Make the market segment bigger

There is an 800-mu ecological park at the foot of Songshan Mountain in Beijing. The 19 houses in the park are neat and orderly. The temperature in the houses is maintained between 22 and 24 degrees Celsius throughout the year. The owner of the house eats Green food, drinking mountain spring water, the room is surrounded by green hills and fertile fields, the air is fresh and the environment is first-class. The owners of these rooms are not high-ranking officials, but 3 million chickens from De Qingyuan.

This is Deqingyuan's ecological park, located in Beijing Songshan National Nature Reserve, 100 kilometers from downtown Beijing. The ecological park produces 500 million eggs every year, and the branded eggs produced here account for 80% of the market share of branded eggs in Beijing. If non-brand eggs are included, the share is 25%. That is to say, for every 4 eggs Beijingers eat, one of them is from Deqingyuan.

In addition, many five-star hotels in Beijing, such as China World Hotel, Kempinski, etc., are using Deqingyuan products, and some high-end cake houses also specially print "Our store uses Deqingyuan eggs" on the on its own brochure.

Branded eggs, which was previously considered a segmented market, has been expanded and expanded by Deqingyuan.

Beijing Deqingyuan Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. was founded by Zhong Kaimin, who is now the chairman of the company. In the ecological garden of De Qingyuan, he pointed to the red-roofed house surrounded by greenery and told us that ten chickens consume the same amount of food and water as one person, and 3 million chickens are equivalent to 300,000 people living in Living here is equivalent to a medium-sized city. Behind his calm and clear tone, there are nearly ten years of prosperous time.

Discovering unmet needs

Zhong Kaimin is a very keen person. He showed his foresight at the beginning of founding Deqingyuan, and he positioned his target consumer groups as people who are particularly concerned about health body. It was 2000, and food safety was far less of the attention it is now, and standards for eggs were unheard of.

How did Zhong Kaimin discover this market? He liked to eat eggs since he was a child, but when he was a child, he could only eat eggs when he did good deeds, was praised, and got good test scores. Eggs are very delicious memories in his memory. But in the late 1990s, he found that the eggs became less and less tasty, and the shells were soft and thin. After opening, the egg whites were very thin, often scattered yellow, and the color of the yolks became lighter and lighter. It is very light yellow and does not have the mellow aroma of egg whites. Zhong Kaimin felt very strange.

Zhong Kaimin has worked abroad for a long time, and he found that there is no such problem with foreign eggs. Because he had a friend in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, he communicated with the researchers of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and learned that there was a problem with the eggs. At that time, the competition of eggs in the market mainly depended on price, there was no competition in quality, and there were no standards for agricultural products, and everyone had become accustomed to it.

It is precisely because the price war has become a magic weapon for everyone to survive, which has led to the continuous decline in the price of eggs. In 1996, 3.5 yuan per catty of eggs was normal, but by 2000, the price had dropped to 1.6 yuan per catty. Along with the decline in prices, is the continuous decline in quality. People no longer use first-grade corn to feed chickens, but use second-grade, third-grade or even cleared corn, rapeseed meal and other inferior food materials. After chickens are sick, they are treated with scrapped medicinal residues, resulting in antibiotic residues in chickens. Eggs also contain antibiotics.

At that time, some people from Beijing who knew about the situation went to far away to buy firewood eggs in the countryside. Many people drove long distances to Changping, Miyun, Chengde, Zhuozhou and other places to buy local eggs and firewood eggs. .

After learning about these situations, Zhong Kaimin thought from the perspective of a consumer that there must be some people who have knowledge, and those who pursue health will need higher quality, safer and more nutritious eggs. Zhong Kaimin said: "There are many consumers like me in Beijing. Most people don't know that the food safety problem is so serious. If they know, I believe everyone is willing to spend an extra dollar or two to buy a good product. This is A very simple idea."

Clarify your customer group

Clarify your target group People, the first thing that comes to mind is the most high-end groups, such as government officials, entrepreneurs, senior intellectuals and so on. "So many high-end people have a lot of demand for food safety, and they get a lot of information, and they know the existing food safety problems." Zhong Kaimin said.

Later, Zhong Kaimin realized that it is not only the most high-end people who have such needs. He described his target customers as two characteristics: one is health-conscious and concerned about food safety; the other is a certain income. "Eggs are fast-moving consumer goods. Even if one is more expensive than others, it is only 30 yuan a month if you eat one a day. It is not a big problem for a family of three to spend dozens of dollars more."

Zhong Kaimin said : "We only need to solve two problems, one is that consumers know what is wrong with food and how to protect themselves; the other is to produce safe and healthy food."

De Qingyuan first started in China Agricultural Science The hospital raised 500 chickens. It took seven months for the chickens raised in a scientific way to lay the first batch of eggs. Zhong Kaimin was pleased to find that these eggs had very hard shells and orange-yellow yolks. Other eggs are so easy to break up, very tough, and the eggs taste delicious when cooked. These eggs were sold at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences for 5 cents a piece. At that time, ordinary eggs were about 2 cents a piece. Hundreds of eggs were sold out quickly. Many people felt good after eating them. It gave Zhong Kaimin the confidence to further mass production.

Consumer education But making more consumers aware of food safety issues was not an easy task at the time. Zhong Kaimin said: "We must let consumers know that there is a problem with eggs, so that we can truly realize consumption behavior. Our eggs look different from the outside and taste different. We believe that the product power is sufficient. The problem is how to change consumption. Consumer concept."

De Qingyuan spent four months communicating with consumers about food safety issues. They mobilized nearly 100 college students and used their summer vacations and weekends to train them to promote food safety in the community.

Deqingyuan selected some relatively new real estate in Beijing, relatively high-end communities, as well as some government communities, university communities, etc., and built 320 communities in four months, and sent out about 50 10,000 eggs, almost all the eggs were sent out within four months after the company was established. "At that time, the cost of eggs was about 50 cents, plus labor costs, the cost of delivering an egg to consumers was close to one dollar. In fact, our first funds were basically used for delivery." Zhong Kaimin said.

The activities of these communities have achieved very good results. At that time, each person was given two eggs and a brochure for free. Deqingyuan also invited experts from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences to explain it to everyone. The credibility is very high . They chose the period from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm, which happened to be the time for everyone to rest after get off work. The place where free eggs are distributed is often crowded with people. "The longest queue is four or five hundred meters long." Some people take it back and cook it right away. After eating it, they feel good and ask where they can buy it. And where to sell it is another problem that Deqingyuan faces in addition to consumer education.

Solve the channel problem

Now people can buy eggs in supermarkets, but in 2000, when Deqingyuan was just established, eggs were not sold in supermarkets, all eggs were sold in farmers' markets .

But De Qingyuan believes that his eggs are different and should be sold in supermarkets. Zhong Kaimin said, "We have repeatedly thought that since it is a high-quality egg, if it is bought at the farmers' market, the channel is wrong, and it will definitely have a great impact on future development."

After they went to the supermarket and came back, Very disappointed, the threshold of the supermarket is very high, entry fee, display fee, barcode fee, annual fee and so on. After a round of research, Zhong Kaimin found that it took about 1.7 million yuan to put the eggs in the supermarket to sell. At that time, they only had a total capital of 500,000 yuan to set up the company. In addition to the cost issue, the supermarket also raised three very practical questions: First, how to solve the problem of consumer habits when selling in supermarkets? Consumers are accustomed to buying eggs at farmers' markets; secondly, when Deqingyuan sells eggs, they are sold by the piece, and they are sold by the pound. Can consumers accept it? Third, consumers used to buy eggs without packaging. Deqingyuan has beautiful packaging and high prices. Can consumers accept it?

So, Deqingyuan actively educates consumers on the one hand, and thinks about how to solve the channel problem on the other hand.

De Qingyuan caught the attention of the person in charge of a supermarket in Chongwenmen when he was doing activities in a community. The supermarket gave it a chance and waived the entry fee, but only gave De Qingyuan seven days. If the sales did not rank in the bottom 10% of the fresh food category during these seven days, they could officially enter the store.

Because Deqingyuan has done a lot in the community, it is widely informed in the community that the effect is very good once it is launched. In those seven days, the eggs will be sold out as soon as they are put on the shelves, and the sales will not be the last 10 after seven days. %, but in the top 10%. The supermarket management was surprised that eggs were so expensive, and they sold so well at 50 cents. In this way, Deqingyuan's supermarket channel has opened a small mouth and slowly entered other small supermarkets.

By March 2001, Carrefour took the initiative to call Deqingyuan. It turned out that the French executives of Carrefour at that time saw Deqingyuan’s eggs in the market and felt that they were exactly the same as those of foreign countries. The product quality, packaging and concept were exactly the same as those of foreign countries. They decided to introduce the eggs to Carrefour to sell. Zhong Kaimin said: "Carrefour in China created a brand egg category because of Deqingyuan."

In this way, Deqingyuan's channels began to be fully opened. Zhong Kaimin said: "At that time, we were almost always driven by market demand, and the output was always insufficient. We expanded the experimental base and built a chicken factory. From 2002, we had 100,000 chickens, 200,000 chickens in 2003, and 500,000 chickens in 2004. Chickens, to 3 million chickens today."

Quality is the foundation

Deqingyuan's brand eggs can be recognized by high-end consumer groups, and the most fundamental thing is quality.

The product quality is meticulous. The laying hens of Deqingyuan are selected from the world's top-quality laying hens, Hailan Brown. The company now has 19 chicken coops, and the chicken coop adopts a fully automatic environmental control system. Drinking water, feeding, ventilation, temperature and humidity are all controlled by computer. The temperature in the chicken house is controlled at 22 to 24 degrees all year round to ensure that the chickens live in the most suitable temperature and environment. Taking into account the requirements of immunity, outsiders are not allowed to enter the chicken coop. Even if you want to enter the ecological park, corresponding disinfection work must be carried out at the entrance.

In terms of the chicken's diet, all the chickens follow safe and green standards. Deqingyuan's chickens eat the highest quality nutritious meals and drink the spring water from the nearby Songshan Mountain. The company has 81 professional health practitioners to monitor the feeding process of chickens throughout the process to ensure that laying hens receive balanced nutrition.

The environment of the chicken coop is very quiet, and the average floor area of each laying hen reaches 561 square centimeters, which exceeds the EU and US standards.

In fact, all of Deqingyuan's animal welfare measures have met EU standards and have passed the World Bank International Finance Corporation (IFC) review of the project's animal welfare measures.

On the eggs produced, Deqingyuan sprays the production date and anti-counterfeiting code on the surface of the eggs. This is the "egg ID card system" that Deqingyuan first launched in China, so that the quality of each egg can be traced.

Before entering the market, the surface of each egg is UV sterilized to completely remove E. coli and Salmonella, and aseptically packaged.

The supply chain method of contract farming In order to ensure the high quality of eggs, Deqingyuan has eliminated all hidden dangers from the source of the supply chain. Zhong Kaimin told us that the reason why Deqingyuan built its ecological park in Yanqing is not only because of the beautiful scenery here, but also because Yanqing is one of the regions with the best corn quality in China.

The temperature difference in this place is relatively large, and corn is only grown once a year. Zhong Kaimin said: "Take a handful of corn, and then take an egg and look at the yolk. The color of the yolk is very close to that of the corn. The health of chickens, so the choice of good corn is very important to the choice of place. You can see that in developed countries, the United States and Europe attach great importance to the location of chicken farms. It is selected in a corn-producing area. Quality requirements are high."

After selecting a good area, there must be a good monitoring of the quality. Deqingyuan and Yanqing have a management method of contract farming, that is to say, these corns must be planted according to Deqingyuan's regulations, what kind of seeds to use, what kind of fertilizers to use, and what are not allowed to use, the whole process of Deqing sources are monitored.

In addition to providing free fertilizer, Deqingyuan also provides management and some seeds for free. These corns were finally sold to Deqingyuan. The purchase price of Deqingyuan is also about 5% higher than the market price. Today, this kind of cooperation has been going on for 7 years, and the scope of cooperation has also increased from 10,000 mu to 120,000 mu. 55% of the corn in Yanqing is supplied to Deqingyuan, and the local corn planting base has become the largest green area in China. Corn base.

Learn more about customers

When Deqingyuan was established at the beginning, although it was relatively clear about its target customers, it did not do detailed research on these customers, nor did it divide its products into different categories. level.

As the market becomes larger and larger, Deqingyuan realizes that the needs of these customers are actually different, and further research should be done on them. So since 2007, Deqingyuan has cooperated with AC Nielsen to do a lot of market research. Zhong Kaimin said: "We have a lot of new discoveries after finishing the work, and found that consumers actually have a lot of imagination for eggs and have many different needs, so we think we should extract the needs of consumers and match the actual situation of our products. Combining and developing our products."

For example, when eggs are just beginning to lay, they are most suitable for children and pregnant women to eat because they have high immune factors, high protein, and high lecithin, but as chickens grow up, eggs change Large, its nutrition is variable. "As the chickens get older, the main components of eggs have not changed, but the trace components have changed, adapting to different groups of people to eat." Zhong Kaimin said.

Therefore, Deqingyuan further subdivides the product lines according to the needs of customers, namely gold series, nutrition series and safety inspection series, covering 3 price bands and 3 sub-groups respectively.

In order to understand the needs of consumers in a timely manner, until now, Zhong Kaimin will go to the market one day a week with his colleagues in charge of market, quality and sales. "Have direct communication with consumers, talk to them, Listen to their feedback. It will also help us a lot in our decision-making."

Once, Zhong Kaimin went to a supermarket and found a fashionably dressed woman buying Deqingyuan's first-born eggs, and asked her if she was feeding her children. Yes, because according to consumer statistics, families with children are the main buyers of newly laid eggs. But this is not the case. The other party said, I don't like meat, I just eat good eggs. Your eggs are the most expensive. I believe the quality is better, and after eating your eggs, you can eat other eggs. It was delicious, and there was another reason. She felt that eating this egg was also a reflection of her identity. The last reason is something Zhong Kaimin has never thought of, and it is also very inspiring to him.

In addition, Zhong Kaimin also found that there are three types of people who eat Deqingyuan eggs: the first type, the whole family eats them, and they all eat the same series; the second type, there are families who eat two or three kinds of eggs, which are very divided Fine, children eat baby eggs, old people eat safe eggs, and young people eat nutritious eggs; in the third case, children and elderly people at home eat Deqingyuan eggs, and eat ordinary eggs by themselves, because Deqingyuan eggs are expensive.

Now Deqingyuan's eggs are also the most expensive among brand eggs, twice as expensive as ordinary eggs, but the popularity rate is already very high. Zhong Kaimin said: "2 million people come to Beijing to eat this egg every day, which is not a small number."

These high-end consumer groups are also asking Deqingyuan if they can provide more products, such as organic vegetables, Zhong Kaimin The answer is: "The egg industry is already very big, we can do many things, try to do one thing well first."