When children snacks start to paste “DHA algae oil to help children’s brain development”, “0 add flavor, pigments, salt, sweeteners, eat more reassurance” “add sugar alcohol, not easy to decay” and other labels, how to customize a snack that is more suitable for children has become a major concern of the snack market.
According to the data of the National Bureau of statistics, China’s population of children aged 0-14 has exceeded 230 million, of which the number of children aged 3-12 has exceeded 150 million.
With the growth of the number of children, the children’s snack market has ushered in fierce competition. Not only the sub brands of the head snack brands poured in, but also the cutting-edge brands favored by capital joined the competitive track. It is reported that miaofei food, a children’s snack brand, has completed nearly 100 million yuan of round B financing, and duomaomao has completed hundreds of millions of yuan of round a + investment.
The children’s snack sub brand of the head brand has the sales advantage of offline stores, while some cutting-edge children’s snack brands have considerable online sales. How to divide the cake in the children’s snack market remains to be tested by time.
the children’s snack market is optimistic, and new brands join the competitive track
Xiaolu blue series products are neatly placed near the wall on the left side of the store – curiosity freeze-dried cheese blocks, baby milk biscuits, hawthorn really good, etc. all the packages are mainly blue, and the cartoon image of Xiaolu blue is printed.
In this Grandjoy Holdings Group Co.Ltd(000031) Three Squirrels Inc(300783) store in Chaoyang, Beijing, the opening promotion activities of “over 99-15, over 199-35” are being carried out. A clerk said that it is cost-effective to buy now. The Xiaolu blue series products in the store are cheaper than online. The comparison of caijing.com’s production shows that 65g Xiaolu blue milk baby biscuits are sold for 12.5 yuan / box in the store and 26.9 yuan / box in Taobao Xiaolu blue flagship store.
However, another Three Squirrels Inc(300783) store located in Changying Tianjie, Beijing has no Xiaolu blue series products on sale. The store clerk said that some time ago, there were still Xiaolu blue series products on sale, but they have been taken off the shelves, and there may not be any products of Xiaolu blue series on the shelves years ago.
“After Three Squirrels Inc(300783) , there may be no Xiaolu blue series products sold in offline stores. Xiaolu blue series products will be sold in Xiaolu blue specialty stores. However, at present, there is no Xiaolu blue specialty store in Beijing, and (consumers) can buy them online.” A Three Squirrels Inc(300783) store clerk disclosed to caijing.com.
Xiaolu blue is a baby snack sub brand launched by Three Squirrels Inc(300783) in June 2020. Although with the help of the brand effect of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) , it is still in a state of loss.
According to the financial report, the net profit of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) in the first half of this year increased by 87.32% year-on-year to 352 million yuan. Compared with the decrease of 29.51% in the same period of last year, Three Squirrels Inc(300783) doubled its net profit in the first half of 2021. However, the new brand Xiaolu blue lost 48.4889 million yuan.
The announcement said that if excluding the current loss impact of the new brand Xiaolu blue, the net profit increased by 113.06% during the reporting period. Although Xiaolu Lanlan is lagging behind, Three Squirrels Inc(300783) is still optimistic about Xiaolu Lanlan and plans to build Xiaolu Lanlan IP and deeply cultivate the baby food market.
The plan of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) is supported by the promising children’s snack market. Data show that in China, the population of children aged 0-14 in 2018 was nearly 250 million and will continue to increase in the future. The corresponding children’s snacks are a huge market. According to the 2018 global children’s snack Market Research Report by QY research, the children’s snack market is expected to grow steadily at a compound annual growth rate of 10% to 15% from 2018 to 2023.
On the track of children’s snacks, Three Squirrels Inc(300783) still faces the competitive pressure of old rivals Bestore Co.Ltd(603719) and Baicao. From May to June last year, Bestore Co.Ltd(603719) launched the snack sub brand “liangpin snack Fairy”; Baicaowei officially launched children’s food “Tong An’an children”.
The data show that in the first half of 2021, Xiaolu blue achieved omni-channel revenue of 201 million yuan, followed by liangpin xiaoshixian achieved omni-channel revenue of 180 million yuan.
With Three Squirrels Inc(300783) and other top brands entering the children’s snack market, new and cutting-edge children’s snack brands are also emerging and joining the competitive track. Wo Xiaoya, founded in May 2017, has completed round B financing of RMB 100 million; Miaofei food, founded in July 2019, has completed round B financing of nearly 100 million yuan; Duo Maomao, founded in September 2020, has completed a round of a + investment of hundreds of millions of yuan.
Bao Yuezhong, a new retail expert, told Caijing that the children’s snack market will have greater development space in the future. The positive effect of capital entering the market is greater than the negative effect, which can provide important financial support for the development of the industry.
With the help of capital, cutting-edge brands have the potential to catch up. From the perspective of online channels, Taobao duomaomao mother and baby flagship store has 211000 fans, and the monthly sales of infant rice cakes in the store can reach more than 30000; Taobao Wo Xiaoya flagship store has 339000 fans, and the monthly sales of strawberry biscuits in the store can reach more than 10000.
However, in the offline channel, relying on the head brands that have begun to take shape in the layout of offline stores, children’s snack brands such as Xiaolu blue and liangpin snack fairy have more advantages. Take Three Squirrels Inc(300783) as an example. According to media reports, by June 30, 2021, Three Squirrels Inc(300783) has more than 1100 offline stores, and the sub brand Xiaolu Blue brand products are sold in some offline stores.
nutrition and health become the mainstream, and children’s food safety needs to be standardized
On the market, children’s snacks are labeled with “no added pigment”, “no added preservative” and “no added sweetener”. The “no added” has become the mainstream trend of children’s snacks, and children’s snacks are developing in the direction of health and nutrition.
However, in the childhood of the post-80s and 90s, children’s snacks on the market mainly include spicy strips, snow cakes, bubble gum, etc., most of which are fried and puffed foods. For a long time, these children’s foods have been labeled as “junk food”.
Chen Zi, 21, was most impressed when he was in kindergarten. After tasting the spicy strips given by other children, he never forgot. He cried and wanted to buy the spicy strips at the school gate, but he was finally dragged home by his parents and taught a lesson. In the eyes of many parents, snacks pose a potential threat to the healthy growth of children. Yang Yu, 22, also said that when he was a child, his parents often told him that spicy strips were unsanitary and eating too much sugar was bad for his teeth.
With the change of consumers’ consumption concept in the post-80s and 90s, the standard of children’s snacks is also improving.
Last year, China non-staple food circulation association and others jointly issued the general requirements for children’s snacks, which formulated relevant specifications for children’s snacks. It is mentioned in the requirements that less oil, sugar and edible salt should be added to the products; The oil used in raw materials shall not contain trans fatty acids; The packaging used for the product shall ensure safety, and there shall be no migration of harmful substances, etc.
The relevant norms mentioned in the requirements point to the healthy development of children’s snacks. Health and nutrition are also reflected in children’s snack products – the rabbit Hawthorn stick launched by liangpin snack fairy is called “0 added sucrose”, and the high calcium stick of bovine colostrum is called “the calcium content is about 5 times that of milk”; The 0 kinds of snacks, such as chill dry cheese pieces, probiotics yogurt and beans, are labeled “add artificial colors, add 0 flavors, and 0 add artificial preservatives”. The fruit yogurt dissolved beans launched by duo Maomao are called “no added white granulated sugar” and “added active probiotics”.
On the one hand, children’s snacks are upgraded and become healthier and nutritious. But on the other hand, children’s food is also facing food safety problems. Caijing.com searched through the black cat complaint platform and found 37 complaints about children’s snacks. In addition, some consumers complained that there was hair in the packaging bag of Xiaolu blue food, and other consumers reported that Xiaolu blue seaweed contained plastic.
Although children’s snacks are developing towards a healthy trend, there is an urgent need to strengthen standardization in the production stage. Some children’s snack brands use OEM processing. Bao Yuezhong believes that the key to the OEM model is how to manage, not the model itself. Under the OEM mode, the food safety problem may lie in the brand’s management mode of the OEM, or in the enterprise management of the OEM selected by the brand.
conclusion
The scale of the leisure snack market is growing rapidly, and the children’s snack market, as a branch, also has great development potential.
The data show that from 2010 to 2021, the market scale of China’s leisure food industry continued to grow, from 410 billion yuan to 1156.2 billion yuan, with a compound growth rate of about 9.9%. It is estimated that the growth rate will reach 7.2% in 2022, and the market scale will reach 1239.1 billion yuan. In addition, according to the data released by China children’s industry center, children’s expenditure in 80% of households accounts for 30% – 50% of household expenditure.
Although children’s snacks are constantly upgrading in the direction of health and nutrition, brand thinking is also needed on how to avoid food safety problems and ensure product quality.
(caijing.com)
