₦airaland Forum

It's 53% alcohol and tastes like fire. Here's how this liquor brand took over China

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/210113143538-05-kweichow-moutai-business-centerpiece-super-169.jpg

When Costco opened its first store in China in 2019, it wasn't just the hot rotisserie chickens and discounted Birkin bags that lured frenzied crowds. A fiery, throat-tingling liquor called Kweichow Moutai also flew off shelves.

At 1,498 yuan, or $209 for a half-liter bottle, it might not sound like the kind of bargain Costco shoppers usually go for — but in this case, it absolutely was. That price represented a steep discount over Moutai sold elsewhere — that is, if you could get your hands on it. The luxury spirit is so beloved in China, it sold out quickly.

Even amid a global pandemic, Kweichow Moutai, the company that makes the eponymous liquor, had a banner year: its stock surged around 70% on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2020. The company, which is part state-owned and part publicly-traded, is China's most valuable firm outside of technology — worth more than the country's four biggest banks. Globally, its market cap has not only surpassed all other alcohol distillers like Diageo and Constellation Brands, but also Coca-Cola, which had long held the crown as the world's largest beverage maker by market cap. Valued at 2.7 trillion yuan, or $421 billion Kweichow Moutai is worth more than Toyota, Nike and Disney, too.

"Anytime they have any stock [of the product] available, it's going to be gone almost instantly," said Ben Cavender, the Shanghai-based managing director of China Market Research Group. "You'll see people clamoring [for it]."

Apart from the Chinese diaspora, however, Moutai is still virtually unknown overseas. Almost all — about 97% — of its sales come from China alone, according to its financial reports.

So how is a company that sells its products primarily in just one country now worth more than some longstanding global behemoths? And can Kweichow Moutai, which is described by some Westerners as "drinking liquid razor blades," succeed in appealing to non-Chinese consumers?

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/15/business/kweichow-moutai-chinese-liquor-intl-hnk/index.html

wow

meobizy:
...and that, kids, is how you catch throat cancer.

lol