The consumption downgrade behind the 3.5 yuan ice cup: Why do white-collar workers love to make their own iced drinks?

Why has ice become a commercial product? Why do white-collar workers love to make homemade ice drinks? Why is the ice cup so popular in China? Behind this is a manifestation of people's consumption downgrade. Let's follow this article to understand the commercial phenomenon of the ice cup explosion. I hope it will bring inspiration to everyone and recommend it to my friends on the Internet.

“Years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía would remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

Many years later, no one could have imagined that a plastic cup filled with a few cubes of ice could be sold for 3.5 yuan.

Recently #Who is buying an ice cup for 3.5 yuan# has become a hot search on Weibo. Many people are wondering why mineral water only costs 2 yuan, but a cup filled with a few cubes of ice costs 3.5 yuan. Who is buying it?

Existence is reasonable. Some people think it is an "assassin", while others think it is very cost-effective.

Last summer, I discovered at work that a colleague would go to a convenience store to buy a cup of iced coffee in the afternoon, then return to the company and use the free coffee machine to make a cup of American coffee and pour it into the ice cup. He only spent two or three dollars to get a cool cup of iced American coffee.

Unexpectedly, what was considered a niche consumer behavior last year has become a routine operation this year.

I think this is the reason why ice cups are popular. For working people and the middle class, it is not a consumption upgrade but a downgrade.

In the past, you would have to pay more than 30 yuan for afternoon coffee at Starbucks, then it was downgraded to 9.9 yuan for Luckin Coffee, and now you only need 3.5 yuan to get a cup of iced American coffee that also brings you coolness and satisfaction.

Although the ice cup did not appear in the past two years, it has indeed become popular in the past two years.

According to Tianyancha data, as of June 16, 2024, 2,033 existing companies can be found by searching for the keyword "ice-making factory", of which about 490 are new companies established in the past three years, and 144 are companies that have been established for less than one year. This shows that the ice-making industry has grown significantly in recent years.

Guangzhou Binglida Food Co., Ltd. is a leading company in the ice-making field. Its three brands of ice cup products, Binglida, Bingmas and Jingcheng, have long-term cooperation with many well-known brands. Insiders said that annual sales will rapidly increase from 1 million and 2 million cups in 2022 to 50 million cups in 2023, showing the huge potential and demand in the ice cup market.

On Xiaohongshu, there are more than 40,000 notes related to ice cups, and various DIY guides emerge one after another.

Why is the ice cup so popular? Let’s first look at the business history of ice.

1. How did ice become a commercial product?

Like warmth, cold is also a basic human need. In cold weather, people need fire to keep warm, and in hot weather, people need ice to keep cool.

In the early 19th century, the misery of a Caribbean gentleman suffering from the inescapable tropical humidity inspired young Frederick Tudor to come up with a very bold and very absurd idea: if ice could be shipped from the frigid north to the West Indies, there would be a huge market for it.

In Tudor's view, ice is worthless in Boston, but it will become a priceless treasure in Havana.

Tudor took action and hired a three-masted schooner named the Madagascar to transport an entire sheet of frozen New England lake ice to Rio de Janeiro.

This bold move not only made him the pioneer of the global ice trade, but also earned him the reputation of "Ice King". With his courage and perseverance, Tudor successfully transported ice from the north to the tropics, laying the foundation for the global ice trade.

It now seems that the ice that Colonel Buendía saw in "One Hundred Years of Solitude" was most likely brought by the "Ice King".

In 1844, John Gorrie invented the first ice-making machine, which was initially used to treat patients with yellow fever. His invention used compressed air to create ice, laying the foundation for ice-making technology.

In 1873, Carl von Linde improved ice-making technology and developed more efficient refrigeration equipment, making large-scale artificial ice production possible. These technological advances not only met the needs of medical and food preservation, but also paved the way for the widespread commercialization of ice.

By the beginning of the 20th century, artificial ice had replaced natural ice and became common in American households. The invention and popularization of refrigerators made home ice making convenient and economical. Ice cubes were not only used to cool drinks, but also to preserve food.

After that, putting ice cubes into the cup and adding wine or drinks becomes a regular method of making ice drinks.

Today we often see Americans adding ice cubes to whiskey, vodka and other foreign liquors in movies. For them, this is a natural thing.

The emergence of ice cups is not difficult to understand. It’s just that people replaced glass cups for ice cubes with plastic cups.

In East Asia, especially in Japan and South Korea, ice cups have long become a necessity in summer. According to data from Zhiyanzhan Industry Research Institute, the annual consumption of disposable ice cups in convenience stores in Japan has reached 2.57 billion cups, and ice cups have become a mass consumer product like beverages.

In summer, ice cups are widely used to cool all kinds of beverages, from coffee to tea to various soft drinks, and are deeply loved by consumers.

2. Why is the ice cup so popular in China?

Many facts in the past have shown that products that have been popular in Japan and South Korea will also be popular in China. Ice cups became popular in Japan and South Korea in the mid-to-late 2010s, so why are ice cups popular in China this year?

1. New demands of the younger generation

The popularity of ice cups is closely related to the changes in consumption needs of young people today. In China, there are some traditional ideas about drinking water, two of which are the main ones:

1. Drinking ice water is bad for your health: Traditional thinking holds that drinking ice water frequently will have adverse effects on your health and may cause gastrointestinal problems. Some people even believe that geriatric diseases such as arthritis are also related to drinking ice water when you are young.
2. Boiled water is best for the body: Chinese people have always liked to drink boiled water. Even in summer, the traditional concept is that one should drink boiled water. This concept has helped give birth to the "boiled water" market, which is worth tens of billions of yuan.

These concepts have deeply influenced people's drinking habits in the past. However, with the popularization of scientific knowledge and the development of modern medicine, contemporary young people have begun to question and re-examine these traditional concepts.

Through social media and various science popularization channels, they gradually realized that iced drinks do not cause obvious harm to the body, but instead bring a comfortable and refreshing experience.

The scientific understanding of ice is the reason why iced drinks are becoming more and more popular, and it is also the basic condition for the popularity of ice cups.

Ice has begun to become an indispensable product for young people in the summer, which had never happened among the previous generation.

2. DIY culture is popular

Whether it is fashion accessories or daily necessities, young people can always give them unique personality and style through DIY. DIY has been engraved in the genes of young people.

For ice drinks, DIY is not only a way to express personality, but also a pleasant experience and an opportunity for social sharing.

By choosing different drinks, wines, syrups, juices and ice cubes, young people can make unique ice drinks that completely suit their tastes and preferences. Many people show their unique style and taste by DIYing different drink combinations.

Bottled drinks are all the same, but DIY iced drinks are one in a million.

Since ice king Frederick Tudor commercialized ice cubes, they have become an indispensable part of drinks such as cocktails. Seeing the refreshing experience of adding ice cubes to whiskey and vodka in Europe and America, young people are also yearning for it.

DIY ice drinks are not only for enjoying delicious food, but also for the fun of making them yourself. Buy ice cubes at a convenience store, add your favorite drinks, and the simple process brings great satisfaction. This gives young people the feeling of living a fashionable European and American life.

DIY ice cubes have also become a fun way to socialize.

People have been posting their own ice works or DIY processes, and sharing their creativity and experience with friends. This sharing behavior has also promoted the popularity of ice DIY culture.

On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu, a large number of tips and creative videos on DIY ice cubes have emerged. These contents not only provide people with inspiration for making, but also lead the trend of DIY ice cubes.

3. Consumption downgrade among the middle class

In the eyes of many people, the price of an ice cup is not cheap, but for the middle class, it is a money-saving tool.

In Korea, the habit of pouring bagged coffee into an ice cup has been popular for many years. The cost of making homemade iced coffee is much lower than buying it in a coffee shop, saving at least 2/3 of the cost.

In China, who is buying ice cubes at 3.5 yuan a cup? From what I have observed, most of them are office workers.

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, office workers may have spent more than 30 yuan a day on a cup of Starbucks in the past, but now they can buy an iced cup of homemade coffee for just a few dollars.

Of course, it's not just coffee. The cost of DIY iced drinks is much lower than that of finished products. For example, a cocktail in a bar usually costs at least a few dozen dollars. If you buy a bottle of wine and make it in an ice cup, you can make at least 10 cups for the same price, and the cost of each cup can be done with just a few dollars.

So, although 3.5 yuan for a cup of iced coffee may seem expensive, it is a great deal for its real consumers - the middle class who make their own coffee and iced drinks.

So has consumption been downgraded to the bottom? Not yet. Many people have started to bring ice cubes to work in thermos cups. This way, they can drink iced Americano for free using the office coffee machine without spending a penny. It is expected that in the future, there will be more and more such content on social networks.

When we look back at the journey of ice cubes from commercialization to popularization, from Frederick Tudor's bold attempt, to the invention of the ice maker, to the widespread use of ice cups today, ice has always played an important role in our lives.

Colonel Aureliano Buendía saw ice as something new, mysterious, and a link between the past and the future. Today, ice has become part of our daily lives.

Perhaps many years later, when people look back at the years when ice cups were popular, they will find the way consumption downgraded is so interesting.

Author: Xunkong

Source: WeChat official account: "Xunkong's Marketing Revelation (ID: xunkong2005)"