Text / Iron Plow
Executive Chairman of Sichuan Liquor Circulation Association
Dean of Changjiang Fengyu Business School
In recent years, "internationalization" has always been a hot word in the industry, and leading liquor companies such as Moutai, Wuliangye, Yanghe, Fenjiu, and Luzhou Laojiao have accelerated their overseas deployment to convey Chinese liquor culture.
Especially in the current stage of domestic stock competition, wine companies are bound to make efforts overseas to seek new increments. However, in terms of process, although China's investment in overseas baijiu has increased year by year, the internationalization process of Chinese baijiu is still in its infancy, and it faces many problems that need to be solved.
So how to realize the liquor going out? I believe that this is a long-term, large-scale investment that requires changes and innovations in terms of system, business, culture, and style.
The history of liquor going to sea
Today, China has set off the largest and most influential wave of going to sea, but this wave began 2,100 years ago in the Western Han Dynasty.
China's first international road was the overland Silk Road of the Western Han Dynasty, starting from Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), passing through the Hexi Corridor, Xinjiang, Central Asia, and the Middle East to the Eastern Mediterranean, with Rome as the end, which was also the starting point for Chinese wine to go overseas.
In modern times, 1915 was an important node, in this year, in order to celebrate the official opening of the Panama Canal, the United States held the "Panama Pacific International Exposition" in San Francisco, a total of 45 countries participated in this grand event, China is also one of them. At that time, China collected more than 100,000 exhibits from 19 provinces to participate in the exhibition, and brands such as Moutai, Fenjiu and Luzhou Laojiao won awards, which was also the first time in modern history that Chinese liquor went to sea.
In the era of planned economy, liquor began to be exported slowly, among which Fenjiu was the most, and Fenjiu at that time was also called Fenjiu, and its export volume was equal to the total export volume of other famous liquors. In 1992, Fen Distillery set up its own import and export international trade company in Taiyuan, becoming the first import and export self-operated company in the national liquor industry, and established long-term cooperative relations with many foreign regions, and the export of liquor ranked among the best in the country.
In the 90s of the last century, as Wuliangye gradually became the leader of the domestic liquor industry, its export volume was also increasing, and in 1991, Wuliangye obtained the "China Famous Trademark", and at the same time, Wuliangye was officially used as an export commodity, expanding Wuliangye's external publicity and international influence. In 1995, Wuliangye became the first enterprise to systematically go abroad, and in 1998, it was advertised in Times Square, New York, United States.
Of course, the largest export volume should be Cantonese rice wine, mainly exported to Southeast Asia, because there are 40 million Chinese in Southeast Asia, in addition to the usual drinking, it is also used as cooking wine for stir-frying.
The time when wine companies really began to go overseas intensively can be traced back to 2001, when China joined the WTO, and Moutai, Wuliangye, Luzhou Laojiao and other wine companies began to lay out.
In 2002, Moutai's foreign market revenue was 110 million yuan, accounting for 5.97% of the total revenue; Wuliangye put forward the brand positioning of "China's Wuliangye, the world's Wuliangye", actively established three international marketing centers in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas with a more open vision, and initiated the establishment of the "Belt and Road" International Famous Wine Alliance; In 2012, Luzhou Laojiao officially launched its globalization strategy.
Under the leadership of leading enterprises, waist enterprises have also begun to try one after another, putting "internationalization" on the agenda, and looking for a new way out for the release of production capacity in the liquor industry.
6 obstacles for liquor to go to sea
Although liquor companies go overseas intensively, an embarrassing problem is that liquor has always been popular in overseas markets, and overseas liquor consumption has always been dominated by overseas Chinese.
One is the difference of food culture, in China's food culture, or catering + liquor, the birth of catering culture, food culture has become a part of Chinese traditional culture. In European and United States countries, there is a saying that red wine is paired with red meat, white wine is paired with white meat, such as eating Japanese food with Japanese sake, eating French food will be elegantly paired with wine, but there are very few pairings with white wine in the food scene.
For example, whiskey and other spirits can be drunk alone in the bar, or mixed with various drinks to make cocktails, focusing on a comfortable and comfortable, while our country is a business consumption with food, and the whole is mainly for official business and business.
The third is the difference in taste and taste, the brewing process of Chinese liquor is unique, most of the alcohol content belongs to more than 40 degrees, for consumers in other countries, liquor is a high degree of liquor, the taste is spicy, consumers are not adaptable, it is difficult to form habits.
Fourth, the management of the wine industry in various countries is different, some countries restrict the consumption of wine, and some countries implement a license system, the threshold for entry is very high, and they also have to face strict supervision.
Fifth, due to the asymmetry of international trade policies, Western countries divide imported goods in detail, and alcoholic goods are usually classified as special foods, which are not only restricted in circulation, but also subject to higher taxes.
Sixth, there is a lack of unified technical standards, there are many types of Chinese liquor, the taste is complex, there are differences in the production process of different flavor types, and each flavor type has a corresponding technical standard, but in the face of exports, the mainland has not been able to formulate a unified national standard related to liquor so far.
3 suggestions for liquor to go out
Although it is difficult for liquor to go overseas, enterprises still have to go deeper, which is not only the reason for seeking increment, but also a powerful embodiment of following the national strategy for international deep cultivation.
I believe that baijiu going overseas is a long-term, systematic and gradual process. Taking beer and wine as an example, beer came to China at the beginning of the 20th century, but it was not until the 80s of the 20th century that it was basically popularized, and it took 70 or 80 years to complete the full popularization in the 90s, while it also took more than 100 years for distilled spirits and wine to complete the popularization.
In addition, under the cultural differences, the industrial civilization and modern civilization formed by the West in the past hundred years have attracted Eastern countries, so we are better at learning their consumption behaviors and preferences, while in the eyes of Westerners, Eastern culture is in a weak state in Western culture, so it is a long process for Eastern culture to spread in Western culture.
The second is to stress practical results and gradually advance. The liquor going to sea can be laid out in a step-by-step form, and the specific route to the sea can be the Greater Bay Area, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Southeast Asia, ASEAN, Europe and United States. As the world's largest bay area economy, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has a population of more than 138 million and a total GDP of more than 15 trillion yuan.
Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have a population of more than 30 million, a GDP of more than 5 trillion yuan, and are the mainland's largest foreign trade areas, with a population of nearly 500 million, a GDP of more than 5 trillion US dollars, and more than 40 million Chinese.
Finally, we should pay attention to methods and develop them in a coordinated manner. Based on the different behaviors such as aroma, taste, and habits, baijiu needs to innovate and develop in the brewing process, realize the diversification of taste, combine internationalization and localization, and form synergistic development with other industries at the appropriate time, focusing on solving the problem of consumer habits.
This can be learned from Japan sake, which has become an international popular and fashionable symbol in the past decade as the export volume of Japanese sake in Europe, the United States and China has been rising. Behind this is that Japan sake attaches great importance to the diversification and innovation of products, and pairs it with Japanese cuisine, and the high-end food image meets the consumption needs of a new generation of young people, which is also an important reason why Japan sake is rapidly entering the international market.
All in all, how to let foreign consumers understand Chinese liquor culture and drink Chinese liquor requires continuous learning and exploration by liquor companies.