Exclusive Interview with Li Qun, Founder of Crisup (Cuishengsheng): "Conquering" the Snack Market, Reinventing the Potato Crisp Brand

Breaking Barriers is not just a proactive endeavor; its success depends on consumer acceptance.

From puffed snacks to healthier alternatives, after decades of evolution, the market now stands at a staggering 168.9 billion RMB. This billion-dollar market, driven by gourmet cravings, has disrupted the dominance of overseas giants under the wave of consumer upgrading, spawning numerous specialized categories.

With the rise of the new era's health-conscious trendsetters, even puffed snacks are being "healthified" under consumer demand—low-calorie, low-sugar, low-fat, high-protein, and additive-free options are becoming new selling points for puffed snacks. Brands continually innovate technologically to meet diverse consumer demands.

Over 16 years, Crisup (Cuishengsheng) has meticulously crafted exceptional "Made-in-China" potato crisps. Today, our domestic crispy snacks surpass imported counterparts in every dimension, truly embodying pride in Chinese products. In our exclusive conversation with Li Qun, founder of Crisup (Cuishengsheng), she shared, "Building a successful brand hinges on superior products. For years, Crisup (Cuishengsheng) has focused on researching and developing delicious, healthy food. This commitment drives us to recommend top-tier products to consumers and earn their recognition—a goal we tirelessly pursue."

For any brand, success isn't just about market acceptance but also enhancing consumer brand awareness. What makes Crisup (Cuishengsheng) distinctive, as gleaned from Li Qun's insights, reveals the brand's strength?

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Crisup (Cuishengsheng), Leveraging Content to Connect with Consumers, Reinventing the Potato Crisp Brand

During the interview, Li Qun emphasized that like new consumer brands, potato crisp brands deserve a fresh start. Particularly with the younger generation elevating the "health" concept of puffed snacks, the brand found a new direction.

Looking at the entire leisure food industry, puffed snacks constitute a sizable market segment, showing stable annual growth with significant e-commerce penetration. Combined with low industry concentration, this presents an opportune moment for new brands to enter. However, breaking through and engaging precisely with consumer groups proves increasingly challenging.

"How to break through," has been a persistent question for brands. Li Qun noted, "We've deep roots in offline markets for over a decade. Leveraging this foundation, we conducted in-depth analyses of customer segments. We discovered Crisup (Cuishengsheng) appeals mostly to young, female, and even tier-one city customers, showing the highest customer loyalty."

Leveraging content to drive traffic fosters consumer goodwill, boosts sales conversions, and ultimately enhances brand power. In the snack market, brands attuned to young female consumers' contradictory snack preferences are poised for growth. They no longer settle for mere energy sources but crave snacks contributing to their overall health.

Based on user profiles and loyalty studies, Li Qun recognized potential in these consumer groups. With a strong offline market base, Crisup (Cuishengsheng) expanded into various e-commerce platforms like Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Kuaishou. This shift from city agents to direct consumer interaction presents both challenges and opportunities for the Crisup (Cuishengsheng) brand.

The distinction between snacks and main meals blurs as more opt to substitute meals with snacks. "Tasty without guilt" resonates as their core snack demand. Li Qun explained, "Real-time user feedback allows us to continuously improve. Such feedback greatly influences our growth in all aspects. Markets favor the best, hence our direct dialogue with customers nurtures mutual growth."

With heightened health awareness, consumers scrutinize food ingredients and parameters. Crisup (Cuishengsheng) aims to healthify all unhealthy snacks. Their special production technique—vacuum low-temperature freshness locking—ensures nutritional retention and avoids the formation of carcinogenic acrylamides, delivering crispy, nutritious potato crisps. This fortifies Crisup (Cuishengsheng)'s foundation.

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Mission: Inheriting Health, Creating Differentiated Brands

Capturing Youth Means Capturing the Future

During the interview, Li Qun stressed the need for youthful thinking in product development. Generation Z consumers possess personalized attitudes and differentiated consumption concepts. Without sufficient insights into their brand and target audience, establishing effective communication proves challenging.

Crisup (Cuishengsheng) targets primarily young consumers. Li Qun elaborated, "Firstly, we highlight unique selling points and aesthetic appeal. Secondly, we leverage channels popular among the youth for brand propagation, bolstering awareness. Thirdly, we employ trendy modes, including endorsements by internet celebrities and public figures."

The potato chip market is dominated by giants using grain starches, producing high-oil, high-salt, high-fat, and heavily additive-laden products. This fails to satisfy today's young consumers, especially post-1995 females who seek "tasty and healthy" snacks. Recognizing this pain point, Crisup (Cuishengsheng) defined a new brand strategy—creating "healthy and delicious" potato crisps.

Li Qun added, "Today's youth are diverse and fragmented, unlike earlier times when market directions were more unified. They encounter a plethora of stimuli, each group isolated yet brief in its preferences and interests. Aligning with their tastes and needs is thus challenging."

Brand rejuvenation is a bottom-up process, involving positioning, communication, and visual appeals. While brand positioning seems distant from product essence, it remains pivotal in user decision-making. According to Li Qun, despite snacks like potato chips categorized as junk food, they, akin to carbonated drinks, fulfill consumers' enjoyment of dining pleasure, ensuring high repeat purchase rates—a category with ample innovation potential.

Aside from meeting user needs, Crisup (Cuishengsheng) upholds the mission of "inheriting health," aiming to craft internationally acclaimed, Chinese-characteristic potato crisps—a beacon of Chinese products. Asked about how Crisup (Cuishengsheng) achieves "breaking barriers," Li Qun remarked, "Initiating 'breaking barriers' isn't voluntary. While our team endeavors towards it, consumer acceptance remains crucial. Improving production efficiency to enhance product value and taste naturally leads to 'breaking barriers.'"

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Sustaining Offline Growth, Enhancing Brand Conversion

Customer Retention and Repeat Purchases Direct Brand Efforts

Amidst the burgeoning digital economy, digital brand transformation proves pivotal for corporate growth. Li Qun stated, "Digital marketing has been our focus. Marketing logic hinges on return on investment—time, capital, and manpower invested on a platform must culminate in output, i.e., sales."

This interlinked process is indispensable. Crisup (Cuishengsheng) makes decisions and crafts marketing strategies based on insights gleaned from various online and offline channels, catering to current business dynamics. Li Qun emphasized, "We avoid rashness but understand stagnation isn't an option. Providing a stable upward growth environment is crucial for our enterprise."

Whether in current or future brand trends, Li Qun and her team endeavor to impart correct values and the brand mission—"healthy and delicious"—to users. Crisup (Cuishengsheng) amplifies its presence through diverse e-commerce platforms, self-media outlets, and offline markets such as KA and CS channels. Li Qun added, "Investment levels depend on channel nuances. Data-backed support maximizes our communication efficiency."

Potato chips evoke multisensory stimulation, where taste, color, aroma, crunch, and mouthfeel dictate its appeal. When healthifying these snacks, some joys may be sacrificed but opportunities exist to elevate other aspects, creating a product both healthy and delicious.

Li Qun concluded, "Crisup (Cuishengsheng)'s market progress over these years is gratifying. Not limited to the food industry, but even in the snack sector, new brands continually emerge, diversifying consumer choices and market density. We keenly observe emerging brands, including traditional giants, imported items, and rising internet celebrities." As they say, the market is a vast melting pot—only through mutual learning and development can it showcase its true vibrancy.

Crisup (Cuishengsheng) remains dedicated to its upward trajectory, confronting diverse challenges along the way—a process intrinsic to sustainable enterprise growth. Li Qun explained, "Ultimately overcoming difficulties depends on our cohesive team. Our enterprise culture is about thriving against adversity—analyzing and resolving issues promptly without complaints or blame—fostering collective growth."

Offline sales are Crisup (Cuishengsheng)'s bedrock and a decisive factor in its success. While maintaining steady offline sales growth, the brand vigorously expands online, employing diverse online sales formats. This symbiotic relationship forms a positive feedback loop. Simply put, amidst today's internet backdrop, with the right business strategy, superior products will invariably flourish.

A brand's image is pivotal for effective promotion and marketing. The cornerstone of emerging brands—especially Crisup (Cuishengsheng)—is their product. Li Qun stressed that effective brand marketing revolves around product uniqueness. Not all brands fit one template; adapting to product characteristics and finding one's unique path is paramount.

Looking at emerging consumption trends, both traditional and new brands capturing consumer psyche can become breakout hits. For Crisup (Cuishengsheng), meeting consumers' "tasty" and "healthy" demands comes first. Looking ahead, Li Qun emphasized, "We'll continue perfecting products, intensifying R&D efforts, bolstering factory investments, optimizing channel maintenance, and exploring emerging channels. This ensures Crisup (Cuishengsheng) delivers tastier, healthier gourmet products—winning over more consumers and earning their lasting loyalty."