Zhong Xuegao sold ice cream for 3.5 yuan, and netizens quarreled!

Last year, Zhong Xue Gao, which was known to many netizens as the "Ice Cream Assassin", recently launched affordable products. What is the reason? After gaining popularity for high-end ice cream, what benefits can it gain by turning to the low-end consumer market? Let's take a look at the author's interpretation and analysis.

Today, Zhong Xue Gao once again topped the trending searches on Weibo, simply because at Zhong Xue Gao's new product launch conference, the brand officially announced the launch of low-priced ice cream at 3.5 yuan, which was considered as a formal layout of the low-price consumer market, and brought attention to the brand.

As soon as the news came out, it immediately attracted a lot of attention from users. The news #钟薛高发布3.5元冰霜# also immediately triggered widespread discussion, generating 230 million reads and 13,000 discussions.

Netizens have mixed comments on Zhong Xue Gao's practice of promoting affordable products.

Many people said that it looked good and was priced acceptable, and they were looking forward to it, but they didn’t know how it would taste.

Some people think that the brand has let go of its arrogant attitude and is no longer as condescending as before.

Some people say that there is no need to produce low-priced products. If you can afford it, eat it. If you can’t afford it, don’t eat it.

Some people made “sour” comments, saying that the poor are not the brand’s target customers, and that there is no need for the brand to go for the affordable pricing route to please consumers, who won’t eat it anyway.

Some people believe that this is the year with the most severe consumption downgrade, and high-priced products have no market and can only wait for death.

Others said that Zhong Xuegao would still do marketing, but in the end, it still depends on the quality.

Why did Zhong Xue Gao launch the 3.5 yuan ice cream? In Mr. Bingfa's opinion, Zhong Xue Gao's move is not just a move by the public ideology that a brand caters to consumer demand and "bows" to the market, but also a brand that wants to seek a broader market and seek considerable profit space by relying on low prices.

1. What is Zhong Xuegao’s purpose in launching the 3.5 yuan ice cream?

In the eyes of more people, Internet celebrity ice cream has taken advantage of the favorable trend of social marketing, and its marketing methods have become very popular, which has increased consumers' desire to buy. Its product prices have also risen sharply, becoming the focus of public discussion.

Later, Zhong Xue Gao, which was criticized by users as the "Ice Cream Assassin", launched the 3.5 yuan ice cream this year. This is the brand's attempt to alleviate consumers' dissatisfaction, it is a new development direction sought by the brand, and it is also a business model for the brand to make profits.

Build brands at the high end, seek profits at the mid-end, and grab market share at the low end

Only when users remember the brand can the brand have a chance to establish a deeper emotional connection with users and lay the foundation for dynamic sales. Previously, Zhong Xue Gao’s main focus in the consumer market was the "high-end brand image", conveying to users that consumption was scarce and out of reach. However, low-end and mid-end ice cream products are everywhere. As a new brand that wants to get a share of the ice cream market, the premise of dynamic sales is that users quickly remember the differentiated positioning of the brand. It is necessary to differentiate products, prices, values, etc., so that the brand can highlight its unique advantages among similar products.

The biggest concern of high-end brands is that consumers are not clear about what makes them high-end and why high-end products are sold at such a high price. Therefore, Zhong Xue Gao has put a lot of effort into pricing, product design and innovation.

The product price is set between 15 and 30 yuan, which is higher than similar products and impressive. The brand's fancy marketing has also successfully sorted out the brand's high-end image. For example, the "Ecuadorian Pink Diamond" ice cream, which costs 66 yuan per stick, has hard-to-find raw materials and is priced extremely high, breaking people's impression of high-priced ice cream and helping Zhong Xuegao establish the image of a high-end ice cream product.

The tile-like design breaks the popular image of ice cream and is highly recognizable. The scarce raw materials and unique seasonal flavor give people the impression that "it's for this season." The icing on the cake effect of national trend marketing has quickly made Zhong Xue Gao's high-end image popular and boosted brand awareness.

If a well-known brand wants to survive well in a highly competitive market, it needs to seize the low-end consumer market and gain users' perception of buying high-end brands at low prices after establishing a high-end image and reaping profits from the mid-end market.

If you can buy Zhong Xue Gao for 3.5 yuan, it is easy to give people the impression that you can buy Chanel for less than 1,000 yuan. This will stimulate users to try to buy. Once the product exceeds the user's expectations, more people will naturally be willing to try the brand's higher-end products.

At the same time, Zhong Xuegao’s launch of low-priced products also provides consumers with more choices, allowing users to choose the product they are more willing to pay for based on different moods and consumption needs, thus forming a closed sales loop.

2. Zhong Xue Gao’s choice of low prices is a fundamental change in brand marketing

At the same time, another important factor for high-end brands like Zhong Xue Gao to launch sub-brands with lower prices is that the consumer market has reconstructed the trust mechanism in user consumption. From the primary trust that goods can be purchased by paying, to the deep trust that brands will not damage brand value for temporary profits. Now users expect to buy not only the product itself, but also the depth of trust in the brand. The change in consumer purchasing mentality has also changed the way brands operate.

First, the marketing model shifts from "obtaining traffic" to "user management".

In the stock era, brand marketing has changed from the former gimmicky and fancy eye-catching traffic to long-term management of users. The accumulation of users by brands is not only the sales generated by brand premium, but also the maintenance of users' trust and goodwill in the brand by continuously creating differentiated competitiveness.

Secondly, the change of user relationship from "fancy promotion" to "long-term trust".

Product promotion has always been an important way for brands to clear inventory and gain profits. However, nowadays, the fancy promotions of brands are not only for profits, but also a strategy for brands to maintain user relationships.

Promotional products can reduce the user's trial and error costs, making it easier for consumers to buy without any burden, and making it easier to achieve sales. Brands can use promotional products as an opportunity to attract users to buy and experience products. After users buy, long-term trial and experience become a natural thing. In this way, the brand is equivalent to implanting a long-term billboard in the user's life, allowing users to establish long-term trust with the brand during the use process.

It can be seen that whether launching low-priced products or fancy promotions, what brands want from users is not just consumption, but also a new opportunity to build trust between the brand and users.

3. Final Thoughts

In today's world where new brands emerge one after another, it is easy for internet celebrity brands to form a fixed impression among people, that is, they only care about traffic while ignoring the value of the brand. Once negative news appears, the brand faces the risk of disappearing.

Perhaps, what internet celebrity brands need to think about more in the future is how to turn the internet celebrity crown into a classic of the times in the current era of rapid brand change, and whether ensuring product quality and R&D capabilities are the core competitiveness of the brand.

Author: Mr. Bingfa

Source: WeChat public account "Marketing Art of War (ID: lanhaiyingxiao)"