Ever since the 1980s, China has developed a broader and deeper relationship with food than the rest of the world, as a result, Chinese culture was able to benefit from other countries’ rich cuisine and unique cooking recipes. China is a nation with an ancestral history of food culture, and as such food has become an essential part of Chinese culture.

Over the last 20 years, Chinese citizens have deeply changed their eating habits, and food in China has undergone many transformations. The experience of great famines during the communist era, made them pay attention to what they eat.

Privatization of agriculture resulted in a skyrocketing of field productivity and since the 1990’s Chinese consumers are no longer starved with an average of over 3000 kcal per day and per capita. Free trade allowed China to recover its 3500 years old culinary tradition.

Chinese people like to eat

The food is holly in China. Knowing how to cook is still very important for a woman. To illustrate this commitment to food, I’ll give you some examples of everyday life :

• The first thing a chinese person will ask to a foreigners is : “Do you like Chinese food ?”
• The second one will be : “Are you accustomed yet to chinese food ?”
• The third one is : “Do you know how to cook chinese food ? (Be careful never to say yes, otherwise you will have to invite them!)

Besides, the first thing you must ask when you are going to visit a family in China is  « chi fan le ma »? which translates to “Have you eaten already ?”

Restaurants in China

As already explained in a previous article about restoration in China, Chinese people like to go to restaurants quite often with colleagues, childhood friends, family, and business partners. Restaurants in China are affordable and you can eat there every day. Chinese citizens like to say that the food at home is always tastier than in the restaurant (if it’s well made). This is not necessarily wrong, nor bragging as the food they can buy by themselves should be better than the one used in most restaurants.

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Chinese like to do shopping at the market or supermarket because the quality is better. Mostly fresh foods. Thus, it is impressive to see that even at 6 am you can see seniors doing their shopping there just in order to benefit from the best products.

Chinese have confidence in foreign supermarkets such as Carrefour for the quality and also the fact that the Cold Chain is never broken. They are quite curious about foreign food but rather chauvinistic so according to the foreign food will never compare with the Chinese one.

No doubt that the fastest growing exotic food is the so-called “American junk food”.  For instance, Mac Donald and KFC are very well established in China and attract more and more young people.

Wasting food in China: a “tradition” the Country wants to Stop

Surprisingly Chinese love both abundance and wasting stuff. For them, there must always have food on the table, so do not try to finish everything or more will soon come on the table. If you invite make sure that the meals are in abundance if you do not want to lose your face (especially for business). The dishes are ordered in even numbers, it brings you luck.

The tradition wants the food to be plenty and various on the dining table with meat, fish, vegetables, but also different cooking styles ( steam, fried, or in sauce). It is important to always have a spicy dish on the table, with alcohol flowing. Chinese people prefer large tables for many people, fifteen is good, but sixteen or more is better. The louder you talk the better fun you have. That’s the reason why in China one often hears quite unpleasant noise in a restaurant one is not accustomed to it yet. The better if you invite is to book a private room for your guests to ensure freedom of speech.

Rules of etiquette when eating in China

The person invites (and pay), chooses the dishes, which means that the dishes are not individuals, but for all the guests. One has to pick in all the dishes, without embarrassment. Having cooked something sophisticated is a sign of politeness. At first, the Chinese will always insist to pay and will get angry if you want to share or pay for them. The right attitude is to invite them for another time later to keep a good relationship with good guanxi

One surprising thing you should do is to force your guests to taste, eat, or drink. It is always very friendly to fill the glass of your host. For example, as far as a Ganbei is finished, the glass should be filled in 3 seconds. And in China, we also use toast and drink ing “bottoms up” as a way to show virility. Before drinking, you must tapper the glass against the table if others are too far. Usually, after 10 Ganbei, there is a warm atmosphere, and you can make fun of the Chinese becoming reddish. more details alcohols China

The Chinese Diet

Historically, famines were a great threat but today it is rather an obesity. McDonald’s and Coca are accused, but also the candies’ market that is skyrocketing.

The diversity of meals.

The Chinese are well known for using everything as a cooking ingredient. They have a saying: « everything that has 4 legs eat except chairs ». Thus, one can find all sorts of dishes, focused on some body parts. The Chinese, who are fairly superstitious believe that eating a part of an animal provides resources for this part. So, if you have vision problems, it is good to eat fish eyes. If our heart is fragile, chicken hearts are an excellent remedy. If you have impotence problems … I guess.

Calcium deficiency

One striking figure in China is the fact that unlike us, they suffer from a lack of milk products in their alimentation. No cow’s milk, but often tofu (soybean)’s milk. No cheese or very little. Chineses do not cook with butter or cream and consume little or no yogurt. They do not like dairy products, but it has probably provoked calcium deficiencies and may explain their smaller size and less weight due to lower bone density.

Food in China: Traditions and customs

The Chinese eat with chopsticks … it’s not a scoop. But eating with chopsticks requires pre-cut all the food before serving. This gives a very fine food. They use a rotating round table where each guest can pick up the desired quantity. The Chinese take three meals a day. One early in the morning (6 am), one at 11 am and the last one after work (6 pm). Breakfast is often still traditional: things not eaten the day before, prepared rice, Chinese egg hundred years (marinated in vinegar) tofu milk with a sort of churros.

1. Diversity of Cuisine

China’s cuisine is incredibly diverse, with each region offering unique flavors and dishes. The major regional cuisines include Sichuan, Cantonese, Shandong, Jiangsu, Fujian, Hunan, Anhui, and Zhejiang, each known for specific ingredients, cooking techniques, and flavors.

2. Importance of Freshness

Fresh ingredients are paramount in Chinese cooking. Markets with fresh vegetables, seafood, and meats are common, and meals are often prepared with ingredients bought that day. see this franchise good restaurant

3. Balanced Flavors

Chinese cuisine emphasizes a balance of flavors—sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty. This balance can vary significantly between regions. For example, Sichuan cuisine is known for its bold and spicy flavors, while Cantonese cuisine tends to be milder and slightly sweet.

4. Rice and Noodles

Staple foods vary by region. In southern China, rice is a staple, while in the north, noodles, dumplings, and bread-like dishes made from wheat are more common.

5. Tea Culture

Tea is an integral part of Chinese culture, with various types such as green, black, white, oolong, and pu-erh. Tea ceremonies and the art of tea making are important cultural practices. concept of restaurant here

6. Dining Etiquette

Chinese dining etiquette includes using chopsticks, sharing dishes family-style, and showing respect to elders by serving them first. It’s also customary to tap the table with fingers as a sign of thanks when someone pours you tea.

7. Healthy Food

Chinese cuisine often incorporates the principles of traditional Chinese medicine. Ingredients are chosen not just for flavor but also for their health benefits. Ingredients like ginger, goji berries, and ginseng are common for their believed health-promoting properties.

8. Street Food (always so good)

Street food is an essential part of Chinese culinary culture. Local snacks and dishes like jianbing (savory crepes), baozi (steamed buns), and chuan’r (skewers) offer a taste of authentic Chinese flavors.

9. Festive Foods like Dumplings

Certain foods are traditionally eaten during festivals. For example, mooncakes are eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, dumplings during the Spring Festival, and rice dumplings (zongzi) during the Dragon Boat Festival.

10. social media and Food in China

Understanding these aspects of Chinese food culture can enhance your appreciation and enjoyment of the cuisine while also helping you navigate the social and culinary norms in China.

Social media has had a profound influence on food culture in China, transforming how people discover, share, and experience culinary delights. One platform that stands out in this landscape is Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu or RED). Here’s an exploration of its impact and the broader influence of social media on food in China:

Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu or RED)

**1. **Platform Overview xiaohongshu is a social media platform combining user-generated content with e-commerce. It allows users to share reviews, recommendations, and experiences about products, including food and dining. the social networks for lifestyle in China

**2. Food Discovery Users share posts about their dining experiences, recipes, and food recommendations. This content helps others discover new restaurants, cafes, and street food spots, often highlighting lesser-known or trendy places.

**3. Influencer Impact Food influencers and bloggers on Little Red Book have significant sway. Their posts can drive traffic to specific restaurants or create viral food trends. Their recommendations are trusted by their followers, influencing dining choices and food purchases.

**4. Visual Appeal The platform’s focus on high-quality visuals makes food content particularly engaging. Beautifully presented dishes and aesthetically pleasing food photos attract attention and drive user engagement.

**5. Recipe Sharing Home cooks and chefs share detailed recipes and cooking tips. This exchange of culinary knowledge encourages users to try new dishes and cooking techniques at home.

**6. Reviews and Ratings Users can post detailed reviews and ratings of restaurants and food products. This community-driven feedback system helps users make informed dining and purchasing decisions.

Read more

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinese-food-beverage-market-2024-healthy-indisposed-dax6e

Broader Influence of Social Media on Food in China

**1. Trend Creation Social media platforms like WeChat, Weibo, and Douyin (TikTok) are instrumental in creating food trends. Viral challenges, unique dishes, and food hacks often originate and spread rapidly through these platforms.

**2. Marketing and Branding Restaurants and food brands use social media for marketing and branding. Engaging with customers through posts, stories, and live streams helps build brand loyalty and attract new patrons.

**3. Online Ordering and Delivery Social media integration with food delivery apps like Meituan and Ele.me has streamlined online ordering. Users can order food directly through links on social media posts, making the process convenient and efficient.

**4. Virtual Communities Social media has fostered virtual food communities where enthusiasts share experiences, tips, and recommendations. These communities often focus on specific cuisines, dietary preferences, or cooking methods.

**5. Cultural Exchange Social media facilitates cultural exchange, introducing users to global cuisines and culinary practices. Exposure to international food trends influences local tastes and encourages culinary innovation.

**6. Real-time Feedback Restaurants receive real-time feedback from customers through social media. This immediate interaction allows businesses to address issues promptly and improve their services.

**7. Health and Wellness Trends Social media has amplified the focus on health and wellness in food choices. Trends like clean eating, plant-based diets, and functional foods gain traction through influencer advocacy and user discussions.

In summary, social media, particularly platforms like Little Red Book, has significantly influenced food culture in China by driving food discovery, creating trends, and fostering a vibrant community of food enthusiasts. This digital shift has transformed how people interact with food, from cooking and dining to reviewing and sharing experiences.

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China’s Regional Food differences.

Each region of China has its specialties and its habits. Coastal regions have the habit of eating a lot of fish and seafood, while mainland areas eat more meat and cereals. Traditionally, the north is generally characterized by warm dishes. Shanghai’s Kitchen is marked by sweet dishes. Southern cooking is pretty sweet plus all local peculiarities, snake, monkey, and rat … In the west, Sichuan, Hunan it is very spicy.

As for minorities, they have their own traditions. One can find cheese and yogurt among the Mongols (which would explain their superhuman strengths). Tibetans mix barley flour with tea and yak butter. And we must not forget the famous barbecues of the Uyghurs. I could go on like this as there are hundreds of specialties.

China’s Diet fast evolution

In China, everything evolves very quickly. And food habits are no exception. Rice and grains have lost their importance, and the Chinese are increasingly consuming meat (300% of the growth of meat consumption between 1978 and 1994).

 The Chinese did not usually eat sweets but consumption trends changed in China, and candies ‘ products are skyrocketing, like cereal bars, cakes, chocolates, and chewing gum. Sweet drinks (Coke, fruit squash, and lemonade) are gradually replacing tea, the official Chinese drink. We also note the increase of consumption of oil (for frying), sweets, and alcoholic beverages, see the alcoholic beverage market in China.

Chinese Households food budget..

It is estimated at 36% of the budget, according to a study by the ICC. Chinese urban spend on average 36% of their total budget on food (13.4% in France). The variation depends on the income. The 10% poorest urban devote 47.4% on food. The 10% of the richest devote 28% to food and they consume fewer grains and more fruits and milk. Currently, the budget share devoted to food is losing its importance in favor of housing, health, and education.

Except for cereals and vegetables, all other food products are increasing their share of the global food consumption reflecting changing lifestyles. For instance, the number of dairy products consumed per year increased from 4.6 kg/capita in 1995 to 18 kg/capita in 2007, while that of cereals fell from 130kg/ capita in 1995 to 75.9 kg/ capita in 2007. Consumption of pork remained stable (18.4 kg to 20 kg), the poultry consumption increased (3.4 kg to 8.3 kg) and that of seafood (7.7 kg to 10 9kg) less significantly.

Etiquette for conducting business in China

Meals and banquets are an important aspect to take into account when doing business in China, indeed meals and banquets are often used as a setting to form business deals, build relationships and even more importantly, show respect to your future business partners. Some of the practices associated with dining in China may vary depending on the city however, there are several standard elements of dining etiquette that will be practiced all over China.

Seating arrangements: As for the seating arrangements for conducting business meetings in China, the most main guest sits on the side of the table, the furthest away from the door, and positioned in the middle place of the table, the second most important person seated next to them and so on, this process should be repeated in descending order of importance.

Table Manners: Dining etiquette in China can be a bit more organized than in many western countries and the protocol can also vary according to the level of formality used between the participants. Most Chinese business meals are in the form of banquets, often with a huge number of dishes available. It is considered good manners to serve others before serving yourself, also in order to be seen in a good light, try eating everything you are served, of course without showing displeasure.

Toasting and drinking: The meal’s host will usually make a toast at the start of a meal and if you are the honored/main guest it may be a good idea to reciprocate the toast soon after, or at the end of the meal. It is commonplace to toast the health of the host and all the people present and to the prosperity of the business that brought all of you together. Keep in mind that when drinking, never refill your own glass yourself, instead refill your neighbors and they will, in turn, fill yours.

Last but not least, the bill!

The bill: It is standard practice in China that whoever has invited you to take part in the meal to pay the bill, bear in mind that you should not offer to leave a tip, indeed this is not common practice in China and is technically illegal…

Food Trends in China

• Modern chinese food is the latest culinary trend taking over China, and Shanghai is leading the way ! Modern chinese food is essentially consists of combining creatively  local flavours with traditional ingredients in order to create unique and attractive menu items.
• According to Meituan’s database (one of China’s delivery service alongside Dianping) , Sichuan cuisine made up the highest percentage of eateries for 2017 and 2018, representing 4% (2017) to 5% (2018). Meituan also reported that young chinese millennials (indivuals born in the ‘90s) are the driving force behind this trend, which represents around 51% of all dining out options.

• The popularity of coffee has encouraged all kinds of food innovations. Nowadays, chinese consumers can not only drink coffee, but also eat it ! The forms and coffee varieties have become even more diversified than it was before. From the simple basic coffee to coffee and tea, coffee and alcoholic drinks, the consumption form has also expanded from drinks to coffee snacks.

Impact on the chinese food market

Luosifen, a very odorant noodle dish from the southwest of Guangxi province has experienced an unexpected increase in popularity in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A humble noodle dish originating in southwest China’s Guangxi Province became a national hit and something of a limited commodity during the pandemic. As a result, Chinese consumers can’t get enough of it. Luósīfěn (螺蛳粉), or river snail rice noodles, originated from the city of Liuzhou, where it has been served in street-side stalls as an affordable snack since the 1970s. The unique dish, known for its pungent aroma, is made from simmering snails, pork bones, and several spices for many hours, resulting in a spicy broth that is served with rice noodles, fermented bamboo, dried beancurd, peanuts, and vegetables.

Read more

Launching a restaurant in China requires careful planning, understanding of local business practices, and an appreciation of cultural nuances. Here are some key tips to help you successfully launch a restaurant in China

In the restaurant sector in China, Social media are the KEY

Whether it’s Chinese cooking or western cuisine competition is fierce.

Staff Recruitment and Training complicated

• Hiring Local Staff: Hire local staff who understand the culture and language. This can enhance customer service and ensure smooth operations.
• Training Programs: Implement comprehensive training programs for your staff, focusing on food safety, customer service, and restaurant operations.

Marketing and Promotion is VITAL

• Online Presence: Establish a strong online presence through social media platforms like WeChat, Weibo, and Little Red Book. Create engaging content and interact with your audience.
• Influencer Collaborations: Collaborate with local food influencers and bloggers to promote your restaurant. Their endorsements can significantly boost your visibility and attract customers.
• Promotions and Discounts: Offer introductory promotions, discounts, and loyalty programs to attract initial customers and build a loyal customer base.

Technology

• Point of Sale Systems: Implement efficient point of sale (POS) systems to streamline ordering, billing, and inventory management.
• Online Ordering and Delivery: Partner with popular food delivery platforms like Meituan and Ele.me to offer online ordering and delivery services.
• Dianping , Little red book, online payment

9. Customer Feedback – ereputation

• Feedback Mechanisms: Encourage customers to provide feedback through comment cards, social media, and review platforms. Use this feedback to continuously improve your offerings and service.
• Loyalty Programs: Implement loyalty programs to reward repeat customers and encourage word-of-mouth referrals.
• Ereputation and reviews are the heart of Chinese consumption

One of the main outlets for Chinese spending is food, it has a pivotal place in Chinese culture, most Chinese go to a restaurant quite often with colleagues, childhood friends, family, and business partners. Eating is the engine that drives China’s growth!

The meal is an important moment of the day reflecting the Chinese culture as a whole.

You must know how to market your restaurant in China if you want it to be successful. The principal tools you need to use here in China are digital tools :

Offer a quality website

Offering a quality website about your restaurant with good photos will attract your customer. Communicating about the aesthetic, qualities, and characteristics of your restaurant will encourage people to come; Chinese internet users look at the information on restaurants before making decisions. Your website must be in Chinese too.

Example http://lebec.com.cn/

Have an SEO strategy

Now that you have a website, you must better optimize your online strategy on search engines (known as SEO: Search Engine Optimization) to be recognized in this sector among the multitude of restaurants.

You need to maximize your presence on influential websites and by diversifying the publication of articles. This will allow you to optimize your ranking on Baidu.

More on SEO in China here.

Pay attention to social media in China

In order to engage with your audience, you must pay particular attention to internet word of mouth through social networks.

If customers have enjoyed eating at your restaurant, they will come back and bring back their friends. They will share images of food and comment on their experiences on social media.

You must be careful about the quality of your service and that the menu dishes are suitable for all tastes and all client types. Indeed comments made by users can be positive or negative and can have a huge influence on other customers’ behavior.

WeChat

Remember that word of mouth is passed mainly through social networks such as WeChat, … etc.

Most Chinese users use social networks as their primary source of information in order to determine their final choice.

Curate quality content on social networks to inspire visitors to come to eat at your restaurant, organize tasting sessions, special evenings on a specific theme, cooking classes, and contests.

For example, WeChat offers interesting features for restaurants that want to promote their business through a service account. There is an interesting feature that allows you to customize your online menu and make online payments within WeChat. Highlight your best-known dishes with quality photos and share the location of your restaurant.

Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) in 2024

Get visibility for yourrestaurant via Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu or RED) requires strategic use of the platform’s features and understanding its community-driven approach. Here are some tips to effectively promote your restaurant on Little Red Book:

1- Content

• Use Great Photos and Videos: Hire a professional photographer to take pictures and videos of your food, restaurant, and atmosphere. High-quality visuals grab attention.
• Tell Your Story: Share the story of your restaurant, what makes your food special, and your cooking philosophy. Personal stories connect with people.

2. Leverage Influencers

• Work with Food Influencers: Partner with popular food influencers on Little Red Book to review and recommend your restaurant. They can reach a lot of people and build credibility.
• Use Local Micro-Influencers: Collaborate with local micro-influencers who have dedicated followers in your area. They often have higher engagement and can attract a focused audience.

3. User-Generated Content

• Encourage Customer Reviews: Ask customers to share their dining experiences and reviews on Little Red Book. People trust content from other users.
• Create a Hashtag Campaign: Make a unique hashtag for your restaurant and encourage customers to use it when they post about their visit. This gathers all related content in one place.

4. Community Management

• Respond to Comments: Reply to comments on your posts. Engaging with users shows you care about their feedback and builds community.
• Interact with clients: Follow and interact with relevant users. Building relationships increases your visibility.
• Dianping & Red

5. Promotions and Events

• Post Special Offers: Share exclusive deals, discounts, and promotions for Little Red Book users. This encourages visits and word-of-mouth marketing.
• Host Events and Contests: Organize events or contests to get users involved. For example, a photo contest where users post pictures of their meals at your restaurant with a specific hashtag.

Read more

If you need an agency to help you with communication in China , send us an email

Plant-based meat market in China

For Beyond Meat, entering the Chinese alternative meat market is a priority due to its size. According to a study published in May 2019 by the Good Food Institute, China’s plant-based meat industry market was approximately 6.1 billion yuan ($ 910 million), up 14.2% year-on-year.

Over 90% of Chinese survey respondents do not identify as vegan or vegetarian, which shows that these market share gains represent a growing interest of the general public in consuming plant-based meat.

Furthermore, the Chinese meat industry is huge. The nation consumes nearly a third of all the meat in the world. Any meat-based company looking to increase its sales would do well to look to China.

Increasing consumer awareness of environmental hazards such as water and soil degradation, acid rain, coral reef degeneration, and deforestation associated with killing animals is expected to spur industry growth.

According to Statista, a survey conducted in China in April 2020 of plant-based meat products revealed that 85% of respondents were very willing or at least somehow willing to try new plant-based meat dishes in a restaurant. Only one percent of respondents were strongly opposed to ordering such dishes.

Chinese consumers are open to plant-based meat

The timing for Beyond Meat could not be better! Chinese consumers are now more open to the idea of plant-based meat products, contributing to a healthy lifestyle.

Many Chinese consumers are actively seeking to reduce meat consumption. Chinese consumers are cutting back on meat consumption, opting instead for more vegetables, tofu, and vegan meat substitutes. China already has over 50 million vegetarians, who offer an immediate consumer base that doesn’t need to be convinced to experiment with meat alternatives.

According to research conducted in 2019, over 80 percent of consumers who had eaten plant-based meat within a six-month span were born after 1990.

Covid-19 has also highlighted some of the potential safety benefits of a pivot towards plant-based meat in China. Over 90 percent of the world’s meat comes from industrial farms, where animals are kept close to each other in potentially unsanitary conditions, which could favor epidemics.

Although Chinese consumers have had little exposure to new meat-based meat products, there are signs that the market may be receptive. In one signal of increasing interest in traditional meat alternatives, search inquiries for “plant meat” on Alibaba’s online platform TMall surged 40 percent through the year ending May, according to a report by CBNData and TMall.

Beyond Meat’s market entry strategy in China

Beyond Meat is a Los Angeles-based producer of plant-based meat substitutes founded in 2009 by Ethan Brown. As of 2020, Beyond products are widely available in most U.S. grocery stores.

The company recently entered the Chinese market and its plant-based burger is enjoying great success in China. The partnership with Starbucks marks Beyond’s entry into the Chinese market.

Seeing the growing demand for plant-based meat in China, Beyond meat entered the market excited to take advantage of this unique opportunity to offer the Chinese consumer another sustainable protein option.

The first Beyond Meat product to land in China was Beyond Beef: Made with simple plant-based ingredients with no GMO, soy, or gluten, Beyond Beef is designed to be a seamless exchange in traditional beef recipes such as lo mein and xiaolongbao.

Beyond meat partnered with Starbucks to introduce Beyond Beef as part of their new “GOOD GOOD” menu, leveraging Starbucks’ large presence and avid customer base to bring plant-based meat and its benefits to millions of Chinese consumers.

This strategy highlights how the company has adapted its product to the local market, producing something related to traditional Chinese recipes; and how it has sought to collaborate with a company already strong in the market such as Starbucks to increase its range of Chinese consumers.

Beyond meat establishes its presence in the Chinese digital world

Being present on Chinese platforms is important to increase brand awareness in the Chinese market. Having a website in Chinese, hosted in China, and implementing the right SEO strategy, can lead your brand to be recognized by many Chinese consumers. Furthermore, the presence on social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo is important given the constant use that the Chinese make of them.

This is precisely what Beyond meat set up a Chinese-language website, as well as accounts on local social media platforms such as Tencent’s WeChat and Weibo, to spread the word about its debut in China and to better connect with Chinese consumers.

Latest news about Beyond Meat partnerships

Beyond Meat & Starbucks partnership to introduce dishes made with Beyond plant-based meat

As we said before, Beyond Meat debuted in China in April 2020 through a partnership with the Starbucks coffee chain. The reason is that Starbucks is a trusted brand with a strong market presence and a deep understanding of customers in China.

Starbucks for its part, thanks to the partnership, can introduce the consumption of the increasingly desired plant-based meat in its menu.

The American coffee giant has in fact introduced dishes made Beyond plant-based meat in its menu. With this move Beyond Meat takes the first step into one of the largest food markets in the world.

The new ‘GOOD GOOD’ menu launched at Starbucks in China, offers plant-based options that are better for people and the planet. The menu includes three Beyond Beef options, including:

• Beyond Beef Classic Lasagna
• Beyond Beef Pesto Pasta
• Beyond Beef Spicy & Sour Wrap

The new menu has been available in more than 3,300 Starbucks locations across China.

Starbucks’ new offerings also include dishes from plant-based pork alternative brand Omnipork and beverages with oat milk provided by Swedish brand Oatly.

Beyond Meat & Alibaba partnership to sell on the Chinese Freshippo supermarket chain

Alibaba is the latest big-time partner Beyond has won in China, a huge market that is seen as vital for the company’s growth.

The company on June 2020 announced an agreement to sell the company’s plant-based Beyond Burgers in 50 Shanghai-based Freshippo stores. The burgers will also be sold via the Freshippo mobile app.

Freshippo is a supermarket chain, also known by the Chinese name Hema, launched by Alibaba in 2016.

Beyond Meat and Freshippo share a vision of bringing innovative shopping experiences and products to Chinese customers.

• On his side, in fact, Freshippo has found a growing interest in vegetable meat among buyers and wants to profit from the growing phenomenon.
• While Beyond Meat sees this partnership as a way to increase brand and sales in the Chinese market. It’s also a big hit for Beyond Meat because none of its meatless rivals fighting for Chinese stomachs have entered grocery chains yet.

The company also plans to expand distribution to 48 additional Freshippo stores later this year in Beijing and Hangzhou.

Other Beyond Meat partnerships for the Chinese market

A few weeks after the company announced its deal with Starbucks to include pasta, lasagna, and meatless rolls on the menu. Beyond Meat has partnered to offer Beyond Burgers with some of the most popular fast-food chains in China.

It has now become possible to eat meatless pasta, lasagna, and wraps at KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.

Beyond also found a new agreement with a local food distributor, Sinodis, which will help the company supply restaurants and catering in China. Shares in the company recently increased after the disclosure of this deal.

Meanwhile, however, competition remains fierce for Beyond meat. While the fake meat trend is still taking shape in mainland China, Beyond clashes with other famous brands, including Impossible Foods, another Californian comer, which has signaled plans for its own launch in China.

1. What are the key drivers of consumer interest in plant-based meat in China?
   • This question aims to uncover the primary motivations behind the adoption of plant-based meats among Chinese consumers. Is it health consciousness, ethical concerns about animal welfare, environmental awareness, or simply curiosity and the influence of global trends? Understanding these drivers can help tailor marketing strategies and product offerings.
2. Who are the target demographics for plant-based meat products in China?
   • Identifying specific consumer segments that are more likely to adopt plant-based diets is crucial. Are younger generations more open to trying plant-based meat? Are there significant differences in preference between urban and rural consumers? Insights into demographics can guide product development, pricing strategies, and distribution channels.
3. What are the challenges and barriers to adoption of plant-based meats in China?
   • Potential obstacles might include taste preferences, cultural significance of traditional meat dishes, price sensitivity, lack of awareness, or distrust of new food technologies. Addressing these barriers effectively is key to increasing market penetration.
4. How does the regulatory environment in China impact the plant-based meat industry?
   • Understanding the regulatory framework governing food safety, labeling, advertising, and imports of plant-based meat products is essential. Are there specific certifications or regulations that must be met? How does the government view plant-based diets in terms of food security and sustainability?
5. What are the competitive dynamics within the plant-based meat sector in China?
   • This involves analyzing the existing market players, from startups to established food companies, and evaluating their market share, product range, and distribution strategies. Are international brands making significant inroads, or is the market dominated by local players? What strategies are competitors employing to capture consumer interest?

Exploring these questions will provide valuable insights into the plant-based meat market in China, enabling companies to craft informed strategies to capture and grow their market share in this emerging sector.

Why is Beyond Meat having so much success in the Chinese market?

Starting from the important demand for plant-based meat in China, Beyond meat has localized its marketing strategy by adapting to the demands of the Chinese market. It has in fact collaborated with chains already strongly present in the market such as Starbucks and Alibaba, going to fill a gap in the market.

The company also had the readiness to enter the Chinese digital world, given its importance, and now has active accounts on Wechat, Weibo, and even a Chinese website in order to reach Chinese consumers and increase brand awareness in the market.

You can also read our Strategic Guide to Export Food Brands in China

If you want to know how to enter the Chinese digital world and increase your sales, contact us. Gentlemen Marketing Agency is a Digital Marketing Agency that is an expert in helping foreign companies to establish or strengthen their position in China.

Read also:

• HOW TO ENTER INTO CHINA’S PLANT BASED MARKET?
• OATLY: ANOTHER SWEDISH SUCCESS STORY IN CHINA
• PLANT-BASED MILKS ARE HUGELY POPULAR IN CHINA

The Chinese pet health market is experiencing significant growth, driven by rising pet ownership and increasing spending on pet care among the growing middle class in big cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen , etc.

As this market continues to expand, it presents a multitude of opportunities for brands looking to enter or enhance their presence in the sector. Brands should consider “marketing” when strategizing for success in China’s multi-billion-dollar pet health market

Pet health market growth in China

According to the market research made by Frost & Sullivan, the pet industry, which includes food, medical, grooming, and general products, is expected to reach RMB472.3 billion ($66.8 billion) in China by 2023. According to datamintelligence.com, The China Animal Health Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6 – 7% during the period 2020-2027. The Chinese pet health market is growing, mainly due to the following factors:

• Demographic trends and changing perceptions of pet ownership
• the rising popularity of pet ownership
• the willingness of owners to increase spending on their pet’s health
• the introduction of healthcare innovations

Chinese pet owners are becoming increasingly aware of their pets’ health and nutrition and are also looking for veterinary services. This, in turn, is creating a growing demand for diversified forms of pet health care products.

Pet health products , what is popular in China in 2024

The products of the pet health market mainly include:

• medicines
• anti-infectives
• medicinal feed additives
• vaccines
• parasiticides

The vaccine segment is expected to have the next highest market share as it strengthens the immune system against disease-causing pathogens. Indeed, growing cases of health problems in pets have resulted in the need for vaccinations against multiple diseases. Owners are increasingly concerned about the safety of their pets and are now opting for preventative vaccines in advance.

China Pet Health Industry Segmentation by animals

The pet Health market is segmented by animals into cats, dogs, equine, fishes, and others, in any case, the market is dominated by dogs and cats.

Anyway, the Chinese pet economy is still in its infancy, and there is still significant potential for greater pet ownership in the country. This can be inferred from the fact that in 2018, 100 million households, or 22% of total households, in the country owned a pet, which is far less than the United States, where 67% of families owned pets.

Who’s driving the Pet health market in China?

Chinese millennials are the driving force behind this market. Young Millennials under the age of 30 accounted for 45.2% of the total pet owners in China in 2019, while Millennials aged 30 to 40 made up 29.5% of the pet owner population.

This younger demography drives the growing demand for online resources. This is especially evident given the popularity of apps and forums for pets in China.

Unlike their older generation counterparts who seek a simple company, Millennials take care of their pets. They see animal welfare as a top priority and are also willing to spend money on products to ensure they are well-fed and healthy.

International Brands are the first healthy choice for Chinese pets owner

Pet owners in China are among the most experienced digitalization buyers in the world. Almost 90% purchased pet products online, with many often turning to cross-border e-commerce platforms to find premium and high-quality imports that are not yet widely available offline in China.

As an increasing number of consumers in China try to offer the best to their pets, this market represents a significant growth track for international brands that go beyond the essential elements for establishing trends.

These international players are dominating the market currently with their product development strategies and extensive experience in the production of pet products. Therefore, Chinese consumers are more willing to trust and buy products from these brands. This is especially true in health products.

This vision helps foreign brands to enter the market as there is an opportunity to emphasize their experience, reliability, and knowledge.

Who are the main players of the Chinese pet health industry?

The China pet health market is fragmented with the presence of multiple local and international players. More than 40% of the China pet health market is attributed to the top five players:

1. Boehringer Ingelheim
2. Zoetis
3. Bayer Healthcare
4. MSD Animal Health (Merck)
5. Virbac

Others include China Animal Husbandry Co. Ltd, Dachang, Elanco Animal Health, Vetoquinol SA, and joint ventures like Meili Omni-Honesty (Boehringer Ingelheim and Beijing KangMu Omni-Honesty Animal Health Products Co. Ltd.)

E-commerce is the dominant force in the pet health market in China

E-commerce remained the most important distribution channel for pet health products. The younger generation tends to be more computer savvy and prefers to order pet products online as it is more convenient.

For example, during the recent 618 Tmall shopping festival, pet health products have seen a purchase growth of +208%, and pet food a purchase growth of +634%.

How to promote your pet health products in China?

Brands that want to enter the Chinese market should understand that Chinese consumers don’t buy products they don’t know, therefore branding in China is essential to reach consumers and sell your products. In China, when you want to buy a product, people rely on people who have already tried that product, friends, reviews on social networks, and especially the reviews of their idols.

Therefore, a good digital marketing campaign is essential to allow your brand to enter the Chinese market. With over 800 million Internet users today and a vibrant social media scene, well thought out digital marketing in Chinese strategy is essential.

The solution for a successful digital marketing campaign is to adapt your strategy to the market. Copying a strategy that works in your country might be risky because tradition and culture are of primary importance for the Chinese and it is a good move for brands to refer to the Chinese.

Therefore, you should localize your content and promote your products on Chinese channels like the Chinese search engine Baidu, Chinese social networks like WeChat and Weibo, Chinese forums, and Q&A platforms, and then sell your products on Chinese e-commerce platforms.

Use Baidu to get visibility in the Chinese market

When the Chinese need to search for information or check something: they use Baidu. Baidu is the most powerful search engine in China, the most used. Have you ever heard of this Chinese expression: “Baidu yi xia ba” (the equivalent of “google it”)?

The first step of your digital marketing campaign is to get visibility on Baidu. How to do so?

BAIDU SEO

A brand should create a Chinese website, hosted in China and get an ICP license because Baidu knows only Mandarin and gives priority to websites hosted in China, so they are extremely important for your SEO ranking.

If you want to break into the Chinese market, Baidu SEO is a must step and a must-have. However, Baidu is really different from Google, if you want to know more, you can contact us.

In addition, Baidu Zhidao, Baidu Baike, and Baidu Tieba are part of the Baidu ecosystem and they are excellent at driving traffic to your website obviously since they belong to Baidu, they tend to rank higher.

BAIDU SEM

Baidu PPC is a great tool to use as the first step in your global marketing strategy. It gives you some credibility, if you can make Baidu ads, it means you are a real brand and also bring your first visitors to your website. In a second step, it will work great combined with a good SEO strategy. Both channels will support each other in a sustainable way.

Baidu ads will be full of challenges from the moment you register. It can take several months but once you’ve set up a good routine with your ads, it is a great tool a complete the rest of your marketing effort.

Chinese social networks a great option to promote pet-related product

Social media in China are the best place to work on your branding and therefore to get visibility on the Chinese market. Choosing the right social media to reach your goal is the most important step of your journey, however, there are so many it can be tricky. However, GMA can help you to find the right one for your brand and products.

Word of mouth and big communities are at the heart of the Chinese internet and a brand should not underestimate their functionalities. In addition, the majority of social media in China are social eCommerce, it means that they use UGC and their communities to sell. A brand can promote and sell products directly in the same app, using one of these platforms can be an alternative to Tmall and JD, cheaper, and offers tools to build your e-reputation.

Work on your E-reputation with Wechat: Necessary for your Pets Brand

WeChat is the app on which the Chinese spend most of their time, with over a billion active users and more than one million transactions per minute, WeChat is an aggregator of features that allow the user a true omnichannel experience.

It is thus the best way to offer your brand visibility and create a community that will follow you. In addition, WeChat mini-programs, “mini-apps” built into the WeChat app itself, concern all types of services: sales, e-commerce, and government services.

Weibo the perfect place for buzz marketing

With 520 million monthly active users, Weibo is the second most used social network in China, presenting itself as a micro-blogging platform.

Weibo has been around since 2007 and is part of Chinese netizens’ social media routine. It might not be as popular as it was once, but good commercial content on Weibo can be a lot more impactful than on Wechat.

With Weibo, it is easy to share and get viral. It is an open social media, everyone can see everything and comments everywhere which encourages people to comments and engage between them and with a brand.

After registering on Weibo as a business, it is necessary that you get it verified. It will give you access to more tools and give you more credibility with your followers.

On Weibo is crucial to keep in touch with your followers by answering questions, giving suggestions but also by keeping your Weibo page alive by posting good content, easy to consume, and easy to share.

Press release & Pet-related Forums

PR is a marketing tool that excludes Paid ads. It consists of having an authority profile talking about your company. It can be media (newspapers, blogs..), KOLs, or even the community.

Let People talk about your brand increasing brand awareness among Chinese people. KOLs and communities are powerful and widely listen to the Chinese internet.

The most known Chinese forums for pet products are Smellme, Yourpet, Liuliu, Boqii, and Fdog.

The Chinese Q&A platform Zhihu

Zhihu is a Chinese Q&A platform launched in 2011, it is similar in the west to Quora and Yahoo answers. It has never stopped growing and evolving to suit its users. The platforms have developed many tools such as Zhihu Class which are a kind of ted talk.

To be present on Zhihu will allow you to answer questions about your field but also to educate your target audience about your brands/products in an undercover way. It is an excellent tool to increase your conversion rate and to increase brand awareness.

The platform has an array of features that can be used to create and manage a community around a topic related to your brand. Use these tools to engage with your audience and exchange information with them but also to build your authority.

Chinese e-commerce platforms

In China more than everywhere else the reputation of a brand is what will make the difference. Chinese consumers do trust new brands and are not risk-takers, resulting in a very low conversion rate. E-reputation should be the basis of your marketing strategy when doing e-commerce in China.

The most known e-commerce platforms, which sell all kinds of products, included pet health products, are: Tmall, Suning, Kaola, and JD.com.

Tmall

Tmall is the biggest B2C (business-to-consumer) platform in China. Tmall was launched by Alibaba group in 2010 and since its creation is the number one online sales platform in the Asian giant. Tmall is a general marketplace and offers consumers all kinds of products from over 100,000 brands.

Tmall global

Tmall Global, Tmall cross-border e-commerce version, allows international businesses with no physical presence in mainland China to set up an online store on the platform.

Tmall Global allows companies to avoid certain procedures such as:

• to have a physical store or a warehouse
• to be registered with the Chinese authorities
• to have a Chinese business license

JD.com

JD.com(京东Jīngdōng) is a Chinese e-commerce company headquartered in Beijing. It is the second B2C online retailer in China after Alibaba’s Tmall. It is partly owned by Tencent, which has a 20% stake in the company.

The company, founded by Liu Qiangdong in 1998, started as an online magneto-optical store, but soon diversified, selling electronics, mobile phones, computers, and similar items.

Today, JD.com is an eCommerce platform that boasts an incredibly wide range of products that includes categories such as cosmetics, fresh food, clothing, and much more. JD.com dominates above all the electronic products and fresh food market.

The fastest-growing products in terms of sales are cosmetics, food, and electronic products. It offers millions of different items of thousands of brands from more than 170,000 retailers.

JD worldwide

JD Worldwide, the multilingual cross-border global sales platform similar to Tmall Global, allows merchants to sell directly to Chinese consumers despite not having a physical presence in China.

JD Worldwide operates as a large online shopping center that houses showcases of foreign brands and several national and regional pavilions that collect the excellence of the various countries.

With cross-border e-commerce, foreign products can be sold in China without having to face the long and complex authorization procedure with the competent local authorities, which is mandatory for export and sale through traditional channels.

JD VS TMALL

Once registered on Tmall, the supplier can take care of his “store”. It must manage:

• the promotion of its brand
• the delivery of its goods
• the management of customer service etc.

So this option is similar to having your own website. However, you benefit from the Tmall interface. This will give you visibility and credibility with Chinese consumers.

JD, on the other hand, would be seen as a simple store offering a lot of products, as JD takes care of everything. So this option is very convenient! Because once your products are exchanged with JD, your role ends there. JD will buy the product in bulk and take care of the remaining tasks.

To choose between the two platforms, it is necessary to know what degree of responsibility you want to have on your goods and what degree of control you wish to keep on the e-commerce interface.

Suning

Suning.com is an e-commerce platform that ranks among the top three Chinese B2C companies. The operation categories include all kinds of products from home appliances, books, household commodities, to cosmetics, baby care products, pet health products.

Kaola

Kaola is a cross-border e-commerce platform, part of the NetEase group (group listed on NASDAQ).

The platform provides online sales of various imported products via cross-border e-commerce. The products range from cosmetics to food supplements and pet health products.

All foreign products on the platform are managed and purchased directly from local suppliers through various factories around the world. The goods are shipped directly from the country of origin and stored in the customs warehouses in China under the control and surveillance of the customs office and the CIQ (China exit-entry Inspection & Quarantine Bureau) or the office that inspects and monitors the incoming and outgoing products that pass through the Chinese border.

Kaola signed an agreement with the Chinese customs office to implement a traceability system to allow consumers to more easily trace the origin of the product by scanning the QR code.

Kaola also offers various promotions including daily offers, member offers, special coupons, and more, which attract many Chinese consumers looking for foreign goods and affordable prices.

Distribution in China

1. What are the primary drivers-distributors of growth in the Chinese pet health market?
   • Understanding what factors are propelling the market forward is crucial. Is the growth driven more by an increase in pet ownership, higher disposable incomes, a growing awareness of pet health needs, or cultural shifts regarding pet care
   • Identifying these distributors can help tailor marketing and product development strategies.
2. What specific pet health products and services are in highest demand among Chinese pet owners?
   • Are consumers looking for premium pet food, supplements, grooming services, or health-related products such as flea and tick control, dental care, or specific therapeutic products.
   • Knowing which products and services are most sought after can help brands prioritize their offerings and marketing efforts.
3. How can brands effectively navigate the regulatory environment for pet health products in China?
   • The regulatory landscape in China can be complex, especially for new entrants. What are the necessary approvals and certifications needed to sell pet health products in China? You need an agency for that
   • Understanding these regulations is essential to ensure compliance and smooth market entry.
4. What are the most effective channels for reaching pet owners in China?
   • Identifying the most impactful sales and marketing channels is key. Should the focus be on online platforms like, Douyin(Tiktok) Tmall or JD.com, which dominate the e-commerce landscape, or are there opportunities in brick-and-mortar pet stores or veterinary clinics?
   • Additionally, significant roles social media platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, or Douyin for marketing and community engagement
5. How do cultural attitudes toward pets and pet care impact the marketing and sales strategies in China?
   • Cultural perceptions of pets can vary significantly in China, with some viewing pets as family members while others may have a more utilitarian perspective. Question for brand owner… how do these cultural attitudes influence consumer behavior regarding pet health, and how should they shape the messaging and branding strategies of companies in this sector?

Do you want to know more about How to use Chinese channels to boost sales? Contact GMA a digital marketing agency, specialized in the Chinese digital market.

This guide is your shortcut for understanding what the Chinese consumer really wants, and using strategies that works in 2024 Chinese F&B Market.

Ready to make your bottled water brand a household name in China? Let’s dive in and explore how you can turn these insights into your next big win.

Quick Summary

• Rapid Market Growth: China’s bottled water market has been growing at an average rate of 9.5% annually, driven by economic development, higher incomes, and an improved living environment. The market reached a value of $32.6 billion, making it highly competitive.
• Consumer Preferences: The majority of the Chinese population prefers bottled water over tap water due to concerns about pollution and health. This preference has led to China surpassing the United States as the world’s largest bottled water market in terms of sales volume.
• Market Segmentation: The bottled water market in China is primarily divided into three segments: mineral water (91% market share), sparkling water (7%), and flavored water (2%). Mineral water is the most consumed, while sparkling water is the fastest-growing segment.
• Purchasing Channels: Despite the rise of e-commerce, most Chinese consumers still purchase bottled water offline, in supermarkets or commercial centers. However, online sales are expected to increase, with projections indicating that 9.6% of bottled water will be purchased online by 2023.
• Competitive Landscape: The market is dominated by domestic brands, with Nongfu Spring leading with over 26% market share. International brands are also making inroads by partnering with domestic players and are often perceived as premium options.
• Marketing Strategies: Successful marketing and communication strategies focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle and leveraging digital channels. Social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo are crucial for engaging with consumers and building brand awareness.
• Challenges and Opportunities: Foreign brands face challenges such as cultural differences, distribution channels, and local regulations. However, there are significant opportunities due to the growing health consciousness among consumers and the demand for high-quality bottled water.

The Bottled Water Industry in China

Bottled water is popular in China as it has a variety of benefits, including being free from bacteria and other harmful substances that may be found in tap water. In recent years, bottled water sales have increased due to the growing awareness of quality drinking water. If you go to China one day, the majority of the Chinese population will say that they never drink tap water as it is too polluted and harmful for their health. With a growth of 5% over the past decade and over 9% annually by 2021, this phenomenon is not going to end soon.

Surpassing America in 2013, China is now the world’s biggest bottled water market in terms of sales volume, reaching 208 billion RMB ($32.6 billion) in 2019, with a yearly increase of 9.5%. According to The Economist, China has experienced an increase from 19 billion to 37 billion liters of bottled water between 2010 and 2015.

Moreover, according to Statista, China was forecast to grab 20% of the world’s market in terms of bottled water consumption.

Therefore, it is also estimated that by 2025, 18% of spending and 9% of volume consumption in the bottled water segment will come from out-of-home consumption (in bars and restaurants for example).

Why is bottled water this popular in China?

With revenues that have skyrocketed in just twenty years, Chinese consumers’ shift in consumption has greatly contributed to this phenomenon. The penetration of bottled water in China now stands at a rate of 15%, the market is still a great opportunity for players who wish to expand their activities overseas.

The three main reasons of bottled water’s sucess in China

• Water pollution & food and beverage scandals

Water pollution played an important role in the growth of the market. Indeed, although the Chinese government reassures individuals about the quality of water in the largest cities, residents are still reluctant to drink tap water. Therefore, they prefer to buy bottled water which is considered of higher quality and more secure in terms of health.

• The emergence of the Chinese middle class

The emergence of the Chinese middle class has contributed to the growth of the market with an increase in wages, but also by its changes in expectations and consumption behaviors. They are now ready to spend a few more yuans in order to buy qualitative water.

• The benefits of water

China’s general health awareness has enabled the market to grow rapidly and to become a prominent player in the beverage market, health interest is growing rapidly in China and the benefits of mineral water are increasingly appreciated by individuals.

There are Three Leading Segments in the Chinese Market

Mineral water: It represents 91% of the bottled water market share. Mineral water is the most consumed type of water, from children to elderly people, Chinese consumers are reassured about it.

Sparkling water: even though it has only 7% of the market share, it’s the best growing sector in recent years. For example, one of the most popular sparkling water in China is Genki Forest.

Flavored water : 2% of the bottled water market share, however this segment is expected to grow in the future. For the moment, Chinese consumers will prefer to buy juice or soda, instead of flavored water.

Where are Chinese consumers purchasing their bottled water?

Even though Chinese consumers are spending much more time on e-commerce platforms, the majority of them are still purchasing their bottled water offline, in commercial centers or supermarkets for example.

However, it is also important to take into account that online sales are increasing over the years, and it is expected that 9.6% of bottled water will be purchased online by 2023.

China’s Competitive Water Market Landscape

The market-leading brands account for more than half of the total market in China and the industry is largely dominated by domestic players. The leading company in the market is Yangshengtang Co. Ltd. with Nongfu Spring (农夫山泉), followed by China Resources Enterprise Ltd, and its bottled water brand called Cestbon.

China is also attracting more and more international brands such as Coca-Cola, Danone, and Nestlé, which, in order to integrate the market, have joined forces with domestic players to develop their activities. In general, foreign brands are considered premium water, which attracts even more Chinese consumers.

As a matter of fact, urbanization has pushed people to reconsider their consumption and to aspire to have a better quality of products. Foreign brands are generally perceived as a guarantee of quality in many fields in China, as a result of increasing health awareness. Moreover, China had quite some scandals in terms of food and beverages (milk formula scandal in 2008, Nongspring polluted water a few years ago, etc.) which explains why they tend to rely on foreign brands.

What are the most popular bottled water brands in China?

In terms of bottled water, the Chinese market is indeed dominated by a few brands that have been able to gain Chinese consumer’s trust.

As of 2018, Nongfu Spring had a market share of over 26%, while its closest competitor C’estbon had 21.3% of the market share, followed by Ganten and its 10.1%.

However, even though the market was for a long time dominated by domestic brands, multinational beverage corporations, such as the brand Ice Dew (owned by Coca-Cola) were also able to grab a part of the Chinese market.

What are the challenges for brands in the Chinese water market?

Marketing and communication are playing a prominent role in the success of a brand. In the bottled water market, marketing campaigns have allowed the industry vehicle a picture of trendy and healthy products, advocating a ‘Healthy Lifestyle’.

Individual concerns about the risks of water contamination are a real opportunity for international brands. Indeed, many brands are pointing out the fact that they are eco-responsible, aware of their environmental impact, etc. Thanks to this kind of campaign, Chinese consumers perceive water as a healthier alternative to juice and other beverages.

Many of you might be wondering how to attract Chinese consumers? In fact, the design of your bottle is also a key factor of success. The more attractive your bottle will be, the more people will look at it and potentially buy it.

Promoting its brand in China requires understanding the market’s structure and the environment in which it operates. Many foreign companies have failed in China because they wanted to impose their Western strategy on the market or habits and environment that are hardly transposable in China.

Water brand should bet on digital channels to develop their reputation in China

The impact that social networks have on individuals is tremendous, and brands should seize this opportunity in order to conquer the Chinese market. With more than 989 million Internet users, China is one of the most digitalized countries in the world.

Internet users have the opportunity, through these applications, to be part of different communities, groups, follow the news, follow their favorite brands, buy online and share content. WeChat and Weibo are the two main media you will have to focus on in order to promote your bottled water brand in China.

Social media in China

Social networks have the advantage to interact directly with your followers and potential clients. It allows a sort of proximity with your Chinese consumers. Sharing content is also a way to gain visibility and satisfy the curiosity of users.

Explaining to consumers the benefits of your brand and your products through social media is a good way to gain popularity as well as to develop your brand awareness.

WeChat

As the most popular social media in China, WeChat has more than 1.2 billion users. Thus, if you want to sell your bottled water in China, WeChat is a powerful tool to develop your online presence as well as develop your business in China. You’ll be able to reach a wide audience, by posting content, replying to consumers, post pictures, etc. Moreover, you’ll be able to create H5 brochure, which is highly appreciated by Chinese consumers.

You can also partner with KOLs to promote your brand as they have a lot of followers that are ready to purchase the same things as them.

Increase and optimize your visibility with your Chinese website

Being visible online is a necessity if you want to develop your visibility among Chinese consumers. To adapt to the requirements of the Chinese market, you’ll have to create a Chinese website, with the “.cn”. As mentioned earlier, Chinese consumers are doing a lot of research about brands that they are not familiar with. Thus, your website is the showcase for your company and your products: the visuals and information that will be published will have to be of high quality in order to attract the interest of your potential consumers.

To increase your visibility, hosting your website in China seems one of the optimal solutions to appear in the best search results of the search engine leader in China: Baidu.

Search engine optimization is the basis to understand and adapt to consumers’ behavior, as 70% of them will use Baidu to search online.

E-commerce in China: A big step to increase your sales

China is the world’s largest e-commerce market. Chinese customers like to purchase their products online, as there are more than 989 million internet users. In 2022, B2C e-commerce sales are expected to surpass 956 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. Actually, in China, we have a lot of e-commerce platform but the most popular is Tmall, JD.Com, Taobao and so on. If you want to increase your sales or become more visible online, you have to set up a Tmall store or JD.com Store. If you want more information, you can contact us directly.

The Balance Case Study: Australian Water

Balance is an Australian water brand focusing on the health benefits of the local flora. The water brand infused in subtle ways indigenous plants so that the taste of the water. The brand is growing quickly around the world and they chose GMA to promote their water in China. Their product is a great product, especially for China that has been hurt by many scandals and where tap water can not be consumed. It is also a great market because more and more people are paying more attention to their health and are ready to spend money on qualitative products.

However, having a great product and selling in China are two different things and that is why Balance Australian Water needed-us to promote its products to Chinese distributors and Chinese consumers. The main challenge for Balance Australian Water is that Chinese distributors are not looking for products but for a brand since it is easier to sell. Therefore, marketing the brand to the public has double benefits: Get a wider coverage of your water brand in the general public and the interest of Chinese distributors. In order to promote the brand, we have to work on e-reputation and visibility.

Our first step was to create Balance Australian Water a presence on Social Media: Wechat and Weibo and make sure they rank on Baidu with tools such as PR, Q&A, a Baike Account etc

Results

•  + 8000 Followers on Wechat
• Wechat H5 shared in +200 groups
• 5 keywords ranked on Baidu 1st page
• Weibo +200% Views
• Weibo +20k followers
• 5PR /month
• Exhibition with PR on 30 media Outlets
• Co-Branding with multiples Brands/Coffee shop (ex: Oatly)

Gentlemen Marketing Agency to Help you Sell your Bottled Water in China

Our agency is born out of our passion for the web, digital marketing, and business in China. Located in Shanghai, Gentlemen Marketing Agency is positioned and focused on the Chinese Market (Food & Beverage )

With our experience in many different industries, we understand the issues and opportunities foreign brands have to face when entering the Chinese market. We can help you achieve your goal and get started in the Chinese market, as well as help you use the right techniques to take care of your Chinese customers.

New: We have a New Solution to Connect with 80 000 distributors in China. (It is for medium & Large Brands)

Contact us to get this Solution.

Read also:

• Honey market in china: great opportunity
• Sell Water in China

You can also read our Strategic Guide to Export Food Brands in China

Food in China is a huge market, and in our F&B export guide we went into great details as why that is the case.

But why is it so difficult for foreign companies to start doing business there? And once they do, be profitable?

In this guide to F&B Marketing in China, we’ll go through the advertising best practices and insight you need. And (shameless plug), why it would be much easier for you with GMA at your side!

Quick Summary

• Expanding Middle Class: China’s middle class is rapidly growing, with an expected increase in spending to $6 trillion by 2020, offering significant opportunities for international F&B brands.
• Health and Wellness Focus: There is a strong trend towards health and wellness in China, with consumers increasingly drawn to natural, healthy food products and willing to pay a premium for them.
• Safety Concerns Drive Preferences: Due to past food scandals, Chinese consumers highly value food safety, with a majority preferring products without additives and focusing on calorie content.
• Rising Popularity of Organic Food: Organic and green food products are gaining traction, especially among families with children and middle to high-income groups.
• Functional Drinks and Trendy Snacks: Functional drinks for fitness enthusiasts and trendy snacks like kale chips are becoming popular, indicating a shift in consumer preferences towards healthier options.
• Vitamins and Supplements Mainstream: Improved living standards have led to an increased consumption of vitamins and supplements as part of the daily diet.
• Fresh Produce Demand: There is a high demand for fresh food, with consumers preferring products that are safe from hormones and chemicals.
• E-Commerce Growth: E-commerce is growing rapidly in China, with consumers preferring online shopping for its convenience. This trend is reshaping how F&B products are marketed and sold.
• Digital Marketing Strategy: A strong digital marketing strategy is crucial for success in China, focusing on social media engagement, e-reputation, and brand visibility on Chinese digital platforms.
• Cultural Sensitivity in Branding: Understanding local culture and consumer behavior is key. Brands need to adapt their marketing strategies to resonate with Chinese consumers.

Introduction to China Food Industry

China is known for a buoyant opportunity for International food companies at this moment in time. International companies are trying to break into the Chinese market not merely due to its unstoppable economic growth or for its inexpensive labor but rather for the increased purchasing power of its consumer market. China’s fast-expanding middle class is expected to triple its spending over the coming years, reaching $6 trillion by 2020. Multinational companies cannot afford to ignore the Chinese market, rather they are coming up with viable marketing solutions to target the second biggest consumer market in the world.

Bigger middle class = Growth of Chinese food Industry

The growing middle-upper class has been spending on health and wellness tremendously over the last decade. The market is expected to reach nearly $70 billion by 2020, as a result of both rising incomes and awareness about wholesome living.

Chinese urbanites are increasingly drawn towards “all-natural,” edible products, they are keen on checking details on food labels and as a result, they are willing to pay a premium for healthy food. The country is already the world’s most health-conscious, according to a 2017 BCG survey. This has created tremendous investment opportunities for foreign investors in the food business in China, especially for the ones involved with organic and health food products.

China Food Industry Trends

For a long time, China has been under food scandal highlights. Now that Chinese consumers are more aware of healthy eating habits and have high purchasing power they are ready to pay for foreign-produced healthy, save food products to steer themselves away from domestic food safety issues.

Chinese Consumers Pay for Safety

According to Food and Beverages Consumer Insight in China survey, 86% of consumers from tier 1 and tier 2 cites consider food safety before buying the food. Chinese consumers are very cautious about the food products they use, it doesn’t take long for them to stop using a product if a food brand has been under safety incidents. According to a survey by Ipsos, up to 90% of Chinese consumers prefer edibles without any food additives. As part of wholesome living more than half of the Chinese population strictly watch their weight and like to consume food with fewer calories.

Natural & healthy food Segment growing in popularity with Chinese Consumers

Food brands that cater to segments such as; no artificial additives, organic ingredients, low calorie, and slimming effects have huge potential in the Chinese food market.

“If you were born in the 80s and live in a first- to the third-tier Chinese city, chances are you’re into healthy living,” s

ays Tian Tian Mayimin, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based V Cleanse, one of China’s first cleanses companies.

Trust is Really important in China especially in the Food industry

Trendy Food in China

Chinese consumers are developing and adopting healthy, fast, nutritious, and safe food items. They are opting for foods that favor their lifestyle. Purposeful eating is more of a trend in prime Chinese cities Shanghai and Beijing consumers opt for detox and cleansing juices. This trend has given a major opportunity to health food companies to sprout over the last few years. According to new research from Mintel on plant protein drinks (PPD) in the country, nearly nine in ten (87%) Chinese consumers now drink plant-based prepared drinks, it can be soybean drinks, juices, or grain drinks. According to reports consumption of coconut water, has grown by 30 percent over the last year, due to its beneficial properties.

Organic Food: a non negligeable segment of china F&B market

Usually, 30% of people living in 1st and 2nd tier cities purchase organically produced food. Chinese families with children also prefer to buy organic or green food. High and middle-income families are more willing to spend their money on organic food. Many people in China are still reluctant to buy organic food as the biggest impediment is the trust factor and it is hard to distinguish from counterfeit products. Other people find organic products expensive and inconvenient to buy.

Functional Drinks in China

Running and fitness sports are gaining popularity among Chinese consumers. This trend has given an immense boost to sales of functional drinks in first and second-tier cities of China. Chinese customers prefer having a functional drink to keep themselves hydrated during sports activities.

Flavor Snacks Trendy in China

Chinese consumers prefer to have a snack during the afternoon as a meal replacement food. This helps them to keep fit and intake fewer calories. According to a survey, Chinese professionals prefer snacks during lunchtime, which also helps them to have a quick snack on a tight schedule day.

Read: Snacks in China

Vitamins & Supplements in China are now Mainstream

With improved living standards in Chinese cities and rising belief that vitamins contribute to better health, Chinese urbanites are taking vitamins as part of their daily diet. This has generated greater demand for nutritional supplements in recent years. The demand has attracted foreign nutritional supplement manufacturers from around the world seizing the opportunity provided by this trend.

China Vitamin Market

Fresh Produce

In China, fresh food is high in demand witnessing the sector grew up to 59.7% in 2017 with 139.1 billion yuan revenue (22.1 billion USD). Chinese consumers prefer fresh foods which fall under the all-natural category, safe from any hormones or chemicals. The most popular fresh products are fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk, meat, honey, and nuts.

The Fresh Food online demand is booming, and the Etailer JD.com offers special fresh products on its website with online recipes to push the purchases of fresh vegetables, meat & Seafood, and fruits, and also make the buzz by opening its first fresh-food (off-line) supermarket 7FRESH where consumers can either buy locally or order via an App. Alibaba is dynamic in this segment too with the creation of the Hema hypermarket, with the ambition to open 35 stores in China. Hema provides customers a dining area to “eat as you shop”

Seafood in China

With rising incomes and awareness regarding making better, healthier eating habits, Chinese nationals are including seafood in their diet more than ever. The choice ranges from salmon to abalones, to shellfish, and shark fin, etc. China now accounts for one-quarter of the world’s seafood consumption, and the United Nation’s FAO projects China will need an extra 16 million metric tonnes of seafood by 2020 to meet growing demand.

Example of Seafood on Chinese E-Commerce Plateform Tmall 

Packaged healthy foods

The health and wellness trend is expected to increase the value growth of naturally healthy packaged food. This will be driven by increasing household incomes and rising education levels, as well as health consciousness. Naturally healthy packaged food is one of the main categories in the health and wellness market, which is expected to be a key growth driver as consumers seek more nutritious food to become healthier. Consumers strongly believe in the benefits associated with naturally healthy packaged food.

For example, there is a rising demand among consumers to have salads with virgin olive oil, as they perceive olive oil to be healthier than other types of oils, such as traditional oil.

Trendy Snacks

Chinese consumers, especially young people, are interested in food trends.  Trendy snacks like kale chips and superfoods items. More often, trendy snacks are not available in local Chinese snack shops. China is the 2nd largest savory snack market in the world (market size of US$10 Billion in 2016 with an overall volume of + 1 Billion kg).  With an estimated growth of 11%, it is the most dynamic market in the world. China’s new trend is the imported snack that is gaining popularity among Modern young Chinese consumers, 42% of urban Chinese are interested in buying imported snack products they’ve never tried before. In China, you can find a variety of new Imported Stores that are specialized in selling imported Food.

An example of Chinese Influencers introducing to her Communities Thai Snacks

Fruit Juice

Consumers in China have become extremely fond of fruit juices. Fruit juices can be classified into two categories; FC and NFC juice, and the nutrition value and flavor of the two types are different. NFC is the abbreviation of Not From Concentrate, indicating that it contains almost the same nutrition and flavor from fruit but has a higher storage cost since it deteriorates more quickly as compared to FC, which consists of other ingredients like water that makes the juice less in nutritional value. Chinese consumers prefer healthy fruit juices over carbonated drinks and the emphasis is rising after learning the health benefits of fresh fruit juices.

A quite popular ECommerce website http://www.happyligo.com

Wine

China is the second-largest market for wine in the world. Investors or business leaders cannot ignore this opportunity of increasing the influence of customers. There are 48 million regular wine drinkers in China and these individuals belong to the upper-middle-class sector of the population. This, group, has more disposable income compared to others. Therefore, despite the higher prices, they choose to purchase and drink imported wines from International brands rather than drinking local Chinese brands.

Chinese are very sensitive to Wine Brands and are afraid of unknown Wine, due to too many scandals of fake French Wine.

Sell Wine in China

Baby Food

China is the world’s largest market for infant milk formula, and consumers have been extremely quality conscious since the 2008 safety scandal. Other than milk now Chinese parents opt for international baby food brands that use organic and all-natural ingredients to manufacture baby food. With 18 million new births in 2016, the baby population in China is growing even further at an accelerating rate in 2017, this means there is greater demand for baby food in China.

Baby Food is always a Top Market for E-Commerce Giants in China. Example: https://baby.tmall.com

Household consumption: FMCG Edible Items

China’s consumption habits are shifting and now consumers are making safe and informed choices when it comes to packed edible items. Growing demand has also been noticed in foreign brands FMCG. Packaged food includes; biscuits, chocolate, instant noodles, candy, chewing gum and infant formula, milk, yogurt, juice, beer, ready-to-drink (RTD) tea, carbonated soft drinks (CSD), and packaged water, these items contribute to 80% of China’s FMCG purchases.

Consumers prefer to buy beer in convenience stores and grocery stores in Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities. The rise in demand is also accredited to convenient E-commerce channels, growing by more than 52.0%.

Non-Household consumption: Hotel, Restaurant, Bar

Chinese now prefer to eat out or order food delivery, instead of cooking meals in their kitchens. According to the latest research,  food purchased for home cooking grew by an annual 3% from 2013 to 2016 whereas, food delivery rose by 44% and a 10% increase was noted in dining out. Futuristic brands are already benefiting from this trend. For example, the foodservice divisions at Unilever and Fonterra that sell ingredients to restaurants are achieving double-digit growth. Private equity brands have targeted online-to-offline (O2O) food delivery platforms such as Ele.me and Meituan, a segment of the food delivery market that has grown by 40% to 50% annually since 2013 and is expected to continue to grow along with Chinese consumers’ increasing appetite for convenience and for quality food and beverages. The popularity of products like cheese and pizza was signifying that consumers are becoming more adventurous and increasingly have a fondness for Western-style products when they are eating out or delivering food. This is a good sign for direct-to-consumer food sales too. As ingredients and dishes become more common outside the home, it’s more likely the Chinese consumer will try, become familiar with, and eventually buy for in-home consumption.

E-commerce consumption +52%

The e-commerce channel has continued to skyrocket, growing by more than 52% in value. Chinese consumers are also faster at adapting to e-commerce and social media.

source: Statista

E-Commerce is more utilized in China than in other markets, this is mainly due to the nation’s strong digital infrastructure. Chinese consumers prefer to buy products online more for convenience than price. Chinese customers are extremely tech-savvy and use mobile technology to increase their functionality. Consumers in China appreciate new technologies and show the early adoption of new products.

To reap the benefits of strong e-commerce platforms, foreign brands are advised to lay in competing for the Right digital marketing strategy to create awareness about their services and products that seamlessly connect online and offline elements. At every step of the purchasing pathway, consumers need to be kept entertained and engaged. In China, if a service is appreciated people like to chat about it and automatically customers are transformed to brand loyalists who further talk about your service and brand among their friends and family.

Alibaba’s Hema

The biggest e-commerce company in China, Alibaba, has introduced a growing chain of cashless supermarkets unlike anything in the US. The chain store is called Hema and seeing the popularity among Chinese consumers Alibaba plans to double its locations in China to nearly 60 this year.

Shoppers use their phones to pay for food at Hema, much like at Amazon’s new cashless stores, Amazon Go.

In addition to that, Hema has two other services: on-site chefs offer to cook shoppers’ groceries on-demand, and there is a courier service that can deliver online orders within 30 minutes. This is a new concept that gained instant popularity in China, seems like Chinese consumers like some entertaining action.

Marketing Strategy for Food Brands in China

China’s economy is flourishing, and the growth of China is probably one of the best stories of the time. Companies that build a detailed digital marketing strategy and focus on the evolving trends and further address these trends and learn how consumption is driven by new shopping behaviors, preferences, and habits will be forerunners in a market worth trillions of dollars.

Marketing to Distributors

China is a completely different market than elsewhere in the world. If foreign brands can not find quality distributors then it gets difficult to gain a return on investment. Local Chinese distributors are very picky in the Chinese market and they also maintain a reputation therefore firstly, to get noticed by them and get chosen by them is close to impossible if a brand doesn’t already have created awareness on Chinese digital platforms and portrays a good e- reputation.

E-reputation of French Wine:  Chateau Fourcas Dupre

Focus Dupre, was a highly welcomed wine in China. The local Chinese digital marketing agency, knowing the Chinese consumer mind, entailed the story of this French wine in such a way that it made its way to the tables of upper-class Chinese consumers in a short span of time.

This wine was recommended by a British writer Jancis Robinson, who specializes in the wine industry and is known as the queen of England’s wine industry as a consultant. Due to extremely good E-reputation, the wine was soon rated as the best on Chinese retailers’ websites. E-reputation is extremely important in China to promote a foreign brand or a product.

Social media: the key to engaging with potential Clients

Chinese netizens follow social media platforms religiously. A big part of their spending on a product is dependent on reviews they read from other users. Chinese consumers do not trust in advertising of the products from the company itself. It is critical for companies to have social media presence to be successful in the Chinese digital ecosystem. Social media presence can backfire too, if not taken care of properly, therefore it is vital to partner with a reputable digital agency in China for guidance on social media presence.

Branding is the Key in China

No matter how popular a brand is outside China, to a Chinese audience only what is visible on Chinese digital platforms is known. In B2B lead generation, more trust and visibility are needed.

In China, consumers look for new and trustworthy Food and Beverage brands. Firstly, consumers must be told about the benefits of the product, and Intellectual property rights must be availed, in order to protect one brand from counterfeit products. Several well-known brands want to convey friendly messages to attract Chinese consumers but sometimes end up offending Chinese consumers due to a lack of knowledge about Chinese culture. Therefore, It is extremely important to understand the local culture in China and conduct branding accordingly.

Brand activation is key in China

The secret to brand activation in China is when a company is promoting its products or services it must focus on similar communities or one kind of consumer. Brand activation is a  process of making a brand well-known among the consumers and eventually focuses on moving the consumers to move them to the next phase of the buyer’s cycle. The activation can be promoted in an experience-based way. This generates consumers’ interest and allows them to use and experience the brand. Social media platforms are highly advisable to create brand activation in China.

Brand Exposure

Brand exposure or brand awareness is the familiarity of the consumer with the brand. In China, brand exposure is done using social media websites, such as; WeChat, Weibo, and QQ. Chinese consumers learn about new brands via social media. According to most international food brands, Chinese consumers do research about a product or service on their smartphones.

Soft Drink Case Study: Twist&drink Campaign in China

Twist & Drink is an Austrian brand catering to children. The drink is made from natural mountain spring water. The product line boasts several fruity flavors, in colorful easy to open bottles. Twist & Drink is a family-owned business since 1973 and produces over 50 million bottles each year. Currently, the brand is available in more than 20 countries.

Twist & Drink on Wechat

Wechat is the most adopted social media platform by brands to engage consumers. It has over 860 million monthly active users. With the help of a local digital marketing agency, Twist & Drink launched a game, consisting of various characters that users needed to compete with in order to collect points in the ‘Twist & Drink arena’. WeChat games are extremely popular and work as a great marketing tool if branded appropriately.

Twist & Drink game informed the consumers about the different flavors with the help of characters in the game. Each character also came with key messages displayed before and after the game was played. More than 10000 Chinese consumers participated per day, using their WeChat accounts. On the other hand, regular posts and content were shared on other major social media platforms every day.

The official Twist & Drink account was made using H5 using the Wechat mini-site which was hosted within the application.

Positioning of Twist & Drink Digital marketing strategy

In order to attract Chinese customers, the product or service must be extensively visible on digital platforms in China. Like all other foreign brands no matter how famous a brand is in some part of the world when rolling in China, the brand needs to create awareness for the targeted market. Along with functional benefits, Chinese consumers are extremely focused on the value of products and services. They require companies to justify their prices.

On the other hand, E-commerce has become more prevalent as the buying channel in China, food companies must create a platform that seamlessly integrates online and offline elements. At every step of the purchasing pathway, digital interaction needs to be integrated and design meaningful touchpoints that deepen the brand’s engagement with consumers. In Twist & Drink case, awareness was created among mothers using digital channels, highlighting the health benefits as the selling point of the drink for their children.

Canadian Citadel Maple Syrup Digital Strategy

Citadelle is the world’s largest supplier of 100 percent pure maple syrup. Previously, Chinese consumers found maple syrup just too expensive to include in their diet. Citadelle realized the opportunity in the Chinese market and felt that Chinese consumers are looking for healthy and safe food, especially imported food, and when it comes to sweeteners, maple syrup is the healthiest option. Citadelle also targeted babies under 12 months of age, a key demographic in China. Maple syrup is safe for babies under 12 months old whereas, honey is not advisable for babies. Maple syrup also has 25 percent fewer calories than honey. These selling points coupled with a well-known brand name soon became popular among Chinese consumers on the Tmall e-commerce site.

To encourage customer engagement Citadel also conducted cooking contests and made Chinese recipes using maple syrups.

Epermarket- Shanghai Online Supermarket

Jean Yves LU is the founder and CEO of Epermarket, Shanghai’s ultimate online supermarket. Jean Yves LU saw the potential in catering to the ex-pat community of Shanghai. He aimed to offer Epermarket as a one-stop that sells foreign products and food that the foreign communities in China can trust. E-permarket also has high-class wine to satisfy even the most refined foreign and local Chinese customers, which has been handpicked from more than five thousand wineries around the world. However, Epermarket soon realized the interest of the local Chinese community in fresh, safe imported products. Initially, they were targeting foreign consumers and ex-pats in Shanghai, soon after realizing the local Chinese consumers’ demand they laid their digital strategy to attract Chinese urbanites. This gave a boom in their sales by targeting several segments in the market.

Brand Building  is Vital in China

China has become one of the fastest-growing lucrative markets in the world. Chinese consumers are opening to foreign brands even faster than expected especially for food and beverages brands due to the ‘safe food’ feature attached to them. There is a huge potential for growth for foreign brands in China. E-commerce is a vital part of consumer shopping behavior in China. Therefore, the online Chinese population has exceeded 731 million people, which is equal to the total population of Europe. Online shopping has become an important factor in China’s economy, contributing highly to annual GDP growth. The trend in digital shopping in various industries is growing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

To gain success in Chinese marketplaces a brand must be known by Chinese customers. Products and services must be offered to cater to China’s preferences and tastes. This can call for innovating a new product assortment or could be altering the brand name or logo. Chinese consumers are extremely reliant on social media for learning about new brands and products. Online forums where product reviews are shared also count a lot in brand building.

Lifestyle around the Product: it is not just Food

With increased awareness, Chinese consumers’ preferences and habits are changing. On the other hand Chinese use particular brands and products for self-expression. Through urbanization, modernization, and internationalization, Chinese consumers are adopting at an extremely fast rate, and now they have developed an appetite and tastes for foreign products and cuisines too.

Initially, when Starbucks rolled out in China, its customers were mostly ex-pats but now Starbucks is extremely popular among Chinese consumers. Starbucks positioned coffee drinking as an experience, and a symbol of an upwardly mobile lifestyle, this trend was readily welcomed by young Chinese consumers as it made them feel more independent and allowed them to appear cool and successful among their peers.

Engaging more consumers: Chinese love taking Pictures of their meal

In the highly connected environment of China, customer engagement must be the top priority in the food industry. Chinese customers like online interactions and it can be achieved with the help of interactive apps and games. Netizens seek personal experience in an app, that could be encouraged with one-to-one dialogue or contextual engagement. A successful mobile strategy should also draw actionable data in order to understand the customer’s perspective and intentions. 

Apart from mobile applications customers can be engaged on Chinese social media, where Chinese consumers are very active, and responding to each and every post is considered an obligation. Although handling social media engagement in China is not easy, one negative comment can flare up into a bad image, therefore companies need to develop new models and processes for effectively engaging individuals in a way that communicates brand identity and values along with keeping customer preferences in mind. Responses on social media must satisfy consumer concerns, and should not lead to a negative viral spiral. Customer engagement on social media in China has the power to make or break a brand.

Retargeting: Multiplicate the Contact with Brand

The marketing campaign must target customers on various social media platforms. Creating awareness of the brand, interacting online with customers, and creating a seamless transition between each social media platform. The Chinese digital ecosystem is fragmented. However, the major platforms like Weibo, WeChat, Baidu, and Taobao boast the largest volume of users. Platforms are either segmented by function or cater to niche interest communities.

Engage more 0ffline 2 0nline: Food needs visual Engagement

China is becoming increasingly digital. Foreign companies especially food brands need to incorporate online and offline features in their business model. A strategy that enables food and beverage brands to avail full advantages of both online commerce and physical retail.

The French Cellar, a top winery in Asia, derived a purposeful Online to Offline strategy to enable Chinese customers to subscribe to their organized offline events in major cities of China. During the events, Chinese consumers could taste the wine and this strategy was also meaningful in connecting existing customers to potential customers

This online to offline strategy was implemented with the help of Wechat, where The French Cellar engaged with the customers present at the event on their WeChat accounts. The attendees were educated regarding wine and step by step discovered the wide selection of The French Cellar. In this course, the brand also encouraged customers to taste the wine. Wine is not part of Chinese culture, but with internationalization, Chinese consumers have become increasingly drawn to wine and want to learn about its various characteristics and how to appreciate a good wine.

Discovering Brand’s Charisma

When entering the Chinese market brand has to be extra careful of the local Chinese consumer’s values, traditions, and preferences. A market entry must not feel like attacking current customs or replacing their values. Therefore, in-depth market research is highly advisable to learn about the Chinese market.

Starbucks: not coffee but the aura

When Starbucks entered China as a tea-drinking nation, it didn’t focus on replacing tea but enhanced tea culture by bringing about drinks that contained tea ingredients. Starbucks gave consumers the option of drinking and hanging out in Third place.

The main target of Starbucks was China’s middle-class consumers who are inspired by western culture and quite fast at adopting it. Starbucks created an environment that recharges the customer by providing upbeat music and chic interiors. Many Chinese consumers go to Starbucks not just to have a cup of Frappuccino, but to enjoy the “Starbucks Experience” that makes them feel cool and trendy. Thus, Starbucks has established itself as an aspirational brand and is able to charge premium prices.

Tracking Customer Actions

In order to stay ahead of the competition, in China retailers must invest in identifying customer needs, and preferences along with finding the right partners and investing beyond O2O into omnichannel fulfillment. E-commerce has enabled international retailers and brands to enter China more quickly and easily than before through online-only business models.

Today, China is driven by mobile-consumer behavior, vibrant social commerce adoption, and a ubiquitous digital payments infrastructure. On the other hand, the Chinese market is fiercely competitive. Internet giants and international, and local brands are investing hugely to learn about customer actions in order to provide an exceptional customer experience. It won’t be wrong to say that only the most innovative will survive in this dynamic retail environment.

Identify Best Products

As the digital platform shared between eCommerce, mobile, and social have created so much noise, at times it gets difficult to identify the best products. Therefore brands are integrating online and offline shopping experiences to fully satisfy a customer before they make a purchase. In this way, digital becomes a platform for not just online growth but everything from, brand building and customer engagement to supply chain operations and physical store formats.

Influencers Guide

Influencers are another strong way of branding products in 2020. Retailers look for influencers that are relatable to their brand values. This way a target market is already in place. Customers already trust the influencer and their recommendations. According to a report by PWC, 29% of Chinese consumers, as compared to 13% globally, use social media to see what brands or products KOLs and celebrities are endorsing. KOLs differ from E-commerce merchants in three ways, they interactively interact with consumers, raise awareness and help build brands.

For Example, Miss Yeah produce a very funny video, she cooks in her office

Maximize Communication Channel

With immense E-commerce penetration of about 5%, now(FMCG) and the groceries sector could be the next major growth driver. Even though online grocery has been a challenging proposition for retailers globally, in China, it is offering an attractive opportunity.

China’s luxury consumers are much more willing to access and buy brands online, take advantage of promotions, and have concerns over authenticity. Therefore, brands must communicate and interact with customers on communication channels as much as they can. This strategy increases trust in the brand and also educates customers about the product or brand.

Develop Distribution

A recent survey conducted by PwC shows that 40% of Chinese consumers shop from their favorite retailer. Consumers trust the brand offered by that particular retailer with respect to product quality and price. This attribute is highly prevalent in the grocery and food categories.

Safety and quality issues have given international supermarkets and brands offering imported products an edge in the Chinese food market. The high demand for imported food items has encouraged the development of cross-border E-commerce. Cross-border E-commerce enables retailers and brands to try the Chinese market entry model without the compulsion of setting up a physical store, a local Chinese entity, or any enormous capital investment.

Many retailers consider cross-border E-commerce as a “test and learn” strategy.

We know how to develop the distribution, and contact you need. (contact us)

Engage with more Distribution Dealers

In the case of cross-border and E-commerce market entry, retailers must engage with and partner with as many local distributors as possible. Since this strategy will make more possibilities to be successful on Chinese online platforms. The vita way to increase exposure is lead generation. Inbound marketing offers extremely useful options to be applied in lead generation, a few to name are;

Content development, SEO, PPC, and E-reputation. In B2B lead generation, more trust and visibility are needed. Firstly, branding and consumer awareness of the food brand needs to be comprehensive with respect to its content, high-quality photos, and consumer insight. A foreign brand must have a local Chinese customer-oriented website along with other useful features on social media.

New platforms exist in China and help Brands to connect with a large number of distributors.

How to Hack the Distribution in China?

We have a new solution, a Break to Market, B2D Platforms (Brands to Distributors). Old Unique Distributor that runs the all distribution for Brand will die soon. And I think these new Solutions will be the future of Distribution in China.

We have a PPT that explains these new solutions, I can send it to Professionals. Send us an email to get it.

Engagement with Distributors

In China, dealing with distributors can be a ruthless experience sometimes. Due to high demand, Chinese distributors look for brands that are popular with consumers or have features that Chinese consumers prefer. Distributors, don’t help in promoting your product on their website in fact if a brand is not doing well they will leave it and opt for a similar featured brand. Therefore, a digital marketing strategy needs to be extremely important to survive the highly competitive market of China.

Brands need to make their own space on digital platforms by being sensitive to the needs of customers, regularly coming up with interactive digital activities on social media and promoting one’s brand as the best among all other brands present in the market.

To Have high engagement of Distributors, Branding is the Key 

• Good Branding = easier to Sell = Good Engagement of your Chinese Distributor, and the network of resellers
• Poor Branding = Hard to Sell = No engagement of your Distributor

I invite you to read this article to understand. Problems of New Brands in China

Franchise Development

In China, the franchisee undertakes business operations under a uniform business model as a part of the agreement by the contract and pays franchising fees to the franchisor. International Chinese tourism has developed the demand for foreign food brands and restaurants in China.

Chinese consumers are becoming more aware of western tastes and have started to appreciate foreign cuisines. Foreign restaurants and food brands want to materialize this opportunity and open their franchise in China.

Foreign brands of eateries need to embrace digital opportunities in order to find a suitable franchisee. They need to focus on building their own digital capabilities and defend their ground by activating the online channel. Companies need to design their business functions with a full-channel vision to win the future Chinese shoppers who are becoming increasingly sophisticated and multichannel.

The Key to Develop a Franchise: A Strong Branding 

E-Commerce: new Channel of Distribution for F&B Brands in China

E-commerce is continuously developing showing strong growth momentum in China. It has penetrated extensively in higher and lower-tier cities. They need to focus on building their own digital capabilities and defend their ground by activating the online channel. Companies need to design their business functions with a full-channel vision to win the future Chinese shoppers who are becoming increasingly sophisticated and multichannel.

Maximize Traffic

There are three main search engines in China. Baidu is the biggest and most well-known, is used the most boasting 70% of the market share. It is also the fifth most visited website in the world in terms of online traffic. To gain more traffic and gain, a brand can establish itself on Qihoo 360 and Sogou. SEM is another good option to attract traffic to a website, although it requires a bigger marketing budget. Pay Per Click strategy is more effective for bigger brands and requires a substantial budget. SEM is often used by companies looking for extra leads.

Optimize conversion rate: the E-Reputation Theory

To encourage conversion rate, brands that optimize their websites on Baidu also need to have a mobile site. This also generates mobile payments and is an easier way for a brand to reach conversions. Baidu is also enhancing the user experience on mobile phones. An optimized website is extremely important for a successful SEM strategy, this calls for rich content Mandarin website. Having a .cn domain increases the creditability of the website and improves ranking on the Chinese web. Informative Chinese websites hold an excellent reputation in China and help consumers to trust the brand.

Best First Step Entry Strategy in China: Cross-border E-Commerce

Cross-border market entry in China comes with a whole different set of toolkits where integrated marketing on digital and offline platforms is the key. It’s not easy to grab the attention of customers who are spoiled in the digital world, daily bombarded with extensive quality content, used to paying conveniently in a cashless environment, and follow trustworthy KOL advice.

Although, connecting seamlessly with Chinese urban netizens need a carefully sketched digital marketing strategy to uplift the products and services from the crowd. It is true for companies pursuing to enter the Chinese market digitally, are also cost-effective rather than taking the offline door. Especially when the brand is unknown in the Chinese environment since digital is the only platform that can be used to draw the attention of Chinese consumers.

Do, Learn, adapt and Optimize: a Successful Philosophy in China’s Digital Economy

The digital strategy for China is completely different than the rest of the world. It is extremely important to learn the taste preferences, values, and traditions of Chinese consumers before offering them a product. Since offering them something that they cannot relate to is useless as the product will never be able to get their information.

Secondly, all previous brands that have entered Chinese brands have improvised their products according to Chinese taste, let it be Green tea Frapachino at Starbucks or Oreo cookies to Red bean drinks. After, adapting to Chinese tastes and preferences, companies must optimize their marketing strategy according to the trend in China. Which is ultimately digital.

Creating product awareness, interacting with customers on social media, using KOL for the product, providing interactive online to offline solutions, and providing high-quality mandarin content all come under the umbrella of the Cross-border digital marketing strategy of China.

Innovative Strategy For Leading brands

Until a few years ago co-branding in China of leading brands was a new concept and companies were not sure of what reaction they will receive from the Chinese market. On Thanksgiving 2017, Durex took advantage of Chinese consumers’ increasing awareness of foreign festivals, Durex China’s Weibo account published “thank you” posts to 13 brands in seemingly unrelated fields.

Further attention came when, the 13 “chosen brands” felt obliged to welcome or thank Durex back for something else, which left netizens glued to their Weibo accounts to see the interaction among the brands. The humorous responses among the brands gained extensive appreciation from the Chinese consumers and lead to being shared 16,000 times and receiving 4,200 comments.

CoBranding -Starbucks Alibaba

Starbucks, the coffee giant opened “The Starbucks Reserve Roastery” in Shanghai, which boasts a 30,000 square-foot retail location that the company refers to as the “first fully immersive coffee wonderland in China” and it is also the most ambitious project of Starbucks ever.

The Roastery incorporates the first-ever in-store augmented reality experience, built in partnership with Chinese tech giant Alibaba.

Consumers use a custom Roastery smartphone app, to learn about various features of The Roastery. The app entails a digital menu and rewards customers with virtual badges. Alibaba has provided its e-commerce giant, Tmall services by selling Roastery-branded merchandise and coffee, and Roastery tasting experiences.

Starbucks realizing the power of the digital ecosystem in China previously partnered with one more digital Chinese tech giant, Tencent, for social gifting integration on WeChat.

In China Starbucks witnesses the fastest-growing market with more than 3,000 stores across 136 cities, and 600 alone in Shanghai. The company opened one store every 15 hours in China, where there are nearly 700 million smartphone users.

Last July, Schultz gave clues on partnering with Chinese tech companies, “based on the fact that the consumer in China is well more advanced than the U.S. consumer in terms of being a digital native”, Schultz.

Author

Fatima RIZVI: an international Marketer that spends several years in China. Fatima has a great understanding of Marketer Problems in China, and a deep understanding of the Chinese Food market.

Olivier VEROT: founder of GMA, Olivier is a “pragmatic” Marketer that prioritizes Results. After spending 11 years in China, he has good expertise in Chinese Marketing.

GMA a Marketing Agency Specialized in Food & Beverage Market in China

Performance Marketing Agency: the core DNA of our Agency is to bring Results to our clients. We work to optimize Sales. develop Branding, or increase Exposure.

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Health scandals are the norm in the country. China’s demand for imported goods follows, with a surge in demand for non-local food such as cheese, olive oil, chocolate, etc. Great news for Cross-border E-Commerce.

These imported products are often considered safer than local ones due to concerns with ingredients as well as safety and sanitary issues. Imported food also responds to changing trends among the younger generation, who prefer Western brands over domestic ones.

In this article, we will give you all the keys to export successfully your goods in China, and take advantage of the platforms you have at your disposal.

Quick Summary

• Growing Demand for Imported Food: China’s rising middle class has led to an increased demand for non-local food items like cheese, olive oil, and chocolate. Imported products are often perceived as safer and of higher quality.
• Consumer Preferences: Younger Chinese generations show a preference for Western brands. There’s a significant focus on food safety and quality, with many consumers willing to pay more for these assurances.
• Digital Influence: The internet, particularly social media and e-commerce platforms like Tmall, Taobao, and JD.com, plays a crucial role in how Chinese consumers discover and purchase imported food products.
• Market Trends: The Chinese market for imported food is competitive, with both domestic and foreign players. The market has seen a 15% annual growth rate in imported F&B goods sales.
• Regulatory Environment: Exporters must navigate China’s strict import regulations and food safety laws. Registering with AQSIQ (The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine) is essential for compliance.
• Cultural Considerations: Understanding Chinese consumer behavior, including the importance of having a Chinese brand name and adapting marketing strategies to local preferences, is vital for success.
• Challenges and Opportunities: Exporters face challenges like building brand awareness and adapting to local tastes. However, opportunities exist in segments like healthy, organic, and additive-free food products.
• Economic Factors: Decreasing taxes on imported food and a growing interest in new culinary experiences among Chinese consumers are favorable economic factors for foreign F&B brands.
• Gift Culture: Imported food products are popular as gifts in China, reflecting status and prestige (‘Mianzi’). Packaging and presentation are important factors in this context.
• Popular Imported Products: Dairy, meat, chocolate, and confectionery are among the most purchased imported products. The demand for grains like corn and soybean is also high due to China’s large population and improving living standards.

China’s Imported Food: A Dynamic and Lucrative Industry

China is the world’s second-largest economy and one of the fastest-growing markets for F&B brands. Its burgeoning demand for higher-quality, premium, well-known food brands was a result of urbanization and a rise in disposable income that was accompanied by China’s digitization. Before entering the Chinese food market, you should try and get a better understanding of Chinese consumers’ habits as well as consumption trends.

Overview of the Chinese Food Market

When we talk about imported products in China, keep in mind that China’s food supply has significant implications in terms of national food security, as well as economic trade. Following several natural disasters such as droughts, floods, and earthquakes affecting wheat and dairy production, Chinese citizens, who consume over half their calories through grains, rely not only on domestic products but also on imports. In other words, China does not produce enough food to feed its population yet.

Imported F&B goods sales in China have known a 15% growth rate per year, while the world’s average is around 4%. Even though imported products are benefiting from their good reputation among Chinese consumers, this market is extremely competitive with fierce domestic and foreign players. Moreover, it is important to underline that imported products are submitted to higher taxes compared to domestic products.

What Drives Food Imports in the Middle Kingdom?

The relative changes in consumable goods production and demand growth have affected China’s position in the global food trade as it has shifted from being a major world player that export food products to one that imports

The self-sufficiency of China’s agriculture has been declining due to the high demand as well as its large population. As of 2009, China was importing around 50% more than it was exporting (National Bureau of Statistics of China – NBSC). Among agricultural commodities, grains are recording the most rapid rise in imports from China. For example, while China was self-reliant on soybean and was even one of its main exporters, in 2020, its import reached 100.33 million tons. The Middle Kingdom is also seeing increased meat imports, with a growth rate reaching 44% between 2011 and 2015 (NBSC).

There are three main reasons that explain why the importation of food products into China is prosperous:

• Food Safety

After the overwhelming number of food safety-related scandals in China (more than 1,090 in the last three years, according to Jing Daily), it is no surprise that it’s one of the top concerns among customers. In fact, Chinese consumers’ number one concern is food safety, which topped other worries such as water quality or air quality. The government strengthens its food safety law every year.

China’s middle class has evolved rapidly, thanks to rising incomes. Life standards have changed, and eating habits too. They now want to make sure that their products are safe to eat. As a matter of fact, in recent years, there were many scandals (especially maternal and baby products) that made people less confident about Chinese brands, but also foreign food producers in some cases. Thus, it is an opportunity for foreign brands to prove that their products and ingredients are of better quality and follow national food safety standards norms when exporting food to China.

As you can see from the above data, 94% of people are considering that there are many food scandals in China because of dishonest companies that are not punished. Thus, it is extremely important to respect safety standards to stand among your competitors and attract Chinese consumers. You will have to be as clear and transparent as possible to gain their trust.

Around 86% of Chinese consumers pay attention to food security when buying their products. Another interesting point for foreign food producers: most Chinese consumers are against food additives.

88% of Chinese consumers in 1st and 2nd tier cities are against it, and 25% of them prefer to pay more if it does not contain any additive.

• Healthy Food

Chinese consumers show greater interest in healthy food. It is true that today, consumers are paying more attention to their health and appearance. They are extremely attentive to their body weight, which is according to them synonym of good health.

There is a huge untapped potential in several segments of foreign healthy food products:

As stated above, consumers are now more looking for healthy food without additives, but also organic products, low in calories, and those that have a slimming effect. These four categories have high potential in China is that’s why foreign brands should take advantage of them.

Chinese consumers are embracing this new organic trend, they want to eat healthier products. Over 30% of consumers in the 1st and 2nd-tier cities regularly buy organic food. Consumers seek foods with fewer pesticides as well as fresh products.

Having a child will also influence Chinese parents, who will be more cautious about what they ingest. At the time, families with high incomes were willing to pay more for organic products, but now everyone is ready to pay more for higher-quality and healthy products, as they want to give the best to their offspring.

On another hand, parents in China are starting to take note of the ingredients and nutritional information of what they feed their children in order to decrease the risk of obesity (which was quite common a few years ago among young children).

• Globalization

Eating is not all about health and safety issues, globalization plays its role. We can say that there is a globalization of eating habits that has impacted Chinese society. Chinese consumers were able to travel more than before, tasting and buying products that were not common in the Chinese culture, and then sharing their experiences with their friends during vlogs or posting pictures on social media.

In China, over 90% of consumers have already purchased foreign F&B products (that are mainly everyday life & agricultural products). Moreover, buying foreign products in China is also conveying a certain image of wealth, as foreign products are more expensive than domestic ones. It is linked to the concept of the face: the more you will have foreign products, the better your image will be (even though some domestic companies are gaining popularity in China).

Foreign restaurants are also quite popular in China, conveying for some a certain prestige, with high-quality products that are different from Chinese consumers’ traditional dishes.

Chinese Consumers’ Purchasing Behaviors

As habits are diverging from one country to another, Chinese consumers will be more inclined to buy certain products, while foreign products that are too ‘special’ will not please the majority of them.

How are Chinese consumers looking for new products?

With China’s recent digitization over the years, the internet is the main source of information for Chinese consumers looking for brands. Nearly 2/3 of them will check Baidu (China’s Google) for information on brands before purchasing a product.  Family, friends, and KOL (Key Opinion Leaders) represent the second most popular source of information.

Youthful impulses and inclination to seek out new tastes are driving the trend of China’s imported good consumption. Surveys among young Chinese aged 25-34 show that they are more than twice as likely as older generations to be strongly influenced by social media when deciding what to eat, like imports, or should be bought in grocery stores or restaurants. But regardless of generation, Chinese consumers will surely choose a foreign brand that is already established and popular in China, over an unknown brand that is not even appearing on Baidu’s results.

If you want to advertise your brand/products in China, you have to know that social media and mobile apps are more powerful than print media advertising in newspapers or magazines. Print media advertising is not a lucrative marketing avenue (anymore) in China, as it is costly and difficult to measure. On the other hand, social media and mobile apps are effective as you’ll be able to interact with your consumers and make creative advertising.

Having a Chinese name is crucial to Successfully export your food products to China

If you want to be easily found on Baidu, you should have a Chinese name. In fact, having a proper Chinese name for your brand allows you to show that you care about the Chinese market and that you are motivated and ready to adapt your brand specifically to Chinese consumers. In fact, it should be the first step of your localized branding strategy in China as consumers will directly have a certain impression of your brand according to your Chinese name.

Your Chinese name will stand as an embodiment of your brand’s value, story, and personality. Chinese customers are always looking for something new and innovative — so make sure that you find a way to capture their attention and be visible online. Most of the time, they will do research online with your Chinese name instead of your original brand name.

Registering your trademark in China is also a prerequisite if you want to be able to sell your products in China. As China is a ‘first-to-file country’, you should register your trademark before someone else does. You can contact us for more information about it.

Why do Chinese consumers “prefer” imported products/brands?

As mentioned earlier, Chinese consumers are extremely cautious when it comes to what they eat, following the numerous sanitary scandals in the past few years. Many people believe that foreign products are more reliable compared to domestic ones. And F&B advertising from international Brands are usually not shy about pushing the point.

According to the DDMA Secondary Research, 69% (all social classes included) strongly agree that foreign food is better, while 60% prefer restaurants that serve foreign dishes. This shows that foreign food is still perceived differently and that they stand among local products. However, as shown in the following graphic, it is clear that high-income families are taking this more into consideration than low-income families.

How Do Chinese Consumers Purchase Imported F&B Goods?

It is estimated that 65% of Chinese consumers who buy imported food buy online because of the wide variety of products and because it is more convenient. In addition, you can also find better prices through online platforms than in traditional stores.

Moreover, Chinese consumers are accustomed to purchasing online, using popular platforms like Tmall, Taobao, JD.com, Pinduoduo, etc.

What are the most purchased imported products in China?

China imports a wide range of products including dairy, meat, jam, chocolate, and confectionery. Dairy products and snacks are the most commonly purchased products when it comes to foreign brands, which is quite surprising as these products were not part of their habits a decade ago.

When looking at the most purchased imported products in China as of 2017, these products are clearly standing out (according to their number of transactions) :

• Meat, frozen meat, and aquatic products: 295,000
• Edible oils: 33,000
• Dairy products: 77,000
• Sea products: 111,000
• Grain products: 100,000
• Alcoholic beverage: 272,000
• Candy: 102,000
• Non-alcoholic beverage: 132,000
• Dried nuts: 117,000
• Pastry and cookies: 83,000

Source: General Administration of Customs, P.R. China

Some examples of products that are growing in popularity in China

• Chocolate: An exquisite product

For example, one lucrative industry for foreign brands is the Chocolate market. People may not know this, but the resurgence of chocolate in China is a relatively new trend. While Switzerland and America are at the top of the list in terms of consumption with about 12 kg per capita annually, only 6-8kgs worth is consumed by Chinese citizens each year on average. The good news, though? That number has more than doubled over just these past few years, to as much as 16-20 kilograms yearly. And it doesn’t seem like things will be slowing down anytime soon either – there’s been such an increased demand that many companies took this opportunity to expand their activities.

To have more information on how to export chocolate in China, you can read our full article here.

• Grains at the core of Chinese people’s meals

As you might have probably heard, the U.S. is the world’s main producer of corn, and Brazil is the biggest in terms of soybean production, driven by China’s huge appetite. In fact, China is the world’s largest corn and soybean importer, accounting for about half of total global imports.

China’s Skyrocketing demand for Corn and corn powder

The price of corn has hit an all-time high this year – $7 per bushel – due to skyrocketing demand from China, and this phenomenon is not ready to stop as its demand for feed grains has been increasing rapidly as its hog production is rebounding after outbreaks of the African swine fever.

In 2020, 3.29 billion U.S. dollars of corn was imported by Japan, followed by Mexico and China, which accounted for 2.49 billion U.S dollars. In the previous year, the United States exported about 13 billion U.S. dollars worth of corn worldwide, accounting for more than a third of total corn exports worldwide.

According to USDA data, corn imports into China were up by almost 250% in 2020/21, meanwhile, those of wheat nearly doubled compared to a few years ago, as Chinese consumers are fond of chickens (the success of fried chicken, KFC, etc.) that contain breadcrumbs or coatings made with flour.

Soybeans market in China

China’s soybean imports reached an annual record in 2020, growing 13% from the previous year as prices and demand for pork increased.

The General Administration of Customs reported that 100.33 million tons were purchased this past year – up significantly from 88.51 million a few years ago- to meet demands by food processors and pig farmers alike who are willing to pay more but wait longer times if necessary since domestic production is down dramatically due to floodings that killed off much of their crops before they could be harvested.

In 2020, the total import value of soybeans in China amounted to approximately 39.5 billion U.S dollars – that’s up from around 35.3 billion US dollars last year.

China’s ever-growing population combined with improving living standards means that more people can afford to eat meat, thus increasing the demand for grains to feed animals.

What are Chinese consumers’ expectations when looking for imported products?

As said before, they are mostly looking for safe and healthy products. Foreign products are reputed to be safer than local products. Quality is ranking second, seen as an important buying trigger for 66% of Chinese consumers. Most of the consumers who buy imported food will be influenced by the brand’s reputation. That’s why increasing your brand awareness is key if you want to export your goods to China.

What are the most popular countries for imported products?

While the United States and France were the most popular countries in terms of imported brands and products in China, New Zealand is now paving the way thanks to its strict safety regulations, followed by Australia, Germany, the USA, and Japan.

Why is China a promising market for foreign food brands?

Taxes are decreasing

China has been suffering from unstable inflation rates since 2008, and to relieve the pressure on its citizens’ wallets, the government began decreasing tariffs on imported food. Since then, China Customs has gradually decreased prices for frozen pork products by 50%, pistachios imports with a tariff cut of at least 57% in 2009 alone; as well as cod cans which saw an increase of 53%. The gradual decrease means that even some baby milk brands have become cheaper than local brands.

Chinese consumers are looking for new culinary experiences

Chinese are curious and willing to try new culinary experiences. With 53% of Chinese consumers enjoying trying new dishes, foreign brands have lots of opportunities to promote and attract consumers.

In China, Imported Food Products can serve as Gifts

In China, imported products are extremely popular to the point of being used as a gift. For example, “Mianzi” is an idiom that means dignity or prestige, has strong roots in the Chinese culture, and deeply influences many people’s daily life. This term can be traced back to ancient times when it was used by officials as a type of currency between them – you either had more “face”, or were able to give others face – depending on what kind of position they held.

Nowadays, it is well seen to offer some expensive or rare foreign products and beverages to friends and families, or for special occasions as well. One of the best examples is during parties when people are coming with well-known and expensive foreign alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine, beer, etc.

Another reason for this success is that imported food products in China are better packed. They’re hand-picked and carefully packaged by Western brands, who know that packaging is an important purchasing consideration for Chinese consumers. It’s also one of the reasons why these items make such thoughtful gifts. On special occasions like weddings or business meetings where people want to show their appreciation with a gift, imported foods will always be welcomed and appreciated.

What are the challenges when exporting food products in China?

With increased awareness and tastes, Chinese consumers are taking more interest in foreign products. To be effective with the marketing strategy, you will need, as a foreigner, to show transparency with the quality and safety of your product.

You will not only have to stand amongst your competitor in terms of product quality but also in terms of packaging, marketing, advertising, localizing your brand and adapting your brand to Chinese consumers’ tastes, etc. Don’t forget that you will have to rebuild from the start your brand awareness as Chinese citizens are using their own social media like WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, etc. as well as their own e-commerce platforms.

Steps to exporting food products to China: How do I start

Chinese regulations & Government Guidelines: export food safety

Over the years, China has implemented strict import regulations for various reasons: increases in the importation, and sanitary scandals, and is thus increasingly adopting Western standards. Before you start exporting to China, it’s important that you have knowledge about these regulations as well as the AQSIQ to make sure all products meet the quality standards before entering China

• Registering your company with the AQSIQ

First, AQSIQ is an abbreviation for The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine which grants approval for imports of a wide range of products. Moreover, it controls inspection quality and has great power in decision-making. As an exporter, you should be aware of its rules and regulations in terms of quality standards and certifications, before exporting your goods to China.

Your company is responsible for registering with the AQSIQ if your product falls under their “List of Food Imports Subject to Enterprise Registration.” You should also register any shipments you have, which can be done online. This will help track the shipment and make it easier for both importers and you.

• AQSIQ’s certificate

China’s AQSIQ certificate is an important document that can help you avoid trouble and expensive situations with Chinese customs. For example, if a product needs to have this certification but doesn’t, it may be seized or demolished due to its potential health risks, You will need to contact the AQSIQ in order to obtain this certificate.

To receive your AQSIQ certificate, you need to fill out 17 pages of paperwork (all in Mandarin Chinese) and submit it for examination. If you have not met all requirements needed after this process has been completed. Then an acceptance notice will be issued within 30 days. Otherwise, you will receive a non-acceptance notice.

If you’re looking to export your food products to China, the cost of your first application can vary anywhere between USD 0 and 3800. The total price depends on the type of products you want to export as well as depending on if you are a member of AQSIQ or ISO 9001.

In order to prevent failure in inspections after they’ve been completed, it’s important that all requirements are met ahead of time so that no extra work needs to be done afterward. You can contact us and we will take care of everything.

• The need to have a pre-import license

If you want to export your dairy and meat products, then it’s essential that you get an AIL (Automatic Import License). Additional requirements might also apply for pre-import licensing to these specific goods. That being said, I recommend consulting with a professional who can help prepare all the necessary documents in advance so nothing catches you off guard when importing from abroad. You can contact us for more information and our experts will explain the procedure to you.

• Labeling your products

The General Rules of Pre-packaged Food Labelling is a document that prescribes the mandatory elements on import food products labels. It defines what must be included in any pre-packed agricultural product imported into China, which includes: the company name (both English and Chinese), address, operational license number as well as production date labeling on each package.

In order to comply with these regulations, it has become necessary for companies wishing to import their products to China to provide specific labeling information on all packaging materials before they are shipped. You will also need to provide the following information:

• The name of the product: every word, image, brand, or description that is characteristic of the product
• Ingredients: every substance and additive used in preparation for the final product
• A detailed list is provided precisely to avoid any health hazards when consuming the product
• Manufacturing date
• Expiration Date

Do I need an export license to sell F&B goods in China?

An export license is necessary for a foreign trade company (FTC) to sell goods to China. In fact, it is a document that gathers information about who, what, and where you are exporting goods from. China uses this to control the legality of imported products on its soil.

Moreover, all importers and exporters of foreign F&B goods and cosmetics must register with the “Registration Systems for Imported Food and Cosmetic Importers/Exporters.”

To comply with China’s requirements and complete the registration process for import and export, a foreign exporter will have to prepare the following documents:

• An inspection certificate issued by AQSIQ
• Commercial invoice
• A bill of lading
• A detailed packaging list of your product
• A certificate for export from your home country
• Certificate of free sale
• A hygiene certificate
• Certificate of bottling date (for beverages)
• Sample of the original label
• Sample of Chinese label

Not that abiding by Chinese laws and remitting this file to the competent authority is necessary for customs clearance later on.

How can F&B professionals increase their sales & profits in China?

The key to quickly developing your brand in China is to understand that you will need to adapt your strategy to Chinese consumers and habits. Don’t forget that because of the Great Firewall, social media like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. are unavailable in China. Thus, you will have to create an official account on Chinese social media. This part is important as you will be able to promote directly your products as well as engage with your audience.

We have whiteness countless food trading companies trying to develop their sales in China using the same marketing strategy as they do back home and most of them did not achieve the goals they had in mind until they started to localize. And let me tell you, localizing is necessary whether you are looking at direct selling or distribution.

When selling your goods, whether in stores or on e-commerce platforms, be as clear and transparent as possible. You have to convince, within a few seconds, consumers that your products are worth it. If by chance they have already heard of your brand online, they will most likely want to try your products.

What are the main channels of distribution for food Product & brand in China?

Selling food products offline: The classic strategy

If you want to sell products using the classical way, you will probably want to engage an agent or sell them directly in supermarkets. You will have to convince them of the quality of your products and show that they will be profitable enough. You can also open your own store, but it is extremely expensive, and in general, only well-established brands decides to do so.

Selling Food Products Online through your own website

When it comes to selling products directly on its own website, it is more complicated as you will have to take care of everything (including the logistic). Buying directly from the brand’s website ranked further down in the fifth position according to Chinese consumers. With the convenience and safety of e-commerce platforms brands that are on e-commerce platforms are submitted to strict rules when it comes to quality and safety issues. Thus, Chinese consumers will be more reluctant to buy products on your website rather than on well-established platforms.

However, well-known brands are still able to attract customers to their websites thanks to their reputation.

Cross-Border E-Commerce platforms: The Best Way to Sell Imported products in China

E-Commerce platforms are very convenient for foreign companies. You can sell straight away without a physical presence in China, as long as you obtain approval from the relevant cross-border platforms.

With China’s huge online population of over 900 million netizens and 250 million e-shoppers, an online sales infrastructure is everything when entering the market.

Everything is convenient for both parties:

• Consumers have access to a wide variety of foreign products, without the fear of the language barrier because the websites are optimized in Mandarin. Moreover, the delivery is as fast as for local products because the organization of e-commerce platforms is the same for both domestic and foreign companies. For example, JD.com takes care of the logistic, delivering customers just within a few hours.

• For sellers, it allows you to sell your products in China safely and easily. By using a popular platform, you will be able to target a large audience, as well as develop your activity online, by linking your e-commerce shop to your social media accounts for example.

Foreign companies have the opportunity to target the right niche markets to market their products. Online sales continue to grow in popularity as consumers seek convenience and choice. It is estimated that 94 % of Chinese consumers have already purchased food online. Tmall is the preferred platform, but JD and Yihaodian are also very popular among Chinese consumers.

Tmall: The Leading E-Commerce Platform in China

Tmall Global is the international version of China’s leading online marketplace, Tmall. Known as the most famous and largest cross-border B2C platform, it offers both wholesale (B2B) and retail (B2C) models for international merchants. It has evolved to be a trusted platform to purchase imported products that come from over 50 countries around the world like Japan, Korea, the USA, and France.

Tmall Global’s popularity is not surprising considering that the platform has more than 29,000 international brands and a large variety of products. It also operates in 87 countries, with its app being the 6th most used online store in China and 78% of customers using both Tmall Global and Tmall.com. For example, 80% of brands have used Tmall Global to enter the China market, with more than 5,800 product categories.

Having a Tmall storefront is the most effective way to penetrate the Chinese market and export your products in China. However, the problem is that Tmall only accepts brands that already have a significant presence and have high sales in China. That’s why a lot of companies are rejected by the platform because of its high standards.

There are two ways to join Tmall’s platform:

• If you are a company with China in-country business operations, you can apply to Tmall.com.
• If you are a company with overseas licenses, you are eligible for Tmall Global.

If you want more information about Tmall Global, you can read our full article here, and if you want more information about Tmall.com, you can find our full article here.

JD.com and JD Worldwide: One of the most popular e-commerce platforms in China

One of the two massive B2C online retailers in China, JD.com has been expanding recently and currently is partly owned by Tencent (20%). The company was founded in 1998 to sell magneto-optical products only but soon switched over to selling electronics, computers, mobile phones, etc.

As of 2021 they have 470 million active customers worldwide and continue growing at a rapid pace with strong customer satisfaction ratings, which makes them an attractive option for any consumer looking for competitive pricing or easy and fast shipping options.

JD.com has two platforms that enable international brands to sell their products directly in China: JD Worldwide and JD.com, its domestic platform for already established sellers. The difference is that, while most of the third-party sellers on JD are already well known within mainland China, only those with physical stores outside of Mainland China can use JD worldwide to reach Chinese consumers without any local presence.

If you want more information on JD Worldwide or JD.com, you can read our full article here

Taobao: The easiest way to sell an F&b brand online

Launched in 2003 by the Chinese giant Alibaba, Taobao (淘宝网) is one of China’s most popular online shopping platforms. As of 2019, it has 300 million daily active users and 668 million mobile monthly active users; its popularity among Chinese consumers makes for a great marketplace to buy fresh products as well as other imported products.

The success of Taobao is attributed to its simple and easy-to-use platform, which enables both consumers to purchase products cheaper than anywhere else, and merchants to sell their goods at a lower cost. This strategy has been the core of Jack Ma’s philosophy from day one.

Pinduoduo: A promising app for f&b brands

Founded in 2015, Pinduoduo quickly became the fastest-growing tech company in the world. If you want to export your fresh products into China, we recommend that you choose Pinduoduo: it’s currently the largest agriculture-focused e-commerce platform and also a social commerce site as well as C2M – connecting farmers with distributors while directly dealing with consumers on one hand.

Pinduoduo has revolutionized e-commerce by becoming not only an online marketplace but also enabling transactions between producers and buyers through its unique “Pinduoduo” feature which allows users to post photos of their goods for sale without having to pay upfront fees as other similar sites require.

Pinduoduo is different from other online shopping sites in that it has a social aspect, which allows users to easily share what they have browsed or purchased with their networks. Users can also set up teams within 24 hours of signing up for the site and then enjoy lower prices on products when buying together as part of a team. The ability to buy an item individually rather than as part of a group makes Pinduoduo unique among most Chinese e-commerce platforms where shoppers tend to prefer discounts over individual purchases because groups are more often able to provide better bargains.

It has revolutionized the marketing and selling of goods with a low-cost system that is easy and fast. You can advertise and promote your products through the app. For example, use live-streaming to explain how great your products are, but you should also hire KOLs in order to attract a wider audience.

Forums are powerful marketing tools in China

You have to know that forums are also extremely popular in China as Chinese consumers mostly rely on word-of-mouth. They will be most likely to follow their peers’ advice than your promotional ad. Platforms such as Zhihu and Douban are considered reliable by Chinese netizens, with qualitative and clear answers to the web most search questions.

QR code to drive traffic online

Having your own Tmall, JD, or Yihaodian store is fine but you also need to drive traffic to your online store. One of the most effective ways is to set up QR codes to drive traffic to your several platforms. A QR Code is a powerful method to increase traffic, and it is commonly used by Chinese citizens.

Recently, the famous video platform Bilibili even programmed a QR code in the sky above Shanghai, by using hundred of drones.

QR codes allow you to redirect buyers to:

• An app
• WeChat Official Account
• Shopping cart page via mobile
• E-commerce platforms

Bet on Digital Platforms to Develop your E-Reputation in China

The impact that social networks have on individuals is important in China. Social media are an integral part of the daily life of more than 900 million Internet users. The digital sphere in China has taken a completely different turn from the one we know in the West due in particular to the censorship of the Chinese government when it comes to social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Google. The Chinese government has created its own social media sphere in parallel with apps like WeChat, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, etc.

Internet users have the opportunity through these applications to be part of different communities, and groups, follow the news, and be able to follow brands, purchase online, and share content. WeChat and Weibo are the two most popular social media platforms. You need to have an Official Account for your brand on these two platforms.

Social media are the best tools to increase your e-reputation

Chinese consumers are often the most loyal to brands that they follow on social media, following them for years and communicating with their representatives. It is important to make your presence known in China by connecting with Chinese people at a personal level using social media channels like WeChat, Weibo, or Tencent QQ.

WeChat: China’s most popular app

Created by the Chinese company Tencent and released in 2011, WeChat was at the beginning only a mobile messaging app. And even though new features were introduced, this functionality remains the core of the app. Marketed as Weixin (微信) in China, it was then rebranded as Wechat for international markets just a year later-in 2012. In 2018 alone 1 billion users signed up to use what is now known all over the Asia Pacific; that’s more than 4 times its popularity from 6 years ago. In 2021 we are expecting an increase again with 8% growth expected within our next 5 years.

On WeChat, you can also open a store called a “mini-store” and sell your products. It’s very convenient for the little brands which have not yet a well-established reputation in China. This is extremely useful as Tmall or JD will not accept small brands.

You can read our full article on WeChat here

Weibo:

Launched in 2009 by the Chinese technology company Sina Corporation, Weibo is one of the biggest social media platforms in China. It was originally a micro-blogging service but has grown to include many other types of features like Instagram or Pinterest over time.

Weibo, the largest Chinese-language mobile portal with over 511 monthly active users and millions of posts per day, allows you to upload videos, audio files, and music clips from your library or via YouTube links. Uploaded photos can include captions in English as well for an international audience. Weibo is not only a place where people share content but also browse others’ works through following other accounts such as celebrities and influencers; sending messages back & forth privately either one on one or by posting them publicly; search keywords related to their favorite topic, look for dishes they want to try, etc.

Weibo is probably the best social media platform for imported brands to communicate with their followers and potential consumers. It’s also a good platform to send information, and discounts, announce products launch, ask for users’ feedback, and for advertising. In addition, you don’t need to be connected to the brand to see their posts. You can reach more people than on WeChat.

Improving your ranking on Baidu: China’s leading search engine

Your success in China is limited if you go unnoticed. You might be wondering how to increase your visibility? Well, the answer lies with Baidu – it’s more popular than any other search engine, with more than 75% of the research in China that are conducted through Baidu.

To start your journey of increasing visibility and e-reputation on this platform, all you need to do is create an appealing Chinese website for your company. Once done, focus on promoting it using online advertising campaigns on social media, as well as other online platforms. This will not only help increase visibility but also provide an excellent opportunity for brand awareness too.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a strategic way to rank your business’ website using natural search results. If you’re ranking on Baidu, Chinese consumers will trust your products and be able to find them easily over time on the internet.

Gaining visibility thanks to influencers

In China, Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) are very powerful and influential. They’re simply users who became famous by generating a lot of traffic on their accounts. KOLs often have more influence than celebrities in China because consumers tend to be impressionable and highly value the status that comes with it. Finding an effective KOL might not seem easy but if you work with professionals then this can actually save time for you. If you want to find KOLs, you can contact us directly.

Get in touch to export F&B brand in China?

How can GMA help you?

The Chinese F&B market is a lucrative opportunity for marketers, but it’s also full of traps that can be hard to avoid. We help importers and exporters on the China market with:

• Administration& registration with the competent authority
  • Chinese regulations
  • Company registration requirements and process
  • Pre import licensing & Import Permit & complete documentation
  • Labeling requirements
  • Safety Compliance declaration
  • Find storage facilities
• Finding Distributors
• Marketing

We have helped over 800 brands in the industry in their endeavors overseas since 2012. You can send us a message to receive our Case Studies

Therefore, gaining market insights, and developing a strong awareness of your brand is critical. Partnering with an agent/ distributor who can assist you with creating a marketing strategy tailored to this unique market is a must before entering the Chinese market. That said, taking place at local food and beverage trade fairs is one of the most effective ways to go about this.

Top 5 Food and Beverage Trade Fairs in China

1. SIAL Shanghai

SIAL Shanghai, a much-anticipated food and beverage industry conference that’s one of the top exhibitions globally, is held every May in Pudong, China. SIAL is also the biggest of its kind on the Mainland and attracts hundreds of thousands of local and foreign professional visitors every single year.

SIAL China has amassed 40,000 exhibitors from over 70 countries since arriving in China in two thousand. The exhibition has more than 20 categories including drinks, snacks, convenience foods, canned food, dairy foods, fresh foods, and anything you can think of. And it’s not just food on display; any equipment related to food such as coolers or freezers is also available for curious visitors. The exhibition area is simply full of everything you can imagine food-related.

Over one million professional visitors come to visit Shanghai SIAL from all over the world. Distributors, market chains, the hotel represents convenience store chains, catering companies, wholesalers, and so on. With such a large number of people in attendance annually, there’s bound to be someone for everyone.

SIAL provides foreign brands and professional visitors with the ideal opportunity to discover China’s market, reach out to distributors and connect with various companies and simply network.

Comexposium, a reputable and efficient event organizer that also produces consumer trade fairs in France is taking care of the organization of SIAL

2. FHC Shanghai

The FHC Shanghai Global Food Exhibition and Trade show is a full-on exhibition platform that showcases the latest and the best quality products in the food industry. With sectors spanning from meat and seafood to kids’ food, high-quality dairy products, bakeries, and snacks, this trade show has something for everyone involved in the food industry.

In addition to product displays, the trade show also offers catering design services, intelligent store designs, and even food delivery chain products, and packaging– making it a one-stop shop for all.

Recently, the exhibition’s focus broadened to include not just hot pot ingredients and supplies, but also higher-quality supply chain options. This allows the exhibition to cover a wider array of food and local specialties.

FHC provides international and local audiences with a professional forum to discuss international food expansion and services. The event also offers interactive business opportunities and connection possibilities through diverse events.

3. ANUFOOD China Shenzhen

ANUFOOD China is based in Shenzhen, providing various professional services to food & beverage exhibitors. For many years, the Anufood exhibition was held in the capital. However, since Shenzhen became a hub of economic activity, organizers decided it would be more beneficial to move the event and become one of the food fairs destinations. Today, the Anufood food and beverages exhibition is the largest food and beverage trade fair in Southern China.

If you’re looking to promote your foreign brand and network with other businesses, the fair is a great opportunity. With 20,000 square meters of space and 15,000 professional visitors per year, it’s slightly smaller than some other fairs but still has plenty to offer.

Anufood offers a variety of food and beverages, including organic foods, baby foods, fresh foods, high-end products, wine, dairy frozen products, seafood, and more.

4. FMR China

Food in Modern Retail exhibition is one of the three largest private-brand trade shows globally. It focuses on supporting and improving connections with fresh food producers and large retailers. This special trade event also looks to build development throughout the entire distribution channel while simultaneously catering to the fresh food industry

The trade show offers business matchmaking events for exhibitors, such as one-on-one meetings.

During the exhibition, various market experts lead forums. They share recent industry insights, market trends, political data, and statistics with attendees.

The FMR buyer’s database is full of China’s major retailers, numbering over 80%. This offers foreign exhibitors a great chance to meet with some of the country’s finest retailers. All exhibitors will also be given a complete buyers list during the event

5. IEF Guangzhou

Each year, the IFE (International Food Exhibition & Import Food Exhibition fair) in China draws thousands of attendees and professionals to Guangzhou. The event is located at the Canton Exhibition Center- which just so happens to be the top exhibition center located in all of Asia. Spanning 700,000 meters, there’s more than enough space for everyone!

IEF offers a wide variety of food products, attracting buyers from all corners of the globe. Brands who choose to become VIP members have the opportunity to connect with suppliers during the event.

Contact Us to Enter One of China’s Food and Beverage Trade Shows

If you are looking to expand your business in China and attend one of these exhibitions, consider teaming up with a local agency. We are China’s top marketing agency, helping brands increase their footprint in the Chinese market.

Our professional team will guide you through all steps of the exhibition, from pre-event preparation to post-event follow-up. We have a wealth of experience in helping exhibitors maximize their ROI. This includes working with local partners, understanding Chinese culture and customs, addressing cultural barriers, and more.

We understand the importance of making a strong impression at these events and will work with you to ensure that your brand is presented positively. We can provide advice on creating effective displays, developing compelling marketing materials, engaging with potential customers, and using new technologies to stand out from the competition.

Contact us today to discuss your custom event needs.

In this article, we’ll highlight the main facts concerning the meat retail industry and will explain the process to be followed to sell meat in China.

Overview of China’s Meat Market

According to Statista, the revenue in the Chinese meat market accounted for $74.88 billion in 2022 and is predicted to reach $181.92 billion in 2027, with an annual growth rate of 19.42%. China represents 50% of the pork imports from the European Union. In fact, China is the first importer of pork and sheep meat in the world and the second when it comes to beef.

Although the market is second when it comes to revenues, China lags well behind many countries from Europe, Latin America, or the US in terms of per capita meat consumption. Only three out of four people say they eat meat, and the reason is the fact that meat was always treated more like a luxury in the Chinese diet, and not everyone can afford to buy fresh meat. But thanks to the growth of China’s middle class, meat consumption is predicted to grow.

Moreover, 98% of meat imports in the volume is controlled by a few countries in China:

• Argentina
• Canada
• New-Zealand
• Brazil
• Uruguay
• Australia

In terms of consumption

In 2026, Chinese people are expected to consume 55kg of meat per year (+10% compared to 2017). Meat consumption is gradually increasing, as more people can afford to buy pork, beef, or poultry.

When it comes to favorite meat in China, it’s definitely pork, which has been present in the Chinese diet since always. China is the world’s largest pork producer, consumer and importer. According to Statista, the world’s largest pork livestock production company, Smithfield from the US, was bought by the Chinese company WH Group in 2013 to accommodate China’s demand for this important source.

According to some reports, volumes of meat imported by China should rise while the ASF (African Swine Fever, a fatal pig disease) outbreaks have reduced the global pig herd by more than 25% in 2018-2019 and around 60% of the hog herd in China. As a consequence, China’s demand for pork has increased the price of pig meat in the global market. In the EU, suppliers even noticed an increase of almost 30% in prices.

Distribution channels of fresh meat in China

Good news for the food industry! A new distribution system has been set up. Indeed, China improved a lot its distribution system, resulting in expanding transportation networks. Some improvements were very welcomed in the industry as they led to an important development of regional trade in fresh meat but also processed meats.

Processed meat products are mainly sold in supermarkets and hypermarkets, while fresh meat products are mainly sold in open markets or street vendors. But many young people are more inclined to purchase food, including meat, online, which creates a perfect opportunity for foreign brands. Online sales of meat account for almost 30%.

Supermarkets and hypermarkets turned out to become the main retailers of processed meats (especially frozen and chilled products). This suits perfectly the needs of urban consumers as they are getting bigger income, and are therefore more willing to buy expensive cuts of meat, which leads to increased demand for variety and quality products, like imported beef, pork, poultry, lamb and fish.

While in occidental countries of Asia, governments are more and more questioning the consumption level of meat and its effect on people’s health, emerging countries are consuming more meat than ever. Which is a great opportunity for food retailers to export their meat products to China!

Changing meat consumption habits in China

In China only 5% of the population is vegan and although the trend is growing, especially in major cities like Shanghai or Shenzhen, a few million metric tons of meat were sold every year in the past decade. But, when it comes to increased health awareness, poultry production and consumption have increased, along with the consumption of fish, which are perceived more healthy than red meat.

In 2021, more than one-third of Chinese consumers described themselves as selective meat-eaters. Processed meat and cured meat were deemed unhealthy and were, therefore, avoided by many families in China. China also has joined the plant-based trend and many Chinese consumers are interested in trying plant-based meat equivalents.

To resume the situation in China toward the meat market

• Average meat consumption per inhabitant is increasing
• China needs more meat than before and can’t produce all of it by itself, so the country needs to rely heavily on production from other countries
• The ASF led to an important rise in pork meat importation due to many dead pigs
• Increase in the demand for variety and good quality products
• Improvement of the distribution system makes sales easier

Following this, you’ll understand that there is now a real opportunity for importers in the meat retail industry in China.

How to Sell Meat in China?

To sell meat in China, it’s best to integrate both online and offline sales. Before selling meat or any other product in the Chinese market, it’s important to work on branding and e-reputation. Due to many scandals with food quality, Chinese consumers are super cautious when it comes to fresh meat purchases, so they won’t buy from a brand they never heard of.

Online sales of meat in China

Online sales are probably the easiest way to make money in China. Here are some reasons why:

• Chinese people are always looking for products to buy online, even food.
• Easy to buy. Your potential clients can buy your products from anywhere. They’ll just need access to a phone or computer.
• If they are satisfied, they’ll buy from you again.
• If you’re turning out to sell a lot of products on an E-commerce Platform, offline distributors will contact you by themselves.

To distribute your product online, you’ll get two ways to operate:

• Cross-border E-commerce (Tmall Global, JD Global, etc.)
• Chinese E-commerce platforms (Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo etc.)

Cross-border e-commerce options for meat exporters

Cross-border is about the importation of goods through sellers from foreign countries. Let’s see how to sell your product through this model.

As an online e-commerce business model, you’ll need to have a platform. The main ones in China are currently Tmall Global and JD Global. Once you decide which platform you want to operate with, you’ll just need to set it up. Here’s the process:

1. Pay a deposit
2. Build a nice store
3. Advertise a lot (at the beginning)
4. Pay commission per sales
5. Pay daily operation management (high cost)
6. Need an active marketing campaign

The good part of cross-border e-commerce is that you don’t need to have a Chinese business license or any certification. The main disadvantage is that it’s pretty expensive.

Selling through Chinese e-commerce platforms

If you have the possibility to establish your business directly in China, and therefore get a Chinese business license and the required certifications, you can use Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, etc.

It’s cheaper than cross-border and the time to deliver your product is faster. The main problem is that you’ll need to understand Chinese or hire someone that can deal with it on your behalf. Because all the stores will be in Chinese. Otherwise, the process to open your store is similar to the one for a cross-border platform.

1. Deposit
2. Build a store, design pages
3. Advertise it
4. Participate in special events (double 11, 618, 12/12, etc.)
5. Manage daily operations
6. Store supported by your branding

Offline Sales – how to reach Chinese distributors?

Working with distributors is a basic model and a very common channel for companies to expand to new markets.

How does it work?

You give a percentage of your sales revenue (usually around 50%) in exchange for local distributors to handle the sales on your behalf. According to your product fame and negotiation process, distributors can eventually purchase your inventory so that you’ll get bottom-line benefits and will be able to sell even few million metric tons of meat annually.

What does that mean for you?

They do the job for you meaning, less profit margin and surely more concerns about quality control and branding… Distributors usually don’t market your brand. If your product already works, they’ll sell it well. If not, your product will be queuing behind the best sellers.

Be sure that distributors have already signed different companies offering the same type of product as yours. And they only care about the one showing results. If you lack a reputation in China, distributors won’t give you much attention.

What solution do you have using distributors?

• The exclusive Distributor

We don’t recommend it. Complicated to deal with. They are your suppliers, not partners, and once they’ll get the certification and authorization to represent your company in China, they may change their way of dealing with you. Keep in mind that they’ll put their interest before yours.

Also, they don’t have the knowledge to build your brand. They can find resellers or more generally distribute your product pretty fast but won’t do any effort into your branding.

• Multi-distributors

It’s a good strategy. You can control the distribution process and it’ll allow you a good presence in China, your own registration in the country, and strong branding.

With this model, you’ll deal directly with distributors, agents, and resellers and it will lead your company to a higher conversion rate.

• Direct distribution

You sell and deliver the product by yourself. You’re in total control of operations. You won’t face the costs for intermediary but will have important upfront costs (shops + warehouse).

From now on, you have some highlights on which distribution channel you can choose to export your products to China. Online or Offline. Two strategies can be chosen apart from each other or combined for more results, depending on your investment capacities.

However, you need to know that getting access to distributors in China is not easy.

Distributors will only distribute famous brands or brands with a lot of sales. They don’t want to waste time on branding (and most of them don’t know how to do it). So, they will distribute the first brands that will allow them to make good money.

Even if they agree to work with you, if nobody knows you in China, they won’t make any effort and won’t work on your brand. Therefore, you’ll need to develop a new marketing strategy to sell products to distributors.

Tips on How to Promote Your Brand in China

The answer to promoting your brand in China is online. Chinese people, even if they decide to purchase some products in supermarkets or local shops, they like to check some information about a company, its products and reviews online.

Mind your E-reputation

In China, whoever you decide to establish a commercial relationship with, they’ll check on you on social media. Whether it’s distributors, customers, or future partners, they’ll all check your online reputation.

For a long time, China suffered from its bad reputation for fake products, fake brands, and counterfeit and bad quality food. But from now on, China’s economic actors pay real attention to who they deal with. And before doing anything, they’ll want to make sure that a trustful relationship can be established.

How to develop your reputation and make your company trustable to Chinese distributors?

Step 1. Let them know who you are through a Chinese website and good Baidu SEO

Baidu corresponds to the Chinese Google. Chinese netizens are always looking for information on it. If they have a problem: Baidu. If they’re looking for something: Baidu. If they want to buy your product but don’t know you: Baidu… following this, different actions will be required for you to develop your e-reputation on the Chinese browser.

• Baidu Zhidao & Zhihu: a good way to deliver information and introduce your company
• Baidu Baike: the Chinese Wikipedia. You’ll need to make your own page there. It’s a very important website in China. People trust it a lot.
• Public Relations: you’ll need articles talking about you. They want to see the media talking about how good are your products, how much the Chinese love them, and how reputed you are at an international level.
• Forums: you need to be present in different online discussions. People have to talk about you.
• Reviews/comments: when Chinese people are happy (or not) with a product, they post an online review/comment. And you’ll need plenty of them. As a result, when distributors will be looking for your brand, they’ll be happy to see that you’re trustworthy and that many people are already satisfied with your product.

And of course, on top of that, you need to have a Chinese website presenting your brand to the Chinese audience in their mother language. To be able to rank on the first page of search results in Baidu, you’ll need to host the website in Mainland China and focus on keywords optimization and so on, for good Baidu SEO.

Step 2. Use social media

Once they’ll know you are a real company selling good quality products, they’ll need to be sure that they can sell your products without any problems. And how to be sure of that? By checking how many people follow you, what do they think of you, if you already have people buying your products?

To develop a successful presence on Chinese social media to impress your distributor, you’ll need:

WeChat

A very famous platform in China, with more than 1.26 billion monthly active users. Wechat is a messaging app that also offers many other features, like short-videos, mobile payments, official accounts with an option of sending newsletters to your followers. And, the most important – WeChat Shops, which are flagship stores of brands operating inside the WeChat app.

Here’s what you can do on the app:

• Create a company brochure and own store
• Spread marketing content
• Spread coupons/discounts to your followers
• Work on your community management
• Share different content formats

And many more. WeChat is a must-have in China and companies that are not present on the app are not trusted.

Weibo

It’s a very popular social media in China. This tool will help you to reach your target audience and engage with potential customers. Due to the high visibility you can get on this platform, we recommend the use of KOL. A perfect way to build up and show your good reputation. KOLs are Chinese influencers, that are usually specialists in their field. You can work with some chefs, that will use your meat in Chinese recipes, sell your products via live-streaming and many more.

Douyin

It’s a video sharing application. Very popular in China. Through this one, you can create video content and spread it to a wild audience. Moreover, you can also sell your product on the app. Fun & Intuitive, potential customers will love to interact with you there. It’s also a very good way to develop a KOL strategy.

We are GMA, a Potential Partner for You!

Selling anything in China requires a lot of work, as you need to build your online presence and reputation before even thinking of selling to Chinese consumers. If you manage to build your visibility and a strong reputation on Chinese social media and in Baidu, half of the job is done. You’ll get all the key elements to convince any distributors to sell your meat in China.

We are a China marketing agency with more than 10 years of experience. Our Chinese and foreign experts have the know-how and experience needed to succeed on this competitive market. There are many opportunities for meat sellers in China, but it’s important to have a good strategy in order to attract distributors and consumers to your products.

When it comes to food and beverage industry, we have helped many brands reach and exceed their goals in China. Some of our case studies include:

Do not hesitate to leave us a comment or contact us to schedule a free discovery consultation, where our F&B expert will learn about your brand and present you the best opportunities and solutions in the Chinese market.

In this blog post, we will take a look at the Chinese soft drink market and examine the opportunities in this thriving sector, presenting ideas on how to cater to the needs of Chinese consumers and export your soft drinks to China.

Overview of China’s Soft Drink Market

Before 2000, Chinese people were all about carbonated soft drinks, with Coca-Cola and Pepsi leading the market. After six years, they began to shift their interest toward tea beverages, growing the demand for the tea beverage industry in China. Nowadays, although carbonated beverages like cola are still the first choice for many Chinese, functional drinks, bottled water, and energy drinks are slowly gaining more and more market share, as Chinese people are starting to be more health-conscious.

As of 2023, the revenue in the soft drink market in China amounts to almost 56 billion dollars and is expected to grow annually by 8.41% until 2026. In 2026, the market is expected to reach 77.04 billion dollars. Almost 53% of soft drinks enthusiasts are people between 18 and 34 years old.

What is also important to mention is that only around 10% of soft drinks are drunk out of home (in restaurants, bars etc.). This means, that anyone that is interested in selling soft drinks in China, needs to think about crucial offline distribution channels, like convenience stores, supermarkets, or vending machines.

Which soft drinks are preferred in China?

As we mentioned before, during the first ten years of the 2000s, sodas were beyond the drunkest soft drinks in China. People were buying Coca-Cola in bulk, as it was the trendiest drink on the market. But nowadays, carbonated beverages take only 14% of the market share, with bottled water, ready-to-drink bottled tea, and fruit drinks taking 71% of the market.

The beverage industry is changing all around the world and China is no different. There are more and more people choosing to buy fruit juice instead of Coca-Cola, they are also turning to mineral water, or functional and sports drinks for health benefits.

Coca-Cola is still leading the market

Thanks to its unique taste and branding, Coca-Cola China is still the market leader when it comes to carbonated beverages. According to GlobalData, Coca-Cola Company has 25% of the soft drinks market share in China, with China being the third-biggest market for the company after the US and Mexico (but please note that the company produces many different products apart from the signature Coca-Cola). Coca-Cola Company, being the first in China’s soft drink market in 1979, shortly followed by PepsiCo, has many factories in China with more expansion in the future.

According to Karen So, managing director of Coca-Cola, “China’s beverage market is diversified with a wide range of products. We will strive to achieve a dominant position or top ranking in soda water, tea, coffee, energy drinks, and other categories in the future.”

Tea and Iced-Coffee

The tea market in China is vast and competitive, with the dominance of local brands. Tea is the most traditional beverage in Chinese culture, and the variety of choices for tea beverages is bigger than anywhere else in the world.

According to Daxue Consulting, in recent years new-style tea beverages have entered the market, with HEYTEA and Naixue Cha gaining the most recognition. There are many different options to choose from, starting from traditional tea flavors, through milk tea and tea beverages with fruit juice. Instant tea occupies 21% of the market shares.

Although coffee culture is a domain of the West, the coffee market in China is presenting a huge potential, with many people choosing this beverage among tea. Giants like Starbucks and Costa Coffee are very popular in China, in fact, the biggest amount of Starbucks is located in Mainland China.

Following the recent consumption trends, coffee companies are starting to offer zero-sugar coffees, just like in other countries. Now there are many options for ready-to-go iced coffees in glass bottles sold in convenience stores and grocery shops across China.

Juice

The juice market occupies 18% of the soft drink market shares in China, with orange juice being the most favored taste among Chinese customers. Tongyi, Kangfu Shifu, Nongfu Spring, and Huiyuan are four local brands with the biggest market shares in the juice market. Today more consumers buy fresh fruit juices and juice drinks instead of carbon dioxide beverages, as they are pursuing healthier and more functional drink options.

Mineral water and nutridrinks

China has one of the biggest water markets in the world and it will only grow now, thanks to changing behaviors of its netizens. The biggest companies on the market are Wahaha, Kang Shifu, and Nongfu Spring, all being domestic brands. Although Chinese people are fond of drinking warm water, there is a growing amount of young Chinese consumers who like to buy mineral bottled water and waters with some fruity tastes.

As more people do sports and take care of their health, bottled water, and nutridrinks are gaining more popularity in the soft drink market. Following industry trends, all the big companies, like Coca-Cola China, Nongfu Spring, Wahaha, and Pepsi are introducing mineral bottled water and other beverages with zero sugar, zero calories, and many nutrients to Chinese mainland consumers.

GMA worked for Balance, an Australian water brand focusing on the health benefits of the local flora. We managed to grow the brand’s WeChat followers by 8000 and Weibo by 75000. Balance gained big recognition in China, taking part in online and offline events, showing other brands that there still is a lot of space for foreign companies of soft drinks in Chinese market. If you would like to work with us, leave us a comment.

How to Promote Soft Drinks in the Chinese Market?

There are several steps that brands should take if they want to succeed in the Chinese market and increase their retail sales. Read up to get to know them!

Build a Chinese website that will be optimized for Baidu

Chinese consumers and distributors must be able to find you on Baidu,  the most popular search engine in China. As we use Google to check brands that we are interested in, Chinese customers and distributors will try to look you up in Baidu, to learn more about your brand.

To build a great website follow some easy tips:

• The website must be in Chinese Mandarin, as Baidu doesn’t rank high as foreign websites
• Leave the contact information on the homepage (and here the most important contact will be your WeChat Official Account and phone number)
• You can have an option of a live chat, which will increase your conversion rate, it’s a very popular tool in China
• Your website must be hosted in Mainland China or Hong Kong/Singapour (To put it simply your website will load faster and get a ranking boost on Baidu).
• The content must be adapted to Chinese tastes, be original, and frequent (It will give your Website authority on Baidu)

Promote your soft drinks brand on Chinese social media

Chinese social media are used by the majority of the Internet population in China, with WeChat being an absolute leader, gathering more than 1.3 billion users as of 2023. WeChat offers many features, allowing you to create an Official Account, which is essential in building brand awareness, as it works as a newsletter. Apart from that, you can create your own WeChat store, post video content, run ads, and many more.

Although WeChat is a must in your marketing strategy, it’s more of a closed ecosystem, where you build awareness and loyalty with your existing follower base. If you want to reach out to new customers, Weibo, Little Red Book, Douyin or Kuaishou will be your social media options, which will give a boost to your brand.

To promote yourself effectively on Chinese social media it is necessary to:

• create an official account, which is essential to build trust in users;
• post new comments and frequent updates;
• manage the community and interact with users and Kols;
• cross-marketing with other platforms

Invest in Storytelling and Packaging to sell your soda brand in China

If you are a small enterprise that wants to enter the Chinese soda market, it is really important to focus on the quality and the storytelling of your brand. In marketing, storytelling means the conveyance of a “packaged” message within a story to a specific target.  For example, if you want to sell your Italian orange soda highlight the quality and the freshness of the oranges you use.

It is also very important to adapt the packaging to Chinese tastes. Chinese people really like strong colors and drawings. Chinese consumers have expressed their desire to have different tastes in soft drinks. Consumers tend to have higher expectations. They really want products that correspond to their lifestyle. As their purchase increased, they were ready to pay more for a better product. Highlight these aspects in your content on social media to gain the interest of your target audience.

Build your e-reputation

E-reputation is the most important step to take in order to win Chinese consumers. They don’t usually buy from brands they don’t know, so unless someone recommends them to you or they get attracted by your story, you can’t count on their purchases. One of the greatest ways to gain good e-reputation in China is through Xiaohongshu.

Xiaohongshu is a social e-commerce platform that has become popular in China’s wealthy cities. The app’s core content is UGC (user-generated content). UGC on RED is one of the reasons behind the success of the app, as it becomes the place to go for genuine products/brand reviews and ultimately a perfect place for Chinese influencers.  Posts (under the form of shopping notes) and comments would like to educate the user on a specific product more than merely advertising it. Chinese consumers have a lot of trust in social media recommendations.

Apart from RED, you can also invest in some PR actions, so that you show up in Baidu. You also need to remember about being present on all of your accounts, so that you interact with your community.

Sell Soda Brands on Chinese e-commerce platforms

There are many e-commerce platforms to choose from, with Tmall, Taobao, and JD being the market leaders. But what is important to know is that those platforms are big initial investments, so it’s only for brands with an established presence and good branding in China.

For relatively new brands, it’s best to start with a WeChat Store or Pinduoduo, better suited for a smaller budget. E-commerce platforms will give you the biggest exposure, but the competition is also huge, so you need to be sure, that your brand is ready before you enter one of these platforms.

Find the right distributors

After some branding effort, finding a distributor will be a much easier task as your brand/products will already have recognition in China. After you have built your own e-reputation on Chinese social media, you can start looking for some Chinese distributors. There are several ways to do that:

• Work with an agency or organization and its distribution network.
• Participate in trade fairs, put your Wechat QR code everywhere, and show you already understand how the market works and that you are ready for it
• Have your listing on a Wechat H5 brochure that can easily be shared with potential distributors on any occasion. (This listing would be the “China” version of your PDF listing)
• Lead Generation: Get requests Online via your Website for instance.

Entering the Chinese market can be really difficult for a small enterprise but following the right steps, it is possible to reach Chinese consumers and gain their trust.

GMA is Your Best Partner to Market Your Soft Drinks Brand in China

Gentlemen Marketing Agency is a Digital Marketing Agency that is an expert in helping foreign companies establish or strengthen their position in China. With more than 10 years of experience and more than 70 Chinese and foreign professionals in the field, we can offer you many different solutions for the best market entry in China.

Here are some of our services:

We have many successful stories and more than 1000 satisfied customers. When it comes to soda brands, we’ve been working with Balance Water, Red Bull, and Twist & Drink brands, which we showed you in the article. All of them gained recognition and successfully entered the Chinese market.

Do you want to be next? Don’t hesitate to contact us or leave us a comment to discuss your project!

China Coffee Market Overview

While China is a nation fond of tea as its primary source of caffeine, the popularity of coffee is steadily rising among its population. Because of this, opening a coffee franchise in China seems to be an increasingly viable business proposition for many companies.

Chinese people like to drink coffee outside, and this is mainly thanks to Starbucks. Until 2025, 91% of spending on coffee will be out-of-home, and as you can see above, ready-to-drink coffee is the most sought-after type among Chinese consumers.

This increase in popularity was spearheaded by the entry of the American coffee giant, Starbucks, in China. As they opened their first Chinese store in Beijing in 1999, coffee slowly became a more popular good rather than an exclusive and expensive gift for special occasions.

Currently, China is Starbucks’ largest market outside of the US. This could be attributed to the decrease in the popularity of instant coffee. Many Chinese consumers now choose to visit coffee houses instead of making their coffee at home.

As such, many homegrown and global brands have started to see the potential of opening their coffee franchise in China. With the dream of replicating the success of Starbucks, many different coffee chains began to sprout. 

How did coffee become popular in China?

But how exactly did coffee catch up to tea in terms of consumption?

This phenomenon is primarily attributed by many to China’s millennial population, which has been widely exposed to Western culture and its penchant for coffee. This is especially true of those who are students from America, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This demographic of people had higher purchasing power at the time, which explains why they could afford such a lifestyle. These individuals have brought many aspects of the Western lifestyle to their homes. Since they were willing to pay more for specialty coffee, they became advocates of the industry in China.

Today, China is the fastest-growing market in the coffee industry, with a staggering growth of 9.63% every year. This growth is one of the reasons why many international brands are eyeing China as their next growth hub. Similarly, you can see that many homegrown brands such as Luckin Coffee are tapping into this potential and competing with Starbucks, the current hotshot in the industry.

Signs of growth in the industry are staggering. In the year 2006, very few multinational companies were present in the coffee specialty sector of China. In fact, tea was the preferred caffeine source in China, with staggering amounts produced every single year.

You can also attribute the success of the coffee industry in China to its evolving image in the country. Many Chinese consumers see coffee as a status symbol. In fact, if you compare the prices of coffee cups around the world, you’ll see that China’s coffee cups are among the most expensive. Though this might not make sense to many, the motivations behind buying a high-priced coffee are the same as buying designer items like bags and accessories.

The Rise of Coffee Franchises in China

Given the commercial potential of opening a coffee franchise in China — the dollar value of the Chinese coffee industry is at USD 14.2 billion, with over 330 million coffee drinkers throughout the nation — many international and local brands are trying to share the market.

Homegrown brands such as Luckin Coffee and Coffee Box are among the biggest names in the Chinese coffee industry. For instance, Luckin Coffee has over 4,500 coffee houses all over China, serving about 40 million consumers. Although Luckin Coffee embroiled itself in a fraud scandal by inflating its revenues, it remains one of the largest coffee companies in China.

On the other hand, Coffee Box takes a different approach to its coffee franchise in China. Instead of building large coffee houses, Coffee Box chose to erect small “coffee stations”. These stations employ only two baristas with many deliverymen. The idea is that these stations will bring coffee deliveries to consumers within 30 minutes.

This unique business strategy proved to be a success. It became one of the largest homegrown coffee companies in China, with over 400 stations throughout the country.

Of course, there are many more homegrown brands seeking to take part in the Chinese coffee market. These companies include Pacific Coffee, Greybox Coffee, and Fisheye Cafe.

Starbucks: The Leading Coffee Franchise in China

While there are a lot of homegrown brands and even international brands vying for the Chinese coffee market, Starbucks remains the undisputed king of Chinese coffee.

With over 3,400 stores in the country, Starbucks China currently holds the largest market share of the coffee industry. In fact, Starbucks’ largest coffee house globally is located in Shanghai, which is also the second Starbucks Reserves to be created.

A Starbucks Coffee Reserves is where coffee enthusiasts, tourists, and anyone, can learn more about the craft of coffee made by Starbucks. They can also go to these stores to buy fancy coffee equipment and, of course, enjoy a cup of coffee.

While Starbucks is easily the most prominent coffee franchise in China, other coffee brands challenge its dominance. For instance, homegrown brands are rising in popularity across different Chinese cities. There are also multinational companies that seek to expand in this market.

One good example would be Britain’s Costa Coffee, which takes advantage of the unique coffee sensibilities of each region. Their localization strategy seems to be gaining success as they grow in China. This strategy comes in stark contrast with Starbucks’ standard coffee brewing strategy across all its stores in China.

Other international brands trying to expand their reach in China include Tim Horton’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Nestlé. However, Starbucks still maintains a 60% hold of the market share in the country.

Pacific Coffee

Pacific Coffee seeks to differentiate itself from the rest of the industry by partnering with Dong’s E’Jiao. This partnership allows them to specialize in donkey hide extract, which is a famous Chinese medicinal ingredient.

Currently, they have over 300 coffee houses in Mainland China plus over 200 more around the globe. Their company covers significant cities all over China, which includes Beijing, Shanghai, and 13 others.

Greybox Coffee

Greybox Coffee aims to become one of China’s most premium coffee shops. This can be seen in their store locations; unlike other startup coffee franchises in China, Greybox Coffee makes high-end streets and malls their store locations.

After all, their primary demographic includes business elites, celebrities, and artists that stay in these locations most of the time.

Currently, Greybox Coffee has 23 stores in 9 cities all over China.

Fisheye Cafe

The last notable homegrown coffee franchise in China is Fisheye Cafe.

In 2010, Fisheye cafe operated as a specialty coffee retailer that gives a premium experience to its consumers. In 2017, Fisheye Cafe had set up numerous storefronts with limited seating across downtown areas in China.

From coffee to baked pastries, Fisheye Cafe offers a variety of products to its consumers, similar to Starbucks. It also operates a delivery system through the company’s WeChat mini-program.

How To Launch Your Own Chinese Coffee Franchise

Given the commercial potential of opening a coffee franchise in China, how exactly can you launch yours?

There are generally two ways to go about this:

1. First, you can launch your coffee franchise all by yourself.
2. Secondly, you can hire an intermediary who can open your coffee franchise in China on your behalf.

The first method requires you to pass through several Chinese regulations. For instance, you need to have operated two franchises elsewhere in the world. Additionally, you need to have run at least one of these franchises for more than a year already.

While it’s true that launching a coffee franchise in China can be beneficial for you, there are also a lot of challenges that you may face along the way. This includes researching the unique demographics of China’s diverse regions. While it’s true that Starbucks met success despite their standard coffee menus, this success isn’t replicated by many brands in China. With this in mind, it’s essential to integrate localization into your expansion strategy.

Past setting up stores in China, you gotta think of marketing

Furthermore, you have to consider the difference in technologies used for marketing in China. There’s no Facebook or Twitter to run your promotional campaigns. Instead, you’ll have Weibo, WeChat, and other social media platforms that are unique to the Chinese market.

Promote your coffee franchise in China on Weibo for views

Weibo is an open social media that enables people to share and go viral – it has similar features to Twitter notably hashtag function. Everyone can see everything, which encourages them to interact with one another in different ways while also engaging between themselves and brands through commenting on posts

Weibo is a great place for brands to be commercial, promote offers, and collaborate with influencers. Contrary to WeChat, the app is extremely visual, just like Instagram, and viral posts will appear in its”trending section”. Furthermore, the Weibo paid advertising system is widely appreciated by brands & marketing specialists for its cost-efficiency.

WeChat to tighten the knit

WeChat is in many ways more than a simple messenger app and a daily life tool for its users: from texting to shopping, delivery, booking, or even memberships.

If these tools are great for users, they are awesome for brands and companies that can use WeChat in many ways to engage with their target audience.

For instance, Starbucks China publishes regularly on WeChat to promote their seasonal goods or activities the franchise takes part in, but users can also access their WeChat shop to purchase goodies or order a coffee.

Other social media: Douyin and Xiaohongshu

Apart from WeChat and Weibo, there are other very popular social media platforms to promote your coffee brand. The one most worth mentioning is Douyin, which is the mother app of Tiktok, with over 700 million active monthly users. You can promote your coffee through engaging short videos and live streams.

Another great app for coffee promotion is Xiaohongshu, as it’s a lifestyle platform with women being the main target group. Xiaohongshu works a bit similar to Instagram, where people love to share lifestyle photos, beautiful spots, cafes and all.

Coffee lovers can be snobby, don’t shy away from forums to discuss your coffee franchise

Do you want to attract coffee lovers? Having an active presence on Chinese forums (on top of having good coffee) will actually help.

Not only will it help your brand build a name for itself, but it will also increase your visibility online and notably on Baidu.

Content on forums is written by other consumers which your target audience will take more seriously than official communication. This combined with a strong presence on social media will ensure that coffee consumers choose you rather than the competition.

Your coffee franchise in China needs a website

Getting your coffee franchise a Chinese website will tie the rest of your effort together and it will allow your brand to have a direct presence on Baidu important for brand credibility.

Having a Chinese website is also key to having Chinese investors and franchisees take an interest in your franchise.

Want to Get Started as a Coffee Franchise in China?

The Chinese coffee market is still growing; if you can take the leap, it’s the perfect opportunity to seize this commercial potential and expand your coffee franchise in China.

In your journey to entering the Chinese market and expanding your coffee franchise there, you’ll need to make sure that your brand is compelling with Chinese consumers first before thinking of finding franchisees, and then maybe like Starbucks and Luckin coffee you’ll even be able to design goodies you’ll sell on a Tmall flagship store.

Gentlemen Marketing Agency offers specialized services and expertise to help your coffee business thrive in this dynamic environment.

At Gentlemen Marketing Agency, we specialize in:

• Market Analysis and Strategy: We provide in-depth insights into the Chinese coffee market, helping you understand local consumer preferences and trends. Our tailored strategies ensure your franchise aligns with the market demands.
• Brand Localization: We help adapt your brand to resonate with Chinese consumers, from menu adaptations to cultural branding elements, ensuring your franchise connects with the local audience.
• Digital Marketing: Utilizing popular platforms like Weibo and WeChat, we craft engaging digital marketing campaigns to increase your brand’s visibility and appeal to a wider audience.
• Influencer Collaborations: Leverage our network of influencers to enhance your brand’s presence and credibility in the Chinese market.
• Store Location Analysis: We assist in identifying strategic locations for your outlets, maximizing foot traffic and visibility.
• Customer Engagement Strategies: We develop engagement strategies to build a loyal customer base, from loyalty programs to interactive social media campaigns.

Partner with Gentlemen Marketing Agency to navigate the complexities of the Chinese coffee market. Our comprehensive approach and in-depth expertise are the keys to making your coffee franchise a success story in China. Contact us today!

As this article unfolds, it serves up essential insights for international players looking to feast on the potential of China’s tech-driven gastronomic boom. It’s a compact guide through the bustling alleyways of China’s app-centric food market, where understanding the local digital diet is just as important as mastering the menu.

Introduction to China’s Food Ordering Scene

The transformation from traditional dining practices to digital ordering in China has been swift and dramatic, propelled by the widespread adoption of food ordering apps. Here’s a breakdown of this shift:

Historical Context: From Traditional Dining to Digital Ordering

The transition from physical menus to digital platforms has reinvented the dining experience in China. The convenience of app-based ordering has disrupted long-standing dining habits, making eating out an option even from home.

Why Are Food Ordering Apps So Popular in China?

Food ordering apps have surged in popularity in China due to a synergy of cultural and technological factors:

• Urban Convenience: China’s fast-paced cities demand quick and efficient solutions for dining, with apps offering a plethora of options at the tap of a screen.
• Tech-Savvy Population: Widespread smartphone use and advanced digital infrastructure make adopting app-based services a natural step for the majority of Chinese consumers.
• Integrated Payment Systems: The seamless fusion of these apps with popular digital payment methods like Alipay and WeChat Pay makes ordering and paying for food incredibly convenient.
• Changing Lifestyles: With higher disposable incomes and less time or inclination for home cooking, especially among younger generations, food delivery apps provide an easy alternative to dining out.
• Market Competitiveness: Aggressive promotions, discounts, and personalized recommendations keep users engaged and loyal, fueling the apps’ growth and popularity.

Key Players in the Chinese Food Ordering App Market

The digital dining space in China is dominated by several key players, each with its unique selling points (USPs) and features that cater to the diverse needs of Chinese consumers.

Meituan Dianping

Meituan Dianping is much more than a food delivery service; it’s a lifestyle guru for the urban diner. With its vast array of services that include restaurant reviews, food delivery, grocery shopping, and even travel booking, it serves up convenience on a platter. Meituan Dianping’s edge lies in its ability to provide a holistic experience, recommending eateries based on user preferences and past orders, sweetened by the occasional coupon to keep diners coming back for more.

Ele.me

Ele.me, which roughly translates to ‘Are you hungry?‘, delivers on its promise of satiating cravings at lightning speeds. Alibaba’s support equips Ele.me with a robust logistical network, ensuring that your order arrives faster than it took to decide on a dish. It seamlessly syncs with Alibaba’s vast ecosystem, letting users earn loyalty points and access special offers, enhancing the overall user experience.

Baidu Waimai

While Baidu Waimai has been absorbed into Ele.me, its legacy of harnessing Baidu’s technological expertise lives on. It’s bolstered Ele.me’s platform with smarter search algorithms and an expanded delivery network, making it an even stronger contender in the food delivery race.

Koubei

Koubei taps into the local commerce vein, offering discounts and deals that encourage diners to explore new food experiences within their vicinity. Integrated within Alibaba’s ecosystem, it provides users with a familiar payment system via Alipay and capitalizes on Alibaba’s analytics to target offers to the right audience.

Dianwoba

Lastly, Dianwoba is making a name for itself by serving not just the consumer but the restaurant industry too. It stands out with its B2B approach, providing robust backend solutions to eateries, ensuring they keep up with demand, manage their inventory effectively, and tailor their delivery options.

For the consumer, Dianwoba’s interface offers a personalized approach to ordering food, acknowledging the individual’s taste and preference in the digital dining experience.

How Food Ordering Apps Are Benefiting Restaurants

Food ordering apps are not just revolutionizing the dining experience for consumers; they are also catalyzing growth for restaurants in China. By tapping into these digital platforms, eateries are reaping numerous benefits:

Increased Consumer Accessibility

Apps have opened up a new avenue for consumers to access a wide range of food options. This digital doorstep delivery model is convenient for customers and allows restaurants to serve beyond their traditional geographic limitations.

Market Expansion for Restaurants

Restaurants are finding their way into new markets without the need for physical expansion. These apps boost visibility and help eateries reach potential customers who might otherwise be unaware of their offerings.

Customer Insights Through Data

With each order, restaurants collect valuable data, providing insights into consumer preferences, peak ordering times, and popular menu items. This information can drive more informed business decisions and tailored marketing strategies.

According to a survey conducted by Rakuten Insight in April 2023, approximately 83% of respondents from China reported ordering food from Chinese apps at least once a week. Only about 2% of respondents stated that they never used food delivery apps.

Streamlined Operations

Ordering apps can lead to more efficient operations. They often come with tools that help manage orders, track deliveries, and even assist with inventory management, helping to reduce the burden of overhead costs.

Features of Food Ordering Apps That Resonate with Chinese Consumers

Food ordering apps in China have become incredibly successful by incorporating features that resonate deeply with the local consumer base:

Localization and Language

The apps are finely tuned to the local culture, providing services in Mandarin and other regional dialects. They ensure that the user interface, customer service, and even the marketing content are culturally relevant and linguistically accurate, making them more accessible to the vast Chinese population.

Meituan Dianping offers services in several Chinese dialects, not just standard Mandarin, which makes the app more accessible to users across different regions. It also provides localized content, including regional cuisine options and deals that appeal to local tastes and preferences.

Social Media and Payment Integration

These platforms are seamlessly integrated with popular Chinese social media and digital payment systems like WeChat and Alipay. This integration streamlines the user experience, from sharing a favorite meal with friends to completing a transaction within the app, fostering a sense of trust and community.

Personalized AI Recommendations

Leveraging artificial intelligence, the apps analyze user preferences to offer personalized food recommendations. This not only enhances the user experience but also increases the chances of repeat orders, as the app’s suggestions often reflect the user’s taste profile accurately.

For instance, a user might receive suggestions for a coffee shop in the morning or a hot pot restaurant on a cold evening, based on their ordering patterns.

Loyalty and Promotions

Chinese consumers are known to appreciate value-added benefits. Food ordering apps capitalize on this by offering robust loyalty programs, discounts, and promotional campaigns that encourage repeat usage and attract new customers through time-limited offers and exclusive deals.

Dianping offers a points system where users earn rewards for writing reviews or participating in other community-driven activities. These points can then be used for discounts or special offers.

Marketing Insights for Foreign Brands and Restaurants

For foreign brands aiming to enter the Chinese market and leverage food ordering apps effectively, here’s a concise guide to the key marketing insights:

Tailoring Offerings to Local Preferences

Understand the regional culinary preferences and modify your menu to include local flavors and ingredients that appeal to Chinese palates. For instance, KFC in China offers congee and Sichuan spicy chicken, catering to local tastes.

Navigating Cultural Nuances

Adapt your marketing and customer service to respect Chinese culture and etiquette. This includes not only language localization but also an understanding of cultural symbols, holidays, and taboos. Customer service expectations are high, with a preference for rapid response times and polite interaction.

Establishing a Brand Presence

To establish a strong brand presence in China, foreign brands need to strategically dive into the country’s unique digital ecosystem. This involves creating engaging content on popular social media platforms like WeChat, Sina Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, tailored to the behavior and preferences of Chinese users. Influencers and KOLs on these platforms can be engaged to amplify reach and authenticity.

On the search engine front, brands must prioritize Baidu SEO, using Mandarin keywords and conforming to Baidu’s specific algorithms, and consider Baidu’s paid advertising to boost visibility. Establishing a well-curated Baidu Baike page is also crucial for credibility.

Moreover, actively managing online reputation on review sites and within food ordering apps, through both feedback engagement and promotional activities, is vital. To magnify this digital presence, partnerships with local entities for content co-creation and cross-promotion can serve as a gateway to tapping into established consumer bases and gaining valuable local insights.

Differentiation Strategies for Newcomers

New entrants should focus on creating a unique selling proposition (USP) by offering exclusive dishes, premium quality, or a novel dining experience. Highlight what sets your brand apart in all your platform listings and marketing materials.

Collaborative Approaches

Consider partnering with existing local apps rather than trying to compete against well-established players. This can offer easier market entry and access to a vast user base. Collaborations can range from exclusive deals to featuring your brand in app-based food festivals or events.

Partner with Gentlemen Marketing Agency for Success!

If you’re a foreign brand looking to make a splash in the Chinese market, navigating the intricate web of consumer preferences, digital platforms, and regulatory frameworks can seem daunting. That’s where Gentlemen Marketing Agency comes in.

With our deep understanding of the Chinese market and expertise in leveraging local social media platforms, Baidu SEO, and SEM, we’re the partner you need to ensure your brand doesn’t just enter the market but thrives in it.

What do we offer?

• Market Entry Strategy: Crafting tailored approaches for your brand’s introduction to the Chinese market.
• Social Media Marketing: Managing and optimizing your presence on platforms such as WeChat, Sina Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu.
• Influencer Collaborations: Partnering with key opinion leaders (KOLs) to build brand trust and reach wider audiences.
• Baidu SEO & SEM: Maximizing your brand’s visibility on China’s leading search engine with optimized content and strategic ad placements.
• Content Creation: Developing engaging, culturally relevant content designed to resonate with Chinese consumers.
• Online Reputation Management: Monitoring and enhancing your brand’s perception on review platforms and social channels.
• E-Commerce Integration: Assisting with setup and optimization on China’s vast e-commerce landscape, including Tmall, JD.com, and others.
• Data Analytics and Consumer Insights: Providing detailed analytics and insights to inform strategy and decision-making.
• Localization Services: Adapting your branding and messaging to align with Chinese cultural nuances and language preferences.
• Crisis Management: Preparing for and responding to any potential PR crises that may arise within the Chinese market.

At Gentlemen Marketing Agency, we combine these services with our extensive local expertise to offer a comprehensive, integrated solution for your brand’s success in China. So, if you’re ready to take your brand to the next level in China, let Gentlemen Marketing Agency be your guide to success. Contact us today to see how we can help your brand achieve its full potential.