Consumption habits among Chinese urban population are rapidly changing. Consumers are now looking for convenience and are eager to taste new products. The growth in sales of snacks is a response to both trends, since urban consumers spend less time eating due to, among other reasons, the extraordinary long commute times – almost two hours per day in Beijing or Shanghai.
While European countries lead global rankings in sugar consumption, China is one of the countries with the lowest consumption per capita at 15.7 grams – less than a sixth of that of the Netherlands or Germany. This has a massive impact on the type of snacks Chinese consume and the quantities. Chocolate, sugar or other sweet confectionery are less important as snack categories in China when compared to Europe. However, due to the mere size of the market, even niche segments represent big opportunities for EU SMEs.
Snacks are a broad food category composed of many sub-categories with different market sizes, performance and characteristics. This report takes that into account and incorporates the particularities of Chinese eating habits to analyse the “snack” category as a whole, while providing specific insights into each of the segments.
A store check in several locations in Beijing has been carried out for this report. Most of the pictures and some of the data included have been obtained from this store check, which does not intent to be an exhaustive analysis of retailers nationwide, but a representation of the reality of China’s snack market.
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Key Contents
Introduction
Segmentation
Categories
Imports
Labelling
Key Takeaways
