Coconut-gray ice cream cone, White Rabbit creamy flavor ice cream, Double Yolks ice cream, Yellow Rice Wine popsicle, Bubble Milk Tea ice cream...As summer comes, various ice creams raised an online sensation on socializing platforms such as Weibo, Douyin and WeChat Moments.

Some of these ice creams were sold in many supermarkets of downtown, which are priced from three to eighteen yuan and popular among the customers. Meanwhile, the traditional ice creams are rare to see on the market.

Traditional vs. net celebrity ice creams

“The Double Yolks ice cream is so popular that three stores I visited all told me that it had been sold out,” Ms. Lu, an intensive Douyin app user, managed to find two remaining Double Yolk ice cream in a cold drink wholesale store at Xiechi Lane in Wenzhou.

The reporter came to the wholesale store and found the freezers were filled with many net celebrity ice creams, including the White Rabbit Creamy, Double Yolks, Bubble Milk Tea, Coconut Ash Cone, some of which are frequently sold out. The wholesale and retail prices of these products range from three to ten yuan. The products are mainly bought by young customers.

How is the taste of these new ice creams? Take Double Yolks ice cream as an example, on Dianping.com, a popular Chinese review & rating website, some users commented that the ice cream has a pretty appearance suitable for taking photos, but it does not bring you any “surprise” in taste.

According to the retailers, in the past, the cold drink industry flourished depending on the temperature. When it was hot in summer, the inventory of producers would fail to meet the demands and the prices of ice products would rise.

This year some ice products grabbed our attention quickly relying on various socializing platforms. Their prices are directly related to popularity.

The owners of supermarkets would adjust the products to replenish the stocks according to their needs. “Though traditional flavor ice products have a certain consumer group, their online and offline sales volume fall far behind that of net celebrity ice creams.”

Many customers would show the stores the videos and pictures on Douyin and Weibo and asked them to replenish the net celebrity ice creams. A net celebrity ice cream that put ice cream of different flavors in a fruit’s shell was favored by young female customers, as it was low in fat and free of additive.

National popsicles have been marginalized

After visiting some chain supermarkets and convenient stores in downtown, the reporter found that national popsicles have been “marginalized”.

In a convenient store at Shamaohe, the freezers were filled with net celebrity ice products priced between 3.5 and 9.9 yuan. The reporter managed to find glutinous rice ice cream at a retail price of one yuan in a freezer at a corner of the store.

In the cold drink wholesale stores at Xiejia Lane, the reporter managed to find saltwater popsicle at a price of 0.80 yuan at a corner after rummaging through two or three freezers.

“Rarely do customers buy these cheap ice creams now,” said the shop owner. The only national popsicles in the store were replenished to meet the demands of a small group of customers.

According to an industrial analysis, the “striking” net celebrity ice products can be easily spread among customers, but the cheap ice creams with traditional flavors would not vanish easily.  There might be fewer retail channels. The ultimate fate of an ice product still depends on its acceptance and market recognition.

(Executive Editor: Yongliu He)