This article is original from FBIF Food and Beverage Innovation, author: Riri, please contact the source for reprinting.

The leading dairy company is planning non-alcoholic beverages, Yili Changyi 100% milk beer is here!

We learned that the product has been mass-produced on June 1 and will be distributed at the end of June. It will first be sold in offline channels in the southwest region, covering traditional channels, catering, convenience stores, campus scenes, etc., priced at 5 yuan/bottle (300mL).

Yili Changyi 100% milk beer

Image source: Yili

Changyi 100% is a leading brand of room-temperature lactic acid bacteria under Yili Group that focuses on protecting intestinal health. Yili launched Changyi 100% milk beer this time, aiming to make a non-alcoholic beverage with emotional value, suitable for consumers to drink in business banquets, friends gatherings, KTV and other scenarios, and they can drive after drinking.

It is reported that this product, which focuses on "healthy replacement of alcohol", also has 0 fat, and is sweet and sour and has a lower burden. It is also added with Yili's own strain K56 to improve the intestinal environment and help consumers eat happily without burden.

Yili Changyi 100% milk beer

Image source: Yili

Insights into consumers are the starting point for companies to innovate and develop and create good products. It is undeniable that today's consumers "want both" when purchasing food and beverages. They want to be healthy and want to experience deliciousness, and they also expect to have more choices in daily purchases.

At the same time, the food and beverage track category melee has intensified. The beverage and dairy tracks are particularly involuted, and brands are trying to get rid of the dilemma of homogeneity; many businesses have entered a new stage of business development and are looking for a second growth curve; leading companies have found innovative inspiration from other categories and began to flexibly migrate core technologies in the track... In this case, cross-category products are also increasing.

At this time, Yili launched Changyi 100% milk beer, which not only kept up with consumer and market development trends, but also strengthened its brand power and further opened up the situation of diversified innovation for enterprises.

Yili Changyi 100% milk beer

Image source: Yili

Starting from enhancing brand power, the launch of Changyi 100% milk beer has once again strengthened the brand positioning of Changyi 100%.

It is understood that since the birth of the Changyi 100% brand in 2015, it has hoped to create higher quality and more diversified health products for consumers. The brand has been working hard to upgrade and iterate its products and to be at the forefront of innovation. At present, all Changyi 100% products have added Yili's own strain K56.

In milk beer, the R&D team also added space strain K56, hoping to bring consumers safer and more friendly intestinal health protection.

From the perspective of corporate development, milk beer is another manifestation of Yili's diversified innovation and cross-category strategy.

As early as March 2022, Yili entered the sugar-free tea market and launched the first national trend tea brand "Tea and Chaxun". Tea and Chaxun's sugar-free flavored tea also adds probiotics-Bifidobacterium lactic acid subspecies CECT-8145.

Add probiotics

Image source: Tea and Tea Search

In July 2023, Yili held a new product launch conference for Yike Huoquan instant tea, launching China's first screw-cap instant tea. The main ingredients of its product are only tea and natural mineral water, 0 sugar, 0 fat, 0 calories.

China's first screw-top brewed tea launch conference

Photo source: Yike Huoquan

Today, Changyi 100% milk beer, as a product of cross-category integration, brings a sense of contrast through "milk and wine fusion", and also provides consumers with a "0 fat" and lower burden refreshing experience.

It is not difficult to see that in recent years, Yili has been actively exploring the road of cross-category innovation, pursuing a balance between health and deliciousness. For the milk beer industry, this time Yili, as a leading dairy company, has entered the market. While having the endorsement of Yili milk source, it also emphasizes the health attribute for differentiated competition, which will also promote the development of the milk beer category.

In this article, we will also further discuss how Yili Changyi 100% targets the milk beer market? How does it want to create the most "refreshing" non-alcoholic beverage?

1. The beverage market is full of vitality, and young people who love to try new things have a new choice

To promote cross-category innovation, why did Yili choose milk beer, a non-alcoholic beverage, this time? This should start with the current taste needs of consumers and the trend changes in the beverage industry.

Today's consumers are more and more fond of "being unique", and the same is true in terms of taste needs. Innova Global Consumer Research pointed out that when asked "Which taste factors have the greatest impact on your food and beverage choices?", one-third of global Generation Z and Millennial consumers are looking for new/unique/different flavors in food and beverages. [1]

In the beverage market, non-alcoholic beverages have become a popular trend overseas in recent years, and are increasingly needed by "young people who don't like drinking" when dining.

KeHE, a natural food distributor in the United States, mentioned the continued popularity of non-alcoholic beverages when predicting the top ten trends in 2022. According to Mintel data, 31% of adults over the age of 22 drank alcoholic beverages less than once a month or not at all in the past three months. A major driving force behind this trend is Generation Z, 24% of whom said that they do not drink often or not at all when dining out due to health reasons. [2]

Alcohol-free beverages were also listed as a major trend in the top five beverage innovation trends released by SPINS in 2023. Its data showed that the US market share of hop water/tea increased by 74% year-on-year, attracting consumers who both value non-alcoholic beverages and hope to be able to integrate into social occasions that require drinking at any time. [3]

Non-alcoholic "hops sparkling water"

Image source: Wilde official website

At the same time, the report pointed out that new milk beverages accounted for the highest proportion in the dairy category. The "Global Milk Beverage Development Trends" report released by Innova in 2024 showed that from July to December 2023, the Asia-Pacific region had the highest proportion of new milk beverage launches in the dairy category, reaching 44.3%. [4]

In the dairy beverage market, the Asia-Pacific region is full of innovation vitality. Compared with July to December 2022, the proportion of new milk beverage launches in the Asia-Pacific region and North America has also increased. The proportion of new product launches in the Asia-Pacific region increased by 4.5%, while that in North America increased by 1.6%, showing the innovation vitality of these two regions in the dairy beverage market. [4]

It is precisely under such consumer demand and market development trends that Yili Changyi 100% launched milk beer to provide Chinese consumers with a new choice of non-alcoholic beverages.

It is understood that the main consumer group of Changyi 100% milk beer is 18-30 years old, new white-collar workers in first- and second-tier cities, and radiates the pan-Z generation taste group.

The brand believes that this type of consumers has a relatively high income level and spending power, and has a stronger interest in various beverages. At the same time, they also take health into consideration, and prefer milky drinks with a rich milk flavor, refreshing sparkling water, healthy plant drinks and fruit and vegetable juices.

As a good partner for mixing drinks, it creates more experiences

Image source: Yili

At present, Changyi 100% milk beer will focus on catering scenes to relieve spiciness and greasiness, and can also radiate to scenes such as watching TV series, playing games, and afternoon tea. The milk beer category can partially replace low-alcohol wine, carbonated drinks or lactic acid bacteria drinks in these scenes.

The positioning of the scene is also inseparable from the brand's insight. When investigating drinking scenes, Changyi 100% found that 51% of consumers believe that dining and socializing are the core scenes of milk beer. For consumers, milk beer has both the refreshing taste of beer and no psychological burden, and can maintain good etiquette and atmosphere.

Yili Changyi 100% milk beer drinking scene

Image source: Yili

In addition, Yili Changyi 100% also found through a survey that the repurchase rate of milk beer buyers is as high as 91%, and the purchase frequency is high, with high category loyalty. Dormitory party, overtime party, and home party will choose to stock up and buy. Among them, taste and mouthfeel are the most important driving factors for the purchase of milk beer, and are also the main motivation for consumers to repurchase. [5]

In this case, Changyi 100% wants to create a non-alcoholic beverage to bring surprises to consumers who love to try new things, and attract consumers to repurchase by taste.

2. The leading dairy companies are diversified and innovative, and want to make the most "refreshing" non-alcoholic beverage

Looking at the current Chinese beverage market, many different types of brands have entered the milk beer track.

For example, Helens, known as the "first pub in Hong Kong", launched milk beer to form a CP with its own beer; new consumer brands Lion Gege and Miuke also launched milk beer products, hoping to "catch young people"; Tianrun Milk Beer and New Hope Xuelan Milk Beer are developing steadily with the support of dairy companies...

However, there is still no iconic product in the milk beer category, and consumers' awareness of milk beer is relatively limited. As a leading dairy company, Yili hopes to open up a new situation through differentiated innovation by creating a milk beer category through the Changyi 100% brand.

Yili Changyi 100% milk beer

Image source: Yili

On the one hand, Changyi 100% Milk Beer strengthens its health attributes and competes differently from its main milk beer competitors.

Today's consumers pay special attention to raw materials. Among the top ten global food and beverage trends in 2024 released by Innova Market Insight, "Raw materials: becoming the focus" ranks first. The survey also shows that one in three respondents said that they would look for information about key raw materials on product packaging. [6]

Changyi 100% has always highlighted the star ingredients in its products to respond to consumers' active attention to raw materials. This is also the case with Changyi 100% Milk Beer.

According to the brand, the Chinese patented strain K56 is a proprietary probiotic strain that was developed by Yili Group in collaboration with many well-known scientific research institutions around the world, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, and the East China Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, after more than ten years of dedicated research and multiple human clinical studies on the Chinese population. K56 was isolated from the intestines of healthy Chinese infants and young children. It has the functions of regulating intestinal flora, moisturizing the intestines, improving metabolic syndrome, etc., which helps to protect the intestinal health of Chinese people. In addition, K56 is also the strain selected for space experiments.

While introducing the patented raw material strain K56, Changyi 100% milk beer also communicated to consumers the product's zero fat and lower burden characteristics, responding to consumers' demand for healthier beverages and focusing on "healthy alternative to alcohol" beverages.

Yili Changyi 100% milk beer

Image source: Yili

On the other hand, Changyi 100% milk beer is also focusing on the core selling point of "non-alcoholic beverage" on the basis of ensuring "good taste".

The brand said that Changyi 100% milk beer uses high-quality pasture milk sources to bring consumers a milky, sweet and sour experience.

At the same time, this non-alcoholic beverage also has dense beer bubbles, which is refreshing and greasy. We also learned that the unique flavor and taste of "sweet and refreshing" are inseparable from the role of "mixed fermentation".

When developing Changyi 100% milk beer, the team selected yeast and lactic acid bacteria (Kluyveromyces marxianus, triple lactic acid bacteria-Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgarian, Streptococcus salivarius thermophilus subsp., K56 Lactobacillus paracasei) for mixed fermentation.

Among them, Kluyveromyces marxianus is a food-grade safe yeast isolated from dairy products (kefir), which has the ability to produce a variety of aromatic compounds (mainly esters and alcohols) and enzymes, which helps to improve the flavor and taste of the product and enhance the product quality.

Dense bubbles

Image source: Yili

As a non-alcoholic beverage, Changyi 100% milk beer not only cleverly attracts consumers with its dual advantages of taste and health attributes. The brand also launched the product slogan "Don't drink alcohol, drink Changyi milk beer", which increases the product memory point in an intuitive way, further strengthens the binding of milk beer and party scenes, and deepens consumers' understanding of Changyi 100% milk beer.

III. Conclusion

With the increase in consumers' demand for new tastes and health, the non-alcoholic beverage and milk beverage markets continue to develop and innovate. Yili, a global leading dairy company, also targets the trend and launches Changyi 100% milk beer with its R&D advantages, taking another step on the road of diversified innovation.

It is undeniable that in the vibrant food and beverage market, the situation of "category melee" is driving the continuous involution of brands, and the innovative products created also bring new development opportunities to the industry. Can this "refreshing" non-alcoholic beverage bring surprises to consumers who love to try new things and attract consumers to repurchase with its taste and flavor? Let us look forward to it together.

Reference sources:

[1] Analysis of Innova’s 2024 Global Top Five Flavor Trends, “Floral Fragrance” Ranks First! , January 26, 2024, FBIF Food and Beverage Innovation

[2] Top Ten Hot Trends in Food and Beverage in 2022: Food Adventure, Food Black Technology, Non-alcoholic, Personalized Diet..., December 8, 2021, Food Research FTA

[3] SPINS Releases Five Beverage Innovation Trends: Functional +, Natural Sweeteners, New Ingredients, Reinventing Kombucha, Non-alcoholic, August 29, 2023, Food Research FTA

[4] Innova Market Insights Releases the “Global Dairy Beverage Development Trends” Report, May 31, 2024, Innova Market Insights

[5] Market Research Department Yixiang Planet Research

[6] First Release | Innova Releases Top Ten Global Food and Beverage Trends in 2024, What Important Factors Influence Consumer Decisions? , November 17, 2023, FBIF Food and Beverage Innovation