Detailed SWOT Analysis of Wuliangye – A Chinese Alcoholic Beverage Company

Quick Stats on Wuliangye

Founder	Tang Qiao
Year Founded	1998
Origin	China
No. of Employees	26,000+
Company Type	Public
Market Cap	¥642.13 Billion (2022)
Annual Revenue	¥57.3 Billion (2020)
Net Income/ Profit	¥9.32 Billion (2020)

 

Products of Wuliangye

• Classical Wuliangye
• Panama Gold Award Commemorative Wine
• Treasure Art Wuliangye
• 45 degrees Wuliangye
• Wuliangye Special Song Series

Competitors of Wuliangye

• Anhui Kouzi Distillery Co. Ltd.
• Yanghe Brewery
• Langjiu Group
• Weiwei Group
• Xiangjiao Winery

After understanding the core of the company, let us now proceed to the SWOT analysis of Wuliangye. 

SWOT Analysis of Wuliangye

The main function of a thorough SWOT analysis of Wuliangye is to determine a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It Is a tried-and-true management paradigm that permits Wuliangye to match the business and performance to competitors and therefore the industry as an entire. 

A SWOT Analysis is a very popular tool among modern-day managers, competent managers regularly employ this ”management boon” to analyse his company’s current position and to find out what more the company could do to perform and function better in the market.

To better understand the SWOT analysis of Wuliangye, refer to the infographic below:

 

Let’s proceed further with expanding on the strengths of Wuliangye from the SWOT analysis of Wuliangye.

Strengths of Wuliangye

The strengths of an organisation are the unique attributes that give it an edge in capturing more market share, maximising profit, and attracting more customers while also establishing a strong foot in the market. Following are Wuliangye’s strengths:

• Brand Loyalty: The shape and the name of Wuliangye are easily recognized by almost everyone who has a thing for liquor.
• Customer Base: It was the first brand that did not use any artificial flavours which carved out a new and unique customer base for itself.
• Popularity: One of the most popular whiskey brands in China. People prefer a top-notch drinking experience which is the forte of Wuliangye.
• Packaging: The glass rectangular & round shape bottle and a dominantly positioned red two-tone illustration in Chinese of the Yibin is a part of its logo that makes it stand out from the competition.
• Traditional Process: The ancient production process, combined with modern techniques and with a production in a unique natural eco-environment results in a top-quality brewed spirit.
• Advertisement: Wuliangye has a high brand recall because of its advertisements. Wuliangye is also popular on various social media platforms with thousands of followers.

A Must Visit: If you are someone who is 25 years old or over, then you must visit the Instagram profile of Wuliangye to see how creatively the advertising films, and creatives are constantly promoted on the brand’s social media. If you want to learn ad designing & social media marketing techniques then IIDE offers several short term courses in digital marketing for the same. Do visit to learn more about it. 

• Overseas Market: Wuliangye distributes its products all over the domestic market, and exports to overseas markets. As of 31 December 2007, the company has eight major subsidiaries.

Weaknesses of Wuliangye

These are the places where an organisation has to improve. Wuliangye’s major flaws are

• Brand Switching: As the income of people increases in the developing economy, they tend to move to more premium liquor. This leads to the switching of brands.
• Limited Production: Due to the limited production of alcohol, an increase in sales is hampered.
• Fluctuations: With more companies entering the arena the competition is increasing and it may lead to price falls. Also hurting the market share of Wuliangye.
• Competition from Foreign Brands: With the new alcohol companies entering the Chinese market it may lead to a decrease in sales of Chinese top-quality brewed spirits.

Opportunities for Wuliangye

These are the potential areas of focus for an organisation. This area helps the company devise an action plan or to plan a sustainable growth strategy.

• Legacy: Wuliangye is relatively a new brand. With its unique taste and blend, it can carve out a story in the books of history for itself.
• Policies Regulations: If sometime in the future there is an increase in excise duty of beer it will lead to a hike in sales of whiskey.
• Foreign Markets: Though Wuliangye is already present in other markets apart from China it can always look for new markets and increase its footprint.
• The Rise in Disposable Income: With the increase in income many people who used to buy an inferior quality liquor may now look to buy a more premium and traditionally processed Wuliangye.
• Social Media Campaigns: Social media campaigns are nowadays used by almost everyone in China. Wuliangye can start huge campaigns to promote itself.

Threats to Wuliangye

Some factors may hamper the growth of Wuliangye in the future. Threats to Wuliangye are

• Other Alcoholic Drinks: Any decrease in the price of a beer or any other alcoholic drink can directly impact the sales of whiskey.
• Government Rules: The increase of taxes on alcoholic beverages may lead to an increase in prices and result in a decrease in sales.
• Health Concerns: With the growing awareness of the adverse effects of alcohol on the human body many state governments have started to declare themselves as a “dry state”. This hampers the growth and the sales of the company.
• Cannibalization: Pernod Richard has many brands in similar product and price categories which may lead to the cannibalization of one sale by another.
• Political Instability: There is a lot of political instability nowadays which threatens the environment needed for business growth.

This ends our comprehensive SWOT analysis of Wuliangye. Let us conclude our learning below.