How does a cup of raw leaf fresh milk tea from Yunnan conquer the stomach and heart of consumers?
The competition in the tea drinking field has always been fierce. In ten years, the industry has expanded from fresh milk tea rolls to milk capped tea, fruit tea, multi-ingredient milk tea and other new categories one after another. Tea brands have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and even many coffee brands have crossed over to get a share of this huge market.
Source: Ele.me "2023 White Paper on China's Freshly Made Tea and Coffee Industry"
In order to compete for new tea drinkers, the brand has made in-depth deployment in first-tier cities and opened stores all over the streets and alleys. At the same time, it has entered the sinking market, accelerated the pace of national expansion, and brands with thousands of stores and ten thousand stores have been born.
In such an "introverted" market, Bawang Cha Ji, who came late in 2017, broke out with a unique brand culture. In 2022, Bawang Chaji will achieve a net increase of more than 500 stores within one year, breaking through the scale of 1,000 stores, and also moving towards overseas regions such as Southeast Asia.
Not only is the store expanding rapidly, "Bo Ya Jue Xian", "Gui Fu Lan Xiang", "Xun Xiang Camellia"... every fresh milk tea launched by Bawang Cha Ji has become a hot item in the tea industry.
Today, let us see how this youngest tea drink brand of Qiandian uses tea as a link to connect a new story between the brand and tea drink lovers.
1. Tea, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar "tea"
Tea is like spring, everything is renewed.
With the advent of the post-epidemic era and the return of fast-paced work and life, "give the soul a vacation" and "chasing poetry and distant places" have once again become consumption keywords. As a representative of feelings and culture, tea drinks are favored by consumers. According to the relevant data of Douyin and Xiaohongshu, since November 2022, the activity of "making tea around the stove" has set off a wave of enthusiasm on social media.
Sources: Giant Counting, Xinhong, Insight Research Report Compilation
Behind the hot tea consumption is consumers' pursuit of a comfortable lifestyle.
During the survey, Song Lan from Chongqing held a cup of "Gui Fulan Fragrance" and told Songguo Finance: "I lie quietly on the sofa in a daze on weekends when I don't work overtime, and the 'Qingqingnuo Mountain' on the table exudes the fragrance of glutinous rice , the cat is purring beside me, I really love it."
Put down the phone, pick up the tea cup, and enjoy every moment with friends or alone with yourself. This "relaxation" is exactly the taste in every cup of tea.
In addition to daily life, fresh milk tea has also become a companion at work for many young consumers. As Bawang Tea Ji said, this cup of tea can be an outlet for inspiration when you are stuck at work, or a refreshing tool for sleepy moments.
In this regard, Kitty, the editor of Songuo Finance, has something to say: "C (coffee) in the morning and T (tea) in the afternoon are already essential food for office workers. Without them, I feel that there is something missing when I go to work."
It is worth mentioning that when tea drinking has become a part of the work and life of contemporary young people, some people even become members of the tea drinking industry by becoming associated with tea drinking brands. Mr. Jin, the clerk of Bawang Tea, revealed: "I first got to know this brand in Yunnan, but I found out that this is a fairy drink that tastes so good, so I decided to quit my job at the time and made up my mind to go to Bawang Tea. Ji went to work."
Songuo Finance understands that the "tea drink" that makes these people think about it is actually a "new tea drink" based on the inheritance of traditional tea drinks.
For today's consumers, not just any beverage will meet their needs. In the era of diversified material consumption, consumers are accustomed to seeing all kinds of milk tea, and consumers have begun to look for healthier, higher-quality, and more innovative products.
A research report shows that the proportion of new tea drinks in my country's tea product consumption market continues to grow, and brands use traditional tea raw materials more frequently. At the same time, from the perspective of consumption, compared with tea powder, "post-90s" consumers pay more attention to the use of raw leaf tea in tea drinks.
Sources: Xinhua Net, Tea Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, CIC Consulting, Insight Research Report
This also means that after the "involution" from category to taste to appearance design, etc., consumers' pursuit of new tea drinks gradually turns to "tea" itself, tending to pursue the best quality tea and fresh milk. Original milk tea aroma.
It is under such a consumption trend that Bawang Tea Ji, which focuses on "original leaf fresh milk tea", gradually stands out. In 2022, the cumulative sales of Bawang Tea Ji’s full range of products will exceed 57 million cups, and the annual sales of the classic single product “Bo Ya Jue Xian” will exceed 20 million cups.
Driven by celebrity single products, the pace of Bawang Tea Ji's store expansion is also accelerating. Consumers in more and more regions are calling for the entry of this young brand. For example, Qiqi from Huzhou expressed on social media: "In the middle of last year, the first store in Huzhou in my city entered Soochow Intime. At that time, I was really happy that Bawang Tea Ji finally came. After that, several stores opened in the city center. Nanxun, Changxing, and Deqing also have Bawang Chaji, and Anji will also open it, opening it all over Huzhou."
Bawang Tea Ji's hot store scene (Taiyuan Vientiane City store)
There is no doubt that this new cup of tea, which connects the work and life of contemporary young people, has left its own unique mark in the hearts of consumers. However, in addition to "firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar tea", Bawang Chaji wants to tell more stories.
2. Qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and wine "tea"
"Youth and tea are not the confrontation between the new school and the old school, but the development of a new tea-style life for young people."
China, the ancient country of tea. Bawang Tea Fairy believes that tea consumption is not only about drinking a cup of tea, but also inheriting tea culture and developing a new way of life about tea. "Tea culture has always been the most amazing part of Chinese culture. Drinking tea is not only a cultural accumulation of fun, but also a spiritual inheritance."
In fact, young people love "new Chinese tea drinking" very much, but the new generation of consumers need more novel ways to get acquainted with tea culture and fall in love with the tea drinking lifestyle. According to Ele.me's "2023 White Paper on China's Freshly Made Tea and Coffee Industry", the main tea consumers are getting younger. Among them, consumers aged 18-24 accounted for 34%, consumers aged 25-30 accounted for 27%.
In this regard, Bawang Chaji conveyed the cultural attributes behind the "new Chinese tea drink" to consumers in an all-round way through brand, scene, and themed activities.
First of all, the brand IP image is a cultural symbol. The brand name of Bawang Tea Concubine comes from the famous Chinese epic story "Farewell My Concubine". In terms of brand IP image design, this brand reveals a strong element of Chinese national style: the 2.0 version of Bawang Cha Ji logo, which combines the eyebrows and eyes of Buddha statues, oriental standard face shapes, and traditional opera silhouettes.
Secondly, the tea drinking culture also needs the blessing of the third space, so that consumers can gain a sense of experience. Therefore, Bawang Cha Ji continues to create a distinctive brand image in store decoration.
Taking the flagship store of Bawang Tea Ji in Chengdu as an example, the objects in the store adopt the mortise and tenon structure of traditional Chinese architectural elements, and the texture of wood grain structure is used on the floor to enhance the visual impact of "Chinese ancient style elements".
Bawang Tea Princess Chengdu Flagship Store
In addition to the design of the store itself, Bawang Cha Ji also uses cultural and creative videos rich in local cultural characteristics to create an ancient atmosphere.
When the "tea girl" in the southwest encountered the misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River for the first time, the Bawang tea girl combined the tea drinking lifestyle with the "Yanbowan" in Jinling in Nanjing's Grand View Garden, delivering a desirable lifestyle.
Finally, in a strong sense of Chinese style, Bawang Cha Ji also formulated the brand line of "meeting friends with tea".
The ancients were the most particular about tasting tea. Observe its shape, smell its fragrance, appreciate its dance, taste its taste, what utensils to use, what refreshments to serve, how to boil the water, how to mix it... Bawang Chaji believes that drinking tea is not just for one person when there are many like-minded people. It's over.
Therefore, Bawang Tea Princess often "meet friends with tea" and hold themed cultural activities. For example, on May 18, Bawang Chaji joined forces with the Yunnan regional public cultural brand "Cuihu Dawenchuang", the well-known historical and cultural institutions "Yunnan Army Lecture Hall History Museum" and "Southwest Associated University Cultural and Creative Center" The street has realized a heart-to-heart dialogue combining old and new.
With the theme of "drinking bookishness and awakening youth power", Bawang Cha Ji not only cheers up young people, but also endows her brand with more profound spiritual attributes.
It is worth mentioning that Bawang Tea Fairy not only makes friends with young people in China, but also "makes friends all over the world with oriental tea".
Zhang Junjie, the founder of Bawang Tea Ji, once proposed to create an "Oriental Starbucks", create an experience space around the Chinese atmosphere and oriental tea culture, and finally realize the sea.
In 2019, Bawang Cha Ji opened its first overseas station in Malaysia, and then successively entered Singapore and Thailand. So far, it has opened more than 70 overseas stores.
In the dream of making friends in the world, Bawang Cha Ji turned a small tea shop into a scene with strong social attributes, allowing Oriental tea to connect with young people from all over the world. The idea of developing around oriental aesthetics will also enable this "new Chinese-style tea drink" brand to benefit from thousands of years of historical accumulation and a huge market consumption base, and gain broader room for growth.
After all, the tea drinking track is still an incremental market, and the younger generation of consumers is the main force of growth. According to iiMedia Consulting data, my country's per capita tea consumption has continued to grow in the past three years, and it is estimated that by 2024, the average per capita consumption of tea will be nearly 2kg per year. The number of tea drinkers is expected to rise to 730 million by 2025, with the majority of new converts under the age of 40.
Source: International Tea Council, China Tea Distribution Association, iiMedia Consulting
From original leaf fresh milk tea to Oriental New Tea Shop, integrating Chinese culture into products and brands, Bawang Tea Ji has captured the stomach and heart of young people in its own way, and has embarked on a broad new tea road.
Article source: Songguo Finance