According to a report by iResearch, the pet market has exceeded 300 billion yuan, and the market will grow at an annual growth rate of about 15% in the next few years. In this rapidly developing market, there are many brands that have received investment, but there may be very few that have been searched on Weibo - Tank Xiaoxi is one of them.

During the heavy rainstorm in Zhengzhou in 2021, Tank Xiaoxi donated 10 tons of relief food free of charge to the homeless animal rescue organizations and individuals in Zhengzhou. Later, "Zhengzhou boy made 50,000 love donations in 2 years" appeared on WeChat It ranks 31st on the hot search list on Bo and No.1 on the hot search list in Zhengzhou, with a total reading count of over 26 million. The "Zhengzhou guy" in the topic is Big Fish (flower name), the founder of Tank Xiaoxi.

Tank Xiaoxi is on the hot search pictures

This company, which only officially launched its product in February 2020, has grown to reach tens of millions in just two years. brand - annual sales in 2021 will be nearly 15 million. On Double Eleven in 2021, Tank Xiaoxi’s sales in the first 60 minutes exceeded the same period of Double Eleven in 2020 by 1053%, and the sales on the first day exceeded the first day of Double Eleven in 2020 by 394%.

Unlike other consumer goods markets, the pet market contains living life and cross-species care - according to the "China Pet Market White Paper", "spiritual sustenance and enriching emotional life" are the most commonly used Reasons for pet ownership mentioned. In the past, pets only existed to look after homes and homes. Nowadays, under the projection of personified psychology, pets are both friends and family members. They are lighting up the lives of the younger generation.

In the fiercely competitive pet market, why can Tank Xiaoxi achieve such outstanding results in such a short period of time? When searching for relevant information, we often see that pet food evaluation KOLs in the industry refer to Tank Xiaoxi as a "conscience domestic brand".

How did Tank Xiaoxi build her own brand reputation? In the context of the rapid growth of the pet market, how does Tank Xiaoxi establish emotional bonds through products to support a warm and lovely pet kingdom?

At present, my country's pet food industry is still in a relatively fragmented state. These companies have various reasons for starting businesses - some are just targeting market opportunities, some want to make full use of previous pet experience, and some are purely due to He loves pets...but the origin of Tank Xiaoxi's business and the origin of his name are a little bit special.

If you purchase Tank Xiaoxi’s products, you will receive a handwritten letter from the founder, Dayu.

Tank Xiaoxi’s handwritten letter

In this letter to a “favorite friend”, Big Fish will tell you about the origins of Tank Xiaoxi’s entrepreneurship: “Tank Xiaoxi "In fact, it originated from two stray animals adopted by Big Fish, a Dalmatian dog "Tank" and a cow cat "Xiao Xi". Dayu, who once lost his first pet due to mistakenly choosing "poisonous food", started his entrepreneurial journey with the original intention of "producing safe food for his own furry children".

Tank and Xiaoxi

From this original intention, it is not difficult to see that although emotions give the brand a soul, the core basis of the brand is still high-quality products - a Food approved by pets and trusted by owners.

As we all know, in the field of pet food, especially pet staple food, there are a series of international big names occupying the top positions. Although the domestic supply chain foundation is good, it may be wise for new brands to bypass staple food to make products. .

Tank Xiaoxi chooses to attack head-on because it firmly believes that consumers must be eager for products that can bring differentiated value to pet health, and this market will also undergo many changes in policy, market competition, etc. Dimensions will further enhance standardization.

In order to develop products that satisfy consumers, Tank Xiaoxi first obtained a set of top overseas formulas through the recommendation of a senior professor at China Agricultural University, and then invited the professor from Agricultural University to continuously optimize the product formula. After determining the formula, Tank Xiaoxi then took it to the factory for repeated proofing. After nearly three years of research and development, Tank Xiaoxi's series of pet foods finally came out.

So, what kind of product power does Tank Xiaoxi have?

Take Tank Xiaoxi’s flagship freeze-dried trout and cod cat food as an example. In terms of raw materials, this product mainly uses trout and cod, which are very rare in the market, as the source of animal protein. Trout is rich in unsaturated fatty acids and amino acids, and cod is a high-quality meat source with high protein and low fat. It is called "cod" by the Nordic people. "Nutritionist" at the table.

In terms of technology, this product adopts low-temperature cold pressing technology. This technology can break through the upper limit of the meat content added to traditional puffed grains and achieve higher meat content. At the same time, the processing temperature is lower and the meat content is reduced. High temperature destroys important nutrients such as protein, fat, and vitamins.

Tank Xiaoxi Pet Food

The reason why Tank Xiaoxi Pet Food can come up with the optimal combination of resources in terms of formula, raw materials, technology and other dimensions is inseparable from the past experience of the core founding team.

The founder, Dayu, is an MBA graduate from Xi'an Jiaotong University. He once worked for a well-known investment institution and was responsible for the investment of an agricultural and animal husbandry fund. He has accumulated high-quality contacts and resources in the industry and academia. He is the co-founder of Tank Xiaoxi. Ren Yuhu is a senior pet doctor who graduated from the Animal Medicine Department of China Agricultural University and is quite influential in the field of domestic pet medicine.

Injecting the original intention into resources and paths, making high-quality products recognized by consumers, and growing into a rapidly rising pet food brand constitute Tank Xiaoxi’s rare ability.

Products are the basis for building brand reputation, but the fragrance of wine is also afraid of the alley. How to make more people know and love the brand?

According to a report by IT Juzi, in the pet consumption market, young people are the main consumers, and women born in the 1985s and 1990s in first- and second-tier cities have the strongest spending power. This type of consumer group has a strong ability to empathize, and they are also more close to the Internet.

In view of such market characteristics, in the past few years, although Tank Xiaoxi has invested limited brand energy in the public domain, brand actions such as handwritten letters to effectively communicate with consumers and build private domain capabilities are actually insufficient. enumerate.

In recent years, an irreversible trend is that the proportion of online consumption of pet products is increasing - the channels through which consumers come into contact with pet brands have shifted from offline pet hospitals and pet stores in the past. Online, and many pet food purchases are based on reviews and recommendations from friends or WeChat public accounts. According to a report by iResearch, less than 10% of consumers choose to purchase mostly or entirely offline.

Another fact is that there is a very obvious separation between the market size and word-of-mouth growth of the pet track: demand is increasing, but it is difficult for consumers to build trust in the brand. If the brand is safe, A little carelessness on the matter can lead to disaster.

This releases an important signal: the traffic import of pet brands may need to pay more attention to the community and private domains, and pay attention to all bonds based on trust relationships. In this way, transaction costs are greatly reduced based on "trust", and brand stickiness is greatly improved, which is more conducive to the long-term development of the brand.

So, how did Tank Xiaoxi achieve word-of-mouth communication around the "bond of trust"? One of the key reasons lies in Tank Xiaoxi's "careful and loving" gene.

In the pet industry, the essence of all players’ bets is the emotional needs of the next generation, and the effectiveness of the emotional link between brands and consumers will inevitably become the next watershed in the industry. In addition to the brand's original intention and product strength, Tank Xiaoxi has witnessed the growth of a huge consumer group that loves pets more, is more warm and loving, and strives to "make the world more lovely" by providing rescue, environmental protection, and caring for lost children. .

From the beginning of the brand’s founding, Tank Xiaoxi has placed his care for pets on stray animals. The team of “poop shovelers” per capita has set up a caring cabin in the office specifically to take in lost stray animals. Tank Xiaoxi has also contacted third-party rescue agencies many times to help stray animals. As early as August 2020, Tank Xiaoxi had joined hands with the IT Foundation to donate food to homeless "hairy children".

During the July 20 heavy rain disaster in Zhengzhou that shocked the country in 2021, Tank Xiaoxi, who is located in Zhengzhou, first thought of the stray animals that were also hit by the heavy rain.

In fact, when a brand does charity, there is a high probability that it will be submerged in the torrent of public traffic. Exposure and reputation are not the purpose of Tank Xiaoxi’s charity. It's just like how a big fish treats two lives encountered by chance on the road. If a stray animal approaches you with a pair of tearful eyes, will you stretch out your hand and give it a safe ration?

However, the inevitable result of continuing to provide assistance to stray animals is that the pet-loving crowd built around third-party rescue organizations will gradually become one, and will be recorded in the increasingly familiar food donation payment. Stay with these brands that do good and what they stand for. This will naturally form a natural flow of spontaneous communication in the core pet-loving circle, continue to make the market echo the brand's voice, and then create the possibility of breaking out of the circle.

The real business strategy of Tank Xiaoxi is to establish a private domain position based on WeChat community early, so that people in the pet consumption circle can interact with the brand in a very timely manner.

The content that Tank Xiaoxi communicates with consumers is not a big theme or narrative, nor is it a bulletin board for releasing performance or promotional information, but warm communication time and time again.

For example, once the "hairy kid" Di Di in the fan group celebrated his coming-of-age birthday, Tank Xiaoxi held a birthday party for Di Di directly in the group and even sent it to Di Di's owner. A photo frame filled with beautiful photos. This kind of feeding love naturally moved the owner of Diwa. She specially sent the first banner in her life to Tank Xiaoxi and shared her journey of meeting Diwa.

Tank Xiaoxi received the banner from the customer

In the process of dialogue with consumers, Tank Xiaoxi did not regard herself as an outsider, but positioned herself as a friend of consumers. , taking care of pet-loving family members, which will bring a richer ecology and stronger stickiness to the brand’s content pool construction.

Of course, what brought this traffic to Tank Xiaoxi was the public welfare exposure, and it was also the pet food products donated by Tank Xiaoxi. After consumers who come because of word-of-mouth contact the brand and have more consumption experiences, it is the products that will receive this traffic.

At this point, products, traffic, and word-of-mouth have formed a positive interaction, jointly driving the growth flywheel of Tank Xiaoxi. It is not surprising that Tank Xiaoxi can quickly grow into a tens of millions of brands.

Tank Xiaoxi is not limited to public welfare in the pet field, but has set his sights on broader social responsibility undertakings, using a broader approach to build his industry reputation.

For example, Tank Xiaoxi launched an environmental protection plan called "JIAN" in April 2020, aiming to eliminate excessive packaging and encourage garbage classification. One form of participation is for consumers to send back 6 empty bags and receive a free pack of new grain for their environmental contribution. The recycled aluminum-plastic packaging bags will be handed over to professional recycling agencies for reuse of resources.

For another example, Tank Xiaoxi’s colleagues accidentally saw the information of missing children printed on the deliveryman’s box, and came up with the idea of ​​using express delivery to send the information of lost children across the country. Therefore, Tank Xiaoxi customized a batch of "Baby Come Home" public welfare tapes printed with information about missing children and pasted them on each express package.

After paying attention to the hot search on Weibo for "Zhengzhou Missing Girl Mobile Phone Store", Tank Xiaoxi immediately contacted the father of the missing child, printed 5,000 missing person notices for free and placed them in the express package, with the help of nationwide consumption. He uses the power of the hunter to help Hao's father find his long-lost daughter.

At this time, we may no longer be able to use "public welfare" to limit our understanding. Just like the handwritten letter sent by Big Fish to consumers, whether it is for pets or for society, its source of motivation is different. It would be too complicated - it would just be "goodness" that is deeply embedded in the brand.

In a post-disaster interview, Da Yu told reporters: "People who have been exposed to the rain will also be willing to hold an umbrella for others." If I have to explain it, nothing else, empathy constitutes the key to support. Umbrella grounds.

For the pet industry, whether it is empathy for pets’ body and mind or empathy for consumer needs, they will dominate the industry’s transformation in the long term – empathy brings brand success. The word-of-mouth reputation also further deepens the brand’s product insights.

Going back to the original question, how did Tank Xiaoxi quickly win the trust of consumers and grow into a multi-million brand in two years?

We can say it in business language: first focus on product power innovation based on the original intention of the brand, and then continue to bring word-of-mouth communication to the brand based on public welfare and private domain construction, and further amplify the value of brand proposition and product power. .