Many people are fond of eating snacks between dinners to satisfy their appetite. Their passion has been on the rise in recent years with the improvement of living standards. Compared to ten years ago, the market now is full of a dazzling array of snacks, crispy cookies and chips, sweet candy and preserves…There are so many varieties of snacks, let alone various kinds of flavors. In addition to made-in-China products, there are also a variety of exotic imported snacks.
THANKS TO THE CONSUMPTION UPGRADING TREND, CHINA'S LEISURE FOOD INDUSTRY COMES TO THE 4.0 PHASE
As a must-have item for leisure time, snack has been tied to satisfy the consumer demand in many scenes such as socializing, culture, and entertainment. Activities under the consumption upgrading, it has caught up with the rapid development trend. It can be said that the leisure food industry is not only the beneficiary of consumption upgrading, but also the promoter of consumption upgrading. According to the 2018 Leisure Food Industry Development Report Under the Background of Consumption Upgrading released by the Industry Promotion Center of the Ministry of Commerce, China's leisure food industry has experienced four phases. When in the "Phase 1.0", snacks were mainly taken as simple supplement of dietary needs; when the concept of healthy diets were getting popular, the industry came to "Phase 2.0". During the period, the industry was focusing on the improvement of product quality; When it comes to "Phase 3.0", it was considering about how to integrate snacks into diversified consumption scenes, and to create the themed snack brands. Until now it comes to the new era of "Phase 4.0", that fits the all-round needs of consumers for material consumption and spiritual pleasure. According to statistics from relevant institutions, the size of China's leisure food market are growing from 362.5 billion yuan in 2012 to 484.9 billion yuan in 2017, with an average annual compound growth rate of 6%. The size of China's leisure food market exceeded 500 billion yuan in 2018 and is expected to reach 550 billion yuan by 2019.
The scenes consumption attributes of snack are embodied incisively and vividly during the Spring Festival. Families and friends getting together is the most important part of the Chinese New Year. When we are chatting, playing games and watching TV together, toasted nuts and biscuits can be said to be the best partners, and hawthorn is an excellent choice for eliminating the feeling of greasy fat and helping digestion after the Spring Festival feast. Snacks are undoubtedly the rage at the market in Chinese New Year, which are most easily added to the shopping cart and purchased by consumers. When Spring Festival is coming, snack areas in the supermarkets are basically full of people. People would choose unpacked snacks to eat by themselves, and packaged snacks with gift box are regarded as great gifts.
IMPORTED SNACKS ARE BOOMING EVERYWHERE AND GET POPULAR IN THE MARKET
With the upgrading of consumption, there are more imported snacks on the shelves of supermarkets, and many large supermarkets even have set up special shelves for imported snacks. Nori from South Korea, dried durian from Malaysia, cheese crackers from Indonesia… Imported snacks from all over the world satisfy the demand of Chinese consumers for exotic tastes. During the Spring Festival, the imported snack section of the supermarkets is also crowded, mainly due to the demand of Chinese consumers for the higher quality, service and experience of snacks. The imported snacks are rich in flavors and delicately packaged, turning on the purchasing desire of consumers. According to the 2019 Survey on Chinese Netizens' Purchasing Behavior during the Chinese New Year, leisure snacks accounted for 40.4% of the imported products purchased by Chinese netizens and ranked second among all purchased products during Chinese New Year. In addition, many people feel that imported snacks meet their demand for high-end food, which can improve their quality of life, and they also tend to buy imported snacks as New Year gifts during the Spring Festival. For example, the Kjeldsens butter cookies uses the New Year's advertising slogan "inherited ingenuity, the royal choice" to create an image of decent gifts. The slogan has taken firm root among many people and the cookies are now the first choice for the people as gifts during the Spring Festival. In addition to the Spring Festival, Valentine's Day is also an important day for giving gifts. Ferrero Rocher, Godiva and other imported chocolates have become a fashion, and are regarded by many people as a must for expressing their love.
In fact, imported snacks are not only popular during the Spring Festival. They are taking advantage of the consumption upgrading and getting popular in the market. Every year, a variety of foods are imported to China, including snacks, fruits, dairy products, seafood, healthy food and beverages, etc. According to the survey, snacks market has the greatest potential, and the trade value of imported snacks is constantly expanding. According to statistics, China's net import volume of snacks have increased by 2.3 times in the past five years, mainly from Italy, France, Britain, Germany or the United States. According to the statistics of Guangdong Customs, in 2017, Guangdong ports alone (excluding Shenzhen and Zhuhai) imported about 120,000 tons of snacks such as cakes, biscuits, candies, chocolates and dried fruit preserves from more than 60 countries and regions including the European Union, ASEAN and the United States, amounting to 230 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 50% and 18% respectively. Chinese consumers' fondness for imported snacks is the main reason for such a large import volume. "Analysis and Industry Development Report of Hot Categories of China Imported Food at E-commerce Platforms in 2019" from iiMedia shows that 71.7% of Chinese respondents in 2019 have bought imported leisure food, accounting for the largest proportion of the main categories of imported food purchased online. Among them, 42% of consumers said they would be willing to spend their money on imported snacks they hadn't eaten before. In addition, with the increasing varieties of online shopping modes, consumers have been able to conveniently purchase all kinds of imported snacks from various channels, with up to 75% of consumers reporting having purchased snack products from different e-commerce platforms, while 34% of consumers said they would buy snacks from imported food stores, 19% from foreign websites and 28% from local shops when travelling.
WOMEN ARE MAJOR CONSUMERS OF IMPORTED SNACKS
The post-90s and post-00s, who accept and would like to try new things, have become the main consumers of imported snacks. These young people are pursuing novelty and excitement. They are accustomed to the taste of domestic snacks, so some imported snacks with exotic tastes are be able to satisfy them. In addition, women's love for snacks is stronger than men's. According to the 2018 Taobao Data Report, the most popular search keyword for post-90s women is snacks, and they have spent a lot of energy and money in snacks, and can even spend 300,000 yuan on snacks in one day!
Delicious, healthy and good-looking imported snacks are more popular among female consumers. According to online statistics, at present, females are the main consumers of imported snacks, account for 73% of the total consumer groups, with women aged 23-28 as the core group. Imported snacks give them more fun and satisfy their needs in social and entertainment, no matter when they are watching TV series or chatting with friends. In addition, some healthy snacks featuring quality life and health concepts are more in line with the current women's concept of life, and naturally the sales volume is also rising. For example, those snacks on the market such as the Belgian Guylian sugar-free chocolate and the British Mcvitie's original flavor whole-wheat digestive biscuits, etc., are all marketed as sugar-free and high in fiber, and even candy is advertised as sugar-free, which have been highly praised at online platforms.
INNOVATION OF TASTE, HEALTH AND SAFETY ARE THE KEYS TO THE CHINESE MARKET
Due to chinese huge market potential, many major overseas food brands enter the Chinese market one after another for competition. Therefore, a large number of unexpected "foreign" flavors have also shocked the imagination of Chinese consumers about snacks, such as sea salt and vinegar flavor potato chips, honey butter almonds and other unforgettable tastes.
The competition of diversified tastes undoubtedly brings more and more pressure to food manufacturers in product research and development. How to take the innovation of taste as a breakthrough without sacrificing the taste of original products? This requires food brands to spend more time on development, as well as consumer research. Many products have become hit snacks because of their novel tastes. Irvins salted egg potato chips from Singapore, for example, are a perfect combination of potato and salted egg flavors, whose rich and unique taste makes it unforgettable for people who have eaten it; and the 18 forbidden curry potato chips from Japan went viral on social media platforms for their fiery taste.
In addition to the development of new flavors, food brands are adjusting their products based on the tastes of Chinese consumers, which is also a trend that cannot be ignored. Due to the differences in food culture, many foreign food manufacturers find that Chinese consumers do not like their products when they enter the Chinese market. With the in-depth study of Chinese consumers’ taste, they begin to focus on the tastes that Chinese consumers like. A survey by Mintel shows that many international retailers are adding "Spicy flavors" to their products because of rising interest among Chinese consumers in Sichuan's spicy products. Snickers, for example, has made the spicy peanut filled chocolates. Oreo has launched the spicy chicken wing flavor, and M & M's has subverted the Chinese imagination about the taste of chocolate with the spicy peanut chocolate bean.
In addition to being obsessed with novel flavors, the health and nutritional attributes of snack products are also gaining increasing attention. According to the survey, 53% of Chinese consumers think the nutritional value and taste of snacks are equally important. 63% of Chinese consumers choose fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks, 42% choose dairy products and 40% choose nuts and seeds as snacks. It can be seen that the current consumers have taken health and nutrition into consideration in the choice of snacks, thus many imported snacks with health feature have become more and more popular. At present, the entire imported snack market in China is also changing to produce natural, nutritional and healthy products. Large international food brands are positioning themselves in the healthy snack market with a range of healthy snacks. For example, Unilever acquired Graze, the healthy snack brand; Nestlé launched its high-end cereal wafer biscuits; Hershey’s launched Chocolate Paradise chocolate and nut mixed snack packs, etc.
In addition to taste and health, there are also growing expectations about the quality and safety of imported snacks. Since the logistics and storage conditions of imported food are more complex than those of domestic food, imported snack manufacturers need to verify the quality and safety of products more strictly. In addition to improving the production standards of their own products, more and more imported food brands are also starting to work on packaging to improve the credibility of their products. For example, many imported snacks are labeled with QR codes, which allow consumers to scan them for detailed information about the products and verify their authenticity; and adding product traceability codes allows consumers to monitor product information at any time.
Industry experts believe that China’s snack industry will enter the new era of competition that meets the all-round demand of consumers for material consumption and spiritual pleasure. The main trends of snack consumption are healthy, safe and high-quality, and consumers are more concerned about taste and quality than about the price. Continuous innovation in catering to consumer tastes, health and high quality standards will be the next opportunity of imported snack market in the future.
