Financial Services Association, May 9 (Reporter Xu Cihao) There is fresh news on the cusp.

According to Tianyancha's business data, Guangzhou Zhonghe Shunyi Marketing Service Co., Ltd. was recently established. The legal representative is Tang, with a registered capital of 2 million yuan. The business scope includes food internet sales, marketing planning, etc., and is wholly owned by Xiangpiaopiao Food Co., Ltd.

Previously, Xiang Piaopiao garnered a large amount of traffic due to the “Sarcasm Day” incident, and its stock price and product sales rose sharply for a while. However, it was then questioned that posing marketing caused a polarized reversal in word of mouth. The stock price is also like a roller coaster. As of today's close (9th), Xiang Piaopiao reported closing at 18.09 yuan, a sharp drop of 4.09%. Compared with 21.13 yuan on May 7, a decrease of 14.39%.

Live streaming sales fell by more than 90%

Xiang Piaopiao's big ups and downs began at noon on May 4. A blogger on Weibo claimed to have discovered a package of MECO products in a Japanese supermarket mocking Japan's nuclear contaminated water incident. The cup holder sparked a buzz because it contained words such as “You can live without Japan, you can't live without the ocean” and “ask Japanese politicians to drink the nuclear sewage.”

On the night of May 4, Xiang Piaopiao posted “Our employees are nice” on Weibo and posted the same “Sarcasm Day” cup holder on Douyin's official live broadcast. Subsequently, more than 10 million netizens poured into the Douyin live broadcast room of Xiangpiaopiao's official flagship store to buy the same product. According to Feigua data, the daily live streaming sales of the Xiangpiaopiao Douyin store also soared from 1,000 yuan to 2,500 yuan on May 3, to 750,000 to 750,000 yuan on May 5, and 500,000 to 750,000 on May 5, an increase of 400 times.

Under “excessive traffic,” Xiang Piaopiao's stock price also continued to rise. The market opened on May 6, and Xiang Piaopiao's stock price rose strongly. It directly rose and stopped at 19.21 yuan during the intraday period, and once at 21.13 yuan on May 7.

However, things changed on May 7.

Images circulating on social media show that the shelf labels are all in Chinese and have no Japanese labels, and that the cup holders that visitors are holding are different from those for drinks in the store. Some people question that they are hyped up. Some media called the Kyowa Store Okubo store in Japan, and the operator responded that the store had never sold milk tea in a cup holder with this word.

Amidst widespread questioning, the stock price of Xiang Piao Piao also showed a correction. The stock price of Xiang Piao Piao, which once rose or stopped on the same day, reported closing at 19.43 yuan, a slight increase of 1.15%. It opened sharply lower on May 8, and finally closed with a drop of 2.73%. Meanwhile, sales at the official Douyin store of Xiang Piao Piao also plummeted. According to Feigua data, sales volume on May 8 was 10,000 yuan — 25,000 yuan.

Some investors questioned Xiang Piaopiao's recent theory on the investor platform because it mocked Japan's nuclear sewage incident; it was actually a marketing ploy.

Xiang Piaopiao did not directly respond to this incident. “Stock price fluctuations in the secondary market are affected by various factors. The company will continue to focus on doing a good job in daily operations and using high-quality products and services to meet consumer needs.” A relevant person from the Secretary General's Office of Xiang Piaopiao responded on the investor platform.

Under the impact of ready-to-drink tea, Xiang Piaopiao's sales expenses reached 860 million yuan last year

Founded in 2005, Xiang Piaopiao is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with the slogan “Selling 300 million cups a year, it can circle the Earth”. It landed in the capital market in 2017 and became the “first stock of milk tea” of A-shares. According to the official website of Xiang Piaopiao, when connected, the Xiang Piaopiao cup can circle the Earth 40 times.

However, due to the rise of ready-made tea drinks, Xiang Piaopiao, which previously focused on brewing tea drinks, has been actively transforming. Looking at it now, ready-to-drink milk tea such as Meco and Lan Fangyuan is a new growth engine for Xiang Piaopiao.

Financial reports show that in 2023, Xiang Piaopiao achieved revenue of about 3.625 billion yuan, an increase of 15.9% over the previous year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was about 280 million yuan, an increase of 31.04% over the previous year. Among them, the revenue of the brewing business, which mainly focuses on products such as the “Xiang Piao Piao” classic series, “like fresh” oat milk tea, and “fresh coffee” oat lattes, was 2,686 million yuan, up 9.37% year on year; revenue from ready-to-drink businesses such as “Meco” juice tea, “Lan Fangyuan” Hong Kong-style tea, and “Xiang Piao Piao” ready-to-drink milk tea was 901 million yuan, an increase of 41.16% year over year.

It is worth mentioning that the product “Meco Juice Tea” related to this “Sarcastic Day Incident” is one of the products in the ready-to-drink segment of Xiangpiaopiao Company. In order to help the development of the ready-to-drink business, Xiang Piaopiao set up an independent ready-to-drink sales team last year, introduced more than 600 professional sales talents, and formed an independent ready-to-drink business sales team with a scale of 1,000 people with the company's original team. At the end of April last year, the team began initial independent operation.

In addition, Xiang Piaopiao also spent a lot of money on marketing. Financial reports show that Xiang Piaopiao's sales expenses in 2023 hit a four-year high, reaching 860 million yuan, an increase of 53.42% over the previous year; the sales expenses rate rose to 23.73%.

Xiang Piaopiao said in the financial report that labor expenses have increased mainly due to the increase in advertising expenses and marketing expenses, as well as the company's establishment of a ready-to-drink product sales team.

In response, Bai Wenxi, an expert from the Whale Platform think tank and vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, told the Financial Federation reporter that Nai Xue's tea and other ready-made tea brands have attracted the attention and consumption of young people, causing the market space of milk tea brewing companies to be squeezed and their market share declined

“For traditional brewed milk tea brands such as Xiang Piaopiao, the key to “breaking the game” is innovation and transformation, attracting young consumers by developing new products, expanding new markets, and enhancing brand influence, while strengthening brand marketing and promotion to increase brand awareness and reputation.” Bai Wenxi said.