On the morning of Monday, August 25, Guizhou Maotai Liquor Co., Ltd. (Guizhou Maotai) launched a new version of “Maotai 1935” priced at 998 yuan per bottle. This marks the first time the official pricing of “Maotai 1935” has fallen below a thousand yuan after the market price dropped by nearly 50% from the official price.
The new “Maotai 1935” was officially available for pre-sale on Monday morning on five stores across the mainland, including major platforms like Jingdong, Tmall, and Douyin. According to a report by the International Financial News on August 25, pre-orders on the Jingdong platform were only 1 unit using a “deposit + final payment” system, while on the Douyin platform, full payment is available with an expected shipment no later than August 30, and sales were only 10 units.
An employee at a Maotai specialty store in Shanghai told the media that the new and original versions of the liquor “do not have substantial differences in quality; the upgrade is mainly on the product packaging to drive consumption.”
The report revealed that in 2022, when “Maotai 1935” was first launched, the suggested retail price was 1188 yuan per bottle. However, a phenomenon known as “price inversion” has persisted, where the actual market price has been lower than the official guidance price.
Currently, the offline specialty stores sell “Maotai 1935” for 700 yuan per bottle, while prices on e-commerce platforms range from 600 yuan to 700 yuan per bottle after receiving billions in subsidies, almost halving the market price compared to the suggested retail price. Even on the Guizhou Maotai official digital platform “iMaotai” app, “Maotai 1935” remains the only discounted product, priced at 818 yuan per bottle after discount.
According to data from the third-party platform “Today’s Liquor Price,” the wholesale price of “Maotai 1935” is reported to be 680 yuan, which means distributors earn only 20 yuan if they sell a bottle compared to the 700 yuan price in offline stores.
Guizhou Maotai’s semi-annual report shows that in the first half of this year, the revenue from the sauce-flavored liquor sector where “Maotai 1935” belongs amounted to 13.763 billion yuan, with a growth rate of only 4.69%. In previous years, the growth rate of the liquor series was always above 25%.