> Sales of ice cups heat up in summer Prepacked ice cups stored in a fridge in Lawson's store, in Wuhan, Hubei province, July 9, 2024. [Photo/VCG] A new trend is cooling down China: prepackaged ice cups. The convenient containers filled with edible ice cubes are becoming a summertime staple, offering consumers a customizable and cost-effective way to enjoy cold drinks.
"Homemade ice cubes easily melt, while the ice cubes in packaged cups sold at convenience stores can be kept for a longer time," said Xie Zhiying, 31, who works for an advertising company in Beijing."I usually pour orange juice into the ice cube cup and enjoy a cold drink after lunch."
He said "do it yourself" cold drinks are popular on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle-sharing platform, with many young people sharing their methods of preparing different cold drinks using packaged ice cube cups.
"I bought out of curiosity at first, and found it was convenient and economical," Xie said. "A cup of ice cubes is usually sold for around 3 or 5 yuan at convenience stores, and you can put whatever drinks or coffee you like into the cup to get yourself a refreshing cold drink. A cup of a regular handmade cold drink sold at a cafe will cost 20 or 30 yuan, which is far more expensive."
The trend has exploded on social media, with millions of users sharing their own ice cup creations. By early this month, Xiaohongshu had over 10,000 posts about ice cube cups. Beverage companies have taken notice, with some launching their own branded ice cups.
Mixue Ice Cream and Tea, a beverage chain headquartered in Zhengzhou, Henan province, started to sell ice cube cups early last month for just 1 yuan a cup. Industry insiders said ice cube cups have found a promising market in China, where sales of cold drinks have been enjoying stable growth in recent years.
In a report released in April, the life services platform Meituan and consultancy company Oliver Wyman said that 40 percent of consumers surveyed liked to take drinks — including liquor, beverages and milk — with ice. Meituan said sales of ice cubes on its platform had surged by 182 percent year-on-year in 30 days from late July to early August last year, and the number of businesses selling eatable ice had risen by 90 percent.
"Traditionally, Chinese people prefer hot drinks, but young people have shown an increasing preference for cool or cold drinks," Lai Yang, from the China General Chamber of Commerce, told Beijing News recently. He said the growth of ice cube cup products and associated demand may turn them into a main product in the future, rather than a transitory bandwagon.
> Word of the day丨high-quality development of service consumption 2024年5月26日,游客在陕西西安曲江池遗址公园一家咖啡厅内消费休闲。图片来源:新华社
The State Council unveiled a guideline to advance high-quality development of service consumption lately to support high-quality economic development and to meet people's demand for personalized, diversified and quality services.
【知识点】
《意见》提出6方面20项重点任务。一是挖掘餐饮住宿、家政服务、养老托育等基础型消费潜力。二是激发文化娱乐、旅游、体育、教育和培训、居住服务等改善型消费活力。三是培育壮大数字、绿色、健康等新型消费。四是增强服务消费动能,创新服务消费场景,加强服务消费品牌培育,放宽服务业市场准入,持续深化电信等领域开放。五是优化服务消费环境,加强服务消费监管,引导诚信合规经营,完善服务消费标准。六是强化政策保障,加强财税金融支持,夯实人才队伍支撑,提升统计监测水平。相关部门和各地共同开展服务消费提质惠民行动和服务消费季系列促消费活动,持续打造服务消费热点、推动服务质量提升。 (责任编辑:) |