Why are brands flocking to the poor man’s meal package battlefield?

Which "poor man's meal" have you tried? In order to cater to the consumption downgrade, many restaurants have launched low-priced meal to attract consumers. This article summarizes the six reasons why brands launch low-priced meal. Come and have a look.

Recently, the "poor man's meal" of Sam's Club has become a hot topic, triggering a crazy pursuit of the middle class. The meal includes 1.59 kg of eggs priced at 21.9 yuan, 7-pack of original bagels priced at 23.9 yuan, and 16-pack of Swiss rolls priced at 59.8 yuan. This combination has attracted widespread attention due to its seemingly affordable price.

However, if you analyze the prices of these products carefully, you will find some problems. Take eggs as an example. According to the price of the set meal, the unit price is 7 yuan per catty, which is even higher than the market average. This has aroused some doubts: Sam's poor meal is not worthy of its name, and it is not so poor in fact.

In addition, it should be noted that to enjoy these benefits of Sam's Club, consumers must pay an annual fee of 260 yuan to become members. This threshold actually limits the participation of consumers with limited economic conditions, so a large number of netizens believe that " real poor people will not go to Sam's Club to consume ."

Despite this, a trend is becoming increasingly obvious: more and more brands are launching "poor man's packages" and joining this seemingly popular but actually controversial marketing battlefield. Behind this phenomenon, it is not just a short-term response of brands to the market, but a deep reflection of the complexity and diversity of current consumer culture. While pursuing high cost-effectiveness, brands are also exploring how to meet consumers' demand for affordable options while maintaining quality.

01 Brands are rushing into the poor meal market

It is difficult to verify who first defined the name of the Poor Man's Meal, but as a synonym for high cost-effectiveness, McDonald's and KFC were among the pioneers in launching similar concepts.

McDonald's Poor Man's Meal refers to the "1+1=11.9 yuan" meal, which allows customers to choose any two items from the designated products at a fixed preferential price. The red zone products include Big Meatball Burger, Chicken McNuggets (5 pieces), Double Cheeseburger, etc., while the white zone includes Black Chocolate Triangle Pie, various drinks, etc. This meal is so popular that after the price of the Poor Man's Meal was adjusted to 13.9 yuan in 2023, it caused a strong backlash from many consumers.

KFC's "Super Value Lunch" series offers a variety of main dishes, snacks and drinks at affordable prices. In particular, the "Crazy Thursday" every Thursday has aroused enthusiastic response both in offline stores and online.

The moves of these two fast food giants not only won the favor of consumers, but also led the trend of poor meal packages.

With the arrival of the era of "consumption downgrade", more and more brands are trying to attract consumers by adjusting their pricing strategies. For example, Heytea and Nayuki have lowered their product prices to a dozen yuan, and Luckin Coffee and Kudi have also launched coffee for 9.9 yuan. Consumers no longer blindly pursue brands, but are more concerned about the cost-effectiveness of products.

Under this trend, Nanchengxiang launched the poor set meal, which includes a 3 yuan buffet breakfast and a 19.9 yuan small hot pot set meal. Nanchengxiang reduces costs through large-scale production and distribution in the central kitchen, enabling it to provide breakfast buffet at a very low price. The 3 yuan buffet breakfast provides a variety of choices, such as millet porridge, rice porridge, preserved egg porridge, spicy soup, soy milk, tofu brain and milk, which has brought comfort to many workers.

The 19.9 yuan small hotpot set meal comes with unlimited vegetarian dishes. If you want to eat meat, the 29.9 yuan lamb hotpot set meal for one person is also an option.

As a catering brand that mainly sells Korean bibimbap, Micun Bibimbap focuses on cost-effectiveness, such as the 9.9 yuan stone pot bibimbap and the 19.9 yuan chicken chop bibimbap. Its poor set meal was developed by netizens, which means spending 3 yuan for a portion of rice, with unlimited refills, and free seaweed soup and kimchi. It was almost impossible to have a meal for 3 yuan 10 years ago, and this set meal has also been widely discussed on Xiaohongshu and Weibo, bringing many new customers to Micun Bibimbap.

Xin Rong Ji, a high-end restaurant with an average per capita consumption of up to 1,000 yuan, has launched a "poor man's set meal" of 398 yuan to cater to the needs of a wider customer group. Although the price of this set meal is still not low, compared with its usual pricing, it is already a discount for customers with limited budgets.

This not only provides opportunities for consumers who want to experience high-end catering services but are unwilling to spend too much, but also shows that in the current economic environment, even the high-end catering market faces considerable challenges and pressures, and needs to attract customers in various ways to maintain market competitiveness.

There are various discussions on social networks about the poor man's meal package. Various bloggers have summarized the poor man's eating methods in various restaurants, and some have summarized a poor man's dining guide for a week. According to this guide, you can eat your fill in a week by spending only two or three hundred yuan.

02 Why are brands launching poor person packages one after another?

More and more brands are joining the Poor Man's Set Meal camp, which shows that in the current consumer environment, brands are taking measures to maintain their competitiveness. Most Poor Man's Set Meals are not profitable. If everyone only chooses Poor Man's Set Meals, restaurants will close sooner or later. The considerations of brands launching Poor Man's Set Meals must be that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

1. Adapting to consumption downgrade

With the changes in the economic situation and the fluctuations in consumer purchasing power, more and more consumers are beginning to pursue high-cost-performance products, and are gradually losing interest in high-priced products with unclear cost-performance. This trend forces brands to rethink their product positioning and pricing strategies to meet the needs of the mass market.

In recent years, more and more "good deals" have been opened and become very popular. The price of coffee has been reduced to 9.9 yuan. Consumers choose military coats instead of expensive brand-name down jackets. These are all manifestations of the trend of consumption downgrade. These phenomena also show that consumers' consumption concepts are changing, and they pay more attention to the practicality and economy of goods rather than the simple brand effect.

For brands, adapting to consumption downgrade is not only a response to market changes, but also a long-term strategic deployment. By keeping pace with the market and providing cost-effective products, brands can maintain their market share and competitiveness. In this process, brands first need to ensure that they do not lose their existing market share. Once a brand loses the market, it will be very difficult to regain it again.

Therefore, by adapting to consumption downgrades and launching more cost-effective products, brands can maintain their market activity and consumer loyalty. At the same time, this is also a manifestation of the brand's flexibility and market sensitivity. By responding quickly to market changes, brands can better protect themselves from economic fluctuations.

2. Fighting the competition

In today's market environment, competition and internal competition are becoming more and more serious. In this situation, there are always some brands that can respond first, such as by offering discounts or launching "poor guy packages" with extremely high cost performance, to catch the attention and psychological expectations of consumers. This approach can not only immediately attract a large number of price-sensitive consumers, but also occupy a favorable position in the competition between brands.

For brands that fail to respond quickly to market changes, they are likely to lose some of their existing customers and miss opportunities to attract potential customers, resulting in their market share being eroded by competitors.

In this market environment where "if you don't advance, you will retreat", brands must constantly innovate and adjust their strategies to ensure that they will not be eliminated by the market.

The launch of the "Poor Man's Package" is not only a brand's adaptation to current consumption trends, but also a proactive market offensive. In this way, the brand can stay vibrant in the competition, attract more consumers, and thus expand its market share.

In addition, by directly confronting competitors, brands can further strengthen their market position. Staying ahead of the competition means not only short-term sales growth, but also long-term market influence and consumer loyalty. Therefore, keeping up with market trends and actively launching products and services that meet consumer expectations is a key step in a protracted battle for brands.

3. Brand acquisition

In the context of consumption downgrade, one of the challenges facing brands is how to maintain or even increase market share. In this economic environment, the strategy of increasing profits by raising product prices becomes unworkable because consumers' purchasing power decreases and they are more inclined to look for products with high cost performance.

Therefore, for brands, it has become an effective strategy to reduce prices and expand the user base, that is, to win by quantity through small profits and quick turnover. An important purpose of this strategy is to "attract new customers", that is, to attract new consumer groups.

For example, when Luckin Coffee reduced its price to 9.9 yuan, it not only maintained the loyalty of existing consumers, but also successfully attracted many new consumers who had never purchased Luckin products before. This pricing strategy effectively expanded the brand's consumer base and brought more market share to the brand. Similarly, the so-called "poor man's meal" also adopted a similar strategy, attracting new customers who are price-sensitive or have a limited budget by providing low-cost options.

Brand acquisition is a long-term market strategy. By attracting new customers, brands can not only increase sales in the short term, but also cultivate consumer loyalty in the long term, thus preparing for future consumption upgrades.

In addition, the new customer acquisition strategy can also help the brand establish a positive image in the minds of consumers. By providing cost-effective products, the brand can show its understanding and concern for consumer needs, which helps to build consumers' trust and goodwill towards the brand. In the long run, this trust and goodwill are important components of brand value.

4. Get offline traffic

By launching affordable "poor man's packages", brands can effectively attract media attention and public attention, thereby bringing more potential consumers to offline stores.

On the one hand, by launching the newsworthy "poor guy's package", the brand can obtain free media coverage and widespread social attention, and can direct online traffic to offline stores.

On the other hand, this pricing strategy can directly attract the attention of price-sensitive consumers, prompting them to consciously walk into the store.

Although the price of the "poor man's meal" is low and the profit is thin, its real value lies in its ability to attract a large number of consumers into the store. Once consumers enter the store, they are exposed to not only the "poor man's meal", but also other diversified goods and services. This strategy increases the possibility of consumers trying and purchasing other products in the store, thereby increasing the average customer spending and overall sales.

This is similar to the strategy of Internet products, which is to attract customers by offering attractive low-priced products online, and then through long-term operations, make consumers become loyal supporters of the brand and buy more other products. The cost paid for the discount can eventually be earned back from consumers.

5. Achieve word-of-mouth communication and increase brand awareness

In addition to attracting offline traffic, the Poor Ghost Package can also achieve viral spread online. The Poor Ghost Package can take advantage of consumers' natural focus on cost-effective products and the rapid spread of information in the social media era to quickly increase brand awareness.

First, the "poor man's meal" can easily become the focus of online media and social media due to its unique naming and affordable price. When a brand launches such a product, it can not only attract the attention of consumers, but also attract the attention of key opinion leaders (KOLs) and influencers on social media, who can quickly spread the information to a large number of fans and followers through sharing and commenting. This form of natural advertising effect allows brands to gain huge exposure at a very low cost.

Secondly, the word-of-mouth effect among real consumers is another key factor in the success of the "Poor Ghost Package". People are naturally willing to share their good discoveries, especially when they find a product with a high cost-effectiveness. Therefore, when consumers experience the "Poor Ghost Package" and feel satisfied, they will naturally recommend it to their friends and family around them. This kind of word-of-mouth communication initiated by consumers is much more authentic and persuasive than traditional advertising. As more and more consumers enter the store, the brand's popularity and market influence will also increase.

Ultimately, through the word-of-mouth communication and social media exposure achieved by the "Poor Man's Meal", the brand was able to effectively expand its consumer base and increase its popularity. This not only allows more people to know and understand the brand, but also stimulates consumers' curiosity and desire to buy, and guides them to try other products of the brand. In the long run, this strategy helps to establish a good brand image, enhance consumer loyalty to the brand, and lay a solid foundation for the brand's continued growth and development.

Conclusion

In the context of consumption downgrade, more and more brands are adapting to the market situation by launching so-called "poor man's packages". Although this strategy is unlikely to bring huge direct profits to the brand in the short term, the Internet traffic thinking behind it and the strategy of converting short-term costs into long-term monetization capabilities have undoubtedly created long-term value for the brand. Through analysis, we can summarize it into two core points.

First, following market trends and retaining users is the foundation for the sustainable development of a brand. As consumer concepts change, brands must flexibly adjust their strategies to meet consumers' new needs. By offering the "poor guy package", the brand not only demonstrates its sensitivity and adaptability to market changes, but also effectively retains existing users and attracts the attention of new users by meeting consumers' demand for cost-effective products.

Secondly, it can obtain online and offline traffic and achieve brand acquisition. By launching the "poor ghost package", the brand can use the communication power of the Internet to quickly spread among consumers, thereby amplifying the word-of-mouth effect. This can not only bring a large amount of online and offline traffic to the brand, but also further enhance the brand's awareness through this traffic, attract new users for the brand, and eventually convert them into loyal fans of the brand, creating long-term commercial value.

Author: Xunkong

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