Coca-Cola once again enters the mainland coffee market and makes its debut in Hangzhou.

"I didn't expect Coca-Cola to have coffee, too. Is this going to compete with Nestl é and Starbucks?" Yesterday, Xiao Qin, who was shopping in a supermarket in the west of the city, accidentally found a new face on the coffee and beverage shelf.

After the beverage industry has said goodbye to the golden era of high growth, instant coffee, a niche beverage market with a high compound growth rate of 34.2%, is making it a new favorite in the industry. After the collapse of its cooperation with Nestl é, Coca-Cola, which once abandoned the ready-to-drink coffee market in mainland China, made a comeback a few days ago, announcing the official launch of its own brand of ready-to-drink coffee to China. At this point, the former "partner" has become an opponent.

Industry insiders believe that Coca-Cola's involvement in ready-to-drink coffee is an area of coffee market segmentation and positioning of primary consumers, and the challenge as a latecomer is very great.

The price of the initial public channel in Hangzhou market is less than 5 yuan

It is reported that the "GEROGIA" coffee product launched by Coca-Cola China, a ready-to-drink coffee product, was founded in 1975 and was mainly sold in Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo and other overseas cities, with annual sales exceeding 1 billion US dollars. Within the Coca-Cola system, it has become one of its 17 brands with annual sales of more than $1 billion and has been rated as the "best-selling ready-to-drink coffee in the world".

According to the official source of Qiaoya's China trip, imported coffee from Brazil and Vietnam is selected, and all imported milk sources are selected. Coca-Cola's Global Innovation and Technology Center in Shanghai makes mellow lattes and Luzhou-scented classics tailored for Chinese consumers. It has been listed one after another since mid-late October this year, taking the lead in the major cities of seven major provinces, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian and Anhui.

"at present, we have only seen a bottle of sample brought by the supplier, and we have not really entered the market to shop the goods." The food manager of a supermarket in the south of the city estimates that the first batch of Joya should be available in the store this week. The reporter inquired around and found that the mass channels in the Hangzhou market had not yet been fully stocked. Judging from the product specifications and price lists, Luzhou-flavor classic and mellow lattes are packaged in 268 ml plastic bottles and 180 ml cans, and the suggested retail prices for stores, supermarkets and grocery stores are 5 yuan and 4 yuan respectively. The plastic bottle packaging in the convenience store costs 1 yuan, and the recommended price is 6 yuan.

Enter the domestic market for the second time

Carbonic acid giant is reluctant to give up coffee complex

China's ready-to-drink coffee grew at a compound growth rate of 34.2% from 2009 to 2013, and sales are expected to reach 79 million TEUs in 2014, according to a survey by Canardia. Coca-Cola China said that it was precisely because of the huge potential and market demand contained in the ready-to-drink coffee beverage category that it chose to introduce "Qiaoya".

In fact, this is Coca-Cola's second foray into the coffee market in China. As early as 2001, in order to expand the beverage business, Coca-Cola and Nestl é established a half-to-half tea joint venture BPW worldwide. In 2005, the two major beverage companies joined hands to enter the ready-to-drink coffee market.

However, the "marriage" only lasted until the end of 2006, when both sides announced that they would reduce the scope of the joint venture's products, including ready-to-drink coffee and non-red and green drinks, and Nestl é and Coca-Cola began to go their separate ways.

Although it is a seemingly failed cooperation, it is generally believed in the industry that Coca-Cola has gained a lot from it, especially when it works as product distribution, it has mastered the preferences of domestic consumers and channel sales resources in advance, laying a solid foundation for this second advance.

Grab Starbucks Nestle business?

Or make up for carbonic acid performance?

Ready-to-drink coffee and walnut juice share a small area on the beverage shelf of a supermarket in the west of the city. Ready-to-drink coffee brands include Nestl é, Yaha, Kirin, Plum Garden, Wa, Brown and a new Qiaoya, a 268 ml Luzhou-scented classic flavor plastic bottle priced at 4.9 yuan. The same size Nestle silk latte is also priced at 4.9 yuan, while another silk slippery mocha is priced at 5 yuan.

"in fact, instant coffee is a niche market segment, and it is very difficult for newcomers to compete for the top spot. However, Coca-Cola is rich in resources in the distribution market, and even can tie-in to support new products to quickly win the attention of the market. " A retail observer in Hangzhou believes.

It is reported that Nestl é takes the lead in the joint venture brands of ready-to-drink coffee in Hangzhou supermarkets, while imports include Taiwan's Brown and Starbucks from South Korea. Starbucks' sales in a supermarket increased by 300% last year, but corresponding to a significant decline in sales of domestic and joint venture brands.

For Coca-Cola to sell coffee independently, another comment is to make up for the embarrassment of the decline in the performance of carbonated drinks.

The head of liquor procurement at a large supermarket in Hangzhou said that as far as the Hangzhou market is concerned, the decline in overall sales of carbonated drinks is an indisputable fact, and its dominance has been replaced by tea, and fruit juice drinks are also a great threat to it.

Can new coffee products really play such a big role? Observers disagree. Zhu Danpeng, a researcher at the China Food Business Research Institute, has publicly said that although the overall sales of ready-to-drink coffee has maintained an annual growth rate of more than 30%, it accounts for less than 2% of the beverage industry as a whole. And it is still facing the embarrassment of "high price and small quantity".

"the more comprehensive reality is that Coca-Cola has continued to launch new products in recent years, including Yiquan + C, which went on sale in the first half of this year, already in carbonated drinks, fruit juice drinks, tea drinks, water drinks, etc., plus now ready-to-drink coffee. It almost covers the whole beverage industry." A senior beverage practitioner believes that it is not surprising that Coca-Cola sells coffee and that Coca-Cola's strategy is to blossom more to continue its leading position in the beverage industry at a time when established products are facing a decline in global performance.