On December 18, 2025, the College of Management of Shenzhen University invited Erique, an outstanding alumnus of the school, founder and CEO of E.T. BREWERY, and president of Guangdong Lingnan Craft Beer Association, to deliver a special lecture themed "Decoding Craft Beer Consumer Behavior" to students taking the course "Consumer Behavior". Closely integrating with course theories, the lecture systematically presented the practical application of consumer insights in the craft beer industry through real entrepreneurial experience.

With both academic background and industry experience, Erique's decade-long entrepreneurial journey has fully covered various stages from home brewing to national market layout. During this process, he continuously paid attention to and responded to the evolution of consumer needs, accumulating a profound practical understanding of the psychological motivations and behavioral patterns of the target customer group.

In the lecture, Erique took the theory of "survivorship bias" as the introduction to remind students to view market phenomena rationally. Subsequently, he systematically disassembled the five development stages of entrepreneurship and focused on analyzing how each stage was carried out around the core of "insight into consumers and creation of value": During the Home Brewing Phase (2015-2016), the core behaviors were exploration and verification; he conducted small-scale tests through friends' stores, with the core task of answering "Where are the customers? What do they like?" and initially establishing an understanding of consumers' taste preferences. Followed by the Front-store and Back-factory Phase (2016-2017), the focus was on observation and interaction—he opened a bar to act as an "observer behind the bar", and through direct service and communication, he real-time observed consumers' reactions to adjust formulas and pricing, while using the on-site "industrial atmosphere" experience to build consumers' "sensory trust" in the brand's professionalism. In 2018, the OEM Phase centered on focus and positioning: he turned to the B-end (craft beer bars) channel, studied the needs of store operators (i.e., the value demands of their "consumers"), and began systematic brand building to convey brand personality through visual design for attracting target customers. The Factory Phase I (2019-2021) emphasized stability and guarantee; he optimized the supply chain and directly delivered products to more than 100 stores in the province, with the core consumer value at this stage being "stable access" and consistent quality to ensure every glass of product drunk by end consumers met expectations. Since 2022, the Factory Phase II has focused on connection and operation: he has established a national distribution network and store private domain system, and directly operated C-end consumers and fans through Xiaohongshu content, beer festival activities and other means to deepen the emotional connection between the brand and consumers, shifting from "selling products" to "managing user relationships".

Erique particularly pointed out that the rise of craft beer is a typical product of consumption upgrading, which accurately meets the in-depth psychological needs of contemporary consumers for "taste awakening" and "health awareness". Its product characteristics of "whole-grain brewing and fresh direct delivery" directly respond to consumers' pursuit of a natural and high-quality lifestyle. The current situation that China's craft beer market accounts for less than 3% of total beer consumption precisely reflects that this is a niche market driven by "forward-looking consumers" and full of potential.