as a natural cycle of stragglers. Although there were few advertisements and promotions, Pinke gradually became a well-known brand among young consumers in China, especially white-collar workers, and won a group of loyal "fans" in some cities with high degree of opening to the outside world in China due to its early entry into China market, hard-to-imitate technology, high-quality selected raw materials and unique packaging at that time.
Sensing the market opportunity from the other side of the ocean, P&G officially imported Pinke potato chips, mainly from Belgium, to the China market through customs on 1997.
Sell at a reduced price
Although there was a certain foundation before entering the market formally, Pinke's development in China market was not smooth, and it was faced with double pressures from the product itself and the market.
First of all, due to tariffs, transportation costs, and increased packaging costs to prevent potato chips from being broken, Pinke potato chips have been put on the shelves of major supermarkets, but the high price makes it the "emperor's daughter", and it is not easy to "marry". At that time, the average selling price of 1.80g paper-tube potato chips was 1.5 yuan, which was much higher than that of domestic potato chips with the same specification 1 in 3.5 yuan. Price has become the first high wall that prevents customers from opening the China market. This problem is also a big test that many original imported foods must face after entering the China market.
Secondly, because most of the more than 500 sales networks owned by Procter & Gamble at that time were engaged in daily chemical products, and a series of problems such as internal management, the enthusiasm of retailers to distribute Pinke products could not be improved.
How to close the gap with ordinary domestic consumers? P&G adopted the simplest method, which is to reduce the price. The price of potato chips packed in paper tubes180g dropped from 15 yuan to 1 1.2 yuan, and then to 10.9 yuan. However, it seems that a series of measures to reduce prices have not improved Pinke's sales in China. The reporter once did a field sampling survey in Chengdu Hongqi Shopping Mall. After comparing the marked prices of several potato chips on the shelves, the reporter found that the price of 180g paper-tube potato chips was 15.2 yuan, that of 120g paper-tube potato chips produced by Shanghai Pepsi Company was 8.4 yuan, and that of1kloc-0/0g paper-tube potato chips produced by Fujian Dali Food was only 5.6 yuan. Compared with other brands, Pinke potato chips still have no advantage in price.
At the same time, with the rapid development of potato chip technology and the introduction of foreign technology in recent years, there are more and more brands in China potato chip market, which can compete with customers in packaging and taste. And Pinke's competitor in the global market, Pepsi's Xerox potato chips, seems to be playing a game of chess on the issue of product price. In the United States, Xerox's bagged products compete with Pink's bottled products. After entering the China market, Xerox used the successful experience of local products for reference, and adopted a drum with a smaller diameter than Pinke, which was more convenient for China consumers to eat. With bagged products and barreled products, Xerox has the dual strength to compete with customers in China market. In addition, the price of Xerox classic bagged products is only 3.5 yuan, which is obviously superior to Pinke. Price and tactics don't work, and customers need to find a new way out.
Soil production
At the beginning of 2002, PepsiCo, Pinke's strong competitor, made a big acquisition in China and acquired Beijing Xingyun Industrial Co., Ltd., which produces potato chips. It is reported that everyone's market share at 200 1 is even slightly higher than that of Pinke. PepsiCo has covered the high-end and low-end products in the potato chip market with human resources, and further improved its product line.
On the other hand, domestic food manufacturers are also eyeing customers. They mainly occupy a certain low-end market share by virtue of their price advantage. For example, the bottled potato chips of Dali Food are about 1/3 less than those of Pinke, but the price is only half of that of Pinke. Fujian Pan Pan and other enterprises have also launched the same type of products.
At present, the annual sales volume of Pinke potato chips in China is about 5,000-8,000 tons, and these potato chips sold in China market were all imported before 2006. In order to reduce costs, fundamentally improve the competitiveness of products in China market, seek partners and implement localized OEM production, which has become a problem that customers must consider. After nearly three years of investigation and negotiation, Pinke finally reached a cooperative relationship with Fujian Qinqin Co., Ltd., and all the required plant equipment was designated by P&G, with a total investment of about 654.38 billion yuan. Since 2006, Fujian Qinqin has officially produced bagged potato chips with original flavor and tomato flavor and put them on the market. Qinqin has thus become the third largest factory in the world for pinke. Industry analysts believe that by setting up a production base in China, Pinke not only reduced the production cost of potato chips, but also exempted import tariffs and freight charges. At present, the retail price of 80g potato chips produced by Qinqin is about 4.5 yuan, which is obviously more affinity than the earlier 10.9 yuan. At the same time, Pink adopted the principle of walking on two legs. On the one hand, Pinke keeps selling potato chips imported from Belgium, on the other hand, it also increases the promotion of locally produced potato chips.
Next step: is it pure or close to the people?
As the vanguard of imported food, Pinke has entered the China market for ten years and has become one of the best brands in the high-end potato chips market in China. The road it has traveled is not smooth. With P&G's strong sales network, the customer distribution rate of imported food is very high. The difficulties and problems encountered in its entry and development are also likely to be encountered by other imported foods. However, adhering to the "localization" route has become its core strategy to enter and take root in the China market. However, consumers' tastes are becoming more and more picky. The price of locally produced potato chips has come down, but the market reaction is that consumers think that the taste is far from the previous barreled products. After careful consumers buy and taste at home, they have carefully studied the trademarks, and more serious loyal fans have consulted relevant materials on the Internet, and finally found the difference between them.
It seems that how to balance the "purity" in taste and the "closeness to the people" in price is still an urgent problem for imported food.