Fruit Wine Is Becoming Popular Among Chinese Young People, and Meijian is Capturing the Market

According to CBNData, Chinese post-90s and post-95s are becoming the main consumer groups of wine and other types of alcohol. Yet at the same time, the younger generations place more value on health, so instead of having drinks with a higher percentage of alcohol, such as baijiu, they are more inclined to drink less alcoholic beverages such as fruit wine. 

In the fruit wine category, one of the leading Chinese brands is Meijian (梅见). It ranked top 1 on both 618 and the Double 11 this year. How?

Problems With The Fruit Wine Market

To answer this question, we need to first understand the fruit wine market before Meijian. 

• The fruit wine category was there but there were no well-known brands on the market. There were several Japanese brands that were in the space, but their growth was hindered because they were either too expensive or their marketing required localization. 
• Factories that were producing fruit wines were small ones. They didn’t have the sense to develop a brand image and market in ways that would attract younger consumers. 
• Owners of those small fruit wine factories are mostly over 55. They don’t understand the young consumer group and their products fail to meet young people’s needs.

How Meijian Filled the Market Gap

To solve these problems, here is what Meijian has done differently: 

Clear positioning and target audience: Meijian targets young people and delivers the message to consumers that the wine can be served for different occasions, for example, parties or giving as a gift. 

Create its own factory: the supply chain as those existing fruit wine factories’ business mode can’t no longer satisfy either the brand or consumers’ needs.

Shape the brand as social currency and the perfect gift: The packaging design is young and fashionable. On top of that, Meijian’s slogan is “好酒梅见” or “Good wine – Meijian”, which is a play on a common phrase that Chinese people say when they haven’t seen each other in a long time “好久没见” (long time no see). With the slogan, they paint the picture of a bottle of Meijian being the perfect gift to bring when reuniting with friends.

Tailored Promotion for Different Social Media Channels

Xiaohongshu: They are mostly foodie or lifestyle blogger and girls who live alone but in a sophisticated way. Meijian shows up as one of their ways to improve their single life quality.

Douyin: Unlike Xiaohongshu, KOLs that Meijian works with on Douyin are more balanced in terms of gender. Meijian collaborates with wine influencers, for example, @老宋的微醺23点, who has 6.6M followers. Other than wine influencers, Meijian also works with lifestyle KOLs. Meijian’s products often show up as a gift to bring for parties or gatherings. Xiao Longxia (小龙虾 or crayfish) is mentioned a lot as a good companion of Meijian.

Bilibili: Influencers that Meijian works with on the platform are still lifestyle content creators. Videos are about improving life quality and different ways of bartending.

WeChat: KOLs that Meijian has covered are various. They are travel KOLs, food KOLs or craft KOLs.

TV shows: Other than social media, Meijian is working with a few TV shows to increase the brand’s exposure. The most popular one would be Happiness Trio (幸福三重奏), which shows celebrity couples’ daily life. Other than this, a singing show called 新四季歌 is also sponsored by Meijian.

Read more: 梅见底是如何被喝成天猫果酒第一的？