China’s ‘Princess of Wahaha’ Zong Fuli looks to revive US$2 billion family beverage business after founder’s passing
- 42-year old Zong Fuli, the only child of Zong Qinghou, is likely to succeed her late father as chair of Hangzhou Wahaha Group
- The private company’s sales dropped 35 per cent from a high in 2013 to 51.2 billion yuan (US$7.1 billion) in 2022, industry records show
It will not be easy for the 42-year-old heiress, who’s poised to take over an empire fighting for relevance. Sales at the family’s Hangzhou Wahaha Group have fallen in an increasingly competitive market, and another beverage tycoon, Nongfu Spring’s Zhong Shanshan, has become China’s wealthiest person.
“She is facing different difficulties ahead,” said Suheng Wu, business analyst at Daxue Consulting in Shanghai. “Consumer demand is changing, and the market competition is intensifying with new domestic and international brands emerging.”
Privately-held Wahaha, which means “laughing child” in Chinese, has been slow to adapt to consumers’ changing tastes and habits, losing business to online shopping. While other brands have innovated and gained a following, Wahaha’s novelties have failed to get much clout.
The company’s sales dropped 35 per cent from a high in 2013 to 51.2 billion yuan (US$7.1 billion) in 2022, the last year for which the data are available, according to the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. Revenue at Nongfu, which went public in Hong Kong in 2020, climbed 62 per cent in the five years through 2022 and another 28 per cent in 2023 to 42.7 billion yuan.