Genki Forest Gets Back on the Growth Track

In the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market in 2025, growth remains a scarce phenomenon.

According to Nielsen data, the overall growth rate of the FMCG industry in 2025 was 4.8%. This growth rate is mediocre. For some industry players, it's already quite an achievement to maintain growth. However, the beverage category is an "exception" and one of the relatively stable growth segments in the Chinese FMCG industry.

This is easy to understand. Food and drink are essential consumer needs that can withstand long - term cycles. Compared with other categories, the beverage category has witnessed intense competition in recent years. The report "Decoding the New Growth Momentum of the Chinese Beverage Industry" recently released by Nielsen IQ pointed out that the beverage industry has undergone a "major reshuffle" in the past three years.

Sparkling water, sugar - free tea, health - promoting water, energy drinks... Innovative products have continuously emerged, resulting in a major "overhaul" of the products on the shelves. Stories of new players challenging industry giants have been constantly playing out. All these changes point to a consumption trend - "healthier beverages".

Genki Forest has been a standout in the beverage market this year, delivering an impressive performance. According to Tang Binsen, the founder of Genki Forest, the overall growth rate of Genki Forest in the past year was about four times the average market level.

Obviously, this growth didn't come easily. Two years ago, this new consumer star company was still facing growth challenges, with overstocked goods in channels and exposed management weaknesses. Traditional industry giants also reacted and collectively entered the healthy beverage market. So, under both internal and external pressures, why was Genki Forest able to quickly regain its vitality?

Good products lead to counter - cyclical growth

"Good products speak for themselves." This saying is especially true for Genki Forest.

In 2025, the beverage industry is undergoing a structural transformation led by "healthy consumption".

The Nielsen report "Decoding the New Growth Momentum of the Chinese Beverage Industry" pointed out that after the "major reshuffle" in the beverage industry in the past three years, "healthiness" has evolved from a trend into a mainstream: sugar - free beverages have achieved double - digit growth for consecutive years, and energy drinks have ranked among the top in terms of growth rate across all categories. "Transparent ingredients" and "low - sugar and additive - free" have become the core criteria for consumers' purchasing decisions.

From sugar - free tea to energy drinks, from natural plant beverages to traditional Chinese health - promoting water, every high - growth category is closely related to the concept of health. In recent years, many sub - categories have produced large - scale products with annual sales exceeding 10 billion or 1 billion yuan, including Oriental Leaves, Alien electrolyte water, Fruit Ripe, if Coconut Water, Birch Sap, Hydration, and Zizai Water.

Meanwhile, with the increasing fragmentation of channels and homogenization competition among brands, the beverage category currently faces common pain points such as a high goods - diversion rate of up to 15% and an inventory turnover rate that is only 60% of the industry average. "Slow product sales and slow inventory turnover" have become common problems that trouble many distributors.

This also means that although the trend of healthy beverage consumption is obvious, brands still face complex challenges. Products, channels, and brands are all indispensable, and the beverage industry is no longer a game for followers.

Today, when the overall growth rate of the FMCG industry has slowed down to 4.8%, who is actually achieving growth? And what are the solutions for growth? Genki Forest in 2025 may serve as an observational sample and window.

At the just - concluded 2025 Genki Forest Distributor Conference, Nielsen report data showed that Genki Forest's overall performance in 2025 increased by 26% year - on - year, maintaining double - digit growth for three consecutive years, far exceeding the industry's average growth rate of 4.8%.

Breaking it down into specific categories, in 2025, Genki Forest's core categories performed outstandingly. Alien electrolyte water increased by 34% year - on - year, sparkling water in C vitamin orange and summer black grape flavors increased by 52% year - on - year, the iced tea series increased by 56% year - on - year, Zizai increased by 36% year - on - year, and vitamin water increased by 128% year - on - year, with overall sales exceeding expectations.

What's the secret of growth? Tang Binsen summed it up in one sentence: "The core of a beverage company is 'brand + good products'."

Genki Forest didn't have a smooth journey during the innovation process and once took a detour of "aggressive expansion". However, they later adjusted their strategy and re - evaluated the new product iteration speed. In the past year, multiple categories such as Genki Forest's sparkling water, electrolyte water, traditional Chinese health - promoting water, and sugar - reduced tea have boomed. Looking at the product matrix, it reflects the anticipation and layout of the health and functional trends.

In his speech, Tang Binsen mentioned again their "six principles for lovable good products", which was an internal "consensus" reached in 2022. It includes "one addition and one subtraction" - "Reduce the burden of beverages" and "Make drinking water more meaningful". Looking back, this is in line with the industry trend of health and functionality and has been consistently adhered to.

This early judgment of the industry trend has also been verified by distributors in practice. Mr. Xu, a distributor with 16 years of experience in the beverage industry, officially started representing Genki Forest in 2021. In the past four years, he has witnessed the growth and popularity of Alien electrolyte water and iced tea among young consumers.

In fact, in the early days of representing Genki Forest, Mr. Xu suffered short - term losses due to the time and verification required for new product promotion. However, his reason for sticking with it for four years is simple. Mr. Xu said that you can tell a good product from the taste. Genki Forest has clean ingredient lists and a refreshing taste. He drinks it when working out, and his children also drink it. "I have confidence in promoting such products."

In 2024, the trends of health and functionality began to gain momentum. Mr. Xu's perseverance finally paid off. He achieved stable profits in 2024 and successfully met his sales target in 2025.

However, Tang Binsen remains calm. He believes that catching the trend is just the starting point for a good product. At the distributor conference, he emphasized again the product concept of "slow is fast". "Making beverages is a long - term business that requires sufficient patience and confidence to accumulate. The core is to create and deliver warm - hearted good products for the Chinese people."

Obviously, the healthy functional beverage market has become an "open - book exam" for the entire industry. When all players are targeting this growth track, only continuous differential innovation can truly build core competitiveness.

Innovation is not difficult; the hard part is sustainability

In recent years, there have been numerous product innovations in the beverage industry, but they often fade away quickly. The challenge lies in the sustainability of product innovation.

High - growth tracks usually attract a large number of players. Take the sparkling water category as an example. According to incomplete statistics, from 2019 to 2023 after Genki Forest's sparkling water became popular, more than 30 brands launched different sparkling water products in the Chinese market.

With a crowded market and the passing of the boom, an undeniable fact is that the sparkling water category is experiencing sluggish growth. The data from Mashangying in Q3 2025 showed that the mainstream beverage categories generally witnessed a "triple decline" in sales volume, number of items, and number of orders. Consumers are more inclined to choose alternatives that quench thirst and are considered healthier, such as sugar - free tea, traditional Chinese health - promoting water, sports drinks, or bottled water.

At the "Genki Face - to - Face" session after this year's distributor conference, a distributor directly raised a pointed question: With the continuous shrinkage of the carbonated beverage market, why does Genki Forest still insist on making sparkling water? And how can it ensure the growth rate of sparkling water in the current market environment?

Tang Binsen answered frankly. He believes that a food and beverage company with a brand can withstand market cycles, while those without a brand will surely be eliminated by the times. "A beverage company is about 'brand + good products'. As long as you do the basics well, you'll have a future."

Genki Forest's sparkling water is also evolving, even showing a bit of "obsession". It is reported that Genki Forest established an internal "bubble research team", self - developed monitoring equipment, 3D - printed accessories, and tested chip solutions. They even recorded the entire life cycle of hundreds of millions of bubbles from birth to bursting, just to find the perfect "explosion" feeling of bubbles when they enter the mouth.

To make the aroma more realistic when opening the bottle, the Genki Forest team used natural citrus oil extraction technology to improve the fruit aroma restoration rate by 80%. The team even used dynamic sensory evaluation technology to simulate the oral environment and analyze the real - time change curves of acidity, sweetness, aroma, and bubble feeling over time to ensure the multi - layered taste when entering the mouth.

Genki Forest has also put a lot of effort into Alien electrolyte water, successively launching 0 - sugar, low - sugar, and professional versions. In addition to electrolyte water, they also launched the first domestic vitamin B beverage, "Alien Vitamin B Water", Alien Vitamin C Water targeting mild health - care needs, and Alien Super Energy Water WAVE, a functional bottled water.

However, iced tea and Zizai health - promoting water may be the two most notable growth categories for Genki Forest.

Iced tea is a traditional large - scale category. At the end of 2022, Genki Forest tried to launch a "sugar - reduced" new iced tea category and combined it with - 196°C liquid nitrogen frozen lemon technology to enhance the product. Zizai uses the most primitive "boiling" process. Although it sacrifices efficiency, it restores the home - made taste and better preserves nutrients.

The supply chain is the foundation for all these achievements. As early as 2020, Genki Forest began to build its own factories. Currently, it has established five production bases across the country, achieving full - process control from raw material procurement to production and processing. At the raw material end, Genki Forest has gone upstream in the industrial chain. For example, to ensure the quality of the raw materials for Zizai Water, it established a red bean planting base in Heilongjiang.

As Tang Binsen said at the conference, "We believe that Chinese beverages should have more functional significance." Genki Forest's products always seem to take an unconventional path. However, it is precisely through such efforts that they have upgraded from single - product success to a multi - category product matrix and found a breakthrough for overtaking in the highly competitive market.

Allow "failures"

In 2025, the new product iteration speed in the beverage industry reached an unprecedented level. Industry data showed that about 700 new beverage products were launched in 2025, with an average of two new products hitting the market every day. However, the harsh reality is that most products will be quickly eliminated by the market.

The core reason why Genki Forest has created a series of "blockbuster products" is to "bet on" young people and establish an efficient product innovation mechanism based on this. According to 36Kr, most of Genki Forest's product managers are post - 90s. There is a saying within Genki Forest: "Tang spends the most time with young product managers."

Young product managers understand young consumers better. To stimulate the creativity of young people, Genki Forest has been holding the "Genki Forest Universe Competition" since 2022. In addition, to prevent employees from developing products in isolation, Genki Forest also held the "Creation Camp 2044", specifically inviting users to deeply participate in product co - creation.

It even allows "failures". According to 36Kr, Genki Forest believes internally that the core of innovation is to allow waste. It's not about innovating for the sake of innovation but about solving problems when they are identified and providing an open and inclusive environment for innovators.

To make innovation more in line with user needs, Genki Forest has established an internal accompanying testing mechanism. All products to be launched or already on the market will be consumed by employees for a long time, and they will continuously provide real - life experiences and improvement suggestions. There is also a dedicated meeting room called "Tasteful" in the company, where all newly developed flavor samples are displayed. After colleagues taste them, they will record their feelings and suggestions, which become important references for product iteration.

In addition to creating good products, Genki Forest is continuously upgrading its supply chain system. The "Five - Code Integration" launched this year is a long - term strategy for channel digitization. Relying on the "One - Product - One - Code" system, it realizes full - link digital management, making the entire process from production to sales transparent and controllable and effectively reducing the operational risks of distributors.

Since its establishment in 2016, in the past nine years, Genki Forest has experienced highs, lows, and the current stage of accumulation. Its nine - year journey is not only the exploration and perseverance of a single beverage company but also a step forward in the innovation process of the Chinese beverage industry. However, compared with before, Tang Binsen is more restrained, saying that they have "just gradually found some ways".

At this pivotal distributor conference, Tang Binsen avoided grand descriptions and looking back. He said straightforwardly that he doesn't want to talk about new plans but hopes to clarify and adhere to the principles that Genki Forest has learned in the past nine years.

"Genki Forest is a company that whole - heartedly and steadily focuses on making beverages. We only think about making beverages every year. This is also the gift we hope to give to Genki Forest on its tenth anniversary next year." He said.