"The wedding is scheduled for November, but we still haven't chosen the wedding liquor!" Li Hai (pseudonym), a post-95 young man working at an e-commerce platform's customer service center, is struggling with wedding banquet preparations.
"Our budget is between 400 to 600 yuan, but there are too many options in this price range." Since both he and his partner are from Sichuan, they narrowed their brand selection to Sichuan liquor brands. Low-alcohol products from Wuliangye Yibin Co.,Ltd. and Luzhou Laojiao, along with wedding-focused products from Honghua Lang and Jiannanchun, each have their unique features. What makes the choice even more difficult is that each brand is competing with attractive promotional policies.
Analysis reveals that from this year's overall liquor market situation, brand competition in民生宴席场景 such as wedding banquets, birthday celebrations, and graduation ceremonies has significantly intensified. High-end business scenarios that have long supported liquor industry performance growth have substantially contracted, prompting liquor companies to increase investment in民生宴席scenarios, attempting to "awaken demand through scenarios" and leverage new growth in adverse market conditions. Among them, some liquor companies achieved double-digit growth in the banquet market during the first half of the year.
However, the banquet track is no longer a "comfort zone" for liquor companies, but rather an intensely competitive "battleground." What's unfolding is a comprehensive competition centered on brand resilience, channel control, and cost efficiency.
**Business Consumption Under Deep Pressure, Liquor Companies Flock to "Compete" in Traditional Banquet Track**
According to first-half financial reports from various liquor companies, widespread performance pressure has become an undeniable industry fact. Most liquor companies experienced slower revenue and profit growth, with many even showing year-over-year declines, while the continued contraction of high-end business scenarios is one of the core issues causing this phenomenon.
From publicly disclosed information by liquor companies, "short-term difficulty in business scenario recovery" has become industry consensus. Against this backdrop, wedding banquets, birthday celebrations, and graduation ceremonies with stronger民生attributes have become key tools for liquor companies to hedge against performance pressure, with multiple companies achieving good results in the banquet market during the first half.
Wuliangye Yibin Co.,Ltd. stated that the company firmly grasped opportunities in banquet consumption scenarios, with both the number of banquet events and bottle-opening scan codes maintaining double-digit year-over-year growth in the first half, serving over 2.83 million consumers.
In the first half, Shede Spirits focused on core markets while tightly grasping banquet market opportunities. Products like Pinwei Shede and Shezhidao performed excellently in the banquet market, driving Shede Spirits to achieve double-digit growth in the banquet market during the first half.
It's understood that products like Langjiuhonghua Lang (Red 10 and Red 15), Wuliangye Yibin Co.,Ltd.'s Wuliangchun and Wuliang Tequ, as well as Luzhou Laojiao Tequ, are all "regulars" at banquet tables. Particularly Jiannanchun, known as the "sub-premium king," has precisely positioned itself in the 400-yuan price band with its Crystal Sword product and achieved sustained growth in recent years through long-term cultivation in the banquet market.
CICC research data shows that in 2022, the liquor market scale was approximately 621.1 billion yuan, with banquet consumption accounting for about 40%, reaching a scale of 230-250 billion yuan. It's projected that by 2026, the overall liquor market scale will climb to 769.5 billion yuan, with banquet market space expected to expand further. With high-end business scenarios difficult to recover in the short term, the banquet market as a "fundamental base" has become a battleground that liquor companies cannot afford to abandon.
**Dual Product Layout: Cultivating Flagship Products and Incubating New Products in Parallel**
As leading liquor companies and regional players increasingly invest in the banquet market, competition has suddenly intensified.
Observations reveal that numerous leading liquor companies have initiated product strategy adjustments for the banquet market, primarily centered on "cultivating existing flagship products + incubating new products," attempting to seize discourse power in banquet scenarios through precise product matrix construction.
On one hand, enriching product layouts to reach diverse consumption needs.
In March this year, Kweichow Moutai increased product investment in the wedding banquet market, launching Moutai 1935 "Ends of the Earth·Mountain and River Pledge" and Moutai Prince "Cangshan Alliance·Erhai Promise" wedding season activities to attract more newlyweds to choose Moutai sauce-flavored liquor for wedding banquets. Moutai Health Wine also repositioned its "hundred-yuan sauce liquor" Taiyuan, launching new product "Taiyuan Red" specifically for wedding celebrations.
On the other hand, strengthening services to consolidate flagship products' market share.
Jiannanchun has cultivated the banquet market for many years, with multiple products occupying solid positions in the banquet market. Recently, Jiannanchun launched the "Strong Nation Youth, Golden List Achievement" campaign, where consumers can receive corresponding customized gift packages based on banquet table numbers and bottle-opening quantities. Gift packages include cultural creative products like 52-degree Jiannanchun "Sanxingdui Bronze Chronicle" and "Astronomical Chronicle," valued between 599-6,190 yuan.
Langjiu Honghua Lang Red 10 (53 degrees) "Happy Wedding Banquet Romantic Manor Tour" activity includes manor experience "brewing study + customized jar sealing" services, driving 30% growth in wedding banquet orders in Sichuan and Chongqing markets. Qinghua Lang 20 (53 degrees) launched "Qinghua Lang·Century Wedding" customized services in the high-end market, including manor group weddings, customized wine labels, and globally limited commemorative wines, achieving a 35% repeat purchase rate among high-net-worth customers in Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
Wuliangye Yibin Co.,Ltd. relies on products like Wuliangchun and Wuliang Tequ, deepening banquet services through QR code scanning and event counting to further consolidate its position in the mid-range banquet market. Shuijingfang also innovated banquet value-added service solutions targeting "double spring years," attempting to meet diverse market demands with differentiated products.
**Red Ocean Competition Escalation: Leading Companies' Downward Expansion Squeezes Regional Players, New Alcoholic Beverages Divert Young Market**
However, behind the "high capacity" of the banquet market lies fierce red ocean competition.
The "China Liquor Market Mid-term Research Report 2025" released by the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association shows that under multiple pressures including high liquor inventory and price inversion, liquor wholesale prices performed weakly overall in the first half of this year. Among them, the 800-1,500 yuan price band experienced the most severe price inversion, with the top three best-performing price bands in the first half being 100-300 yuan, 300-500 yuan, and below 100 yuan.
In the banquet market, wedding banquet markets mainly use products priced 300-500 yuan; birthday celebration markets generally use liquor priced 100-300 yuan; graduation celebration liquor prices are similarly concentrated in the 300-500 yuan range.
Previously, these price bands were mainly competitive domains among regional liquor companies, but leading companies' downward market expansion has made this "close combat" increasingly fierce.
Taking Jinshiyuan as an example, in the first half of 2025, it experienced significant performance decline due to leading brands' channel sinking and intensified local market competition. Regional liquor companies that once relied on geographical advantages to occupy certain banquet market shares now face dual pressures of "leading company squeeze from above and rising cost pressure from below."
Additionally, young consumer groups being diverted by new alcoholic beverages also challenges traditional liquor development in the banquet market. In wedding banquet scenarios, young people's acceptance of low-alcohol beverages, fruit wines, and other new alcoholic drinks continues to rise, gradually weakening the "banquet necessity" attribute of traditional liquor. In some wedding banquets, new alcoholic beverages "appear alongside" traditional liquor, further diverting traditional liquor's market share.
Industry analysis suggests that current liquor banquet market competition has shifted from "channel coverage" to "brand appeal + cost-effectiveness." Even as the banquet market scale continues expanding, factors including intensified industry competition and constantly emerging new variables mean that companies able to establish firm footing in the banquet market must be those that both deeply understand traditional scenario operations and can adapt to new consumption trends.