Taking the pulse on current regional trends in the consumer goods sector, we explore evolving consumer behaviours, new products and innovations, and shifts across distribution.
In this edition, we examine consumer goods trends in China.
As brain health products are typically in the form of pills, this does not meet the Chinese consumer need for convenience and taste.
Some manufacturers are now incorporating brain health-related ingredients into beverages.
In the brain supplement drinks market, ingredients such as probiotics, turmeric, and theanine are prevalent.
As of February 2022, RED1 had more than 240k notes on the "probiotics" hashtag.
It is estimated that sales of these products will reach 100 billion RMB in 2022.
In previous years, Chinese consumers would only see probiotics come in the form of capsules and powder. The market is now seeing the integration of probiotics into products including candy, nuts, biscuits, freeze-dried fruit, soda, and even condiments.
With plant milk and animal milk being the norm in China for years, microbial fermented milk and cell-cultured milk have started to draw the interest of Chinese consumers.
The Chinese government has also gradually issued regulations in support of these products, as seen in the "14th Five-Year Plan for National Agricultural and Rural Science and Technology Development" issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in December 2021.