Milk tea has gone up in price! 20 yuan a cup of happiness, does it match？

Beijing, May 9 (Zuo Yukun), a client of Zhongxin. com, found that a total of 12 or 3 tea shops were opened in a small commercial street with a length of 200 to 300 meters in his hometown when he was shopping in Xiao Xu’s May Day holiday in a third-tier city.

"Can this really make money?" Xiao Xu is very confused.

In the face of such fierce industry competition, Xiao Xu feels that the brand may run out of the advantage through low-price strategy. However, after going to several stores, I found that the price increase of milk tea has become the mainstream.

Milk tea, what’s the matter?

Consumers order at a tea shop. Zhongxin. com Zuo Yukun photo

New tea set off a "price hike"

Not long ago, the news that the beverage giant Coca-Cola announced the price increase made many "happy water lovers" feel that they would never be happy again, and also attracted many people to ridicule: "You can afford more than a dozen pieces of milk tea, but you still care about this three-dollar Coca-Cola?"

Nowadays, it seems that not only the price of three yuan of cola will increase, but also the price of more than a dozen pieces of milk tea will also want to flee.

Not long ago, there were many new Xia Rixin products on the brand of milk tea, and the prices of some home-made products were also refreshed. The prices of signature products such as Yangzhi Ganlu, Golden Coconut Oolong and 1L Fruit Tea were all raised in 2 yuan.

The prices of some products of CoCo Coco, a brand of milk tea, have also risen. The prices of Mo-flavored milk tea, Miss Hong Guo and Passion Fruit Double-Soup Gun have been raised by 1-3 yuan, and even the small ingredients have not been spared. The prices of pearls and coconuts have been raised from 1 yuan to 2 yuan, with an increase of 100%.

Earlier, "in order to continuously provide high-quality drinks and services, we will fine-tune the price of drinks on February 1, 2021." At the beginning of the year, many stores put out such notices and announced price increases.

The same price increase is also Yihetang, which previously focused on parity. In the past, the price of Standard Honey Snow Ice City has been rising all the way. The price of Yihe Roasted Milk, a signature product, has increased by one third from 6 yuan to 8 yuan.

The price of the same milk tea drink rose by two yuan.

Among the new tea brands with "10 yuan+"price band, the trend of price increase has already spread. This price band carries the largest share of milk tea consumers, and the game between quality and price may be between one and two yuan, which also makes them particularly sensitive to price.

"When I first started drinking CoCo, the original milk tea was only a cup of 4 yuan, and now the prices of new products it launched have begun to’ guarantee 20 for 30′." Some netizens recalled.

The sound of "rising" attracted a spit. "What about the current tea shop? The price of the old one is one or two yuan, and the new one is directly above 20 yuan. My economic ability can’t keep up with the price increase of milk tea." Some consumers concluded.

The price increase is only because the milk tea cup is expensive?

What is the reason for the price increase? A "Letter to Tea Powder" sent by Wang Xiaolong, the founder of Chabaidao, was circulated on the Internet, which mentioned that due to the influence of the environment, the prices of raw materials such as fruit equipment and packaging rose, and the price of drinks would be fine-tuned.

Generally speaking, just as the CEO of Coca-Cola Company attributed the brewing price increase to the rising price of raw materials, the reason for this wave of price increase of milk tea is that the wind of rising commodity prices has blown from the upstream raw material supply chain to the milk tea cups of every consumer.

"The ups and downs of the price of a single raw material are normal, every year, but it is the first time that so many raw materials have risen together." Some people in the tea industry told the media.

Not long ago, Ms. Liang joined a chain tea shop. She told Zhongxin. com that it was still quite difficult to apply for joining this first-line tea brand. In addition to the registration, preliminary examination, interview and training in the process, before the store opened, Ms. Liang had invested nearly 600,000 yuan.

But what worries Ms. Liang is still behind.

Consumers order at a tea shop. Zhongxin. com Zuo Yukun photo

"I chose to join this milk tea brand because I liked it before, drank it often, and felt that it was cost-effective. So I was shocked when I received the new menu. Why did my price increase when I opened this business? " Ms. Liang said, "But when I really started to do business, I found that the costs of all links are indeed rising."

The first is the raw material end. Ms. Liang takes the fruit perfume lemon as an example: perfume lemon has become a common raw material for fruit tea because of its lower acidity than ordinary lemon. Since this year, the price has soared by more than four times. "In previous years, the purchase price of almost 4 kg in 5 yuan has now risen above 20 yuan."

There are two main reasons for the price increase of perfume lemon: first, some areas of Guangdong, its main producing area, are affected by the climate, and the output is lower than in previous years; Second, there is a "Southeast Asian wind" in the new tea industry this year. A variety of lemon teas are popular, and the demand for perfume lemons is higher than in previous years. The price rises under the contradiction between supply and demand.

At the same time, due to the influence of international trade, some fruits with relatively high imports, such as grapefruit and pineapple, have also seen quite obvious price increases. "I am counting on the summer, and a large number of fruits such as watermelons are on the market. After the price comes down, the cost of raw materials can be pulled down." Ms. Liang said.

In addition to fruit raw materials, there are many "invisible" parts of consumers that are also experiencing price turmoil.

For example, after the Spring Festival this year, the prices of copper, stainless steel, aluminum and other metals have risen in turn, which has affected the pricing of various tea-making equipment such as sealing machines and smoothies; The price increase of plastic particles, paper, PE film, etc., has a few cents of cost floating on each milk tea cup; The cost of raw materials such as seemingly inconspicuous leaflets, take-away packaging bags, corrugated cup holders, etc. has increased by several thousand yuan per ton, which adds up to the same amount.

Ms. Liang also mentioned that the "plastic ban on straws" that began on New Year’s Day this year also made many milk tea shopkeepers "feel a pain in their hearts". At the beginning, tea shops basically changed into paper straws with relatively low cost, but they got a bad review because of the disadvantages of not being able to open and often soaking. Later, most head brands were replaced with PLA straws.

"The cost of each PLA straw is about a dime more expensive than that of plastic straws and a few cents more expensive than paper straws. On average, the store consumes hundreds of straws every day, which is still very heartbreaking. " Ms. Liang said.

Competition intensifies, can the new tea bear it?

"If the milk tea that was originally ten dollars rose to twenty, why didn’t I add a few more dollars to buy hi tea directly?" In the consumer’s feedback on the price increase, "Do you have any points in your milk tea" is the loudest.

Practitioners also said that the impact of this price increase on brands in the price band above 20 yuan is not so great, and the biggest impact is on regional small brands. "They sell about 10 pieces of fruit per cup, and their gross profit is not high and their ability to resist risks is weak."

Consumers line up to buy milk tea. Zhongxin. com Zuo Yukun photo

"I think for our store owners, even more than consumers, we don’t want to raise prices." Ms. Liang said that the price increase may be a matter of buying or not buying in another store for consumers, but for new tea brands with fierce competition, the price increase of one or two yuan may mean sending the hard-earned consumer groups to competitors.

Since the development of new-style tea, fresh fruit, high-quality tea and fresh milk have become "standard". The price of "genuine materials" is that the industry has long since lost its initial profiteering, and it is even said that the net profit of new-style tea is only 10%. When all aspects of costs are rising, small brands that have to rely on price increases to maintain costs also lose their low-price advantage.

In the eyes of the industry, low-priced brands may usher in a reshuffle.

Milk tea brands are making waves in the tide of price increase, which one would you choose? (End)