2 Difficult to establish a brand ,IPO Difficult to do , Chinese tea enterprises are trapped in “ Tradition ”？

source ： Capital detective （ID：deep_insights） author ： Li Xindi

Recently in the capital market ,「 tea 」 I have a strong sense of existence .

This year, 5 month , Lancang ancient tea submitted the prospectus to the Hong Kong stock exchange ; According to the 《 Securities daily 》, Bama tea is planned to be listed on the main board of Shenzhen Stock Exchange . These are two listed companies “ farmer ”——2020 year , Lancang ancient tea seeks A Shares of the listed , But in 2021 year 5 The application materials were voluntarily withdrawn before the meeting last month ; Bama tea submitted its prospectus to the gem last year , But after three rounds of questioning , This year 5 Monthly withdrawal application .

There are twists and turns in the listing , Not only Lancang ancient tea and Bama tea industry . China Tea Co., Ltd. submitted its prospectus two years ago , But it is still in the stage of waiting for listing ; Hua Xiangyuan 、 Anxi Tieguanyin Tea 、 Xie Yuda 、 Colorful Yunnan, etc 6 Tea companies have tried to log in A stocks , But no success . at present , Except for Tianfu group, which is listed in Hong Kong stock market ,A stocks 、 There are no tea companies listed in Hong Kong stocks .

This reminds people of the tea industry “ embarrassed ”. Also with “ drink ” Related industries , Liquor and Spirits 、 red wine 、 Beer has a brand with high market awareness , even to the extent that “ King of shares ” Class a listed company . There are Starbucks and Ruixing in the coffee field , The latter has the largest direct sales network in China , Now it is quite a comeback .

But the tea industry with a scale of over trillion , There are not many strong brands or companies . The xinhua news agency 2008 In, he raised a question ：“ Seventythousand Chinese tea factories , Why not arrive at a Lipton ”.14 Today, years later , The industry still lacks a loud “ Big brands ”.

What's the problem ？

01 Traditional tea enterprises are trapped in “ Tradition ”

Lancang ancient tea, which is constantly hitting the market 、 Bama tea industry , All belong to traditional tea enterprises .

Lancang ancient tea is based in Yunnan , focusing “ Pu 'er tea ” The purchase of Maocha 、 Tea production and processing 、 And establish an offline sales network . Lancang ancient tea has gone deeper in Pu'er tea production , The prospectus introduces its two core manufacturing processes in Pu'er tea “ Ferment ” and “ Match ” With decades of experience in , And it is closely related to the local Pu'er tea producing areas in Yunnan .

In comparison , Bama tea industry is less involved in production , It is mainly involved in the refining process at the back end of tea production , Or picking up miscellaneous things 、 Packing and other final refining procedures . This makes Bama tea industry more like a “ Retail enterprises ”, It covers a wider range of categories , There is not only oolong tea 、 Black tea 、 black tea 、 Green tea 、 White tea 、 Yellow tea 、 Reprocessed tea and other whole categories of tea , tea set 、 Sales of tea food and other related products , It also accounts for a certain proportion in the revenue of Bama tea industry .

On the sales side , Lancang ancient tea 、 Bama tea mainly stores in the country through distribution or franchising .

The prospectus shows ,2019-2021 year , The number of stores operated by Lancang ancient tea dealers is 649、566 And 531 between , Self operated stores have 13、17 And 26 between ; Bama tea industry is 2021 The number of franchise stores in exceeded 2613 home , Direct store 410 home . Besides , In recent years, the two tea enterprises are also exploring online sales channels , But offline is still the main source of income .

Revenue level ,2019-2021 year , The total revenue of Lancang ancient tea is 3.77 One hundred million yuan 、4.05 Billion 、5.59 Billion , The total revenue of Bama tea is 10.23 One hundred million yuan 、12.47 One hundred million yuan 、17.4 One hundred million yuan . The revenue of the two tea enterprises is not large .

The gross profit performance of the two tea enterprises is very impressive ：2019-2021 year , The gross profit margin of Lancang ancient tea is 58.7%、70.4% and 65.9%, The gross profit margin of Bama tea industry is also maintained at 50% above . Net interest rate , Lancang ancient tea in the past three years was 21.6%、30.3% and 23.1%, The Bama tea industry is relatively low , The net interest rate remained at 9% about .

The big part of the expenditure side is the marketing expenses . Lancang ancient tea 2019-2021 The annual marketing rates are 21.49%、21.48%、33.15%; The sales rate of Bama tea industry during the reporting period was 30% above , Among them, the advertising and marketing rates are 25% about .

Picture source ： Lancang ancient tea wechat official account

From the perspective of business model and financial structure , Lancang ancient tea 、 The Bama tea industry is relatively “ Tradition ”. such “ Tradition ” It has a deeper performance in the level of business practice , It has been closely watched by the regulators .

for example , The regulatory authorities pay attention to the distribution of tea enterprises 、 Compliance and risk under the franchise mode . The income of Lancang ancient tea distribution mode in each period accounts for... Of the total income 80% about , The number of dealers starts from the beginning of the period 753 Home reduced to the end of the period 527 At home , The income of distribution mode is from 2019 year 、2020 Annual income in 3.20 Billion yuan , On 2021 Increased to 4.49 One hundred million yuan .

The International Department of CSRC requires Lancang ancient tea to explain , The reason and rationality of the substantial increase in the distribution mode revenue during the reporting period , And explain in combination with the terms of the distribution contract and the actual implementation , Whether the main risks and rewards related to the ownership of the goods under this mode are actually transferred to the distributor .

Another focus of the regulatory authorities is related party transactions of the company . In the process of GEM Listing inquiry , The CSRC requires the Bama tea industry to disclose in detail and the actual controller 、 Related party transactions of several enterprises held by directors, supervisors and their relatives .

Disclosure of information , Bama tea industry is similar to a family business , Its controlling shareholder 、 The actual controller is the three brothers and their spouses . meanwhile , The children of the actual controller of Bama tea industry and Anta respectively 、 Seven wolves and other four listed companies have family marriages , Bama tea industry and Anta 、 Seven wolves and other enterprises have related party transactions .

Lack of industry standards for tea products , It is also the query point of the market to tea enterprises . The products of traditional tea industry 、 There are no specific criteria for judging prices , This has caused certain resistance to the listing of enterprises .

Picture source ： The company's official website

02 The tea industry has a long way to go

Chinese tea industry has a long history ,《 Tea classics 》 record “ Drinking tea , It's from Shennong , Wen Yu, Duke Zhou of Lu .” China also has the richest tea category in the world , In many people's impression , Tea has a profound cultural precipitation .

But as an industry , All links follow “ Tradition ” Hooks are not all good things . Except for the related party transactions mentioned above 、 Lack of product and price standards , There are still difficulties in standardization in the tea industry 、 There is a threshold for consumer cognition 、 Lack of attraction to young groups .

Compare with similar industries , It is easy to understand the difficulties of the tea industry —— Liquor and Spirits 、 Wine 、 There are well-known brands and listed companies in the beer category , The industry has relatively standardized production and corresponding evaluation system . Coffee and tea are both agricultural products in terms of raw materials , But the coffee industry is in the consumption scene 、 The excavation of consumer groups is much deeper .

for example , The product forms of coffee are coffee beans 、 Coffee powder 、 Coffee stock 、 Lyophilized powder 、 Instant coffee, etc , It can not only cater to the depth lovers , Also meet the convenience of coffee Xiaobai 、 The need to refresh ; meanwhile , There are many coffee shops and portable coffee brands that provide standardized products in the market , The product form is more standardized ; In addition, the basic category of coffee is mainly American 、 Italian style 、 mocha 、 Cappuccino 、 Latte 、 Macchiatto , Consumers only need to understand these categories , There is no higher cognitive threshold .

But for an ordinary consumer , There are many problems when you want to buy tea ： Which brand is the best ？ Which tea is suitable for you to drink , Which one is suitable for gift giving ？ Why the price difference between Pu'er tea is so great , What are the differences between different Pu'er teas ？ In addition to senior people in the tea field , It is difficult for ordinary people to have a deep understanding of tea .

Picture source ： The documentary 《 Tea industry in China 》

Recent years , Traditional tea enterprises began to launch new businesses . for example , Lancang ancient tea has been creating a younger product line ,2014 Launched in 2013 “ Tea mother ”, Positioning is more popular , And expand the category from Pu'er tea to black tea 、 White tea and flavored tea , And the use of cup tea and tea bags and other packaging more in line with the habits of ordinary consumers ; This year, 6 month , Lancang ancient tea will also launch a product line that is more in line with the consumption habits of the new middle class “ Rock cooling ”.

Bama tea mainly introduces tea food 、 New tea brands “ Pony tea is interesting ” And bottled tea drinks . Bamboo leaf green is more from the marketing force ,2019 Let's welcome liyuchun 、 Li Yifeng is the spokesperson of two Sichuan stars , This year, , Bamboo leaf green is also associated with dance drama 《 Just green 》 Launch the co branded spring tea , To attract more young people .

however , The innovative layout of traditional tea enterprises has achieved average results . The new business of Lancang ancient tea and Bama tea accounts for a small proportion of the total revenue , Lancang ancient tea “ Tea mother ” Brand in 2019-2021 The annual proportion in total revenue is 24.3%、23.4% And 22.7%, For three consecutive years ; The proportion of the two new businesses of Bama tea industry in the total revenue is only single digits .

Compared with the traditional tea enterprises, they have made innovations on the existing basis , The idea of young brands is to directly start from 0 To 1, Make tea with more modern business logic .

The idea of small pot tea is to start with standardization .2016 year , The first product of small pot tea came out , Products emphasize quality 、 Standardized production 、 Automatic filling , At the same time, with a unified level 、 Price 、 Specifications are market-oriented , Let consumers quickly establish their awareness of tea . In design , Products focus on “ One pot, one bubble, one drink ”, Try to achieve a simpler and more convenient drinking experience .

Each new consumer brand also seeks its way to the tea market in its own way , Make its products close to young consumers .

stay “ Product form ” Innovation , Cha Li 、 Tea Xiaokong and the new tea brand Naixue's tea 、 Tea Yan Yuese and others launched tea bags , Many of the tea bags support cold water brewing ;TNO、Tims With three and a half tons of freeze-drying technology to launch new products ,TNO Also launched “ Bangbang tea ” Tea bags in the form of ; Capsule tea language is to put tea powder into a capsule like package , Easy to carry and brew .

Other new consumption tea brands start from “ Space ” Set out to .“ Tea life tea'stone”、“ One tea and one house ” Younger designs are adopted at the store level , hold “ Clock in ” and “ A cup of tea ” Combination . Tea brand “T9” Then learn from English afternoon tea , Take the fine tea drinking route of business people , Settled in high-end shopping centers .

Compared with the offline stores of traditional tea enterprises , There are few stores of new tea brands 、 Operate in a direct mode , Easier to control ; meanwhile , New tea brands will generally innovate and simplify the tea drinking process , More in line with the consumption habits of young people ; The location of new consumption tea brands is similar to Starbucks 、 Like tea 、 Naixue's tea and other coffee and tea brands are similar , Stores are mainly opened in shopping malls and other places where young people and business people gather , Store form is more fashionable .

The ancient tea industry bears a long history of Chinese culture , Generations of craftsmen and merchants have worked here . however , Because it is ancient , There are certain traditional path dependencies in the industry , How to find a balance between tradition and Modernity , Find a development path suitable for China's tea industry , Make a contemporary tea brand , It will be a traditional tea enterprise 、 Common challenges of new brands .