Raising prices again exposes the pain points of the milk tea industry

Entering the new year, many milk tea brands have started a new round of "price hikes", which has caused netizens to discuss the topic of "freedom of milk tea" again

From raw materials to products, milk tea will raise prices again in the New Year

On January 5, Chayan Yuese announced on its WeChat public account that starting from the 7th, the price of most of the brand’s milk tea products will increase by 1-2 yuan

As early as last year, the new tea brands led by milk tea have already set off a wave of price hikes

In fact, since last year, the prices of copper, stainless steel, aluminum, PC, plastic particles and other materials have all been rising - these are all important raw materials for tea equipment, cups, and takeaway packaging.

Although brands can adjust the product structure and replace the main models to reduce the order volume of the categories with rising raw materials, the flexibility of such adjustments is limited, and if the magnitude is too large, it will hurt consumers

Cost is the appearance of price increase, internal friction restricts the development of the industry

Some industry analysts believe that the increase in cost is the superficial reason for the price increase of milk tea, and the underlying reason is the extreme internal friction of the entire milk tea industry

For example, operating costs continue to rise

The direct and main reason for the price increase of milk tea is the continuous increase in the operating costs of major milk tea brands

Another example is that the scale effect and brand effect are gradually weakening

As a fast-moving beverage industry, milk tea is the two major "weapons" in terms of scale and brand, especially for milk tea brands in the early stage of development, and "staking" has become the main market strategy

The consequence of these is that the internal friction of the milk tea industry is serious, and new breakthroughs are urgently needed

In traditional cognition, new tea drinks led by milk tea are often defined as "profiteering"

Industry insiders believe that new tea drinks such as milk tea are following the old path of consumer product development: outbreak - listing - involution

(Comprehensive arrangement by Luo Chen)

"China Food News" (07 edition on January 10, 2022)

(Editor in charge: Luo Chen)