Mixue Ice City and Nongfu Spring enter the ice cup market, competing for the "ice cup +"

This article will explore the layout and strategies of major brands behind the booming ice cup market, as well as consumers' demand and attitude towards ice cups. Let's uncover the business logic and market trends behind the ice cup craze.

Ice cups are popular, but it is not easy to do business just selling ice cups.

Ice cups have unexpectedly entered the hot summer market.

In recent days, hot search terms such as "Who is buying an ice cup at 3.5 yuan?" and "Some ice cups are criticized for prices exceeding 10 yuan" have exposed the price controversy of this "new thing" to the public.

The so-called ice cup is actually a cup of edible ice, which is mainly used as a container for homemade ice drinks. At present, the prices of ice cups on the market are mostly concentrated in the range of 3-9 yuan, and some prices even reach double digits.

Nowadays, just talking about price can attract heated discussions, not to mention that in the eyes of many people, "ten dollars is just a pile of ice cubes."

Not only that, the "low-price king" Mixue Ice City has also entered the market. The Snow King, which has always won the hearts of young people with its cost-effectiveness, is no exception this time. It priced its large cup (660ml) ice cup at 1 yuan, which immediately widened the gap with other brands and pushed this round of "ice cup fever" to a climax.

Why are so many players rushing into the ice cup market? Will the arrival of the "price killer" of ice cups make the final decision with low prices as usual? Which companies benefit from this round of ice cup craze and which companies just make a profit?

01 Young people love to drink iced drinks, Nongfu Spring and Mixue Ice City also suffered

"I feel like I am one of the target customer groups for the ice cup. When I go out to drink beverages or wine, it's so cool to buy an ice cup." Guo Shangkun believes that he will be an enthusiastic audience in this round of ice cup craze.

"For an ice lover like me, this is really good news. I would rather not drink drinks without ice, and cold drinks are hard to drink. I can buy an ice cup and drink iced coffee in the office." When asked whether it would be inconvenient to bring your own ice cup and why he doesn't make ice himself, Guo Shangkun shook his head repeatedly, "It's very convenient to buy some and store them in the refrigerator at home. I can't make the ice cubes sealed and sterile when I freeze them myself, so it's much easier to buy an ice cup."

In addition to simply liking to drink ice water, ice cups can also be used as a substitute for tea.

Among the posts on Xiaohongshu about the ice cup experience, many are about substitutes for drinks in tea shops, "Mint Ice Oolong = Nongfu Spring Ice Cup + 15ml Mint Syrup + Oriental Leaf Oolong Tea; Blood Orange Grape = Nongfu Spring Ice Cup + Grape Ice Ball + Water-soluble C100 Blood Orange Flavor..." Ice cup as the basis of "special blend", drinking the same water and spending less money, undoubtedly hits the G-spot of this generation of young people.

Major offline catering brands are also affected. Faced with reality, many "loyal followers of McDonald's" and "K-Ke fans" have to say that the combination of ice cup + cola, with a total cost of no more than 7 yuan, is much more cost-effective than the ice cola in fast food restaurants that costs 12 yuan; many daily coffee lovers also have to sigh that the combination of ice cup + coffee beats the "pot washing water" of dozens of yuan.

Obviously, in the atmosphere of substitution consumption, there is no lack of demand for ice cups. On the supply side, this phenomenon has been confirmed again.

A clerk at a Lawson convenience store in Wuhan said that their store currently mainly sells two types of ice cups, one with lemon slices and one without, priced at 3.5 yuan and 3 yuan respectively. In July, as the continuous heavy rain in Wuhan stopped and the maximum temperature climbed to 35 degrees, these ice cups sold very quickly. "Our store is next to a school, and many young college students like to buy them, especially some who have just played basketball. Basically, we have no worries about sales."

In fact, before the ice cups became popular this year, the ice cups on the market mainly came from several edible ice companies such as Binglida, Bingjixian, and Bingququ. These companies' products include not only ice cups, but also bagged ice, spherical ice, and high-end bar water. Some companies have also launched a variety of ice cup products such as lemon fruit ice cups and strawberry fruit ice cups.

Every summer, the sales of these products are not bad, but not as popular as this year. A convenience store employee also said that if this year's popularity is 100, then last year's might be around 20. What really made the ice cup gain so much attention was the entry of Nongfu Spring and Mixue Ice City.

Nongfu Spring's layout dates back to a year ago. As early as May 2023, Nongfu Spring applied for a patent for the label (ice cup). In July of the same year, two Xiaohongshu users with IP addresses in Hangzhou began to share Nongfu Spring ice cups. Considering that Nongfu Spring's headquarters is also in Hangzhou, this is considered to be a small-scale test of the company.

By February this year, Nongfu Spring ice cups began to appear in the recommendations of Xiaohongshu. By May, these ice cups were gradually put on display in convenience stores across the country.

A clerk said that Nongfu Spring's ice cups are selling better than the previous ones. "They can be sold out in two or three days, and then we will place new orders for restocking. Maybe they are attracted by the big brands."

By July, the "Snow King" Mixue Ice City launched a 1 yuan ice cup, which pushed the carnival to a new height and this round of craze also entered a new stage.

02 Tea shop makes ice cups, but the thunder is loud but the rain is small

Before competitors such as Gu Ming, Shu Yi Herbal Jelly, Cha Bai Dao, and Shanghai Auntie realized what was happening, Mixue Ice City entered the ice cup market without hesitation, which once again allowed the outside world to witness the Snow King's keen market sense.

So, does the introduction of ice cups really help Mixue Ice City attract customers?

We asked a Mixue Ice City store on a commercial street, and the clerk admitted that after the ice cup appeared, the number of orders placed by the mini-program and the density of offline visits to the store have increased significantly, "especially after the temperature started to rise in late June. Sometimes customers come to ask if there is ice. The ice cup has indeed attracted many people to make a special trip."

Since this Mixue Ice City store is located in an area with a large flow of people, many people order ice cups and other drinks. The clerk said, "The turnover this month should be better than last year."

However, due to the different geographical locations, population density, and age structure of different stores, a single store is not very representative.

Just a few days after the launch of Mixue Ice City ice cups, many netizens discovered that although some stores still had ice cups on their mini-programs, when they went to get them offline, they were told that they had been taken off the shelves, and they had to exchange them for melon seeds and jelly.

On Xiaohongshu, some consumers found that the ice cups had been removed from the mini program of the Mixue Ice City store in their area. This move even led to inconsistent prices in different regions.

A consumer described that "the Mixue Ice City here charges four yuan for a full cup of ice, and they say it is the lowest price for drinks". Some consumers even expressed dissatisfaction with Mixue Ice City, saying "If you don't want to sell ice cups, don't put them on the shelves" and "I can't afford it".

Some merchants have come forward to say that, in fact, when the ice cup was first launched on the Mixue Ice City mini program, they did not receive any notification from the group. Many merchants were not aware of it and only knew the approximate launch time.

The deeper reason behind this is that the interests of franchisees and brands are inconsistent.

In the matter of ice cups, from the perspective of the Mixue Ice City brand, it attracted more customers, exerted the brand effect, and fully utilized the ice cups as "auxiliary products" to broaden the breadth of the main products.

Not only that, the price of one yuan per cup is enough to cover its cost. Because Snow King does not use high-end edible ice, the production method with less bubbles, and does not require high logistics and storage costs like other ice cups, but as always takes the sinking route, made in the store, the cost is almost limited to the cup itself. On 1688, among the first-line sources, the average price of this cup is only between 0.1 yuan and 0.3 yuan.

For brands, this is undoubtedly profitable.

But from the perspective of the franchised Mixue Bingcheng merchants, this business is far more than that.

It is summer now, and the ice-making capacity of ice-making machines is limited after all. If there is a sudden surge in orders in a short period of time, merchants will face great pressure.

A franchise owner of Mixue Ice City complained, "For example, if we have one or two hundred orders requiring ice cubes in a short period of time, the ice-making machine can't handle it, and we can't let customers complain, so we have to purchase them from outside. Moreover, if the ice cubes are redundant, they will take up space and resources, which will cost much more. In the end, the employees are exhausted, and it's still unclear whether we can make any profit."

03 Supply and demand reversed in a short period of time, and the ice cup business is not so good

Compared with tea shops, ice factories specializing in edible ice also face a more complex competitive environment.

The most important issue is the sales channel of ice cups.

Currently, in China's retail consumer market, it is a major trend for online businesses to take over offline businesses, but the product attributes of ice cups are completely the opposite.

If you search for "ice cup" on commonly used e-commerce platforms, the search results are almost only pure cups such as various "creative cups" and "cold cups". Therefore, ice cups are almost far away from long-distance delivery with a logistics time of about a few days, and are mainly instant retail, especially offline, which has more specific and tangible consumption scenarios.

This is undoubtedly against the trend. In the eyes of many people, when the temperature is 40 degrees in the summer, it is easier to stay at home than to go out to find a convenience store to buy an ice cup. This is a contradiction in business logic.

Good business logic should be to follow the trend. How to reach those young people who are reluctant to go out in the hot summer and persuade them to buy ice cups is a big problem.

Not only that, due to the special properties of the product, these edible ice production companies almost only support wholesale delivery of ice. From the company to the consumer, it needs to go through layers of transmission, and the profit erosion in this process can be imagined.

From the perspective of the entire ice cup market, the industry outlook is more complicated.

As an imported product from Japan and South Korea, the ice cup has already evolved into a variety of ways of playing in China's two major neighboring countries.

As early as 2012, Korean convenience store brand CU launched a set of ice cups and bagged beverage brand Delaffe, which was a great success. This year, CU launched Korea's largest extra-large ice cup. The lid of this ice cup has two straw holes, which is suitable for sharing drinks with family or lovers, and is also more suitable for sharing drinks in outdoor concerts, camping and other outdoor activities.

Another major brand, 아미, focuses on products that melt more slowly. It is reported that the 65mm ice cubes it uses have a higher density and less contact with the surface of the beverage, so they melt more slowly.

In the Japanese market, pure ice cups, crushed ice, and 1.1kg slab ice products have already appeared. At the same time, different lids can be provided according to the different matching products. In addition, some companies focus on ice cups that melt more slowly, and even use this as a selling point for export. Currently, in Japan, the annual consumption of ice cups has reached 2.57 billion cups, and the huge potential in the Chinese market can be imagined.

However, it should be noted that there are still differences in eating habits between China and Japan and South Korea. Unlike Japan and South Korea, where people love to eat ice and drink ice water all year round, in China, ice cups are still mainly consumed in summer. "Drink more hot water" is still the main theme of health preservation in the eyes of most people.

In addition, the ice cup is essentially still a supporting product and it is difficult for it to play a leading role. As a product of the trend of substitute consumption, it is still unknown how long the popularity of the ice cup will last.

Many ice manufacturers such as Binglida and Bingjixian joined the ice cup market, followed by ice cream manufacturers such as Aoxue, Daqiaodao, and Tangfu. Nongfu Spring and Mixue Ice City also joined the market as leaders in their respective industries. The popularity in a short period of time has increased the participation rate of the ice cup market segment.

The collective efforts and rush of many large and small companies in a short period of time have also made the ice cup track, which was not wide to begin with, even more crowded. Industry price wars and product involution have already occurred. Afterwards, when the market enters a steady state, more intense market competition, clearance and elimination may soon come.

However, for companies like Nongfu Spring or Mixue Ice City, whose main business is tea drinks, they followed the current trend of ice drinks among young people and entered the ice cup market as early as possible. They did not expect to make money from the ice cup products themselves, but hoped to promote their original drinks through "ice cup +". This is a good preparation for consumer research in advance. This may be a small business layout for them, or it may be a "magic operation".

Author: Guangchen; Editor: Zhao

Source: Xinou, a website that directly hits the hot spots of Internet technology consumption and gives you insights into the latest and coolest world