The fervor in the new consumer market has spawned several promising categories with potentials to become a hundred billion market. How to distinguish between trends and fads, identify the real demand and realize the real market potential? How to really create new things instead of innovate only because you want to innovate? The emergence of ‘new species’ is bound to be accompanied by controversies and questions. How to define the category to help educate the market?

Being sensitive to the little happiness in daily life that may trigger micro-innovations, and dare to imagine when setting long-term goals; how can startups define their "category-relating zones" to develop an appropriate product matrix? How to consolidate and better utilize the advantage of your best seller? 

When the one-time popular joke, which goes "5000 entries on The Little Red Book + 2000 entries on Zhihu + top livestreamers = prototype of a new brand", cools down, it signals that it is time to think calmly about how to build a brand.

For new brands to stand out, touching the bottom of people's hearts is more important than just taking over their attention for a while. Building a brand is like growing a tree. The roots must take hold before branches become strong and leaves green.

When consumers are having constantly evolving demands, exploring deep into the supply chain is a necessary tactics after the 0-1 stage. Achieving product innovation relying on improved supply chain and creating closed-loop supply chain system is the only way to achieve a long-life brand.

Consumers are gaining deeper and more professional knowledge about good products. In front of shelves, an increasing number of consumers read ingredients list and nutrition facts. On the Internet, there is more professional interpretation and discussion.

Less fancy marketing gimmicks, more genuine value, and build a moat of differentiation from the source. First-rate ingredients from the world, healthier substitutes, special processes, functional ingredients, anything else we can do to innovate from scratch? 

One of the early-stage challenges of start-ups is that product innovation is often restricted by traditional supply chain or manufacturing system. The new era requires a supply chain that supports small batches, fast iteration, and higher agility.

- How do start-ups look at balance among quality, efficiency, and manufacturing capacity?

- How do start-ups look for partners, integrate resources and make a greater impact with the best combination?

- Is there any new collaborative practice between suppliers and service providers?

For startups looking forward to becoming the next "Coca-Cola", there is still a long way to go. They strive to break the predicament of homogeneity, but the uniqueness of the product and the popular taste is difficult to balance. After the early burst of acceleration, the profitable business model has not yet matured. Expensive marketing and channel costs make it more difficult to reach consumers.

The process of building a brand is tough, how did Coca-Cola stay popular all over the world for more than 135 years? Hopefully there are some key takeaways from Coca-Cola's experience for Chinese emerging brands

Far more than meeting the needs of busy white-collars and kitchen novices to eat well and cook more easily, 3R food has also become a good helper in three meals for consumers who are quarantined in home because of the lasting epidemic. It is expected that C-end 3R food will become more homely and of high quality in the future.

- In the product development, how to achieve differentiation and develop popular products?

- In the supply chain, how to continuously improve the quality and richness of product?

- In the channel, how to layout to improve the convenience of purchase and repurchase?

"Self-reliance" is no longer enough to keep up with the new consumption era. "The complementary model of technology and ideas" has built a co-creation ecology and become popular. 

How does Nestlé select partners for its R&D accelerator in China? How can the collaboration model between the big players and the startups stimulate innovative ideas? And what kind of new ecology of innovation will be built in the future?