It is actually a transparent plastic cup filled with ice cubes. The "Ice Cup Assassin" appears: more expensive than ordinary drinks
"Nongfu Spring has launched an ice cup", a popular article on social media has unveiled the mystery of the ice cup industry. Recently, a Beijing Business Daily reporter visited and found that Nongfu Spring ice cups are seizing a large area of the terminal market with Lawson convenience stores as the main distribution point. With the arrival of summer, more and more companies have taken a fancy to the business opportunities of ice cups. However, ice cups are actually transparent plastic cups with edible ice added, but the price is more than 3 yuan, or even more than 10 yuan. Many people feel that they are "backstabbed" by the price.
Industry analysts pointed out that the ice cup series products are mainly designed to meet the consumption trends of personalization and freshness pursued by the vast majority of young people today. However, it should also be noted that my country currently only has industry standards for edible ice. Consumers need to pay attention to product quality when purchasing to avoid being sold as inferior products.
"A 160-gram ice cup costs 3.5 yuan, which really hurts me." "I went to a convenience store with my colleagues and bought two ice cups. After paying, I found out that each one was 4 yuan, which is really outrageous." "I just wanted to buy an ice cup because I thought it looked good, but I found out it cost 9 yuan. It's obviously a steal, and it even gave me an ice ball."... In the summer of 2024, topics related to ice cups became popular on social platforms. Many consumers complained after purchasing them, feeling "stabbed in the back" by the price of ice cups.
Recently, a Beijing Business Daily reporter visited the market for ice cups and found that the mainstream ice cups on the market are filled with ice cubes, generally in two sizes, 220 grams for a large cup and 160 grams for a small cup. Take the ice cup launched by Nongfu Spring as an example. Its size is 160 grams, and the product ingredient list only contains water. It is sold at 4.4 yuan per cup in Lawson convenience stores. In the same freezer, a "Xiao De Edible Ice Cup" is priced at 4.5 yuan per cup, and another "Fruit Sound Ice Cup" is priced at 6.5 yuan per cup. The 335 ml Oriental Leaf Jasmine Tea is only sold at 2.13 yuan per bottle at the terminal.
There is also an ice cup that contains ice balls, which are generally more expensive than ice cubes. For example, the 138-gram "extreme edible ice cup" costs 9.4 yuan per cup. If you add some fruit flavors such as lemon or strawberry, the price will exceed 10 yuan per cup.
The essence of an ice cup is to put ice cubes in a transparent plastic cup, and its value lies in providing a usage scenario for pairing with other drinks. The "2023 Instant Retail Ice and Beverage Consumption Trend White Paper" shows that more than 40% of consumers want to consume alcohol, beverages, and dairy products in an iced state. From the end of July to the beginning of August 2023, the national ice sales on Meituan Takeout increased by 182% compared with the same period in 2022, and the number of merchants selling "edible ice" increased by nearly 90% year-on-year in 2022. Among them, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Tianjin became the cities that purchased the most ice cubes, and the sales growth rate of related products exceeded the national average, with a growth rate of more than 200%.
In the opinion of Chen Fangchao, general manager of Junzhi Strategic Consulting Industry Department, there are three reasons why ice cups are currently sold at high prices. First, new scenarios have innovated the demand of mainstream young people for DIY ice products to cool down in summer; second, new product categories have no price comparison reference at the consumer cognitive level, and their use value cannot be simply compared with bottled water; third, the promotion of various brands on social media has increased the popularity of the category and the fashion sense of matching.
Chen Fangchao further stated that ice cups have existed for a long time, but due to the lack of brand promotion in the past, the category has become commodity, low-end, and marginalized. Now, with the combination of popular summer consumption scenarios such as parties, late-night barbecues, and the addition of alcohol, juice and other contents, it has created a fashionable use value that is loved by young people.
As ice cups become more popular, more and more companies have seen the business opportunities. On the Tianyancha App, using the keyword "ice making" can find 6,080 existing and operating companies, 436 of which were established within a year. In addition to 7-11, Lawson, Convenience Bee and other self-operated ice cups, there are also brands such as Nongfu Spring, Hao Miao, Xiaode, Guoyin, Bing Jixian, and Binglida that share the market.
It is understood that Nongfu Spring began to prepare for ice making in 2023. Public information shows that Nongfu Spring applied for a label patent in May 2023. There are three manufacturers of "Nongfu Spring Ice Cup", namely Nongfu Spring Wulingshan Chengde Drinking Water Co., Ltd., Nongfu Spring Xin'anjiang Drinking Water Co., Ltd. and Nongfu Spring Guangdong Wanlvhu Co., Ltd.
There are also food companies behind the ice cups in convenience stores. For example, the ice cups of Zhongbai Lawson and 7-11 are produced by Bingjixian Food Technology Co., Ltd.; the ice cups of Xinjiayi are produced by Hunan Bingyu Food Co., Ltd.; the "Guoyin Ice Cup" is produced by Jiangsu Shangjie Beverage Technology Co., Ltd.; and the "Binglida Ice Cup" is produced by Guangzhou Binglida Food Co., Ltd.
Binglida is one of the companies with the best sales momentum in ice cups at present. According to Binglida's official website, its investor is Bingquan Refrigeration, which has been committed to the research of edible ice production technology for 20 years and has industry-leading R&D and production capabilities. Bingquan has produced nearly 40 fully automatic production lines with a daily output of 25 tons of edible ice, and the production lines are distributed in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other places. It is understood that Binglida's annual sales volume once soared from 1 million to 2 million cups before 2022 to 50 million cups in 2023. Binglida's customers are mainly from convenience stores and supermarkets. It has cooperated with 7-11, Zhongbai Lawson, Meiyajia and others.
In the opinion of Wu Daiqi, CEO of Shenzhen Siqisheng Company, "The emergence of the ice cup is obviously a response to the impact of a large number of new tea drinks, coffee, etc. on bottled beverages, and there are certain reasons for its popularity. This type of product is distributed in convenience stores, which is convenient and fast, has high visibility, and has many outlets, which is conducive to coping with competition. In addition, the concept of the ice cup is optimized compared to ordinary products, giving consumers the right to choose the combination. Compared with ordinary bottled drinks, it has more autonomy and is suitable for the summer atmosphere. Coupled with Nongfu Spring's distribution capabilities, it has become popular."
Zhan Junhao, a well-known strategic positioning expert and founder of Fujian Huace Brand Positioning Consulting, said, "The commercial value of the ice cup is that it provides a new way to cool off, while also bringing convenience and novel experiences to consumers. With the improvement of people's living standards and the change of consumption concepts, the demand for personalized and innovative consumption is also increasing, which provides a broad development space for the ice cup market. Judging from the annual sales growth of Binglida, the ice cup market is rapidly rising and showing a good growth momentum. Therefore, the prospects of the ice cup market are worth looking forward to."
Behind the booming ice cup market, my country has not yet issued mandatory national standards for edible ice. Taking Nongfu Spring ice cup as an example, the standard it adopts is SB/T10017-2008 "Edible Ice for Frozen Beverages", which is an industry standard jointly proposed by the China General Chamber of Commerce and the China Bakery and Confectionery Industry Association and is not mandatory.
Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, said, "Our country has not yet issued national standards for edible ice, which may affect the quality and safety standards of edible ice. The SB/T10017-2008 industry standard currently adopted by companies such as Nongfu Spring is not mandatory, which may also affect the quality and safety of edible ice cups. In addition, some unscrupulous businesses may use edible ice cups for false propaganda or abuse, bringing food safety and health risks to consumers."
There have been cases of unqualified edible ice brands before. On September 6, 2022, the 28th food sampling information of 2022 released by the Jiangsu Provincial Market Supervision Administration showed that 1 batch of edible ice cream was found to be unqualified. The sampling results showed that a "snow ice edible ice" with the nominal trademark "Yunwu", the nominal manufacturer name "Funing County Yunwu Food Factory", the specification model "100 grams/bag", the production date/batch number "2021-07-29", and the name of the sampled unit "Yancheng City Tinghu District Chengdong Huakang Cold Drink Wholesale Department" was found to have "cyclamate, saccharin sodium and aspartame" items that did not meet the national food safety standards.
Zhang Yue, chairman of Aoyoo International, said, "Currently, the production and sales of edible ice cups are still in a relatively early stage, and there are certain risks and problems. Therefore, relevant departments should strengthen the supervision of the production and sales of edible ice, formulate more stringent standards and specifications, and ensure the quality and safety of edible ice. The commercial value of ice cups is very high, especially after companies like Nongfu Spring enter this market on a large scale, creating more consumption scenarios and possibilities, or expanding the market for ice cups."
The prospects of my country's ice cup market may refer to Japan. According to relevant data from Zhiyanzhan Industry Research Institute, the annual consumption of disposable ice cups in convenience stores in Japan has reached 2.57 billion cups, and ice cups have become a mass consumer product like beverages. Relevant data show that the global commercial and household ice machine market size will be US$1.62 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow to US$2.633 billion in 2026.
Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng analyzed, "In the future, there will be more varieties and styles of ice cups, and the flavors will be richer and more diverse, but the price will still be relatively high. As the popularity of ice cups increases and more and more companies enter the market, it is expected that the price of ice cups will drop after 2028."
