To Sell Well, The Package Should Be Bigger Or Smaller

Unexpectedly, the size and size of beverage packaging has become the "social currency" of young people.

On Weibo, the topic of large beverage packaging is frequently searched. The topic of why #1L packaging has become the social currency of young people has been read by more than 69 million people as of press time, and other related topics have also been read by more than one million people.

Small packages have higher heat. For example, the small package of Oriental leaves is very popular, and some netizens even DIY 335ml Oriental leaves into a smaller package. The post, titled "The smallest Oriental leaf on the Internet," has 30,000 likes, more than 1,900 favorites and more than 1,000 comments.

And the soul of the net friend asks -- who is the audience of 100ml drink? Many people commented: "This lovely small package just want to taste", "even if you buy it without drinking it is super cute"...

Large and small packaging high heat, more brands began to make the packaging bigger or smaller. "Value and small packages are driving the growth of the entire beverage industry," said Jian Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel Greater China, at the FBIF2024 Food and Beverage Innovation Forum.

According to Nielsen IQ "2024 China Beverage Industry Trend and Outlook", 600ml-1249ml large ready-to-drink has become a new growth point of the beverage industry in recent years.

I recent years, both traditional brands and emerging brands have indeed made a fuss on packaging specifications. In addition to launching about 500ml packaging, they have also launched about 1L large packaging or about 300ml small packaging.

For example, Oriental leaves, in addition to 500ml packaging, also launched 900ml and 335ml packaging;

Pulsation also appears in large packages of 1L and small packages of 400ml. The brand even "worked the whole thing" on the 1L large package, with the words "good ~ good ~ good ~ big" printed on the bottle.

In addition, there are vitality Forest, Ripe fruit, Minute Maid, Lemon Republic... In addition to packaging drinks, changes in packaging specifications are also very common in new tea, wine and even leisure snacks.

Why are these brands starting to get bigger or smaller in package sizes? Behind the change of packaging specifications, what kind of market demand corresponds to it?

Large and small beverage packages are not new. But in recent years, consumers pay more and more attention to large and small packaging. In order to meet the needs of consumers, many brands begin to "work hard" on packaging specifications.

Oriental leaves are a typical example.

In 2011, Nongfu Spring launched Oriental Leaves, a 500ml bottle of sugar-free tea. In October 2019, Oriental Leaf first launched the 335ml mini package after eight years on the market.

In 2023, young people will pay more and more attention to large packaged drinks. Oriental Leaf launched 900ml large bottles on its Tmall flagship store early that year. By this year, the 900ml bottle of Oriental Leaves has been rolled out in offline channels, and even occupied the C-seat on the shelf.

FBIF visited many places and found that 900ml of Oriental leaves could be found everywhere, whether in large supermarkets or township retail stores.

The same goes for the Vitality Forest. In 2018, Yuanqi Forest released its classic product, soda sparkling water. At that time, the size of this sparkling water was still 480ml. In May 2020, Yuanqi Forest launched five mini cans of sparkling water with different flavors, each 200ml. Shortly thereafter, 280ml small bottles, 1.25L large bottles have been on the market.

In addition to soda bubble water, other products of Yuanqi Forest have also appeared in large and small sizes in recent years, such as 450ml bottle of Yuanqi Forest milk tea launched in 2019, and 300ml mini milk tea launched one year after its launch. The new product, iced tea, will be fully launched in 2023 in 450ml packaging. Half a year later, Yuanqi Forest announced the launch of 900ml packaging.

In recent years, there are many products whose packaging has become larger or smaller. For example, Huiyuan will launch 2L large-capacity barrels in 2022. When Dongpeng Beverage launched its new product "Rehydrate" in January 2023, it simultaneously launched 555mL and 1L capacities in terms of packaging specifications; You Cong gas also launched 2L large packaging this year.

In fact, the large package of about 1L and the small package of about 300ml have not appeared in recent years. In the past, brands such as Tingyi, Uni-President, Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola had different specifications of packaging as early as 2019.

Compared with the past, it can be found that there is an obvious change that large and small packaged drinks are no longer limited to fruit juice and carbonated drinks, but begin to move to sugar-free tea, functional drinks, fruit tea and other sub-categories of drinks

The heat of large packaging is not limited to packaging drinks. The packaging of other tracks, such as new tea and snacks, is also getting bigger.

Many new tea brands have introduced the concept of "VAT". In May 2022, Nayue successively launched large-size 1L products of "Domineer One-liter Peach", "Domineer One-Liter Bayberry Lemon barrel" and "Domineer One-liter peach". Also launched in barrels of the brand there are 100 tea, ancient tea, Shanghai aunt, book also burning fairy grass and so on.

Beverage packaging specifications change, not only limited to the domestic market, looking at the international market, beverage packaging is also becoming larger or smaller.

In 2019, Coca-Cola launched 350ml and 700ml bottles for the Japanese market. On its website, Coca-Cola explains why the new packaging is being introduced -- in response to Japan's low birth rate, aging population and increasing number of small families, 350ml of Coke is suitable for one person, 700ml is suitable for two people to drink. [2]

The 900ml Pokuang Li water has been on the rise in Japan in recent years. According to Otsuka's staff, "since the end of last year, the sales volume has increased by double digits every month." [3]

British beverage brand MOJU launched the Booster series in 60ml packaging in 2016, followed by 420ml packaging in 2023 to meet the different needs of consumers.

Chinese outbound brand McDovey has also spotted the trend of large packaging of sugar-free tea in the international market. In order to meet the needs of both the Chinese and American markets, McDovido chose a 750ml oversized package. In November 2022, McDovedo simultaneously launched 750ml "Great Oolong Tea" in China and the United States.

In the North American market, the trend of larger beverage packaging has even been transmitted to the upstream industry. Ron Skotleski, vice president of sales and marketing for the North American beverage division of Crown Holdings, a metal packaging producer, said in an emailed statement: As a result of consumers' health concerns, we can see a significant increase in the sales of 7.5-ounce cans in some segments of beverages, and the consumption of these small drinks makes consumers feel less guilty.

From the reasons for the change of packaging in foreign markets, it can be found that whether it is large packaging or mini packaging, behind the change of beverage packaging, it is actually the brand that is catering to the changing needs of consumers and wants to sell well. What are the specific changes in the purchasing preferences of consumer groups in the domestic market?

Not 500ml can not afford to buy, but 1000ml is more cost-effective

Start with big packaging.

According to Nielsen IQ "2024 China Beverage Industry Trend and Outlook", 600ml-1249ml large ready-to-drink has become a new growth point of the beverage industry in recent years. This specification segment's share of sales across all specifications will grow from 6.4% in 2019 to 11.3% in 2023. Big ready-to-drink beverages also include multiple categories, among which sales of energy drinks will increase by 213% in 2023 compared with 2019, ready-to-drink tea by 105%, and carbonated drinks by 101%.

Why do consumers love big packages? Cost performance is one reason. [1]

In the past, large packaged drinks were often referred to as diaosi. Today, many brands in the launch of large packaging, will be defined as value.

In the definition of netizens, diaosi mainly refers to the large bottle version of cheap drinks with plain packaging, but wins by drinking double the amount of money for 1 or 2 yuan more than the regular packaging. [6] Many netizens joked that "three pieces are face, four pieces are life, not small bottles can not afford, but large bottles are more cost-effective."

Regardless of the value of the outfit or diaowu, the core is pointing to the cost performance. Take Oriental leaves as an example, Nongfu Spring official Tmall flagship store, 900ml Oriental leaves, 12 bottles a box, the active price is 75 yuan, the average is 6.25 yuan/bottle. The active price of 15 bottles of 500ml Oriental leaves in a box is 63.9 yuan, with an average of 7.62 yuan per bottle. Compared with the standard bottle, the price of each 100 ml is 18.5% lower.

Similarly, Dongpeng Water 555mL and 1L are priced at 4 yuan and 6 yuan respectively, which is equivalent to spending 2 yuan more to buy double the volume.

Large packaging can also meet consumers' sharing needs, meet consumers' emotional value and other diversified needs. In this way, the first 1L and 2L large packages of drinks tend to focus on family gathering scenes and emphasize "sharing", which is still applicable today.

"The launch of large-package beverages meets the needs of consumers' changing consumption preferences (returning to rationality and pursuing cost-effective consumption) and broadening consumption scenarios, and also enables consumers to have diversified choices in specifications." Dongpeng beverage once said in an interview with the media.

Small packages are making a comeback, designed to fit in your pocket and endear people

Back then, brands started pushing smaller packages even earlier than larger ones.

Coca-Cola was one of the relatively early brands to introduce smaller packages in the Chinese market. In 2018, Coca-Cola began offering 200ml mini-can packages. In addition, in the Chinese market can also see the 300ml mini bottle of Coca Cola and 330ml modern can.

Since then, by 2019, many food and beverage brands have launched small packaging to meet the "cute economy" wind, such as Yuanqi Forest's mini can of sparkling water. This wind also blew to the new tea drink track, a little, tea and so on also launched "mini cup" milk tea.

In recent years, the wind of small packaging has continued to blow. In 2023, emerging brands represented by Lemon Republic will also launch 300ml packaging. In June 2024, Coca-Cola announced on its official wechat account that the pocket bottles of new Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta products would be light, and they would be launched in Guangdong, Hubei, Yunnan and Beijing from June.

As with large packages, brands keep adding new small packages in order to "sell well" and meet the needs of consumers. Specifically, the needs of consumers also vary.

Take Coca-Cola, for example. The reasons for Coca-Cola's new smaller packages are also different.

In 2018, Coca-Cola launched small packaging in China, on the one hand, to comply with the trend of health, "drink less is healthier; In addition, different specifications of packaging also have different pricing, through small specifications of packaging to reduce the consumption threshold, expand the consumption belt, in order to drive growth.

It also helped Coke sell more. It is reported that in 2019, Swire Coca-Cola's modern can packaging carbonated drinks revenue increased by up to 90%, among which mini modern can, which is regarded as a new consumer trend, also achieved 20% growth. In addition, according to the data statistics of COFCO Coca-Cola's annual report for the first half of 2021, the sales volume and revenue of modern can and mini modern can increased by more than 50%.

When consumers are worried about spending, "packaging innovation plays a bigger role," Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said during the company's 2022 earnings call.

After six years, Coca-Cola is pushing the pocket bottle light to emphasize its portability.

On Coca-Cola's official wechat account, the marketing campaign with the new pocket bottle is citywalk, which has been highly popular recently. Coca-Cola launched the time-limited clocking activity in the block of Refreshing bag. The first stop was set in Nantou Ancient City of Shenzhen, and 18 clocking points were designed for it.

Yu Jianzeng said that beverage packaging is developing in small packages, because small packages are very suitable for carrying out and can also be put in women's bags, so fruit juice, carbonation and other small packages are becoming more and more popular.

In addition to portability, small packages can also meet the increasingly diverse needs of consumers.

The scenario of small packages is very rich because small features can be very flexible to adapt to different scenarios. The reasons why consumers choose to buy small packages include good packaging, bright advertisements, recommendations from friends and pleasing themselves, which can meet the emotional value of consumers.

In addition, there is a lot of discussion about small packaging on social media, and the evaluation of "cute" and "interesting" often drives higher discussion heat.

In addition, consumers pay more and more attention to health. Even for high-calorie drinks, small packages can reduce the caloric burden of consumers and meet the demand for sugar reduction. With cleaner ingredients, small packages can be consumed within a day without preservatives, avoiding the risk of spoiling.

"Understanding the needs of male and female consumers can help us better plan new products and product portfolios," Yu said in his speech. Looking back, whether the package is bigger or smaller, its core is to meet the needs of consumers, and the ultimate goal is actually to "sell well".