Since 2003, the condiment industry has entered a stage of rapid development. In the past five years, the annual growth rate of the industry has reached about 20%, and it has achieved annual growth of more than 10% for ten consecutive years. At present, the total output of the condiment industry has exceeded 10 million tons. In 2007, condiment and fermented products enterprises above designated size achieved a total output value of 91.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 27.9%, indicating that the brand era of the condiment industry has arrived. After several rounds of industry integration and domestic and international capital integration, China's condiment market has transformed from a relatively lagging industry into an industry with fierce market competition. With the continuous upgrading of consumption and the intensification of market competition, condiments have shown a trend of high-end development. The market capacity of mid-to-high-end condiments is further expanding, and the market share of brand products has further increased. As the country continues to standardize the condiment industry, the threshold is gradually raised, and international and professional mergers and acquisitions are staged one after another. The concentration of the condiment industry will gradually increase, and the survival of the fittest among small and medium-sized enterprises will also be accelerated. Traditional condiment manufacturers have invested in technological transformation, and the technical content of condiment products has been increasingly enhanced, and product quality has been further improved. Foreign capital has increased its penetration into the domestic condiment market. However, due to the obvious regional characteristics of my country's condiment consumption, domestic famous brands will still dominate for a long time to come.

1. Industry reshuffle Tai Chi

Kikkoman, Japan's largest soy sauce manufacturer, accounts for 1/4 of Japan's total domestic output, and the second to fifth-ranked companies account for another 1/4. The market concentration is very high. In contrast, in my country, the soy sauce market size is 5 million tons, but Haitian, the largest soy sauce condiment manufacturer, only accounts for 4% of the national output. Another example is the "four famous vinegars", which are mainly consumed in the mainstream in their respective base areas.

This is because due to China’s vast territory, high transportation costs, differences in regional consumer tastes, and traditional corporate business ideas, my country’s seasoning industry is still dominated by local brands. With the deepening of reform and opening up and the development of the market economy, although some The company has gradually developed into a regional brand, with its products radiating to neighboring markets outside the province, but there are not many national brands in the true sense.

Last year, Haitian spent 1 billion yuan to establish a soy sauce base in Guangdong. By expanding the scale of the enterprise, its total costs were greatly reduced, and the market share target was set at 20%. However, some people in the industry believe that although Haitian ranks first due to output, the regional melee in my country's condiment industry makes Haitian's wishful thinking of expanding market share in the short term not so easy to realize. At present, the domestic seasoning manufacturing industry is mainly concentrated in Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong, Beijing, Shanxi, and Sichuan provinces and cities. Among them, Shanghai’s market share reaches more than 30%. From the perspective of brand structure, brands that can be famous in the national market The proportion is less than 1%. "Long-term local operations, limited market scope, and weak brand awareness" are serious practical problems in the condiment industry.

Guan Zhirong, sales director of Shanghai Taoda Food Co., Ltd., analyzed that with the internationalization and professionalization of mergers and acquisitions, the concentration of the condiment industry will gradually increase, and the survival of the fittest among small and medium-sized enterprises will also accelerate. However, due to the long-term existence of strong regional brands, The road to expansion for national brands remains very difficult.

2. Professionalization of category management

The high-density coverage of condiments, the diversity of categories, the diversity of needs and the complexity of channels are difficult to match among fast-moving consumer goods. The combination of compact form, vast market, stable income, high degree of involvement, complex categories, and abundant channels makes this industry appear to be a situation where it is easy to live but difficult to grow, with many mountains and scattered sand.

There are very few national brands in the condiment industry. Only Haitian dominates the soy sauce market, and Totole dominates the chicken essence market. The humble condiment brand Wang Shouyi Thirteen Xiang also occupies an absolute market share in the category market. However, most condiment brands are still based on the competition in the regional market. How to stand out in the regional market and how to achieve rapid market expansion outside the home? This is the market confusion faced by many condiment companies.

The current condiment industry is still in the era of extensive marketing. Low cost, low threshold, low added value, and long consumption cycle are the salient characteristics of the condiment industry. This makes it impossible for companies to invest a large amount of advertising costs in the growth period. Competition between condiment brands is still limited to individual marketing links such as price, category, and channel. However, judging from the development trend of market competition, integrated brand marketing is an inevitable stage of condiment competition.

Small condiment companies want to stabilize and gain a foothold in the local regional market, medium-sized condiment companies want to seek greater market coverage, and large condiment companies have the ambition to dominate the national market. But what do they rely on to achieve such business goals? Brand building is an inevitable trend, and integrated brand marketing is an issue that must be considered.

3. Product innovation and segmentation

Reporters saw condiments specially designed according to various cuisines or specialties in supermarkets such as Wal-Mart and Trust-Mart. Currently, the types of condiments are extremely rich and can occupy a whole row of shelves in supermarkets, including soy sauce, vinegar, sauce, etc., including Taobao. Various brands including Dai, Vista, Lee Kum Kee, Haitian, B.B, etc. have segmented their products. For example, there are six or seven types of sauces, including pork ribs sauce, dumpling sauce, barbecued pork sauce, columnar sauce, bibimbap sauce, etc. According to reports, each sauce is suitable for different foods. For example, pork rib sauce is suitable for grilled food, barbecued pork sauce is suitable for pickled food, and all-season sauce is suitable for braised meat and vegetables.

"Now soy sauce can be divided into many types. It is no longer the same bottle of soy sauce that can be used with various foods." A person related to the Vstar brand said that fish, meat and seafood are now equipped with different soy sauces. These soy sauces can be used with various foods. Make different types of food taste more delicious. According to reports, the subdivision of soy sauce is mainly based on raw materials and technology. For example, soy sauce for steaming fish contains scallop juice, soy sauce for dipping meat is made from black beans and soybeans, etc.

4. High-end product research and development

On the basis of focusing on taste, condiment products pay more attention to nutrition and health. Traditional condiments and compound condiments will show a trend of professional development. The market will be further subdivided into enhanced functional condiments (such as iron-fortified soy sauce), utilizing various Condiments (such as abalone juice soy sauce) extracted or deeply processed from various seasoning raw materials have been put on the market. With the advancement of science and technology, various new technologies have also been widely used in condiment production, such as bioenzymatic hydrolysis technology, immobilized yeast technology, membrane technology, extraction technology, microcapsule technology, etc., which have greatly improved the quality and quality of condiments. Various biochemical technical indicators.

5. Diversification of channel operations

The sales channels of condiments can be divided into two places: household consumption and catering consumption. The channels are roughly divided as follows:

1. Large retail terminals: food sales areas in KA hypermarkets and warehouse shopping malls.

2. Chain supermarkets: These supermarkets mainly focus on food and daily necessities, and are mainly B and C stores located in communities or business districts.

3. Dried and fresh condiment stores: Opened in farmers’ markets, they are an important channel for selling condiments and have dual functions of wholesale and retail.

4. Community convenience stores: small grocery stores located throughout family buildings or communities. Some stores also provide door-to-door delivery services

5. Restaurants: They are direct consumption terminals for condiments and one of the most important consumption channels for condiments.

It can be seen from the above that condiments have the characteristics of wide channel sales, and there are huge differences in the operation of these channels. Each channel has different requirements for brand, variety, quality, distribution, and service. At the same time, it covers the accounts required by the channel. There are significant differences in capital requirements and operating costs. Therefore, it also creates living space for condiment companies of all sizes. With the requirements of professional operations, condiment specialty stores will also emerge rapidly.

6. Nationalization of regional brands

After several rounds of reshuffles in the condiment industry, the pattern has basically become clear. Some small and medium-sized enterprises that originally operated in regional markets or local markets have embarked on the path of expansion, whether in response to the deterioration of the competitive environment in the local market or because they want to break through geographical restrictions. Some companies that have completed their initial accumulation and have advantages in brand, technology, R&D, capital, and talents are still targeting the national market. However, condiments are not only limited by competition barriers formed by the proliferation of local brands, but also liquid condiments, especially liquid condiments, are also limited by low value and high transportation costs, resulting in insufficient price competitiveness. When condiment companies expand regionally, they must have high value-added products and marketing technical and tactical capabilities. When they expand to a certain scale, they must build production bases that meet their service radius and business scale.

7. Enterprise integration into aircraft carrier

At present, the domestic condiment industry has gathered capital forces from Europe, the United States, Singapore, Japan and other parties, and mergers and acquisitions between enterprises have become intense. Huiya has invested in more than 200 companies in China for 22 years, of which more than 60 have been listed. Last year, Japan's Ajinomoto Co., Ltd. announced in Shanghai that it had invested HK$1.845 billion to acquire Taoda Food Group, a subsidiary of the French Danone Group. This was after Japan's Ajinomoto entered "Beijing Wada Kuan" and controlled "Longmen Wada Kuan" at the beginning of the year. After "Tiger King and Tian Kuan", this is another important move by a multinational giant in the Chinese condiment market. In addition to the two major mergers and acquisitions of the above-mentioned multinational enterprises, Beijing Wangzhihe Group Company also recently announced the merger and reorganization with Guangxi Guilin Fermented Fermented Beancurd Factory to establish Wangzhihe (Guilin Fermented Beancurd) Co., Ltd., as well as several well-known domestic and foreign big-name food and seasoning companies. The Pin Group Company is also intensively planning mergers and reorganizations.

There is no shortage of small and medium-sized condiment companies in China, but there are not many large-scale condiment companies. Haitian is one of the larger ones. Its market share is only about 10%. According to Haitian's expansion plan, it will reach 10 billion yuan by 2010. Sales scale. Therefore, mergers and acquisitions in the condiment industry have limitations. The output value of this industry is relatively small and the products are highly differentiated. Enterprises need many more factors to scale up than other industries. This is very different from the daily chemical industry.

With the start of a new round of international and professional mergers and reorganizations, industry insiders generally believe that China’s condiment industry has now entered a period of major transformation, major adjustment and major differentiation. On the one hand, there are professional mergers and acquisitions that are in line with international standards. On the other hand, traditional industries face the confusion and exposure of stubborn diseases faced by international competition in the development process. The condiment industry has not improved enough to reduce obstacles on the road to development.