Image credit: Visual China
Recently, Nongfu Spring has launched a new product.
After the release of the "Little Green Bottle" of pure water at the end of April, the beverage giant has once again started cross-border ice-making, and launched its first ice cup product.
The Blue Whale News reporter noticed that posts or videos of beverage DIY are very popular on many social platforms. Ice cup + coffee, ice cup + orange juice, ice cup + green tea... a variety of matching methods have made ice cups a popular trend among young people.
It is worth mentioning that the general selling price of an ice cup is between 3 yuan and 5 yuan, and even some ice cups are sold for more than 10 yuan, which does not seem to be outstanding in terms of value for money. In addition, China currently only has industry standards for edible ice, which is not mandatory and may also affect the quality and safety of edible ice cups.
Ice cups become a new trend.
Nongfu Spring's foray into ice cups is not a sudden move. As early as 2023, Nongfu Spring began preparing for its ice-making plan.
It is reported that in May last year, Nongfu Spring applied for a patent for ice cup labeling, and then tested the water on a small scale on Xiaohongshu, and officially went online and settled in convenience store systems this year.
China's food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said that Nongfu Spring's involvement can bring traffic and heat, making ice cups and products in this field receive more attention and discussion. In the future, the styles and flavors of ice cups will be more diverse.
"Nongfu Spring's entry into the ice cup race is expected to improve industry standards and accelerate market standardization and innovation using its brand advantages." said the food and beverage industry operator Chen Xiaolong.
Blue Whale News reporters learned that Nongfu Spring ice cups are currently sold in Xiaoxiang Supermarket and Lawson convenience stores in Beijing, with Lawson convenience stores being the main sales force.
A clerk at a Lawson convenience store in Chaoyang District, Beijing, told Blue Whale News reporters that summer is the peak season for ice cup sales, and that the sales of Nongfu Spring, LC ice cups, and lemon ice cups are all good. "Lemon ice cups are priced higher, so they sell a little slower. Nongfu Spring's ice cups have been selling the best recently, and we can sell more than a dozen cups a day."
In other convenience stores, ice cups are also experiencing a sales boom. A store clerk at a Convenience Bee convenience store in Gaobeidian, Chaoyang District, Beijing, told Blue Whale News reporters that plain ice cups can be freely matched with coffee, drinks, wine and other products, so they sell the best, and they can sell more than 20 cups a day.
The popularity of ice cups is not only offline. Blue Whale News reporters found that the monthly sales volume of ice cups in many convenience stores on the takeaway platform exceeds 100 cups.
Zhan Junhao, a well-known expert in strategic positioning and founder of Fujian Huace Brand Positioning Consulting, said, "The commercial value of ice cups lies in providing a new way to relieve heat, while also bringing convenience and novel experiences to consumers. With the improvement of people's living standards and the change of consumption concepts, the demand for personalized and innovative consumption is constantly increasing, which provides broad development space for the ice cup market."
The billion-dollar race track is gradually emerging.
As a foreign product, ice cups began to appear in the Chinese market in 2019. But before that, ice cups had already become a must-have item for Japanese and Korean consumers in summer.
According to Zhixianzhan Industry Research Institute, the annual consumption of disposable ice cups in Japanese convenience stores has reached 2.57 billion cups, and ice cups have become a popular consumer product like drinks.
In contrast, China's ice cup consumption is still in its infancy, but the market prospects are still broad. According to the white paper on instant retail ice and beverage consumption trends in 2023 jointly written by Auric Consulting and Meituan Flash Purchase, the growth rate of ice and beverage products in the instant retail channel in the next three years is expected to reach 39%, far exceeding the 8% growth rate of the entire channel. It is expected that the sales of ice and beverage products in the instant retail channel will exceed 63 billion yuan in 2026, and ice and beverage products are expected to become a iconic category in instant retail.
Although these convenience store ice cups are labeled with convenience store brands, in fact, except for Nongfu Spring ice cups, most convenience store ice cups are produced by food enterprises. For example, the ice cups of 7-11 and Convenience Bee are produced by Ice Limit Food Technology Co., Ltd. and Xiaode Food Co., Ltd., respectively.
Currently, only a few brands such as Nongfu Spring, Xiaode, Guoyin, Bingjixian, Binglida are the head players in the ice cup market. In order to accelerate market share, many production companies have launched new ice cup products to add fuel to the market. Beijing Bingqiwei Food Technology Co., Ltd. has launched a variety of more differentiated products such as lemon and fruit ice cups, strawberry and fruit ice cups on the basis of the basic ice cup.
In addition, many cold drink brands have vertically entered the market and accelerated their layout. At the new product launch conference in 2024, Aoxue, a cold drink enterprise in Northeast China, launched two edible ice products: ice cups and ice bags; Henan Tianbing also launched a white water ice product.
In addition, Blue Whale News reporters searched 6076 existing and operating companies on the tianyancha APP with the keyword "制冰" (ice making), of which 436 were newly established within one year.
National standards need to be improved urgently.
On one hand, there is a hot market prospect, and on the other hand, consumers are questioning whether the price of the ice cup is too expensive.
"Is it crazy that the water is only 1 RMB per bottle, and the ice cup is sold for 3-6 RMB?" "I picked up two ice cups while shopping at the convenience store. It wasn't until I paid that I realized they were 4 RMB each, while the ice cups from Miniso only cost 1 RMB." "The person at the checkout is clueless"... In the summer of 2024, ice cup-related topics became popular on social platforms, and many consumers criticized the ice cup prices as a "stab in the back".
Blue Whale News reporters found that the mainstream ice cups on the market are filled with ice cubes, generally with two specifications, 220g for large cups and 160g for small cups, with a common selling price of 3-5 RMB. If you add some fruit flavors such as lemon and strawberry, the price may exceed 10 RMB/cup.
There is also a type of ice cup packaged in ice balls, which is generally more expensive than those packaged in ice cubes. For example, the "Bingjixian edible ice cup" with a weight of 138g is priced at 9.4 RMB/cup. In addition, a 550 ml bottle of Nongfu Spring mineral water is only sold for 2 RMB in the terminal market.
So, what makes the ice cup so expensive?
Chen Xiaolong revealed that the price of ice cups is affected by costs and market positioning, and technological progress and increased competition may lead to a price reduction.
Si Dajin, general manager of Guangzhou Binglida Food Co., Ltd., said in an interview with the media that the ex-factory price of the company's ice cups to the outside world was 3 RMB/cup last year, and it has been reduced by nearly half this year, with the lowest currently at 1.5 RMB/cup. He predicted that as more companies enter the market, the ex-factory price of ice cups may be reduced to 1 RMB/cup.
In other words, the price has doubled from the factory to the convenience store.
Zhu Danpeng analyzed, "As the popularity of ice cups continues to increase and more companies enter the market, it will enter a period of diversified development. It is expected that after 2028, the Matthew effect in the ice cup market will be further released, and the price will fall."
It is worth noting that there is currently no national standard for edible ice in China. Blue Whale News reporters found that the standards for ice cups from Bianlifeng Convenience Store and Nongfu Spring ice cups are both cold drink edible ice (SB/T 10017-2008), which was proposed jointly by the China Commercial Federation and the China Baking Food and Sugar Products Industry Association, and is an industry standard with no mandatory requirements.
There have been cases where edible ice brands were found to be unqualified in the past. On September 6, 2022, the 28th issue of food inspection information released by the Jiangsu Provincial Market Supervision Administration showed that one batch of Xuelebing edible ice was found to be unqualified. The inspection results showed that a batch of "Xuelebing edible ice" with a trademark of "Yunwu", a production enterprise name of "Funing Yunwu Food Factory", a specification model of "100g/bag", a production date/batch number of "2021-07-29", and a unit sampled by "Chengdong Huakang Cold Drink Wholesale Department of Tinghu District, Yancheng City" did not meet the requirements of the national food safety standards for saccharin (calculated as cyclamate), sodium saccharin (calculated as saccharin), and aspartame.
Zhang Yue, chairman of Aoyou International, said, "At present, the production and sales of edible ice cups are still in a relatively early stage, and there are certain risks and problems. Therefore, relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of the production and sales of edible ice, formulate more stringent standards and regulations, and ensure the quality and safety of edible ice. The commercial value of ice cups is very high, especially after large-scale enterprises such as Nongfu Spring have entered this market, creating more consumer scenarios and possibilities or expanding the market for ice cups."
Chen Xiaolong said that the current industry standards are not mandatory, and with the maturity of the market, the introduction of national standards is inevitable, which will ensure product quality and safety and be beneficial to the long-term development of the industry.