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A cup of tea that has become a sensation, let’s take a look～
Written by | Mo Xiaoli
The fire of Douyin has led some to believe it is just a fad. However, this fire has spread from online to offline.
The ‘Answer Tea’, which has been popularized by Douyin users, currently has a total playback volume exceeding 55 million and over 1.1 million likes. In the past two months, Answer Tea has opened two physical stores and signed contracts with 249 franchisees. To prevent over-expansion, the parent company, Henan Mengfou, publicly announced on March 14 to stop recruiting franchisees.
According to Answer Tea’s CEO, Gu Tiefeng, since the store opened, there have been over 1,000 people queuing in front of the store every day, with people seeking divination and franchise opportunities often crowding in front of other shops. Thus, online traffic has directly converted into offline customers and cash flow.
Many people may wonder, how can a tea drink become so popular?
First, let’s introduce what makes Answer Tea special—writing your question on the tea sleeve, and upon opening the lid, you can get an answer:
Q: Is there still a chance for me and him?
A: Better to forget each other than to cling to each other.
Q: When will I lose weight?
A: Your handwriting is ugly, and you are fat; I refuse to answer.
The differentiated product form allows Answer Tea to stand out in the tea market. After interviewing Gu Tiefeng, the co-founder and CEO of Answer Tea, 36Kr discovered that behind this cup of tea lies internet thinking, marketing strategies, and cutting-edge technology.
Internet Thinking in Tea Making
From a beverage to a medium for prediction and divination, it completes user interaction based on tea, creating anticipation and surprise in drinking tea.
Social Currency
According to Gu Tiefeng, among the customers queuing every day, there are many small influencers who can gain tens of thousands of followers through live streaming Answer Tea. The inherent traffic attribute of Answer Tea has saved the team a lot on marketing costs.
Marketing Strategy and Gray Testing
Even good wine fears deep alleys; after refining the product, the Answer Tea team intentionally conducted marketing on social media. After testing various short video platforms such as Weibo, Kuaishou, Douyin, Xigua Video, and Huoshan Video, they found that Douyin had the best dissemination effect. They continuously improved the product based on Douyin’s tone and online and offline customer feedback.
As for why it became popular on Douyin, Gu Tiefeng believes it is mainly because the users of Answer Tea overlap significantly with Douyin users.
Application of Cutting-Edge Technology in Scenarios
AI technology is common, and 3D printing is also common, but innovative applications in scenarios are rare. The core of Answer Tea lies in the “Answer Generator + SaaS System,” which took two years to develop.
The principle is similar to teasing Siri or Tmall speakers, using image recognition technology to scan the text on the tea sleeve, extracting keywords, and matching high-relevance answers from the answer database, printing the question on the milk foam using 3D printing technology. All data from the answer generators in the stores are stored in the headquarters’ main control system, allowing for synchronized version iterations.
The SaaS system can manage and collect all operational and customer information from the stores.
Gu Tiefeng told 36Kr that currently, Answer Tea has over 40 SKUs, and the two operating stores produce an average of 1,000 cups of tea daily, with an average customer price of around 14 yuan, resulting in daily sales of about 15,000 yuan. The cup output speed is about 4 minutes, and customers in line need to wait an average of half an hour. From the current data, the customer age group is concentrated between 15-32 years old, with females accounting for 80%.
After becoming popular, the next challenge is how to sustain this momentum.
First, the “supply chain and production capacity” issue must be considered. According to Gu Tiefeng, the raw material supplier for Answer Tea is one of the top 10 herbal tea supply chain manufacturers in the country. The production capacity can support 1,000 stores nationwide. In terms of product iteration, on March 29, Answer Tea released version 2.0. The quality of the tea leaves has improved, using seasonal original leaves and composite herbal teas, with more standardized tea-making and operational processes.
Products are for survival, while models are for competition.
In terms of business model and gameplay innovation, they will successively launch products like Pay Tea and Confession Tea. Pay Tea is mainly B2B, for example, a brand or celebrity giving back to fans can collaborate with Answer Tea to produce customized versions for cross-industry cooperation; Confession Tea is mainly B2C, where customers can write secret messages on the tea to give to their love interests.
Moreover, the inability to provide delivery services is also a major factor leading to long queues and affecting the consumer experience. Gu Tiefeng mentioned that version 3.0 will be released in 60 days to address delivery issues from both the system and product perspectives.
Regarding franchising and quality control, in addition to using Answer Tea’s proprietary technology for the answer generator and SaaS system to manage and collect data, a supervisory team is also being formed, with plans to manage 15 stores per supervisor in the future.
The Answer Tea team currently has 38 members, with the technical team coming from Renren.com, possessing rich experience in smart devices, 3D restoration, and holographic projection. Gu Tiefeng stated that in the future, these technologies may be integrated into the physical stores of Answer Tea.
Although the Answer Tea team is confident in their technology and quality control, there are inevitably two major issues:
First, as the number of franchisees increases, the influencer brand is bound to transition from a scarce resource to a daily consumer product, weakening the aggregation effect—this is a question of balancing supply and demand and aesthetic fatigue.
Second, the issue of counterfeiting has arisen; since January, not only have multiple counterfeit Answer Tea social media accounts appeared, but also counterfeit stores in various locations, and even someone registered the Answer Tea company, charging a franchise fee of 88,000 yuan. In the face of these issues, the team has been overwhelmed and exhausted in response. (Note: The only parent company of Answer Tea is Henan Mengfou Network Technology Co., Ltd.)
Finally, let’s step back from Answer Tea and look at the beverage market environment.
According to data from Meituan, since the second half of 2015, the number of beverage store closures has been on the rise. In the first half of 2017, the number of beverage store closures exceeded the number of openings by 28%. The “new-style tea drinks” that have risen against the trend, such as Heytea and Nayuki, have fully catered to the consumption needs of the 80s, 90s, and 00s—focusing on quality, differentiation, creating new consumption scenarios, and enhancing the experience and freshness of the consumption process.
Among these brands, Heytea currently has 85 stores, placing significant emphasis on the supply chain, with raw material procurement prices considered high in the industry, and signing exclusive agreements with upstream tea gardens and farmers to ensure the quality and quantity of tea from the source.
Nayuki, as a mid-to-high-end tea brand, not only offers tea but also features its own developed soft European bread, with a central kitchen for distribution. It has 50 stores nationwide, with well-performing monthly revenues exceeding one million.
Answer Tea, combining new technology and innovative forms, has become a focal point. In the long run, the challenge of large-scale replication lies in product, franchise system control, and supply chain capabilities. Rapid short-term growth requires effective backend and operational processes to absorb the market.
What about you? Do you have confidence in Answer Tea? Would you pay for it?
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