New-style Tea Beverage In 2023: The Year of Rat Race, Marking Down or Hitting Overseas Markets ?

The Year 2023 is one with more rat race in new-style tea beverage.

After three years of epidemic, the consumer market has ushered in a full recovery this year, but “retaliatory consumption” does not seem to be reflected. The trend of rational and healthy consumption is surging, and the questionable characteristics of high sugar, high fat, and high trans fatty acids in tea beverages are also questioned by more and more consumers. Brands have to target freshly-made tea beverages, and the healthier “original leaf tea + fresh milk + fresh fruit” tea drink has become the standard in new-style tea beverage shops this year.

Racing for Listing, but Getting Unfavored

As the leading enterprise, Nayuki was successfully listed in 2021 and became the “first stock of new-style tea beverage”. However, It is precisely because of this matter that the new-style tea beverage has been pushed into a higher listing boom. In 2023, “the competition of being the second in listing” fell into a white-hot stage. Many brands have trends in IPO, but the capital’s “preference” for new-style tea beverage  is disappearing: the amount of financing disclosed has dropped sharply, and the investment in the new-style tea beverage market became more cautious.

“Ten thousand Stores Plan” Being Compulsory

In 2023, all brands in new-style tea beverage industry are striving for the “Ten thousand Stores Plan”, which seems to have become the final question that they must examine. However, the expansion of brands is bound to squeeze the living space of other brands. It is foreseeable that the fierce competition brought about by the substantial growth of store registrations will make the survival rate of enterprises lower, but the first one to reach the goal of 10,000 stores this year seems to win the ticket for the future.

Marking Down or Hitting Overseas Markets?

Looking for growth space is an ever-changing topic in all walks of life, and there is no exception in new-style tea beverage industry. 2023 is one of difficult recovery of the consumer market, the weakness of the demand side leads to the supply side being more difficult. The pressure of pursuing growth is covering the whole industry, and under the slogan of rational and healthy consumption, it is increasingly difficult to find new space for development.

Markets in lower-tier cities is the main direction. Behind the wave of price cuts, companies are targeting market vacancies in the industry. The vast markets in lower-tier cities  brings sufficient potential growth space for the industry. From the perspective of the take-out orders in different city in the first half of this year, the growth rate of 30% in fourth-line and 36% of fifth-line cities is much higher than the 28% growth rate in first-line to third-line main market. The markets in lower-tier cities are opening up.

Another big growth space is hitting overseas markets. This year, Heytea publicly recruited overseas business partners and opened its first store in London in summer. ChaPanda opened its first store in South Korea. MIXUE Ice Cream & Tea expanded its stores in Japan. TIANLALA has entered into the Indonesian market. In overseas market, there will also be problems caused by various regional cultural differences such as product positioning and taste. It is foreseeable that hitting overseas markets, like other food and beverage industries, is difficult to cater for all tastes. We have to constantly update and adjust our products according to the local catering culture, and That’s what makes it practicable.