---
title: "Expired Food: A Neglected Retail Market Worth Tens of Billions"
description: "Imported biscuits at 9.9 yuan per box, instant noodles at 9.9 yuan per box, and lactic acid bacteria drinks at 7.6 yuan per box—these are prices a friend posted on social media. Despite the seemingly loss-making prices, some people earn millions of yuan annually from this business. This article explores the overlooked but billion-yuan market of near-expiry products, focusing on the food industry."
author: "天涯住在十里村"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2020-08-20"
language: "en"
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# Expired Food: A Neglected Retail Market Worth Tens of Billions

> Imported biscuits at 9.9 yuan per box, instant noodles at 9.9 yuan per box, and lactic acid bacteria drinks at 7.6 yuan per box—these are prices a friend posted on social media. Despite the seemingly loss-making prices, some people earn millions of yuan annually from this business. This article explores the overlooked but billion-yuan market of near-expiry products, focusing on the food industry.

**Click the image above for details**
Imported biscuits at 9.9 yuan per box, instant noodles at 9.9 yuan per box, and lactic acid bacteria drinks at 7.6 yuan per box—these are prices a friend posted on social media. The products are of the same brand and quality, and the channels are legitimate, yet the price difference is astonishing.
**This seemingly loss-making business allows some people to earn millions of yuan each year.**
Many e-commerce practitioners constantly focus on new products and bestsellers, but few pay attention to slow-moving items or products nearing their expiry dates. Today, Village Chief will discuss near-expiry products, a neglected but billion-yuan e-commerce/retail market, with a focus on the near-expiry food industry.
**-01-**
**A Neglected Billion-Yuan Market**
**1. Large Market Size**
In China, due to distribution efficiency issues, product losses amount to hundreds of billions of yuan annually. In the snack food industry alone, the annual output value exceeds 2 trillion yuan. According to a report by the Circulation Industry Promotion Center of the Ministry of Commerce, "Snack Food Industry Development Report under the Background of Consumption Upgrading," from 2006 to 2016, the total output value of China's snack food industry grew from 424.036 billion yuan to 2.21564 trillion yuan, and it is predicted that by 2020, the total output value will approach 3 trillion yuan. In addition to domestic products, China imports a large amount of overseas food each year. According to data, in 2018, China's total retail sales of imported food exceeded 1 trillion yuan. Even if calculated at an annual inventory accumulation rate of 1%, this represents a market of over 10 billion yuan, and the actual rate is far higher than 1%.
**2. Broad Consumer Base**
Are people worried about the safety of near-expiry food and won't eat it? First, let me briefly explain that common products such as canned goods, biscuits, and instant noodles typically have a shelf life of 6 months or even over a year. According to official near-expiry standards: products with a labeled shelf life of 1 year or more have a critical period of 45 days before expiration; products with a shelf life of 6 months to less than 1 year have a critical period of 20 days before expiration. For near-expiry products, e-commerce warehouses generally cannot accept goods if more than 1/3 of the shelf life has passed, and large supermarkets must remove products when more than 2/3 of the shelf life has elapsed. Therefore, true near-expiry products are not just 3-5 days from expiration; they usually need to be processed 1-6 months in advance. So concerns about safety are unfounded. On the contrary, users who buy near-expiry products are not very sensitive to the remaining time; they care more about the price and quantity of the products themselves.
**-02-**
**Procurement Channels for Near-Expiry Products**
**1. Online Channels**
You can search on Baidu Tieba, 58.com, WeChat official accounts, QQ groups, etc., using keywords like "near-expiry bar," "near-expiry products," "near-expiry wholesale," and "near-expiry supply." 
Image: Near-expiry product purchase information
You can find local near-expiry product groups or specifically look for sources of near-expiry beverages, milk, etc.
**2. Local Suppliers**
You can go to local supermarkets and hypermarkets, where many products have official contact information. Call them directly and say you want to take some goods; they will usually recommend a local distributor. Alternatively, search locally for food wholesale departments or trading companies; they represent major brands and supply various small supermarkets. You can negotiate with them about near-expiry products, though this process certainly involves negotiation skills. But essentially, they are willing to do this.
1) Supermarkets or hypermarkets will remove near-expiry products from shelves and ask distributors to take them back to the warehouse. Often, the cost of warehousing is higher than the cost of the goods.
2) Even if taken back to the warehouse, they still face the problem of selling. The goods brought back have a shorter shelf life, and storing them further reduces their value.
3) Some may consider recycling expired products through channels that turn them into feed. But in that case, the value of the goods is definitely lower than selling them as near-expiry. For example, in some places, a ton of expired products sells for a few hundred yuan, but near-expiry products can generally be sold at 10-30% of the original price.
**-03-**
**Where to Sell Near-Expiry Products**
In sales, always remember: go where your customers are. So sell products in front of users, and advertise to their homes.
**1. Old Residential Areas**
Prioritize old residential areas. These communities have high occupancy rates, may be school districts, residents may have no mortgage pressure, and there are many retired elderly people. So they have sufficient purchasing power. Of course, even if the community is small, it should ideally have at least a dozen buildings. If you set up a stall at the entrance or inside the community, you generally need to communicate with the property management in advance; the site fee is only a few hundred yuan.
**2. Schools**
For schools, it is recommended to go to food streets or back gates near high schools, vocational schools, and universities, where foot traffic is high. If possible, setting up a stall inside the university is even better. Often, there is no stall fee at all. For university night market stalls, it is suitable to start from 4-5 PM and operate until 8-9 PM.
**3. Farmers' Markets**
Farmers' markets have stable foot traffic, and most visitors are housewives and elderly people, so they are looking for bargains. Even if there is a fee, the site fee is generally around 150-300 yuan, but daily sales can reach 1,000-3,000 yuan. The peak business hours are usually from 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
**4. Pedestrian Streets/Shopping Malls**
Choosing these locations should be similar to a trade fair format, which can also enhance trust. If foot traffic is high, selling 10,000-20,000 yuan a day is definitely not a problem. Some industrial towns near big cities have pedestrian streets, and in third-, fourth-, and fifth-tier counties and cities, foot traffic is particularly concentrated every night and on weekends. I have been amazed by the night market foot traffic on pedestrian streets in Huangshan, Quzhou, Shangrao, Cixi, and other places.
**5. WeChat Groups**
In addition to offline, some people sell near-expiry products on Taobao or Xianyu. But I want to talk about WeChat groups, especially for flash sales and group buying. There are two types: one is WeChat groups without regional restrictions, and the other is community WeChat groups. For example, in my community, I often see group leaders organizing group purchases of near-expiry products like milk, yogurt, and instant noodles.
**-04-**
**Issues to Note with Near-Expiry Products**
Every industry has its own tricks. Village Chief is not a practitioner, so this is purely to broaden your horizons. To do well, you need professional guidance. For those interested in this field, here are four suggestions.
**1. Capital Security**
Whenever conducting online transactions involving payments, be cautious. Especially for near-expiry products, which often require bulk purchases of 500 or 1,000 pieces or more, extra caution is needed. Be wary of mixed batches or goods not matching the description.
**2. Food Safety**
Although the cost of near-expiry products is extremely low—bulk purchases may be at 10% of the original price, and many items are under 20 yuan each—you still need to pay attention to the expiration date and brand. The more obscure the brand, the more cautious you should be.
**3. Inventory Security**
An important part of selling is product selection, and selling near-expiry products still faces this issue. When choosing near-expiry products, popular items are not always available; you may need to compete for them. For ordinary products, if you buy too many, you still face the risk of expiration. Therefore, it is recommended to recruit a few agents or partners locally to share the risk.
**4. Channel Strategy**
I have provided several sales venue references, but these venues cannot be used every day. For example, residential areas and shopping malls are for mobile business; make a strong promotional push and sell in volume. Additionally, the channels mentioned rely on your own sales efforts. But there are many other high-volume channels you can develop through business development. For instance, some restaurants and food stalls offer free unlimited drinks, and many people wonder why takeout orders often include free drinks. Besides being lesser-known brands, they may be selling near-expiry beverages.
The above shares some personal experiences for selling near-expiry products. In fact, there are two common models for selling near-expiry products in the market:
**One is opening offline discount stores:** Some even sell at discounts like 9.9, 19.9, 29.9 yuan, or 10 yuan for 3 jin. Especially for overseas snacks, leading offline discount store brands have opened over a dozen stores nationwide, with annual transaction volumes exceeding 30 million yuan.
**The other is e-commerce countdown flash sale model:** There is an e-commerce platform in the industry that dynamically displays the remaining time for each product. From 2016 to now, it has raised over 100 million yuan in financing, with Series C led exclusively by Alibaba, and its user base exceeds 100 million. Whether it is profitable is not shown in data, but it seems to be quietly making money.
Here, I have only shared the category of near-expiry food, but near-expiry products are not limited to food. Moreover, near-expiry is essentially a form of inventory clearance, so it is a rigid demand and a large market.
Source: Shili Village (ID: shilipxl); Author: Tianya lives in Shili Village


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