Adjust the suggested retail price to mark Feitian Maotai, and speed up the high-end Wuliangye？

Recently, the news that Wuliangye suggested that the retail price should be adjusted to 1499 yuan attracted attention, which was interpreted by the outside world as wanting to bid for 53-degree flying Maotai.

On March 27th, the Beijing News reporter visited a Wuliangye store in Haidian, Beijing. At present, the price of the eighth-generation Wuliangye 52-degree 500ml single bottle has been adjusted to 1499 yuan. In the official flagship store of Wuliangye, the e-commerce platform, the price of this product is also displayed as 1499 yuan. However, the actual purchase price is lower than 1499 yuan, ranging from 1100 yuan to 1200 yuan.

Some Wuliangye dealers confirmed to the Beijing News reporter that "the eighth-generation Wuliangye price adjustment notice was recently received from the manufacturer". In its view, "the market price of Wuliangye has not kept pace with the retail price. Adjusting the retail price may affect the profit of distributors, but it will also be a test of survival of the fittest for channel terminals."

In February this year, Wuliangye ushered in a new head and started a new round of high-quality development. The industry believes that the proposed retail price adjustment releases the signal that Wuliangye will enhance its quality value and brand potential. At the same time, it also means the transformation and upgrading of Wuliangye, paying more attention to terminal marketing, and helping to cultivate brand value.

On March 27th, the Beijing News reporter visited a Wuliangye specialty store in Haidian, Beijing. The price of a 52-degree eighth-generation Wuliangye 500ml single bottle was 1499 yuan. The staff in the store introduced, "(retail price) has just been adjusted, and the price of goods can be cheaper, with a single bottle of 1100 yuan; Get the whole box, a single bottle of 1050 yuan. " At the same time, the clerk also said that "the price tag has been adjusted, and the actual transaction price may be adjusted in the future."

Subsequently, the Beijing News reporter visited chain liquor stores and supermarkets, and some liquor store clerks said that they had heard about the proposed retail price adjustment.

In the official flagship store of Tmall Wuliangye, the price of a 52-degree eighth-generation Wuliangye 500 ml single bottle is 1499 yuan, and it is 1220 yuan after participating in the activity of 1499 minus 279. The Beijing News reporter consulted the customer service as a consumer whether the manufacturer’s guide price of this product was raised, and the customer service replied that "the prices of goods are all audited by the company and uniformly priced". According to the pictures provided by customer service, the activity of subtracting 279 from 1499 will end on April 15, 2022.

In Wuliangye’s new retail APP, the price of a 52-degree eighth-generation Wuliangye 500 ml single bottle shows 1220 yuan, but there is also a underlined price on the page showing 1499 yuan.

Screenshot of Wuliangye’s new retail APP (left) and the official flagship store of Wuliangye on Taobao platform.

On March 27, the Beijing News reporter from HenanoneThe distributor of Wuliangye learned that "a few days ago, it was informed by the manufacturer that the suggested retail price of the eighth generation Wuliangye has indeed been adjusted, from 1399 yuan to 1499 yuan per bottle". The distributor said that the adjustment "should be nationwide, mainly based on Wuliangye’s own development and market conditions".

Talking about whether to mark Feitian Maotai,The dealer believes that,Maotai is the representative of Maotai-flavor and Wuliangye is the representative of Luzhou-flavor. There is no comparability between them.

The research report issued by Ping An Securities pointed out that with the structural upgrading of consumption, the number of liquor enterprises above designated size continued to decrease, the concentration of the industry accelerated, and the price increase contributed to the main growth. The rising price of Feitian Maotai has opened the ceiling of high-end liquor and sub-high-end liquor. Wuliangye will continue to benefit from the high-end consumption spillover under the supply restriction of Maotai, and it will be a high probability event to realize the sale at a favorable price after the price increase.

In recent years, there has been an upsurge of sauce-flavor liquor in the market, which makes Wuliangye, as the "boss" of Luzhou-flavor liquor, have to face the pressure from sauce-flavor liquor and carefully deal with the possible changes in consumers’ drinking preferences under the new consumption mode.

On February 18 this year, Wuliangye setTuanyingThe new head of the company once served as Party Secretary and Chairman of Wuliangye Group, and Party Secretary and Chairman of Wuliangye Co., Ltd.. Starting a new round of high-quality development and reaching a new level of development is the starting point and focus of Wuliangye’s "coaching change".

The Beijing News reporter noted that on March 11th, Wuliangye held the 2022 investor communication meeting by live online. Focusing on the development goal, Zeng Congqin proposed to make every effort to build Wuliangye with the five-in-one of "ecology, quality, culture, digital and sunshine" and sustained, steady and high-quality development, including upgrading and building the largest solid-state pure grain brewing base in the industry, continuously improving the industry-leading quality management system, improving the famous liquor rate of Wuliangye and adhering to "quality Wuliangye"; Build "Digital Wuliangye" and set a benchmark for digital transformation of China liquor industry.

According to media reports, Wuliangye has adjusted its ex-factory price at the beginning of this year. The planned ex-factory price of the eighth generation Wuliangye is still 889 yuan/bottle, but the unplanned price has increased from 999 yuan/bottle to 1089 yuan/bottle. Superimposing the proposed retail price adjustment, in the eyes of the industry, this means that Wuliangye is taking a series of measures to consolidate the advantage of thousand yuan price belt, and it is also a manifestation of enhancing its brand value.

However, in the view of the above-mentioned dealers, since the current market price of Wuliangye has not kept pace with the retail price, adjusting the retail price may affect the profit of distributors. "This adjustment is also a test of the strength of distributors, and the survival of the fittest will force distributors to continuously transform and upgrade, and the advantages of distributors with good performance will become more prominent, while distributors without stable customer base may face greater challenges. Overall, it may be more conducive to the long-term development of Wuliangye. "

Xiao Zhuqing, a liquor analyst, told the Beijing News reporter that the suggested retail price should be adjusted to 1,499 yuan, which can widen the price difference and improve the enthusiasm of the whole terminal channel. "In the past, Wuliangye mainly relied on large agents, and its marketing methods were relatively rough. From simple channel promotion and advertising, it now attaches great importance to terminal marketing, attaches importance to more accurate big data marketing, word-of-mouth sharing, etc., and at the same time builds cultural IP and begins to pay attention to the control of social inventory. These are all measures for the development of Wuliangye’s refined marketing."

According to the 2021 annual performance forecast released by Wuliangye recently, it is estimated that the revenue in 2021 will be about 66.2 billion yuan, an increase of about 15% year-on-year; It is estimated that the net profit will be about 23.35 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 17%. As for the reasons for the change in performance, Wuliangye said that it was mainly due to the continuous growth of the volume and price of the company’s core products.

Beijing News reporter Qin Shengnan　

Editor Zhu Fenglan proofreads Liu Baoqing.