Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) (600519, SH) just launched a series of new strategic liquor products – “Maotai 1935”, which was hot fried to a maximum of 2000 yuan / bottle as soon as it was listed. Compared with the official recommended retail price of 1188 yuan / bottle, it soared by nearly 70%. Many initial e-commerce platforms are in the “second light” state.
“The price of Maotai 1935 has been fried to 2000 yuan / bottle, which is really too much. However, now it is mainly because there are too few goods and more people try new products, which leads to a sharp rise in the price for a time. After Maotai 1935 is sold in large quantities in the future, the price rate will probably fall down.” An investor who has been following Maotai for a long time told the daily economic news.
Who was “looting” behind the speculation about Maotai’s listing in 1935? In this regard, some insiders said that there are also a large number of terminal dealers out of stock, leading them to turn to e-commerce platforms to find goods.
Maotai 1935 e-commerce pre-sale second light consumers need to fight hand speed
On the evening of January 18, Maotai 1935, dubbed the “king of tardiness of the year”, was officially released. This new series of liquor is produced by Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) and considered by Ping An Securities Research Report as “a strategic product for Maotai to achieve the development goal of the 14th five year plan”.
Maotai 1935 is regarded as a continuation of Zunyi 1935 in the industry. Zunyi 1935 was discontinued in 2020. The original price of Zunyi 1935 was about 300 yuan / bottle. After the announcement of shutdown, the price once soared to 1000 yuan.
Before the official release, in fact, the shape of Maotai 1935 was exposed last September. When Maotai explained the origin of its name, it once said: “in 1935, the predecessor of Maotai burned the house and won the special prize at the material exhibition of southwest provinces.”
After removing the word “Zunyi” and the name “Maotai”, and upgrading the packaging, the price of Maotai 1935 is not cheap – the ex factory price is 798 yuan / bottle, and the retail guide price is 1188 yuan / bottle. It is generally analyzed in the industry that Maotai launched Maotai 1935 to grab the market with a price of 1000 yuan.
In fact, in terms of price positioning, Maotai 1935 is Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) the highest price among the Maotai series launched at present, and is in the 1000 yuan price band with the two main products Wuliangye Yibin Co.Ltd(000858) “puwu” and Luzhou Laojiao Co.Ltd(000568) “Guojiao 1573” of the other two leading liquor enterprises. This product was also placed high hopes by Ding Xiongjun, the “new handsome” of Maotai, and clearly required Maotai 1935 to become a pillar product among the thousand yuan products.
After the official release of Maotai in 1935, e-commerce platforms such as Jingdong and 1919 have officially opened pre-sale at the official recommended price of 1188 yuan / bottle.
Among them, the rush purchase on an e-commerce platform was officially opened at 0:00 on the 20th, and more than 420000 people made an appointment before the rush purchase began. The reporter of the daily economic news found that after the official rush purchase of zero point’s e-commerce platform, Maotai was directly sold in 1935, and ordinary consumers could not buy it at all. At present, the platform has opened pre-sale again
Image source: screenshot of web page
“Maotai 1935 is a rush purchase, the quantity is limited, we need to fight hand speed, and the goods are sent directly by the manufacturer.” The customer service person of the Maotai liquor flagship store of the e-commerce platform Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) told reporters that the specific amount of Maotai 1935 on the e-commerce platform is unknown, and has not been notified or known.
“On the 1919 e-commerce platform, it is basically second light, which is difficult to grab.” A 1919 offline store told reporters.
Today (January 20), Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) did not respond to the daily economic news reporter about the amount of Maotai 1935 on relevant e-commerce platforms.
the price of Maotai 1935 has doubled
In addition to consumers’ need for “hand speed”, the price of Maotai was hyped after the official announcement in 1935.
“At present, the price adjustment between dealers is about 1700 yuan / bottle.” Maotai liquor dealers told the daily economic news.
If ordinary consumers want to buy Maotai 1935 and don’t want to “fight for speed”, they need to pay a higher cost. In fact, on some e-commerce platforms, the highest quotation of Maotai 1935 is close to 2000 yuan / bottle, which has soared by nearly 70% compared with the official recommended price of 1188 yuan / bottle. However, although the price is 2000 yuan / bottle, it basically belongs to price without market, and its sales volume is only 1 piece (equivalent to 6 bottles).
“The price close to 2000 yuan is really too much.” An investor who has been following Maotai for a long time told reporters that as a Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) shareholder, he certainly hopes that Maotai 1935 can become a big single product second only to Maotai liquor, but he believes that it is too much to fry the price to nearly 2000 yuan / bottle.
“Now it is the Spring Festival, and the market has a strong consumption of Maotai 1935. Coupled with the insufficient supply just listed, a large number of investment capital try to make short-term profits by hyping Maotai 1935. Under the imbalance between supply and demand, prices continue to rise.” Cai Xuefei, general manager of CIC and Baijiu industry analyst, believes that with the normal supply after the Spring Festival, the price of Moutai 1935 will probably drop.
“Now, due to the small quantity of Maotai 1935, the price is falsely high. If it is 2000 yuan / bottle, there is no need to drink Maotai 1935.” A wine merchant said.
At present, the prices of Wuliangye Yibin Co.Ltd(000858) and Luzhou Laojiao Co.Ltd(000568) Guojiao 1573 are only more than 1000 yuan, which makes Maotai 1935 less competitive.
“Moutai 1935 known to every family is not the main product of Moutai, but also the core brand of Moutai, and it is not the main brand of Moutai. The national cellar 1573 and Wuliangye Yibin Co.Ltd(000858) are well-known well-known Baijiu brands, which are obviously more profound on the basis of brand power”. Cai Xuefei said.
In addition, before the official announcement of Maotai 1935, the tasting clothes of Maotai 1935 had entered the market as early as September last year, and the formal clothes products also entered the circulation in early 2022. Before the official release, Maotai 1935 was fried to 1800 yuan / bottle, and then dropped to about 1600 yuan / bottle.
Originally, some liquor merchants had expected that the price of Maotai 1935 would fall with the official announcement and release of goods. However, the fact is just the opposite. After the official announcement, the price of Maotai 1935 rose instead of falling, and became “second light” on the e-commerce platform
Photo source: provided by the interviewee
who’s “looting”?
Who was behind the explosion of “second light” in Maotai in 1935?
In this regard, Baijiu expert Xiao Zhuqing told the “daily economic news” reporter, “at present, Moutai 1935 only in Moutai stores and e-commerce platform and other channels, and the amount is very small, each store only 20 boxes or so.
E-commerce platforms may have more goods, but the quantity is not large. “
“Some channel terminals can’t get the goods. It doesn’t rule out that they grab the goods through the e-commerce platform.” Xiao Zhuqing also said that at present, the amount of Maotai 1935 is too small, which also makes the whole market very hot.
In fact, not only Maotai 1935, but also the year of the Tiger Chinese Zodiac Maotai liquor recently Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) produced, the price has also been hyped. In the short two-week selling period, the market price of 53% vol 500ml Kweichow Moutai Co.Ltd(600519) wine (year of the tiger) has been hot fried to about 6400 yuan / bottle, a premium of more than 150% compared with the market guidance price of 2499 yuan / bottle.
At present, the wholesale price of Feitian Maotai, the core product of Maotai and the market guide price of 1499 yuan / bottle, is about 2800 yuan / bottle.
It is worth noting that Maotai 1935’s “second light” on e-commerce platforms is the same as Feitian Maotai’s “second light” on many e-commerce platforms. At present, in some large e-commerce platforms, the rush purchase war of “affordable” Maotai liquor is staged almost every day.
According to media reports, not only consumers, but also scalpers and rush to buy software, and even online rush to buy “affordable” Maotai liquor has become a “gray” industry. Some scalpers provide robbery services at the price of hundreds of yuan per bottle, and the technical team sells Maotai “second kill” software.
