Editor's note: Imported snacks and leisure food specialty stores are emerging industries in China in recent years. Imported foods have won recognition from Chinese consumers due to their novel flavors, exquisite packaging, and good taste. According to customs statistics, in 2014, China's imported food reached $48.24 billion, a 4.2-fold increase in 10 years, with an average annual growth rate of 17.6%. The American Food Industry Association predicts that by 2018, China will become the world's largest importer of food, with the mainland imported food market size reaching 480 billion RMB. The next decade is a golden decade for the rapid development of China's imported food industry. Investing in an imported food franchise is equivalent to investing in the most promising industry in the next decade.

As consumers' spending levels gradually improve and upgrade, the focus shifts from solving the problem of eating to trends such as eating well, drinking well, health, novelty, taste, and nutrition. Various channels have seen a dazzling array of imported products. Currently, leisure foods, beverages, and daily chemicals are more common. Since the author is more involved in imported leisure foods, I would like to share my operational experience in imported leisure foods with everyone:

In China, more and more people are making delicious and healthy imported foods a part of their daily consumption. Whether students, office workers, or middle-aged and elderly people, imported foods are favored by people of different age groups. Over the years, sales of imported foods in China have also increased significantly. So, how can distributors quickly understand and represent imported foods?

This article will analyze from the perspective of the marketing "4Ps":

1. Product

Currently, products from Southeast Asia and Taiwan are the most common. With the awareness of imported food consumption cultivated by major importers in recent years, they have begun to add European, American, Japanese, and Korean products to meet the increasingly diverse consumer demands.

Southeast Asian, Taiwanese, Japanese, and Korean products are all Asian, relatively more in line with the diverse consumption characteristics and needs of Chinese consumers (price, taste, etc.). European and American products tend to be Western-style, with a narrower product range and taste profile for Chinese consumers.

Here are the characteristics of each country:

  • Southeast Asian products: Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Filipino products are more common in the domestic market. Characteristics: affordable prices, imported raw materials, and basically no additives, which are deeply loved by consumers.
  • Taiwanese products: Known for excellent taste combinations and better understanding of Chinese consumers. Relatively speaking, Taiwanese products have the best taste, but the disadvantage is more additives, and of course, the price is relatively cheap, with imported raw materials.
  • Japanese and Korean products: Japanese products are known for their pursuit of perfection, with guaranteed quality but not cheap prices. Korean products are known for their Hallyu marketing style and rich, novel packaging that attracts consumers. Both are not cheap.
  • European and American products: Mostly from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy, with high quality, simple packaging, and high prices, mainly targeting high-end consumers.

How to distinguish the country and source of imported foods?

Chinese commodity barcodes generally start with "690~695". Products not starting with these numbers are basically imported foods. Generally, qualified imported foods come with an additional Chinese label (foreign products without Chinese labels are not allowed to be sold in the domestic market), including ingredient list, quantitative labeling of ingredients, net content and specifications, date labeling, storage conditions, country or region of origin, and the name, address, and contact information of the agent, importer, or distributor registered in China.

Points to note:

  1. Some products are OEM products, registered abroad, produced abroad, but sold domestically. They are not truly imported foods. The quality, except for imported materials, does not truly meet imported standards.
  2. Some products from small foreign factories, which are not well-known abroad, are popular in China as imported foods.
  3. Some products from well-known foreign brands, when sold in China, may not be favored due to factors such as taste and packaging not suiting domestic consumers. (Will add more if I think of any.)

2. Place (Channel)

Channels for imported food distribution:

  1. Mainly large supermarkets (Walmart, Sam's Club, OLE, RT-Mart, etc.)
  2. A small amount of circulation channels in first-tier cities and special channels (hotels, Hong Kong goods stores, factories, schools, etc.)
  3. In recent years, imported food chain franchise supermarkets and other formats have emerged.
  4. B2C and C2C e-commerce stores and websites.

3. Price

Due to the large expenditure on import tariffs and logistics costs, prices are greatly affected by the source country. Generally, Southeast Asian and Taiwanese products are cheaper, while European, American, Japanese, and Korean products are more expensive. For example, a 200g biscuit from Malaysia may have a market retail price of 15-25 RMB, while those from Europe, America, Japan, and Korea are basically above 30 RMB.

4. Promotion

Promotion is divided into modern channel promotion and circulation channel promotion. Modern channel (KA) promotion uses tasting, personnel support, special displays, and special price concessions to promote market sales.

Circulation channels more often use bundling gifts to encourage wholesalers to take more goods and strive for low prices to ensure gross profit (e.g., buy 100 boxes and get 10 boxes free).

E-commerce channels commonly use direct discounts.

Looking at today's market, the development of imported foods: more and more products, increasingly fierce competition, from not charging shelf fees to starting to charge barcode fees. As the general agent, the importer's sales staff (regional managers) are scarce, relying more on local distributors to do the market. They prefer more professional sales staff to control the market, regulate prices, and maintain the market.

With the cultivation of consumer health awareness and the concept of value (not afraid of high prices, but afraid of low value), Taiwanese and Southeast Asian products compete more on price, while the introduction of high-quality European and American products tends to convey value. Online and offline channels are advancing together, with full bloom, and competition is in full swing. It is believed that in the next few years, the imported food industry will inevitably usher in a fierce industry reshuffle.

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