Huatai Securities: The seasoning and soft drink industries are relatively less impacted by new channels.

Huatai Securities' research report stated that the current domestic retail industry has entered a period of accelerated transformation towards high efficiency. Emerging offline formats are steadily increasing their market share, thanks to the cost advantages brought by economies of scale and standardized operational capabilities, gradually replacing and squeezing traditional individual merchants. In this round of channel transformation, various categories of consumer goods are impacted differently due to differences in product standardization, markup rates, white-label substitutability, and channel concentration - snacks and baked goods are significantly impacted as new channels directly squeeze brand premiums; dairy products and frozen foods show clear internal differentiation, with basic items affected but functional categories buffering the overall impact; soft drinks and seasonings rely on deep distribution, high-frequency demand, and strong brand building to form strong defensive barriers. Faced with a reshaping channel landscape, brand enterprises should actively embrace or choose wisely based on the characteristics of their own categories. Taking all factors into consideration, Huatai Securities believes that the impact of new channels on the seasoning and soft drink industries is relatively small, and the long-term barriers of leading companies in these categories remain solid. Furthermore, in categories where the impact of new channels is relatively pronounced, the paradigm of recognizing "scarce supply capabilities during channel transition" is acknowledged.