From being neglected to selling out online, why is it White Elephant?

According to relevant data, among all brands of instant noodles in China, the White Elephant brand ranks first in terms of sales volume across the entire Chinese network, with sales soaring. How did White Elephant manage to do so when instant noodles are becoming increasingly difficult to sell? Let's take a look at this article with some questions in mind, which may be inspiring.

The financial reports of Uni-President and Master Kong for the first half of 2023 show that Uni-President's instant noodle business is in decline. Although Master Kong's instant noodle business has grown, the increase of 2.97% is far lower than the company's overall increase of 7.04%.

In fact, after 2013, with the rise of takeout, the prevalence of convenient fast food and pre-prepared meals, the development space of instant noodles has continued to shrink and the growth rate has slowed down. According to Nielsen IQ retail research data, in the first half of 2023, after the epidemic, the omni-channel sales of instant noodles fell by 2% year-on-year.

However, according to Frost & Sullivan data, from August 2022 to July 2023, among the Chinese instant noodles market brands, the White Elephant brand ranked first in China's total online sales, with sales soaring. (The total online refers to the five major mainstream online platforms of Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, Douyin, and Kuaishou).

As instant noodles became increasingly difficult to sell, how did Baiyang open up the market through online channels? As a successful case of a second venture for an old consumer brand, what did Baiyang do right?

1. Behind the outbreak is a decade of silence

White Elephant was founded as early as 1997. It was once known as one of the four major instant noodle brands in China along with Master Kong, Uni-President and Huafeng (the predecessor of today's Mailang).

In 2003, Baiyang launched its hit product, "1 Yuan Big Bone Noodles". With a price of 1 Yuan per bag and a healthy product positioning, Baiyang's business experienced explosive growth in a short period of time. In 2007, Baiyang's market share once jumped to the second place in the industry, only behind Master Kong.

Image source: Baixiang official website

On the one hand, the 1 yuan pricing captured the lower-tier markets, but on the other hand, the low price also laid hidden dangers for Bai Xiang’s subsequent transformation.

As of 2021, according to data from the Convenience Food Conference, Baiyang's share is only 7%, ranking fourth. Master Kong, Uni-President, and Jinmailang occupy the top three in sales, among which Master Kong's domestic sales share has reached an astonishing 49%.

From ranking second to fourth, what did Baixiang experience during the more than ten years of "silence" in between?

At that time, China's instant food market continued to expand, and many foreign investors began to invest in domestic instant noodle brands. From 1993 to 2008, brands such as Master Kong, Jinmailang, and Uni-President successively cooperated with Japanese investors and conquered the market and seized channels.

Since then, the two brands, Master Kong and Uni-President, have staged a series of sword-fighting, open and covert struggles in the channel terminals. Money transactions and malicious slander have been frequently exposed, leading to a protracted war of words between the two sides. There was even a scene where the salesmen of the two companies came to blows. This fight was called the "Master Kong-Uni-President Battle" by industry insiders.

When the competition for Kangtong was in full swing, Baiyang, as the only one of the four giants that refused Japanese investment, was once blocked from offline channels and subjected to price wars. This is also the time when Baiyang gradually "disappeared" from supermarkets in first- and second-tier cities in the impression of many people.

In 2014, as the instant noodle market moved towards high-end, Baiyang also tried to transform itself into a mid- to high-end brand, raising the price of its "big bone noodles" from 1 yuan to 2.5 yuan. However, it was precisely this adjustment in pricing strategy that the market did not buy into, and distributors accumulated a large amount of inventory. Baiyang once lost the low-priced noodle market.

To make matters worse, the rise of food delivery platforms has squeezed the entire instant noodle market . Around 2013, Internet food delivery platforms such as Meituan, Ele.me, and Baidu began to burn money to subsidize and launched a three-year "hundred-group war". It was during this period that the demand for instant noodles in China continued to shrink. According to data from the World Instant Noodles Association, the national instant noodle sales volume fell from 46.22 billion packs in 2013 to 38.52 billion packs in 2016, a drop of nearly 20%.

Image source: Prospective Industry Research Institute

During this period of decline, Baiyang has been focusing on products. In 2013, Baiyang officially launched its strategic new product, big bone noodles; in 2018, it launched delicious soup noodles, including old hen soup noodles and spicy beef soup noodles; in 2019, Baiyang cooperated with Dansliang to launch three products: Panmian, Liaomian and Rock Giant Gorilla.

Data shows that between 2019 and 2021 alone, Baiyang has completed the research and development of more than 80 new products. From the trendy brand "Da La Jiao" targeting young people to the local specialty noodles of hot and sour rice noodles, to Chongqing noodles, crayfish noodles, beef noodles, etc., Baiyang has basically made all categories.

Under the pressure of price wars by giants and food delivery platforms, Baixiang relied on its products to reach 2021. It was in this year that data showed that Baixiang's sales share was 7%. At this time, it was less than a year away from the explosion of Baixiang's online sales.

2. Opportunities are reserved for prepared enterprises

The turning point came in an unpredictable way.

After the 2022 3.15 Gala exposed the food safety issues of Laotan Pickled Cabbage Instant Noodles, Baiyang quickly responded with "No cooperation, eat with confidence, a person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear" due to its solid product and hygiene and safety foundation.

Opportunities are reserved for prepared companies. Baiyang’s products and brand image, which have been accumulated over decades, are now experiencing an explosion.

As the only company among the four instant noodles that does not have foreign capital, Baiyang has become very popular among consumers, and even sold out during live broadcasts. Data shows that its Douyin account gained 300,000 followers in a week, and its live broadcast sales exceeded 15 million yuan that month. This process was also called "wild consumption" by netizens.

Everyone was pleasantly surprised to find that this instant noodle brand that often appeared in childhood has never left. Consumers shared their memories of Baiyang on various social media and shouted to Baiyang: "You have to take this overwhelming wealth!"

Image source: TikTok

Baixiang has also begun to realize the huge traffic brought by social events and has taken the initiative to improve its social voice. In 2023, Baixiang actively signed contracts with the national women's football, basketball and volleyball teams, which have been well received by netizens. It has also deeply bound the national women's football, basketball and volleyball teams through VLG and co-branded packaging products. The positive energy image and high national popularity of the national teams coincide with the Baixiang brand.

Image source: Weibo

There are active collaborations and also sponsorships that are dug up. During the Asian Para Games, Baixiang once again attracted attention for its behavior of "giving money" to athletes.

During the Asian Para Games, the White Elephant Group paid 10,000 yuan to each Chinese disabled athlete who participated in the Asian Para Games, without any notice or charity publicity, and the money was accurately transferred to the athlete's bank card. This silent and secret transfer of money once again conveyed the "real" brand image to the public.

Not only in sports, but also with the rediscovery of Baiyang's public welfare and charity work during the rainstorms in Henan and the Wenchuan earthquake in recent years, consumers' favorability towards the Baiyang brand has gradually increased. They have said, "Don't make me rational, I can't be rational at all," and enthusiastically placed orders for Baiyang products.

This kind of emotional promotion not only increased sales, but also brought good reputation to Baiyang on social media and established a responsible corporate image.

3. Online Renewal of the “Old” White Elephant

Today, Baiyang’s confidence is inseparable from its online channels.

Taking Douyin's sales in September as an example, Baiyang ranked first in the food and beverage industry, with an estimated sales of over 100 million yuan. Adopt a Cow and Huamei ranked second and third respectively. Baiyang also often topped the instant noodle sales list on Taobao.

It has been observed that on Taobao and Tmall, most of Baiyang's popular products are from the "Delicious Soup" series, "Precious Bone Soup" series, etc., and are priced at around 3 yuan per pack.

Image source: Taobao

Unlike Taobao, according to Relang data, most of the popular products on Douyin are "unpopular" products such as hot and sour noodles, crayfish, and turkey noodles. Product reviews and tastings by experts have driven the sales of these "niche products".

Image source: TikTok

Observing the products on different platforms, we can see that Baiyang is more of a shelf logic on Taobao, with high sales and a full range of products. On Douyin, it is more of a new product grass based on the grass-planting logic, which not only promotes new products but also brings up topics.

Online, Baixiang’s business scope goes far beyond e-commerce.

At the end of 2020, the White Elephant Food product brand logo was completely renewed and upgraded, and it interacted with netizens through the image of a cute baby elephant, and derived various forms such as baby elephant comics, baby elephant videos, etc.

Image source: Baixiang official website

Before the 3.15 Gala last year, various food bloggers on Bilibili tried Baiyang instant noodles, and most of them gave positive feedback. Because it can withstand the identification of consumers and the official 3.15 Gala, Baiyang has become a "treasure instant food" and "the light of domestic products" in the eyes of Bilibili netizens.

Image source: Station B

The atmosphere of content creation attracted Baiyang officials. In December last year, Baiyang Food entered Bilibili and gained 320,000 fans within a year. Not only that, Baiyang also seized the trend of live broadcasting and aimed the camera at the production line. From flour to finished products, each link is slowly broadcast live to every fan. This approach, on the one hand, broke the doubts about safety. On the other hand, the low-key and safe Baiyang attracted a large number of fans.

It is worth noting that although Baiyang’s online sales performance is encouraging, its overall volume is still far behind brands such as Master Kong and Uni-President.

According to the financial report, Master Kong's instant noodle business revenue in the first half of 2023 was 13.95 billion. According to DT Business Observation, in the same period, its sales on Taobao were about 250 million and on Douyin were about 75 million, and most of the rest came from offline distributors.

This is because in the instant noodle market, and even in the food and beverage industry market, most consumption scenarios are in offline supermarkets, and offline distribution is the largest channel, which has also been the shortcoming of Baiyang in the past decade.

Even "Genki Forest", a new tea beverage brand with Internet genes and attracting countless investments, began to vigorously develop offline distribution channels in 2023 and re-emphasized the value of dealers.

In order to make up for the shortcomings of offline business, Baixiang actively expanded offline channels and looked for dealers. In April 2023, Baixiang created a live broadcast to attract investment, telling dealers about a series of training and support policies. The youthful image and excellent brand reputation made dealers quite fond of Baixiang.

4. After wild consumption, consumers just want to eat a bowl of delicious noodles

Taste is the most important thing about a bowl of noodles.

White Elephant understands this well.

There are many brands that have experienced wild consumption, but not many can retain traffic like White Elephant.

The core lies in grasping the "change" and sticking to the "unchange".

What remains unchanged is the food safety control and product innovation over the past 20 years. What has changed is the active expansion of sales and channels, and the willingness to try reforms and reshape the company.

Lu Xiuqiong, partner of Bain Global Experts, said: " There are two major trends in China's consumption at present. One is the return of new consumption and a fresh start, a typical example is Yuanqi Forest's strong offline expansion; the other is the renewal of old consumption and secondary entrepreneurship, a typical example is the strong growth of Baixiang China's 'Beyond Gravity'. The success rate of secondary entrepreneurship of old consumer enterprises is very low, but Baixiang has achieved great success by consolidating its foundation and innovating. "

Baiyang still has a long way to go. Instant noodles, drinks, frozen foods... Baiyang has been launching new products in recent years, not limited to instant noodles.

In the 26 years since the brand was founded, Baixiang has experienced glory and lows, and finally ushered in an explosion in online sales.

This is the story of White Elephant, and it can also be the story of other old consumer companies.

Author: Guangye, WeChat public account: KOL User Manual (ID: KOL-TOPKLOUT)