It is estimated that the annual sales will exceed 500 million, and Mo Xiaoxian should start from self-heating hot pot to become a new generation of trendy fast food brands.

Under the key words of single economy, otaku culture and consumption upgrading, "self-heating hot pot" broke out in 2017, and grew into a billion-dollar market in three years.

On the one hand, this has attracted many large companies to enter the market, including hot pot catering brands such as Haidilao, Dezhuang and Dalongyi, as well as food brands such as three squirrels and good shops. Yihai International’s 2019 financial report shows that its self-heating product revenue in the first six months has reached 341 million yuan, up 216.7% year-on-year, and its business proportion is second only to hot pot bottom material.

On the other hand, this has also brought a rare growth window for start-up brands. According to statistics, there are more than 300 self-heating hot pot brands on the market.36Kr’s recent contact with Mo Xiaoxian is one of the head players. According to the introduction, after the brand went public in 2017, it ranked first in Taobao’s self-heating hot pot category in 2018.

After opening the market with self-heating hot pot and initially establishing brand and channel advantages, founder Wang Zhengqi introduced that Mo Xiaoxian has successively launched new products such as self-heating rice, red oil dough, hot and sour rice noodles, duck blood vermicelli, hala skewers, etc. This year, the brand is positioned as a "trendy fast food brand specially designed for young people", and its sales this year are expected to exceed 500 million yuan.

Before establishing its own brand, Mo Xiaoxian’s team mainly engaged in imported food from Europe and America, and once ranked an imported biscuit as the first in the whole network, accumulating resources of distributors, channels and customers, and establishing a food marketing methodology.

After being exposed to the new product of self-heating hot pot in 2017, Wang Zhengqi judged that compared with traditional fast food products, self-heating hot pot had a "qualitative upgrade" in taste, catering to the living habits of young people and adapting to various eating scenes. At the same time, hot pot has the potential of online celebrity, and its spicy aroma is addictive, so it has a considerable audience base in China.The size of the convenient and fast food market is very large, and large enterprises such as Uni-President and Master Kong have also been born. A new generation of consumers also need their own "Master Kong".

How to seize such a category bonus? Wang Zhengqi told 36Kr that finding the right product and brand positioning is the key.

At that time, there were mainly two kinds of products on the market: first, factory brands, which did not have "brand awareness", failed to keep up with marketing promotion and packaging design, and the price competition was very serious, and the style of play was simple and rude, "the quality was a little worse and the price was a little lower"; Second, players who really want to be brands, but most of them set the unit price near 40 yuan. In order to ensure their brand tonality and product reputation, hot pot brands such as Haidilao and Xiaolongkan choose this price range.But in Wang Zhengqi’s view, instant food is a meal, 40 yuan will face many competitors, and the main range of take-out is only 2-30 yuan. "Consumers have too many choices, so the advantages of self-heating hot pot are not so obvious."

Therefore, Mo Xiaoxian priced the takeout at 10-20 yuan, making it "quality, cost-effective,You can eat the products immediately and take the route of small profits but quick turnover.

On the quality level, Mo Xiaoxian cooperates deeply with the factory to customize products. Wang Zhengqi said that self-heating hot pot has two key points, one is the bottom of the pot and the other is the dishes. For the bottom of the pot, Mo Xiaoxian has his own formula. For example, in Chongqing spicy pot, butter must be added to enhance the fragrance, and chicken oil and rapeseed oil should be added to add natural flavor. In terms of dishes, the pursuit of optimizing the taste, for example, potatoes must be cut thin to ensure a crisp taste.

In addition, compared with other products on the market, Mo Xiaoxian will make the packaging box small, but the weight is not small, and find a special team to design a more fashionable packaging. On the one hand, it reduces the cost of packaging and transportation, on the other hand, it will give consumers a "sense of surprise" if they open the box and find full ingredients. According to the introduction, Mo Xiaoxian’s repurchase rate reaches 30%, which is at a high level in the industry.

Mo Xiaoxian grew up mainly with the help of Taobao traffic in his early days. Based on his previous food marketing experience, he did not open a flagship store at the beginning, but entered many Taobao stores for sale, and also gained the exposure of bargain-hunting and snapping up. This way, Mo Xiaoxian can well accept the category bonus of self-heating hot pot, and consumers can see more Mo Xiaoxian’s products by searching for keywords. After operating for one year and accumulating some brand awareness, Mo Xiaoxian also opened a Tmall flagship store, and quickly entered other online and offline channels, including Pinduoduo, JD.COM and other e-commerce and community group buying, as well as offline channels such as Jiangsu Golden Eagle, Beijing BHJ, Hubei Wushang, Quanjia and Meiyijia, and also exported to the United States, Canada and other countries.

In order to maintain the brand growth rate, Mo Xiaoxian has two main actions this year. The first is to expand the category, from a single self-heating hot pot to a "fast food brand". In these new products, Wang Zhengqi judgedSelf-heated rice is expected to become the next explosive product. "There is no recognized brand in the market for the time being. Compared with traditional fast food, the taste, taste and nutrition of self-heated rice have also leapfrogged enough." Therefore, Mo Xiaoxian is also tilting resources to push self-heated rice, focusing on three flavors: beef with bamboo shoots, Sichuan-flavored bacon and braised chicken. On the product level, Wang Zhengqi told 36Kr that Mo Xiaoxian focused on optimizing the rice, which made the rice grains more refreshing, non-sticky and chewy compared with other products.

The second big move is at the marketing level. Mo Xiaoxian’s idea is to focus on TV dramas and variety shows, and simultaneously lay out new media such as live broadcasts and short videos. This year, Zhejiang Satellite TV’s Travel Notes of Youth Circle and Oriental TV’s My Favorite Women were implanted, and Mango TV’s Daughters’ Love 2 was specially sponsored. In the second half of the year, it is planned to invest in brand implantation of 10 TV dramas. At present, four TV dramas have been started, and these TV dramas will be broadcast one after another from 2020.

In terms of new media, with Weibo, Tik Tok, Aauto Quicker,KOL on mainstream social media such as bilibili, Today Headline, Xiaohongshu and WeChat WeChat official account cooperated and shared the matrix planting grass. According to the introduction, Mo Xiaoxian sold 300,000 boxes in two minutes on the live broadcast in Aauto Quicker this year, with sales reaching 3.5 million yuan.

"At this stage, TV dramas and variety shows are mainly promoted to enhance the brand image." Wang Zhengqi introduced that Mo Xiaoxian is online celebrity in the field of self-heating hot pot, and he should use these more endorsements to reach more consumer groups. In addition, compared with simply planting grass, these exposures can also help Mo Xiaoxian get more online communication, get twice the result with half the effort when communicating with dealers and customers, and get into more channels.

At present, Mo Xiaoxian is also planning to introduce external capital and strengthen investment in team building, channel expansion and brand building, hoping to achieve sales of 5 billion yuan in three years and become the head brand in the field of fast food.