Kantar Worldpanel has released its "2024 Brand Footprint Report" detailing the top 50 most chosen brands in China’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. The report reveals key drivers of brand growth in the new market reality through an analysis of the performance of these leading brands.

The report uses Consumer Reach Points (CRPs) as a metric to identify the brands most chosen by consumers globally and those with the fastest growth.

Key Findings from the Report:

Top Brands: Yili, Mengniu, Master Kong, and Haitian remain the top four consumer choices, with Uni-President re-entering the top ten list.

New Entrant: Baixiang has made it into the top 50 for the first time, becoming the fastest-growing brand.

Consumer Preferences: In 2023, there was a notable shift in consumer purchasing preferences, with beverages accounting for six of the top ten categories for attracting new consumers.

Brand Growth: Reaching more consumers remains the cornerstone of brand gro...

China's Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market, a critical indicator of domestic consumption patterns, presents a mixed picture in Q2 2023, reflecting both resilience and challenges. Here's a breakdown based on recent data from CTR and CCTV Market Research's Kantar Consumer Index.
1. Market Growth and Diversification
Despite the "high base effect," the FMCG market in Q2 2023 maintained a steady growth rate, signaling a moderate recovery trend. Regionally, while the East and North areas experienced a slight growth of 1.5% and 1.6% respectively, the South region faced a decline of 3.8%.

The "high base effect" refers to the distortion that can occur in financial or economic data as a result of an exceptionally large value or growth rate during a previous period. When this high base is used as a comparison for current data, it can lead to misleading interpretations of growth rates or trends.

There are, however, disparities in the performance of various categories. Household clean...

Kantar Worldpanel, CTR's partner in China, has unveiled its eleventh annual Global Brand Footprint Report, ranking brands in China's rapidly changing consumer goods market for 2023.

The report uses a unique metric called Consumer Reach Points to disclose the most preferred and swiftly expanding brands in the global marketplace.

As per the report, in 2022, Yili, Mengniu, Master Kong, and Haitian remained at the forefront, demonstrating the substantial penetration of leading brands into Chinese households and their resilience in the face of market challenges.

These brands have fortified their connection with consumers by enhancing their strength, channel power, and product innovation.

In contrast, food brand Jinlongyu and lifestyle paper brand C&S broke into the top ten, with Vinda and C&S also securing spots among the fastest-growing brands in 2022.

Most of the brands listed as the fastest growing in 2022 sell essential products, illustrating shifts in consumer be...

In 2020, China's online retail sales reached 11.76 trillion yuan (US$1.82 trillion), with a year-on-year growth of 10.9%.

The online retail sales of physical goods reached 9.76 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 14.8%, accounting for nearly a quarter of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

The eastern region accounted for 84.5% of total online retail sales in China in 2020, with a growth of 10.7%, the highest among all regions.

According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in the online consumption of physical goods in 2020, the consumption of food, apparel, and consumer commodity increased by 30.6%, 5.8%, and 16.2% year-on-year respectively.

Shangwu Data's monitoring shows that Apparel, Commodity, and Home Appliance have the largest share of 22.3%, 14.5%, and 10.8% by total online transactions.

The sales of smart kitchen appliances increased by 31.0% year on year; fitness equipment increased by 8.8% year on year, and small...

Weigh, decompose different raw materials, put the test materials into the machine experiment, and explain the food heat in a few short sentences. This is the consistent routine of Dr. Dika (Low Calorie)'s short video creation.

Since its operation in 2019, Dr. Dika has created hundreds of small video clips, attracting nearly 2 million followers and successfully established his own brand of e-commerce.

"Cannot do without demand generation using content and fans' demand", Dr. Xu Siyuan, a partner at Dr Dika, has shown that the transformation of the new brand from Douyin (Tiktok) to healthy snacks is not without the challenge of building awareness using content and fans' demand.

However, although content marketing can attract almost zero cost traffic for brands, it also limits the sales of products once paused. In search of a stable commercial cash flow path, Dr. Dika came to Taobao.

Today, the monthly sales of Dr. Dika has exceeded 10 million yuan, more than 40% of which come ...

Maybe it's weird to you but China has several valentine's days to celebrate, including the February 14th, 520 Day (or Chinese Internet Valentine’s Day), and Qixi Festival.

The Qixi Festival, also known as the Qiqiao Festival, is a Chinese festival celebrating the annual meeting of the cowherd and weaver girl in mythology. It falls on the 7th day of the 7th lunisolar month on the Chinese calendar.

During the week of Qixi, falling on August 25th this year, the frequency of valentine’s gift-related search keywords on JD increased by 280%, of which "gift", "chocolate" and "gift girlfriend/boyfriend" were among the most popular.

Ahead of Qixi, home goods, outdoor and luxury products, among other categories saw sales increase by about 20-30%. Jewelry and handbags were among the most popular imported products.

According to data released by JD’s Home & Life business group (which includes fashion, beauty, home, and other categories), the number of users in the post-85 and po...

In July 2020, food (non-fresh) and non-alcoholic beverages, alcohol, fresh produce, sun protection, and cooling products have gotten more attention from consumers across the country, according to data shared by Jingdong.

The southern provinces of Guangdong and Zhejiang saw alcohol transaction volume increase 60% YoY. In Hubei and Hebei, the transaction volume of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by over 50%.

Beijing consumers opted for more fresh produce, with transaction volume growth of over 130% YoY. Heilongjiang and Gansu provinces saw cooling devices like ACs and fans increase by 110% YoY.

Looking at alcohol consumption by age group, post-90s consumption is increasing the fastest, with these consumers preferring liquor over other alcohols. Post-80s consumers tend to choose cocktails and cocktail mixers while post-70s consumers stay true to Baijiu.

Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Chongqing, and other areas saw an alcohol consumption increas...

Bonbater, a snacks brand owned by Alibaba with rising popularity on Taobao, is recently revealed by the Chinese media. What are Alibaba's advantages of running its own brand?

The official business registration information shows Bonbater's dealer is Hangzhou Xinxuan E-Commerce Co., Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taobao.

The company’s former legal representative is Jiang Fan, current president of Taobao and Tmall; and, its current legal representative is Zhang Di, head of Xinxuan.

Bonbater Chinese trademark registration

In addition, we found from the official website of State Administration of Trademarks that, as early as September 10 of 2019, trademark applications of Bonbater for various categories had been submitted by Alibaba.

Search results of Bonbater on Taobao

Searching "Bonbater" on Taobao, we found that ...

In the third quarter of 2019, China's GDP growth rate dipped to 6.0%. But amid the slowing economy, China's consumers still have a growing appetite for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). In the first three quarters of 2019, total FMCG sales roles by 2.7%, 6.9%, and 5.7%, maintaining the same pace as 2018.

In the first six months of 2019, imports represented 18% of China's total FMCG consumption and grew 10%, close to twice the rate of overall FMCG growth.

The stable growth follows a regular pattern, with the macro product categories accelerating at two distinct speeds: fast and slow. Personal care and home care categories maintained their high speed, growing by 11.8% in Q3 2019, the strongest performance in three years. Food and beverage categories grew at a relatively slow rate of 2.3%.

As in each of the past seven years, Kantar studied 106 FMCG categories purchased for home consumption in China, thoroughly analyzing the key 26 categories that span the four largest consumer g...

The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel shows that there were 22 Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies reaching over 100 million urban Chinese households during the 52 weeks ending October 4, 2019, with P&G, Yili and Mengniu each attracting more than 160 million families.

Products from these three companies were bought by more than 90% of Chinese families over the past year. In terms of growth rate, YST Group, Haday and The Coca Cola Company are top three performers, posting the fastest gains in consumer base.
FMCG Companies Ranking by Consumer Base (million households)

Companies
Buyers

(Million Households)
YOY Growth %
Penetration

(%)

52 w/e 2018/10/05
52 w/e 2019/10/04
52 w/e 2019/10/04

P&G
162
166
2.1%
92.5

Yili
160
164
3.0%
91.7

Mengniu
157
162
2.7%
90.1

Master Kong
142
146
2.3%
81.3

Nestle
140
141
0.7%
78.9

Unilever
138
141
2.1%
78.6

Coca Cola
132
137
3.8%
76.5

Heng An
...

In today's consumer environment, the market competition of FMCG has been very competitive, and major brands are trying their best to seize the new generation of consumers. It is no longer easy for them to breakthrough.

While facing fierce competition, Mead Johnson has achieved rapid growth in China. One of the important factors is the marketing promotion and optimization on its e-commerce platform. Mead Johnson has become a benchmark for maternal and child products, and the marvelous marketing performance of the two major shopping festivals (618; Double 11) is indispensable.

Marketing for E-Commerce Shopping Festivals
The promotion of consumer goods in the e-commerce shopping festival has become a “must-do” and “must pay attention” marketing strategy for major brands. On the other hand, China's e-commerce shopping festival has been in the market for more than ten years, and the mass users have already immunized with early discount sales.

Just as the shopping festival is giv...

For all retailers and manufacturers around the world, the big question is always the same: “how do we grow when, globally, volumes are sluggish?”

If we look exclusively at trade aspects, the past years have seen the decline of larger formats, the rise of value-for-money models, the boom of e-commerce, and cannibalization between channels. This is a very challenging environment that is set to continue—and will require a high dose of reinvention to navigate successfully.

Luckily, within this reinvented landscape, shoppers are exhibiting behaviors that retailers can cater for in order to grow. They want frictionless experiences, good pricing, and proximity — in the sense that they want fast and convenient service.

The ascendancy of hybrid retail, the growth in D2C offerings, and the increasing need to meet the needs of urban shoppers will propel future opportunities for growth within FMCG.

Kantar's Winning Omnichannel has found some ingredients to include in the recipe for FMC...

Alibaba's B2B retail platform Ling Shou Tong has reached 1.3 million mom-and-pop stores as of August 2019 according to Lin Xiaohai, the Vice President of Alibaba Group and General Manager of the Ling Shou Tong division. That means that one out of six stores in the country is a Ling Shou Tong (LST) customer.

According to Lin Xiaohai, LST, among the many digital distribution platforms in the FMCG industry, is the largest in scale, the strongest in capability and the lowest in cost.

Since last September, the number of boutique stores covered by LST has increased by 300 thousand. The Cloud POS machine – “Ruyi”, which is regarded as “the boutique store’s key to new retail”, has iterated 38 times and reached 100 thousand stores.

Launched in 2014, Ling Shou Tong is Alibaba's new retail inventory management B2B platform helping China's 6 million small and independent stores to improve sales and inventory management.

Stepping into the fourth year, Ling Shou Tong has shifted its ...

collection of Coke cans showcasing the Avengers characters

In the latest 2019 Brand Footprint Report from Kantar Worldpanel China, Coca-Cola surprisingly becomes the fastest growing FMCG brand in consumer reach point.

This ranking has been traditionally dominated by local Chinese brands: Chinese drinking water brand Nongfu Spring won back-to-back No.1 growth champions in 2017 and 2018. There was only one foreign brand in the top 10 fastest growing brand ranking respectively in the recent two years: Yakult at No.6 in 2018 and Lay’s No.10 in 2017.

Coca-Cola is a surprise winner because the industry used to believe that as consumers become more concerned about their health, carbonated soda drinks like Coca-Cola will inevitably start their free fall. Then how come Coke is having such a robust performance in China?
Brand Footprint growth
Brand Footprint Report from Kantar Worldpanel is an annual report cove...

China's market for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) for at-home consumption remained robust in 2018, despite general concerns about a slowdown. Total spending on FMCG rose 5.2%, a slight increase over last year's 4.7% gain. Overall, the two-speed growth scenario Kantar identified in 2016 has continued to evolve, with home care and personal care categories growing at a fast clip while food and beverages maintain a slower pace.

Personal care categories showed the healthiest gains, growing by 10.3% compared with 10.1% in 2017. Premiumization was a big factor in that stellar performance: Average selling prices (ASP) rose by 9.8% as consumers demonstrated a willingness to trade up. Home care categories delivered strong growth of 7.2%, a rebound from their 3%–4% annual growth rate between 2014 and 2017. In home care, it was volume growth, not price increases, that led to the gains.

In the food sector, categories with perceived health benefits, such as nutrient supplements, led the...

By 2025, 31% of fast-moving consumer goods on China’s mainland will be sold through online channels, more than double that in 2018, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Online sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) grew by 20.3% globally in 2018 and now represent 5.1% of grocery sales worldwide, according to new Kantar Worldpanel data. Growth was spurred by the US and China’s Mainland, which together represent 84% of the growth in global e-commerce thanks to the success of Amazon, Alibaba, JD.com, and Walmart.

High penetration of online purchases in Asian economies is made via smartphone, meaning these countries continue to lead the way in terms of online FMCG shopping. Over 19% of all FMCG sales in South Korea now come from online, the highest proportion in the world.

China's Mainland follows with 14.0% – though based on current growth rates and the fact that nine in ten online purchases are already made on a mobile, it is expected to overtake South Korea’s position by...

Kantar Worldpanel China reported strong growth in the Chinese beauty market, with skincare and makeup categories increasing 13% and 17% respectively during 2018, outperforming total FMCG.
1. Most-Chosen Brands
Pechoin (百雀羚), which is the only local brand that is chosen more than 100 million times, maintained its leadership position in the Chinese skincare market for the third consecutive year.

Maybelline New York also remained the number one brand in the makeup market. Many well-known classic brands have maintained their appeal to consumers through constant innovation in their products and new technologies.

Examples of these innovations included L’Oréal Paris’s Ampoule Mask and Maybelline New York’s Lemonade Craze Eye Shadow. Upgrading the product and brand image have also helped many local brands like Pechoin and Inoherb (相宜本草) to find further growth opportunities.

Another way in which brands have grown is to leverage online and offline channels to build product popular...

The total spending of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) recorded moderate value growth of 2.4% in the 12 weeks ending March 22, 2019, compared to the same period in 2018, according to Kantar Worldpanel China.

Non-food, especially personal care categories, maintained a robust growth while the food and beverage sector showed a weaker performance of -0.1%.

Modern trade (including hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores) reported flat growth of 0.4%, among which supermarkets outperformed the rest of the sector with a 3.9% growth rate. E-commerce maintained a stellar performance with a growth rate of 34.5%, now representing 14% of total FMCG spend.

Lower tiers city especially county-level cities continued to show strong potential for premiumization with sales growth of 4.5%.

Kantar Worldpanel China continuously measures household purchases over 100 product categories including cosmetics, food and beverages and the toiletry/household sector through its 40,000 s...