The movement towards C-end sauce liquor is in full swing, with mixed feelings amidst the fervor.
Written by | Huang Yating
Edited by | Yu Feizi
In recent years, issues such as channel inventory backlog and increased circulation costs have become increasingly apparent in the era of stock. The competitive environment for liquor has gradually shifted from the channel side to the consumer side.
Industry experts have stated: “The era of channel dominance is history; now it is the era of traffic dominance. ‘User-centric’ has become a consensus in the liquor industry, and the Chinese liquor industry has entered the C-end era.“
On March 23, the Langjiu Sanpin Festival was held at the Langjiu Winery on the left bank of the Chishui River. Prior to this, the “Cloud Sanpin Festival” had already been launched online. This industry event not only successfully attracted 1.2 billion interactions in the 13 days since its launch but also provided strong evidence for the C-end transformation of the sauce liquor industry.
Against this backdrop, major sauce liquor companies are vigorously pushing towards the C-end, directly facing consumers, attempting to “gain the C-end, gain the world.”
01Blooming Everywhere
Sauce liquor companies are seizing C-end traffic
In this trend, competition has intensified, with various liquor companies launching numerous C-end activities focused on consumer cultivation, conversion, and competition, including festival-style events, ritualized interactions, wine tourism integration, high-end tasting events, and membership platforms.
To date, the Langjiu Sanpin Festival has been held four times. This year’s festival, themed “Human Flavor of Langjiu,” invited Langjiu fans from all over to share their culinary experiences and local customs online, enjoying the human flavor of Langjiu together. Official data shows that since the online event launched 13 days ago, a total of 1.2 billion people participated in the cloud celebration; offline tasting events distributed over 1 million bottles of “Shunpin Lang & Xiao Langjiu,” with over 1 million participants. It has become a significant industry event linking B and C.
In recent years, focusing on the “three product strategy” of quality, brand, and taste, Langjiu has continuously built a C-end matrix platform, including the Langjiu Winery and Langjiu Membership Center, thus creating a value chain centered on C-end consumers and core customers, empowering the “production, sales, and experience” triad.
As a leader in the sauce liquor industry, Moutai’s C-end journey is also far ahead. Previously, Moutai collaborated with Luckin Coffee to launch the “Sauce Aroma Latte,” breaking boundaries both online and offline, achieving the “first sip of Moutai” for young consumers.
Weijiu has found that in the past two years, Moutai’s efforts to attract younger consumers have never slowed down, from the Moutai Fan Carnival sweeping the nation to the launch of the “i Moutai” app, introducing various flavors of Moutai ice cream, operating direct sales in the digital world, to the explosive popularity of the “Sauce Aroma Latte,” each step radiates youth and fashion. Moutai’s entry into the consumer market and its strong push towards the C-end is evident.
In addition, various sauce aroma brands are also focusing on the C-end, joining the wave of C-end transformation in sauce liquor. For example, Xijiu launched the “Junpin·Yayan” high-end tasting event, Guotai created the “Guofan Festival,” Wuling Amber Liquor introduced the “one bottle minimum” customization service, and Xiaohutuxian held the “Sauce Enjoyment Meeting,” all of which are part of the C-end layout for sauce liquor.
02Moving Towards C
Why has C-end transformation become the new pursuit for sauce liquor?
First, demand is the primary productive force. From the perspective of consumer demand, after experiencing quality refinement and consumer awakening, what consumers pursue is no longer just the drinking taste and product service, but a higher level of emotional resonance and experience from the brand.
Secondly, from the perspective of the liquor market structure, after entering 2020, mainstream liquor companies, especially first-tier Chinese liquor brands, have basically completed the division of liquor merchant resources, and the B-end structure has been preliminarily established. In the era of stock competition, whether based on KOLs or KOCs, sauce-flavored liquor needs to fully enter the C-end field and cultivate consumers meticulously.
Additionally, from the channel perspective, traditional sauce liquor sales mainly rely on distributors and group buyers. Directly connecting to the C-end can reduce intermediaries, lower channel costs, and increase profit margins. At the same time, direct sales C-end operations also help companies better control market prices, reduce pricing chaos, and protect manufacturers’ interests to a greater extent.
Finally, the rapid development of social internet technology, especially the popularity of mobile internet and social media, has provided a technical foundation for digital management such as online dissemination, e-commerce live streaming, and QR code bottle opening, supporting the C-end actions of sauce liquor.
03Manufacturer CompetitionIs C-end transformation the destination for sauce liquor?
As the C-end movement for sauce liquor is gaining momentum, market chaos has followed closely.
Liquor companies are developing high-quality group buying customers into agents through channel flattening, and drastically cutting support for distributors in a one-size-fits-all manner. In the context of sluggish terminal sales, the loss of channel profits will undoubtedly further intensify manufacturer relationships. Additionally, some liquor companies have not effectively implemented policies, leading to channel chaos such as self-uncovering bottle caps to claim red envelopes and profit-making from tasting events.
Therefore, for the liquor market, which heavily relies on distributors, especially sauce liquor based on group buying, during the manufacturers’ “move towards C,” the competition between manufacturers for their respective interests has intensified. How to balance manufacturer interests is a pressing issue that manufacturers need to address in promoting C-end strategies.
Moreover, as a crucial tool for the C-end, live e-commerce has also seen frequent chaos. After the rise of online live streaming, many liquor merchants have entered the fray. However, online sales of famous liquors require authorization from liquor companies, and some merchants have abused this authorization for profit, even allowing criminals to exploit loopholes, leading to chaos in the online liquor market.
Amidst the fervor, it is essential to think calmly. While C-end transformation is an important trend to resolve industry crises, it is not the ultimate destination for all sauce liquor products. Building brands, enhancing quality, and improving efficiency to meet consumer demands are the starting and ending points of C-end transformation, as well as the focal point for the sustainable development of sauce liquor. Any behavior that uses C-end transformation as an excuse for over-exploitation will be eliminated by the industry.
Sauce liquor products should choose appropriate sales channels and development strategies based on their characteristics and market demands to achieve sustainable development.
