Langnese

The brand

Langnese is Germany’s leading honey brand, with more than a century of beekeeping expertise and a premium positioning across European markets. In China, the brand had secured distribution and shelf space in modern trade, but the business was not behaving like a premium European brand should.

The challenge

Sales kept dropping month after month despite stable distribution. The underlying problem was simple: Chinese consumers had no clear reason to pay roughly twice as much for Langnese when local honey brands sat next to it on the shelf. The market had moved on, new formats, new channels, new consumption occasions, while the brand’s China playbook had not.

Our approach

We started by rebuilding the picture from the ground up rather than tweaking the existing plan.

• Mapped the full distribution chain from import through wholesale to retail
• Benchmarked local competitor positioning, pricing, and content across major platforms
• Ran consumer research in tier 1 and tier 2 cities to isolate real purchase drivers
• Identified underserved segments and new consumption occasions where a premium European honey could actually win

From there we worked with the client and distributor to rebuild the approach: new distribution channels, fresh product formats suited to how Chinese consumers actually use honey, and platform-specific content that made the premium case in a credible way.

Results

The decline was reversed. Brand and distributor agreed on nine growth pillars that became the operating plan for the next phase, and Langnese opened new regional channels where it previously had zero presence. Distributor commitment was restored, and Chinese consumers finally had genuine reasons to choose Langnese over local alternatives, beyond a higher price tag.