From "social currency" to "target of public criticism", whose heart has been hurt by Jasmine Yogurt?

This article starts with the recent hot news about Jasmine Yogurt, and looks at the process of how Jasmine Yogurt became rich and then became the target of public criticism. It also tells about the sales strategy of Jasmine Yogurt and analyzes the possible reasons for the current development of Jasmine Yogurt. This article is very suitable for brand merchants who want to market their brands to the public, so that they can learn lessons from it and study the useful and desirable marketing of the other party.

Having been on the hot search list 4 times in 5 days, jasmine yogurt has become very popular recently.

1. On July 13, Mo Yogurt launched a price survey for new products, with three price options of 68 yuan, 88 yuan, and 108 yuan, which was criticized by many netizens. The related topic #茉乳消毒回复高价乳乳# on Weibo was read 180 million times;
2. On July 14, it was revealed that the raw material of Mo Yogurt was not yogurt but milkshake, which again aroused the dissatisfaction of netizens. The related topic #茉乳乳才要叫茉奶沙# was read 100 million times;
3. On July 15, #茉乳乳回應被名改發# once again pushed it to the forefront. The official response said: We accept supervision and criticism, and we also reject malicious slander. Currently, the reading volume of the related topic has reached 200 million times;
4. On July 16, a netizen broke the news that #I gained 6 pounds by drinking jasmine yogurt in 5 days#, claiming to be green and healthy, but in fact the calories are extremely high, which once again aroused "public outrage";
5. …

Previously, there have been many brands that have been criticized by netizens for pricing and raw material issues, but why has Jasmine Yogurt become the "target of public criticism" this time and been "criticized" by the entire network?

In essence, it is because its "high-end consumption" positioning is not equal to the "low-end" raw material non-dairy creamer. Although Jasmine Yogurt denied this statement, under the ridicule of netizens who said "I gained 6 kilograms in 5 days", this explanation seems a bit pale and powerless.

At the same time, in response to the controversy over the high price, Mo Yogurt also responded that "the pricing strategy is not high prices, and high prices will not be the future brand strategy direction of Mo Yogurt." In the face of the "old Internet celebrities" Heytea and Lelecha, which have an average price of 20 yuan per cup, Mo Yogurt's response seems to be somewhat "inconsistent with the facts."

As more and more consumers are "ingredient-conscious", the freshly made yogurt track has become the new "traffic code" for tea brands. As a result, Mo Yogurt, founded in 2014, finally ushered in its development "turning point" in 2022 after 8 years of silence, surpassing "a yogurt cow" to become the "leader" of freshly made yogurt brands.

So, looking back at the "road to fame" of Jasmine Yogurt, how did it go from being "loved by the public" to being "ridiculed by the public"?

1. Milk tea to the left, yogurt to the right - the "4P" road to fame of Mo Yogurt

The competition in the new tea beverage market is becoming increasingly fierce, and consumers’ diversified demands for products have made most new tea beverage brands pay more attention to the segmentation and development of raw materials. Under such consumption conditions, traditional milk tea drinks are difficult to trigger new consumer desires, and the freshly made yogurt market, which focuses on health and advertises “low fat and low calories”, has gradually become the “new favorite” of consumers and investors.

According to public information, the freshly made yogurt brand Blueglass completed a B round of financing of over 200 million yuan in 2021; a yogurt cow was acquired by New Hope Dairy in 2021; and the Prince Forest brand completed a strategic investment of tens of millions in 2023...

Driven by capital, the ready-made yogurt market is booming, and Mo Yogurt is also opening franchises and expanding stores in 2021. According to data from Zhaimen Canyan, Mo Yogurt opened 279 new stores in 2022, and as of July 2023, 905 new stores were opened, and the number of Mo Yogurt stores nationwide has exceeded 1,000.

Before that, the number of Mo Yogurt stores nationwide was less than 50.

Store expansion has always been a necessary step for brand development, but the "expansion" path of most brands is often to increase at a steady pace or open stores evenly. There are indeed not many brands that open stores "cliff-like" like Jasmine Yogurt.

In order to have a clearer understanding of the “road to fame” of Morketing Yogurt, Morketing will analyze it from the perspective of “4P”:

1. Product

For most brands, the "single product explosion" strategy is a "stepping stone" to open the "skylight" of the brand. Mo Yogurt is no exception. With the combination of "low-temperature yogurt + fruit", it developed the "original avocado yogurt shake" and promoted the idea of ​​"a cup of milkshake equals an avocado", which successfully "pried" the door to the low-temperature yogurt market.

According to public information, the annual sales volume of Mo Yogurt's signature product, "Original Avocado Yogurt Smoothie," exceeds 25 million cups.

At that time, riding on the domestic consumers' pursuit of health and the new combination of "yogurt + fruit + nuts", Mo Yogurt continued to improve its product matrix and launched products such as "Real Sultan King Durian Yogurt Shake", "Chestnut Beef Jerky Yogurt Shake", and Natural Feeling Cold Brew Yogurt.

You should know that around 2022, milk tea brands entered a "weak" stage of development. Brands such as Heytea and Lelecha either opened up for franchising, launched retail products, lowered product unit prices, etc., all seeking new ways to grow.

The new combination of "yogurt + fruit + nuts" in Jasmine Yogurt not only makes consumers' eyes light up in the new tea beverage market which is seriously homogenized, but also greatly satisfies the contemporary consumers' demand for different product flavors.

2. Promotion

Of course, product innovation determines whether jasmine yogurt can become popular, while marketing efforts determine the extent of its popularity.

When Mo Yogurt opened for franchising in 2021, it also continued to make efforts on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, expanding brand awareness and attracting potential consumers through issuing coupons, live broadcasts, and influencer recommendations.

According to DT Business Observation, in December 2021, Mo Yogurt first came into contact with word-of-mouth life and cooperated with Li Jiaqi to broadcast tea roll packages live; on Goddess Day in 2022, Mo Yogurt entered Li Jiaqi's live broadcast room again, and the original price of 30 yuan per cup was reduced to 39 yuan for any two cups of milkshakes in the venue; in October and December 2022, and February 2023, Mo Yogurt had a total of three official broadcasts on Douyin, and the transaction volume increased from the initial 4.22W to 15.68W...

At the same time, coupled with the invisible promotion of influencers on grass-growing platforms such as Xiaohongshu or the Z generation, and the "4-hour queue" promotion in offline stores, Jasmine yogurt has the natural attribute of "social currency" invisibly, so it is not surprising that it has become the "new favorite" of young consumer groups.

3. Place

In terms of channels, Mo Yogurt opened for franchising in 2021. This is not only a major turning point in the development of Mo Yogurt, but also the key to its "cliff-like" growth.

From the development process of a number of brands such as the "old internet celebrity" Heytea, it is not difficult to find that opening up franchising can not only quickly expand the market and improve the brand's market competitiveness, but also form scale and cluster effects to further increase brand awareness.

According to official information, the franchisees of Mo Yogurt are mainly based on consumer conversion, and at this stage, they prefer professional franchisees, with higher requirements for financial strength, team management capabilities, etc. On the official website of Mo Yogurt, we can also see that it empowers stores with digital transformation through intelligent middle platform + big data analysis.

4. Price

Finally, let's talk about the price, which is also the most controversial aspect of Mo Yogurt. The average price of Mo Yogurt is between 20-50 yuan, which is equivalent to buying 2 cups of Heytea.

Although when pricing the product, Jasmine yogurt was priced based on the positioning of "high-end consumption", but from the perspective of the entire ready-made yogurt market, its unit price is still a bit expensive.

For example, Blueglass, known as the "Hermes of the yogurt world", sells its products at around 40 to 50 yuan per cup, but its main selling point is Greek yogurt (a highly thick yogurt product obtained by filtering/removing whey). It is also supplemented with fruits, nuts and other products, and has certain meal replacement properties.

Regardless of whether the selling point of Blueglass's "Greek yogurt" is also a "gimmick", the product feature of Blueglass's "called yogurt, but actually a milkshake" does make it difficult to convince people in terms of price.

2. 40 yuan a cup of "social currency" - "can't pry open" the wallets of young people

Looking at the entire catering industry, Mo Yogurt is definitely a brand worth learning from, but when we further focus on consumers, especially Generation Z, we will find that "high prices" are still difficult to "pry open" young people's wallets.

On the one hand, the price of “40 yuan per cup” is contrary to the current consumption environment.

As we analyzed above, from an objective point of view, the popularity of Jasmine Yogurt is inseparable from the "weakness" of the milk tea brand, but this has also caused the current dilemma of Jasmine Yogurt to a certain extent.

With new tea drinks represented by Heytea moving towards the sinking market, coffee brands represented by Luckin Coffee setting off a low-price craze, and the preferential welfare consumption trend brought by live e-commerce, consumers who are accustomed to "value for money" are often more likely to "backstab" or even feel "outrageous" when faced with high-premium products.

We can get a glimpse of this from the "Ice Cream Assassin" incident some time ago.

What's more, the drink jointly created by HEYTEA and luxury brand Fendi is only 19 yuan, and the new product price survey of Jasmine Yogurt at "68 yuan, 88 yuan, and 108 yuan" is indeed particularly "dazzling".

On the other hand, with the entry of other players, products are becoming more homogenized, with "there is not much difference between 40 yuan per cup and 14 yuan per cup."

Regardless of whether it is true or not, the product positioning of "high price" and "high appearance" has endowed the brand with a certain amount of "social" attributes, which has aroused the "trying new things" mentality of young consumer groups. At the same time, the healthy and low-fat consumption concept is also the consumption trend of young people in middle age. Therefore, the development bonus value of the ready-made yogurt track is prominent.

But the bonus comes and goes quickly. The "sweetness" of freshly made yogurt has made many brands want to get a piece of the pie, so, with the base unchanged, the pie they can get is getting smaller and smaller. At the same time, a hot-selling product is copied and sold by multiple companies. The one with similar taste and lower price is naturally better.

Take the original avocado yogurt smoothie, the star product of Mo Yogurt, for example. It costs 29 yuan, while K22 costs 18 yuan. Given that the ingredients and taste are very similar, it is no wonder that consumers think Mo Yogurt is "a bit expensive".

Furthermore, there is a mismatch between the "high-profile" marketing and the "low-quality" raw materials.

Generally speaking, freshly made yogurt brands focus on being healthy, low-fat and burden-free, so they pay great attention to the raw materials and also focus on promotion.

For example, Lanxiong Fresh Milk will specially mark the fruit content of "whole avocado" yogurt, "half a pound of fresh mango" yogurt, etc. on the menu; Mo Yogurt will emphasize the origin of its yogurt and fruits, etc.; and Blueglass will package some "anti-gravity collagen yogurt", "anthocyanin yogurt" and other high-sounding labels...

In order to sell products better and attract new customers and repeat purchases, there is nothing wrong with brands doing some "packaging" in their promotional marketing. However, in essence, they should still "say as much as they have" and "sell what they have". Otherwise, labels like "IQ tax" will undoubtedly be attached, which will naturally cause criticism from consumers.

3. Schrodinger's Jasmine Yogurt

Since the "high price" and "non-dairy creamer" incidents, the response of Mo Yogurt has been "reasonable". Regarding the "sky-high price yogurt", it said that "the pricing strategy is not high price, and high price will not be the future brand strategy direction of Mo Yogurt". Regarding the "non-dairy creamer", it gave a "small essay" response.

However, the future pricing of Jasmine Yogurt is like "Schrödinger's cat", and the definite answer can only be obtained at the moment of opening. At the same time, the current controversy is also a necessary path for Jasmine Yogurt. If Jasmine Yogurt wants to be "long-lasting" in the ready-made yogurt track or even the consumer market, it still has a long way to go.

Author: Morketing, WeChat public account: Morketing