The "ice cream assassin" that fell in the scorching heat is being replaced by Gelato

Affordable ice cream has become the mainstream, and the market position of high-priced ice cream brands has declined. Read the article to find out.

Along with the hot summer comes the trend of the cold drink market. A small ice cream is revealing a new face of the growing market.

Once upon a time, Zhong Xue Gao reached the price ceiling of ice cream with its unique market positioning and high-price strategy. After high-priced ice cream became the code for traffic, a number of brands also rushed to the scene and started the battle for high-priced ice cream.

As the once popular Zhong Xue Gao fell from grace, the wind direction in the ice cream market, which has been stirred up, is also changing.

Recently, topics such as "Ice cream returns to the 5 yuan era" have become hot searches. This summer, ice cream products priced under 10 yuan can be found everywhere in the market, and the price range of 3 to 5 yuan has become the first choice of consumers. The revival of affordable ice cream seems to be a foregone conclusion.

It is worth noting that while young people are "crazily shopping" in the affordable ice cream market, their demand for high-quality ice cream remains strong.

The "Hermes" of the ice cream world still exists. On social platforms, a photo of a colorful double scoop of ice cream with the caption "ice cream that you can't afford even with a monthly salary of 10,000 yuan" has become a new traffic code. In many shopping malls, there are still a large number of middle-class consumers willing to queue up to pay for a scoop of ice cream for 59 yuan.

Today, handmade gelato ice cream is becoming popular again. Brands such as Venchi, Don Nino and Mr. Ye (Yuan Ye Ren Mu Fang) have won the favor of consumers with their health, freshness and high-quality consumption experience.

The data intuitively reveals the popularity of Gelato. Taking the "Wild Man Pasture" brand as an example, the number of views of its topic on Douyin has exceeded 140 million times. The founder of the brand revealed that the store's daily turnover can reach 60,000+, which is a particularly outstanding performance in the current ice cream market.

It can be seen that the ice cream market now presents a clear dual pattern.

On one hand, the price of bagged ice cream has dropped to the bottom. The dream of high-end ice cream seems to have come to an end, and the "Ice Cream Assassin" can no longer survive. However, affordable ice cream below 5 yuan has met the consumption needs of the majority of consumers with its affordable price.

On the other hand, "handmade ice cream" has ushered in new vitality with its healthiness and high-quality consumer experience. Although it costs 30-40 yuan, consumers are willing to pay extra for this unique quality and experience.

This phenomenon has further boosted the influence of "handmade ice cream". More and more brands have targeted the dividends of the high-end ice cream market and started to get involved.

1. Ice cream assassins retreat collectively, and affordable ice cream makes a comeback

Once upon a time, Zhong Xue Gao stood out from the crowd with its high-end route. Through high-end prices and limited hunger marketing, it sold the "Ecuadorian Pink Diamond" ice cream at a high price of 66 yuan and set a record of selling 20,000 sticks in 15 hours.

This trend immediately spread to tea, car and wine companies. Many brands began to follow Zhong Xuegao's example and crossed over to try out new products and create marketing momentum.

For example, Wuling launched macaron ice cream at 16 yuan per stick, Hengshun Vinegar Industry launched cultural and creative ice cream at 18 yuan per stick, Heytea launched cheesy peach popsicles at 18 yuan per stick, Wuliangye ice cream at 32 yuan per scoop, and Moutai ice cream starting at 59 yuan. A number of new consumer brands use this consumer mentality to raise their brand value.

Now, with the change in the wind, the value of high-priced ice cream has plummeted and has become a "bargain price" that is sold off crazily.

Many former "ice cream assassin" brands have launched big promotions on major online shopping platforms. The 66-yuan Zhong Xue Gao ice cream has fallen from its pedestal, with its price dropping to 2.5 yuan at one point; Maotai ice cream, which originally cost 66 yuan, has also started to participate in the 9.9-yuan price war; the "Hot-selling Family Portrait 51-stick" set meal at the Wall's ice cream flagship store costs 159 yuan, with an average price of 3.1 yuan per stick...

Behind the current situation of high-priced ice cream being sold at a discount is the failure of high-end ice cream brands in the market.

Zhong Xuegao is facing financial difficulties, with unpaid wages and debts, its boss becoming the person subject to execution, and the number of employees has been reduced from 1,700 to hundreds; the cross-border Moutai ice cream has also encountered setbacks in its market performance. Through inquiries through the mini-program, it was found that 7 flagship stores including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are currently suspended, and the latest hot search is "Buy one get one free Moutai ice cream, but no one eats it."

Foreign high-end ice cream is also not doing well, and has fallen into a sluggish business growth. Haagen-Dazs's parent company General Mills disclosed in its latest financial report that its international net sales increased by only 3% in the nine months ending February 25, 2024; Unilever, which owns leading brands such as Wall's and Magnum, showed in its 2023 financial report that the pricing of its ice cream business increased by 8.8%, but sales volume fell by 6%.

It is not difficult to find that the label "Ice Cream Assassin" has gradually become a synonym for unpopularity in the minds of consumers, and the market's doubts and criticisms of high-priced ice cream have never stopped.

On the one hand, due to the excessive marketing and weak products, consumers' enthusiasm for "expensive ice cream" has gradually decreased. The example of Zhong Xue Gao is particularly obvious. From "ice cream assassin" to "unmelted in fire", to "false propaganda of raw materials", and the recent "price plunge", Zhong Xue Gao's brand image has completely collapsed in the minds of consumers, and there is a clear mismatch between its high-end positioning and consumers' psychological expectations.

On the other hand, the current purchase of high-priced ice cream in the market is mainly for trying new things, and there are still only a few consumers who can continue to repurchase. Affordable ice cream has once again become the mainstream choice in the market because it meets the basic needs of consumers. Su Su told Doujiao, "Now I either go to offline wholesale or buy online. Yesterday, I bought 19 ice creams for 40 yuan at the supermarket downstairs from my home, with an average price of 2 yuan each."

Distributors have also clearly felt the difficulty of selling high-priced ice cream, and many small businesses are facing the problem of inventory backlog. According to the Beijing News, many supermarkets in Beijing are still selling "old goods" produced a year ago, and the proportion of "old goods" in some channels in 2023 has even reached 40%. This phenomenon further highlights the embarrassment of high-priced ice cream in the market.

Nowadays, affordable ice cream has become the mainstream. From the perspective of offline retail channels, Doujiao visited many supermarkets and convenience stores and found that the current ice cream market is still dominated by four major brands: Yili, Mengniu, Wall's and Nestlé.

In the freezers of convenience stores such as Bianlifeng, once controversial high-priced ice cream brands such as Zhong Xue Gao have disappeared, replaced by affordable products, with most ice creams priced below 12 yuan. Even high-end products such as Yili Xu Jin Huan, which is priced at 16.8 yuan, attract consumers through a promotion of one yuan for the second piece.

Further observation of the offline cold drink wholesale market shows that the dominance of affordable ice cream is even more obvious. Ice cream priced below 5 yuan occupies three full freezers. The owner of the wholesale store said that ice cream priced below 3 yuan is the most popular at present, and they have stopped purchasing packaged ice cream priced above 15 yuan because the market demand is limited and the purchase channels have also been reduced accordingly.

In the new retail channels of online e-commerce, affordable ice cream also performed well. Taking the sales of Meituan's "Cool Season" as an example, the top ten are all ice creams with an average price of less than 5 yuan. Obviously, at a time when consumers are increasingly pursuing quality-price ratio and rational consumption, this year's packaged ice cream market is ushering in a "cooling-off period."

2. Expensive ice cream loses to noble gelato

On one hand, high-priced packaged ice creams such as Zhong Xue Gao are struggling to survive, while on the other hand, handmade ice cream Gelato is booming. As some ice cream brands on the market gradually fade out of consumers' view, handmade ice cream is rapidly becoming the new favorite of the market with its unique charm and personalized characteristics.

Gelato means "ice cream" in Italian, and is usually translated as "Italian handmade ice cream". Compared with ordinary ice cream, Gelato has a lower fat content, less air content and lower temperature, providing a healthier and denser taste. These characteristics make it regarded as the ceiling of the ice cream industry, and it has launched the slogan "Not all ice cream is called Gelato".

To some extent, the emergence of the "ice cream assassin" phenomenon is directly caused by the lack of clear price marking in some offline stores, which leads consumers to buy high-priced ice cream without knowing it. However, no one classifies Gelato as an assassin. They clearly mark prices from the beginning to avoid consumers' accidental "backstabs" in terms of price.

Common gelato brands on the market, such as Venchi, Don Nino and Mr. Ye (formerly Mr. Ye), have successfully attracted consumers' attention with their clear pricing strategies and high-quality products. Take Venchi as an example, its product prices are clearly marked: 59 yuan for two scoops, 69 yuan for three scoops, and 79 yuan for four scoops. In addition, the crisp cone and jam cost an additional 15 yuan and 5 yuan respectively, so that consumers know the price.

Surprisingly, the high price of gelato has not hindered consumers' enthusiasm for buying, but its popularity continues to rise. In some cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, etc., there are often long queues in front of Mr. Savage, LACOLA, Theodore, Beiping Ice Maker and other stores, and many customers are willing to spend 1-2 hours waiting to buy.

Consumers' attitude towards Gelato is completely different from their attitude towards high-priced bagged ice cream. Spending 66 yuan to buy Zhong Xue Gao will undoubtedly be considered a "tax on IQ", but spending 59 yuan to buy a double ball of Gelato is a good deal for many consumers.

The market has proven that consumers can accept high-end products, but the premise is that the products must be worth the money and cannot be overpriced. Many gelato brands have accurately grasped the new trends that consumers in the mid-to-high-end market are most concerned about with their keen insight into the market.

First of all, the Gelato brand regards the concept of health as a "compulsory course" in the production of its products.

On the one hand, in terms of ingredients, the company emphasizes the quality of raw materials, thereby gaining good reputation. Gelato emphasizes that it often uses fresh natural milk, high-quality nuts and seasonal fruits, does not add a drop of water during the whipping process, and the air content is precisely controlled at 20-35%, which further highlights the "high value" of Gelato.

On the other hand, Gelato has also become a representative of modern "elite food" in terms of low fat and high milk content. Compared with traditional American ice cream, Italian Gelato stands out in the ice cream market with its higher quality and the lowest fat content of only about 10%. It has even been praised as "good news for people who want to lose weight" on social platforms such as Xiaohongshu.

Secondly, Gelato is highly praised for its taste, and its unique production process meets consumers' expectations for high-quality healthy desserts. Compared with ordinary ice cream, Gelato is produced at a lower temperature, which not only ensures its delicate taste that melts in the mouth, but also highlights the fresh experience of "making and eating now", satisfying consumers' demand for healthy and additive-free products.

For example, Mr. Ye's store has the words "Made fresh on the day, never left overnight" prominently marked in a prominent place, and emphasized the freshness of the product by setting up flavor signs that read "Now on sale" and "Coming soon", accurately grasping the consumer psychology of "easy to make because it's healthy and has no additives".

In addition, Gelato focuses on free tasting to deepen consumers' brand experience and complete in-depth exploration of market users.

In fact, Gelato tasting activities are often the key to converting potential customers. Many consumers often choose to buy after trying samples of various flavors of Gelato. Only by truly tasting can they establish an understanding of the category through personal experience. A number of Gelato brands attract and retain consumers through high-quality customer experience.

Various external forces have jointly pushed "handmade ice cream" to become a new high-priced dessert market, and brands that have keenly captured consumer trends have also acted very quickly.

Tea brands have shown a high degree of tacit understanding and keen market insight in seizing consumption trends. As a market pioneer, Heytea took the lead in developing a gelato product line and opened a gelato ice cream shop called "Xi La Duo". The price of a single scoop is 15 yuan, and a double scoop is 25 yuan. This price is significantly lower than that of most old-fashioned gelato brands, attracting a large number of consumers.

At the same time, Mixue Ice City has also cleverly integrated Gelato with its own brand characteristics and launched the "Gelato" brand, which focuses on a product combination of freshly made ice cream with coffee and fresh fruit tea. It has quickly captured market share through a highly competitive pricing strategy of 8 yuan for a single scoop, 15 yuan for two scoops, and 21 yuan for three scoops.

Giants in other industries have also joined the market to capture this consumption trend. For example, Nestlé has also seen the demand for high-end Gelato in the Chinese market and introduced the "Antiato" brand. With its iconic yellow decoration style, it has successfully increased the brand's popularity on the Internet. The entry of China Post has brought new vitality to the Gelato market. The "Post Gelato" (post office ice cream shop) opened in Guangdong has not only broadened its business scope, but also provided consumers with fresh choices.

The actions of these brands show that the Gelato market is entering a diversified competitive landscape. Brands are actively embracing this emerging market through innovative product positioning, pricing strategies and marketing methods in order to gain a foothold in the future high-end dessert market.

But in the long run, the problem facing them is that Internet celebrity ice creams will continue to emerge in an endless stream. How to go from being an Internet celebrity to being a long-term hit is the direction they need to consider next.

Author: Mia

WeChat public account spicy (ID: ylwanjia)