Is milk a drink or not?

Milk is not a beverage - This sentence seems a bit unreasonable. How could milk not be a beverage? In fact, dairy companies are very different from other beverage products in terms of overall marketing and promotion. Therefore, milk is indeed not a beverage in a sense. Here, the author hopes to make it clear that dairy companies cannot blindly learn from the market operation methods of beverage products.

Compared with the relatively mature market operation models of other beverages, the marketing of the dairy industry has just begun. Therefore, many milk companies spend a lot of money to introduce talents from various beverage companies. However, according to the author's understanding, the survival rate of these airborne troops is not very high. The main reason is that these airborne troops in the beverage industry do not understand the unique operating model of dairy companies. In the following article, the author will give a brief explanation of the main differences between the market operations of milk and other beverage industries that I know.

Differences in brand positioning

I don’t want to say more about the role of positioning. Good management and channel strategies can quickly improve a company’s competitiveness within a certain period of time, but if a company wants to maintain long-term The vitality of the brand, accurate brand positioning and effective brand communication system are indispensable guarantees.

Category determines positioning:

The premise of brand positioning is to confirm what category the product belongs to. Carbonated drinks have the positioning of carbonated drinks, tea drinks have the positioning of tea drinks, fruit juices have the positioning of juice, sports drinks have the positioning of sports drinks...

This sentence may seem like nonsense, but it is really Not many milk companies can accurately grasp this point. A certain master gave a well-known milk company the positioning of milk full of vitality. The master’s basis is: Vitality positioning has not been used in dairy companies before, and it is relatively new and unique. This positioning seems to have no problem, but in fact he just ignored one point - milk is not a drink. If you position the beverage as vitality and fashion, this is understandable, but the positioning basis of milk must be "healthy" from now on. No matter how manufacturers and local brands sell milk sources and technological content, the results remain the same, and the improvement of dairy industry brands is bound to be rooted in the concept of "health."

Imagine if consumers saw two kinds of milk in the supermarket - one said "vibrant" and the other said "from the prairie", which one would the consumer choose? ? If you want to choose energy, then there are countless other drinks to choose from, if you want to choose nutrition, then Savannah should be the best choice.

Consumption habits determine positioning:

Generally speaking, carbonated drinks, tea drinks, sports drinks, etc. are perceptual consumption, and consumers may be affected by advertising and terminal promotions at any time to change consumer products. category, consumption elasticity is relatively large. For milk, it falls more into the category of rational consumption. The main purpose of consumers buying milk is to ensure the health of themselves or their families. Once consumers choose milk consumption, it will be difficult to change their consumption habits for a long period of time. , consumption elasticity is small. Therefore, the positioning of dairy brands should also focus on rational positioning such as health, nutrition, and freshness.

Some people may ask, at present, many milk companies are oriented towards health, nutrition, integrity and security, but their market operation is not very ideal. Why is this?

They violate another principle of positioning - the brand must be distinguished from similar products, and this difference is meaningful to consumers. Currently, the three best-performing brands on the market - Yili, Guangming and Mengniu - are precisely the ones that are most clearly distinguished from other brands. Yili's "natural pasture for the soul" includes the concept of grassland; Mengniu's "milk from the prairie, milk drunk by astronauts" not only focuses on the concept of grassland, but also uses event marketing to further enhance rational quality demands; Guangming "has health" ", there is light", focusing on technological concepts, and also effectively distinguishing itself from other competitors in terms of positioning. This is exactly what other dairy companies have not done. Without a unique and clear positioning, it is difficult to differentiate from other similar products by focusing on the national or regional market, which ultimately causes great disruption to the overall market operation. Resistance, half the result with twice the effort.

Product life cycle determines positioning:

Product life cycle is a relatively basic theory in marketing courses, but in real dairy companies, many business managers do not understand it. The true meaning, therefore, also creates undue misunderstandings about brand positioning.

The life cycles of carbonated drinks, tea drinks, and purified water are basically close to the maturity stage. Therefore, small and medium-sized enterprises or newly involved enterprises seeking differentiation and effective market segmentation will have a great impact on the future development of the enterprise. The big benefit is that it is easy to establish your own competitive advantage for a specific target group or in a specific local market. The life cycle of milk is basically still in a period of rapid growth, especially liquid milk, with an annual growth rate of more than 30%. Therefore, some powerful regional brands have prematurely abandoned mainstream liquid milk when the overall market structure is not yet clear. , specializing in a small segment of the market may not be a very wise decision.

Some dairy companies that the author has contacted believe that the time has come for the segmentation of the dairy market and have decided to abandon mainstream liquid milk products and specialize in differentiated markets. The author believes that this approach may have the following two misunderstandings :

Myth 1: Improper timing of market segmentation.

Currently, the dairy consumption habits of Chinese consumers are not very mature. The average milk consumption is far from meeting the health requirements of the Chinese people, and there is still a lot of room for growth. Therefore, pure milk and yogurt will remain the mainstream products in the market for some time to come. The marine biological milk, high-iron milk, and high-calcium and high-vitamin milk launched by many companies are still in the stage of manufacturing concepts or establishing an image for the company, and the actual sales situation is not promising.

As some weaker enterprises, without the support of strong scientific research and marketing forces, it is best to act according to their ability, and on the premise of conducting complete market research and segmentation, spot the right opportunity. , launch truly differentiated products that meet consumer needs. Instead of blindly launching products that appear to be "differentiated" but actually have no fundamental difference and market demand, and become a victim of the market.

Myth 2: Mainstream products are abandoned too early.

Some powerful local brands have obvious advantages in terms of regional personnel structure and channel construction. Taking advantage of the overall rapid development of the dairy industry, mainstream liquid milk will have a better growth in the next two to three years. space, and can be used as a "golden cow" product to bring a large amount of cash to the enterprise. Therefore, the author believes that these companies should not rush to give up mainstream liquid milk products at present, but should clearly understand the development trend of the dairy industry, whether to focus on room temperature milk or fresh milk. At the same time, we will start to develop differentiated products as new profit growth points for the company, preparing for the smooth transformation of the company in the fierce competition in the future.

Differences in business management

The difference in business management is the area where many airborne troops in the beverage industry have suffered the heaviest losses in milk companies, and it is also a minefield that the airborne troops have to face. district.

In the beverage industry, due to the intervention of well-known international brands such as Liangle and large-scale investment and construction of factories in China, it has a good driving effect on other domestic beverage companies. In terms of personnel quality, management experience, Operational capabilities and other aspects have been greatly improved. Most milk companies have just been transformed from state-owned enterprises, and there is less involvement of external capital. Therefore, there is a big gap between management and operation and other beverage industries.

The paratroopers or airborne teams that land at milk companies have little or no experience in the management and operation of state-owned enterprises. It is difficult to imagine that even a small milk deliveryman may have the same relationship with the company chairman. They are inextricably linked, so if you blindly carry out restructuring without understanding the interpersonal relationships in the company, you are likely to detonate a landmine and eventually blow yourself to pieces.

A certain dairy company hired its marketing director and sales director with high salaries. After entering the company, they carried out drastic reforms. Adjustment of organizational structure, business process reorganization, establishment of visiting system and reporting system. The starting point was impeccable, but it violated the interests of all aspects of the company. In the end, at the marketing conference, the managers of each branch collectively attacked him, and the reform plan could not be implemented. In the end, the two walked away and the company recovered as before.

The solution in this aspect can only be understood, not expressed. The author does not want to describe it in too many words. Having a good solution is only the first step in a long journey of thousands of miles. After all, in many state-owned enterprises, power struggle is the fundamental guarantee for final victory.

Differences in channel construction

The channel construction of milk source companies operating in the national market is similar to that of other beverage industries, either directly or through dealers. However, since there are many regional brands and fresh-keeping products in the milk industry, it is quite different from other beverage industries in some aspects.

The center of gravity of regional brand channels has shifted downward:

Nowadays, almost all beverage industries have the problem of the center of gravity of channels shifting downwards. However, due to the large number of regional dairy industries, the channel is currently its The most effective weapon against other competitors, therefore, requires a larger downward shift of the center of gravity.

A certain milk company has set up multiple prefecture-level distributors, which radiate downward to various towns. Since the distribution capabilities of prefecture-level dealers are not strong, the distribution is basically operated by the manufacturers, and the goods are directly sent to the second batch of dealers in towns and villages. The Jiji dealers basically have nothing to do in the surrounding areas, but they have to extract 1 cent per bag. The price difference seriously affects the competitiveness of the product. The company is thinking about what kind of promotion methods to use every day to compete with competing brands, but it does not consider that by simply moving the focus of channels down to villages and towns, it can gain huge space for price reductions or promotions and enhance the company's competitiveness.

Construction of channels for delivering milk to households:

The main difference between milk and other types of beverage channel construction is concentrated in the fresh milk part. Fresh milk mainly involves the issue of daily distribution, and There are certain differences in the distribution of other beverages twice a week, weekly or monthly, mainly reflected in the requirements for logistics capabilities and sensitivity to sales conditions. But this problem is not a major problem for experts who have been engaged in the beverage industry for many years. They can adapt to it with just a few adjustments. However, door-to-door milk delivery is rarely seen in other beverage industries and requires in-depth research and study.

The construction of milk delivery channels to households mainly involves the determination of the number of milk stations, the division of milk station areas, the construction and management of milk stations, and the recruitment and training of milk delivery workers. At present, many companies adopt the strategy of recruiting temporary milk delivery workers for the newly developed door-to-door milk delivery market. However, certain disadvantages will be revealed after a period of operation. For example: milk delivery is not timely, after-sales service is difficult to carry out, etc. Therefore, the author suggests that if there are enough regular milk users, you can consider recruiting full-time milk deliverymen and gradually phase out those who work part-time or serve several dairy companies at the same time to strengthen the daily management of milk delivery people and have Conducive to the smooth development of after-sales service.

As for the collection of milk payment, there are also certain problems. After many companies newly enter a market, they adopt the policy of drinking milk first and collecting payment later, which will have a certain positive effect on market development. However, once this habit is formed, certain problems will arise in the recovery of milk payments. In particular, the milk payments of many companies are in the hands of the milk deliverymen. Some milk delivery men will privately collect milk payments for six months or even a year in advance, with amounts as high as tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. Incidents of absconding with money occur from time to time, and it is not allowed to do so. It does not attract the attention of various enterprises.

Conclusion: The difference between milk and other beverages goes beyond that. The withdrawal of many foreign milk brands from the Chinese market also confirms the uniqueness of competition in the milk industry. Therefore, people who are parachuted into the dairy industry from other beverage industries must carefully study the unique market operation methods of the milk industry, and remember: milk is not a beverage!