Tan Qiong's Pivot: Standardizing China's Non-Standard Tea for the Masses

Tan Qiong, a highly successful finance executive, pivoted to the tea industry in 2013 after a feasibility study for a B2B tea platform revealed the inherently non-standard nature of Chinese tea. Her in-depth market research identified critical gaps, particularly the unmet demand for standardized, mass-market tea products, which became the foundation for her new brand, CHALI.

Tan Qiong's Prior Career Success

• From 1998 to 2012, Tan Qiong, a marketing graduate, worked across real estate, aviation (including roles at Shenzhen Airlines), and finance.
• In 2005, she founded and led the Southern China branch of Yibao Payment.
• By 2012, her Yibao Payment business had achieved an annual revenue of 500 million RMB.

Catalyst for Entering the Tea Industry

• In 2012, she was tasked by a state-owned enterprise to conduct a feasibility study for a "tea industry B2B trading platform."
• Four months of extensive field research (July-December 2012) across tea regions, brands, and markets revealed that large-scale B2B transactions were unfeasible due to tea's non-standard characteristics.
• Despite the negative B2B conclusion, this systematic research provided her with valuable industry insights, sparking the idea for her own tea brand.

Core Market Insights for CHALI

• "Three Non-Standard" Characteristics: Tea exhibits non-standard attributes at the production source (manual, seasonal, primary agricultural product), in wholesale pricing (influenced by cultural/collectible value), and in C-end circulation (complex grades, diverse origins, varied prices).
• Short Commercialization History: By 2013, the modern commercialization of tea brands in China was only 21 years old (post-1992 reform), with very few brands achieving large-scale development (only Tenfu Tea had listed on the HK stock exchange by 2011).
• Unmet Mass-Market Demand: The mainstream tea market predominantly focused on gifts, collectibles, or complex cultural products, creating a significant void for simple, convenient, and "fast-moving consumer goods" tea tailored for the general public and younger consumers.

CHALI's Foundational Strategy

• Consumer Segmentation: CHALI identified five levels of Chinese tea drinkers based on their knowledge, with "Level 0" (92% of the population) being the largest group who view tea simply as "flavored water."
• Targeting the Mass Market: CHALI strategically decided to target this vast "Level 0" mass market, aiming to standardize products in an inherently non-standard industry.
• Benchmarking Lipton: Recognizing the challenge of standardization, CHALI looked to Lipton as a strong external benchmark for successfully serving the mass tea market.