By Jia Wen
BEIJING, Sept. 17 -- In the old days in China, drinking was a subject for poets and scholars.
Li Bai (701-762), one of the most famous poets of the
Tang Dynasty (618-907), was known for his drunken antics, including insulting
important officials in front of the emperor. He wrote famous lines about the
joys of "drinking alone by moonlight," talking of "raising my cup to invite the
Moon, then turning to my shadow, which makes three of us, because the Moon does
not know how to drink." He appreciated high-priced drinks, too, praising a
prince for spending "ten thousand coins on a cask of wine."
Nowadays, however, despite thousands of years of
drinking in China, the romantic glamour of Chinese liquor has faded in the era
of industrialization and globalization. Today, Chinese liquor appears only in
restaurants or dinner parties, while the bars popular among young people are
full of foreign spirits like Remy Martin and Martell.
Maotai and other high-priced Chinese spirits are
largely reserved for business gifts and formal banquets, and are seen by young
people as the drinks of their parents' generation.
Chinese brewers and vintners shouldn't fix the blame
on bars or themselves. Bars are exotic in China, where they took roots along
with the reintroduction of Western culture after the opening-up during the
1980s. Alcohol managers shouldn't fault their predecessors' foresight and blame
them for not seizing the bar market in time.
Yet currently, businesses cannot avoid the task of
developing a practical marketing strategy to introduce top liquors to Chinese
bars. Well-known brands should bear the responsibility of carrying on China's
thousands-year-long liquor culture. Besides, considering the fierce competition
in the Chinese market, bars are of vital importance for the future of these
businesses.
Fan Zhen, deputy general manager of the Jiugui Liquor
Cooperation, said in the recent Chinese Liquor Industry Forum that, due to high
gross profit ratio, a high degree of liquidity, and large profits, the Chinese
liquor market is relatively saturated. In addition, as the consumer culture of
the post-1980s generation, who prefer foreign drinks, becomes the mainstream,
the Chinese liquor industry is facing the threat of reduced consumer groups.
Therefore, the Chinese alcohol industry is challenged
by market supply and demand. If Chinese enterprises, especially top ones, can
adapt to market variations and adjust the existing marketing strategy, it won't
be difficult to occupy the emerging bar market.
Bar consumers generally do not care about the price
of spirits, and the channels of distribution to bars are the same as to
restaurants. Thus the key points for entering this market are not the price or
channels of distribution, but product packing and sales promotion.
With the right techniques, Chinese alcohol
manufacturers can easily seize these opportunities.
There is one other issue they should address,
however.
Since the main target market of Chinese spirits is
currently restaurants, most are packaged in large bottles of 500 milliliters or
more, and smaller packages are rare.
People drink far less in bars than in restaurants, so
they need to be able to buy smaller bottles, and the business should concentrate
on this. Nobody wants to try and down a 500-milliliter bottle of baijiu (white
spirits) by themselves!
The alcohol businesses should carry on the fine
traditions of Chinese drinking, as well as create a new drinking culture that
appeals to young people. Taken in moderation and pitched stylishly, alcohol can
create a romantic atmosphere.
Advertisers should look to the glamour and adventure
that the thinkers of the past found in Chinese alcohol to create new campaigns
making Chinese drinks seem just as exciting as foreign ones.
When the new generations find the same feelings that
ancient Chinese poets and philosophers enjoyed from Chinese drinks, Chinese
brands being popular in bars will no longer be a dream.
The author is an associate professor at the School of
Economics, Sichuan University.
(Source: GlobalTimes.cn)
