Baijiu distribution channel initiates a value revolution, with Huazhi Preferred leading a new quality-price ratio track

Cjing News reporter Dang Peng reports from Chengdu

During the 114th National Liquor, Wine and Food Fair in 2026, the wave of change on the liquor industry’s channel side has become the industry’s focus. On March 23, Huazhi Liquor Co., Ltd. held a release event in Chengdu for its Huazhi Preferred Supply Chain and Retail Chain System strategy. It unveiled new white liquor products in four major flavor types—qingxiang, nongxiang, jianxiang, and jiangxiang—while launching a dual quality-control system of “expert-selected + tens of thousands of user evaluations” and positioning itself with “exceptional quality-to-price value,” officially entering the mass-market white liquor consumption segment.

On March 23, Huazhi Liquor Co., Ltd. released the Huazhi Preferred Supply Chain and Retail Chain System strategy in Chengdu. Dang Peng / photo

The reporter of China Business Journal noted that this move is not an isolated case. Previously, retail giants such as Pangdonglai, Hema, and Yonghui had already laid out their own or co-branded baijiu brands. Against the backdrop of structural adjustments in the baijiu industry, the channel side is in the midst of a value-reconstruction revolution driven by quality and anchored by price performance, tapping into a baijiu consumption market of more than one trillion yuan.

According to data from the 2025 China Baijiu B2B E-commerce White Paper, in 2025 the market size of China’s baijiu e-commerce already exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, with online penetration reaching 28%. Meanwhile, the entire baijiu circulation market is showing a diversified growth trend. Against this backdrop, changes at the consumer end have become the core driving force behind industry transformation: consumers have shifted from blindly chasing high prices to making rational choices; the rise of younger consumer groups has raised higher demands for a balanced point between quality and price; growth in traditional channels has stalled, and the industry urgently needs new value growth points.

Accordingly, Huazhi Liquor judged that in the current baijiu adjustment period, from a micro perspective, the baijiu market faces two major dilemmas: dilemmas in dealer transformation demand (i.e., dilemmas in transformation, supply chains, and talent); dilemmas in liquor shop transformation demand (i.e., dilemmas in models, efficiency, and traffic). Based on this, Huazhi Liquor believes that the future development of the baijiu market will trend toward three directions: new consumption trends, new service experiences, and new circulation value. Thus, transforming from a pure liquor seller into a product co-creator, Huazhi Liquor chooses to enter a new track.

Huazhi Preferred stated that its core competitiveness lies in building a dual product-selection system—from professionals to the general public. In early 2026, Huazhi Liquor established a product-selection committee composed of eight industry master-level experts. It carried out stringent reviews of dozens of liquor samples with “molding, fixing, and flavor setting,” defining a quality baseline. Then, it launched a national “tens of thousands of user evaluations.” Through blind tasting and feedback-based data collection, it gathered over ten thousand sets of consumer data to achieve a transformation from “good liquor chosen by experts” to “good liquor loved by the general public.” Its four newly launched products in major flavor categories not only feature distinctive styles and outstanding quality, but also precisely meet mass consumer needs with black-gold minimalist luxury packaging and high price-performance pricing. Huazhi Liquor’s CEO Yang Wuyong said directly that the core of Huazhi Preferred is to let consumers have the final say: “At the same price, quality is better; at the same quality, the price is more competitive.” At the same time, Huazhi Liquor has also built a channel network with three complementary business formats—Huazhi Liquor, Huazhi Famous Liquor Treasury, and Huazhi Preferred—and introduced six large-dimension chain enablement plans to provide end-to-end support for brand, supply chain, operations, and more to partners, creating a digital-intelligence new retail ecosystem.

Huazhi Liquor’s layout echoes the baijiu exploration of retail giants. Innovation on the channel side is reconstructing the value chain of the baijiu industry.

Reporters noted that Pangdonglai and Jiujiu Wine’s co-branded “Free Love” baijiu breaks long-standing industry practices with transparent pricing. For a product priced at 200 yuan, its comprehensive cost is 168.26 yuan and its gross margin is only 15.87%, far lower than the industry average. In 2025, its performance is expected to exceed 1 billion yuan, becoming a phenomenon-level product. Hema, partnering with Chuan Liquor Group, has built self-owned brands such as “Nongxiang No. 1” and “Jiangxiang No. 1.” With a 42-degree nongxiang baijiu priced at 27.9 yuan and a jiangxiang baijiu priced at 99 yuan, it focuses on “letting ordinary people drink famous liquor.” Yonghui supermarkets have launched series of baijiu including “Yonghui Custom” and “Yongyue Hui Xiaozhuo,” with a 39.9 yuan qingxiang bottled liquor and a 66 yuan jiangxiang baijiu, carving out a brand-new market within affordable price segments.

The commonality of these explorations lies in breaking the traditional channel markup model of the baijiu industry. Through direct connections between manufacturers and suppliers and deep co-creation, it eliminates intermediate links so that quality becomes the only standard for consumer choice.

Ma Yong, vice chairman of the China National Food Industry Association, commented that as the first publicly listed company in the liquor circulation industry, Huazhi Liquor’s practice has set a benchmark for the industry, enabling high price-performance “good products” to reach a new generation of consumers.

Cheng Jingsong, deputy director of the National Center for Food Quality Supervision and Inspection and Testing, said that from professional testing to sensory evaluation, channel-side innovative products like Huazhi Preferred are using diversified flavor options to meet consumers’ individualized needs.

“In the era of consumer sovereignty, competition in the baijiu industry has moved from the brand side to the channel side. It has upgraded from product competition to value competition.” Xiao Zhusheng, an expert in the baijiu industry, said that Huazhi Preferred’s arrival, together with the layouts of players such as Pangdonglai, Hema, and Yonghui, forms a combined force, driving the baijiu industry back to the essence of quality and making “quality-to-price value” a new keyword for market tracks. This channel-side value revolution not only brings consumers more high-quality choices, but will also help the baijiu industry find new growth engines during structural adjustments. Product co-creation and channel innovation centered on consumer needs will also become core trends in the future development of the liquor industry.

(Editor: Yu Haixia; Review: Sun Jizheng; Proofread: Zhai Jun)