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| Analysis of China's Distilled Spirit Packaging Market |
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Distilled spirit is Chinese traditional liquor. The output of distilled spirit in China amounts to 5 million tons every year. Therefore the distilled spirit industry is a major contributor to the national and local fiscal revenue, and we have reasons to believe that the spirit industry may still be flourishing for a long while.
Due to the long history of distilled spirit brewing, the liquor has been immersed with profound traditional culture in its thousands of years' development, which translates into higher standard for its processing techniques and packaging today. To build up a famous brand, a distilled spirit enterprise must have an integrated marketing campaign which bases its production, image, positioning and sales strategy on the product's cultural content.
At present, packaging design of distilled spirit is still relatively limited in China.
Firstly, the colours of the liquor packaging are mostly red, yellow, gold, white and black, which are restricted by liquor customers, who only accept these colours. There are some exceptions, but few are successful.
Secondly, there is little innovation on the box design. Unique and innovative packaging can reveal a product’s characteristics instantly, which may lead to customers' buying desire. For example, the distilled spirit “Dianxiaoer”(Dianxiaoer means the waiter in a groggery) of the Brewing Company Ltd. of Jingzhong Group in Anhui Province is now popular among liquor customers, just because it contains humorous culture and has high quality. However, such successful design is seldom found on the market. The reasons mainly causing this problem may be that there are few professional groups in designing boxes and there are few packaging experts that are good at graphic design and box design. |
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Thirdly, the printing technology in China lags far behind those in some developed countries such as Japan, U.S.A. and Germany. A new advanced printing technology always takes a long time to produce economic benefits from its experiment period, especially in China mainland, where few printing houses have the great awareness of innovation.
Fourthly, the graphic design of distilled spirit packaging is lacking systematization. Generally speaking, the high grade liquor builds up its brand and image, while the medium-low grade liquor produces profits for the brand. Therefore a brand’s packaging for its different products should be both coherent and distinguishing. In other words, the packaging design should make customers associate the low-grade product with its high-grade image for consumer loyalty, while not jeopardising the image of the high-grade product due to the existence of low-grade products.
For example, Jinliufu Liquor produced by Wuliangye Group in Yibin, Sichuan Province became famous in just three to four years. Its coherent packaging design is the major factor creating this miracle. But few other liquor brands pay attention to their packaging coherence, so their packaging design often confuses the customers.
Fifthly, the liquor packaging should coincide with its product characteristics. If they’re inconsistent, the consumers will get confused. People will have no idea why they should drink this liquor. There are some positive examples. Kongfujia Liquor (produced by Kongfujia Group in Qufu, Shandong province), which makes people feel homesick, is suitable for visiting relatives and friends. Tiegemen Liquor (produced by Wuliangye Group), which gets people miss old buddies, is suitable for friends gathering. Jinliufu Liquor (also produced by Wuliangye Group), which reminds people of fortune and good luck, is suitable for gift giving. And Xi Liquor Series (produced by Sichuan Quanxing Distillery Co. Ltd.), which lets people think of happiness, is suitable for feast.
Sixthly, designers' communication with clients is very important. Liquor producers’ participation may help the designing company win the job and finalize the design. But if the clients have no sense of advertisement, the designer will face a “disaster”. To win the order, most designing companies and designers may yield the clients’ unprofessional advice and get themselves confused. Therefore it is very important to communicate with the clients deeply before designing the packaging.
In a word, distilled packaging design on Chinese market is still on a low level. Few designs have striking visual effect and get good market feedback as well. The designers often focus on the graphic structure and colour harmony. They ignore the brand’s characteristics and the product’s visual effect on the shelf. If the packaging of a product contributes nothing to its sales, it will be a failure, no matter how many international awards it has won.
The distilled spirit market is experiencing a key period. Its sales volume drops every year. Drinking alcohol in unhealthy ways and inferior liquor make young people tend to choose red wine, fruit wine and rum. On developing “green distilled spirit”, brewing companies should advocate drinking alcohol healthily and temperately in order to enlarge the consuming group. And the packaging design should represent these ideas.
In addition, most brewing companies usually use stars on packaging designs to rate their products, which superficially is convenient for rating the products’ grades, but doesn’t cater to the customers’ need. For example, if I’m going to buy some liquors for gift giving, the liquor with five stars is expensive to me, while the liquors with one or two stars may humiliate me, for the stars on the packaging are obvious. Then I have to choose other presents. In fact, different grades liquor can be rated by distinguishable shaped-boxes, which is convenient for dealers to sale, and won’t hurt customers’ pride. Therefore comprehending consumers is vital to designers.
Produced by China Business Intelligence; Source: www.chinairn.com
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