2023 is a year of 'recovery' for the consumer goods market. This year marks the end of the three-year pandemic; it is a year of strategic adaptation. Mr. Hou Xiaohai, Chairman of China Resources Beer (Holdings) Company Limited, has proposed that China's consumer goods market has entered a 'new world.' Changes in the global landscape, technological advancements, industrial transformation, and the evolution of consumer demographics all confirm the arrival of this new world. From an era of scarcity to an era of surplus; from surplus to an era of quality and substance; from economies of scale to quality-driven economies; and from quality economies to a future of health and nature—these shifts are advancing rapidly. In this context, what trends and directions are emerging in the consumer goods market? From November 8-10, 2023, the 26th FHC Shanghai Global Food Trade Show was held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Covering 170,000 square meters, with 2,500 exhibitors, 30 national pavilions, and over 100,000 professional visitors, the event also featured 20+ exciting activities and forums. As a trade show with 26 years of growth and development, FHC Shanghai has become one of the leading trade exhibitions in the food and catering industry, serving as an annual barometer for consumer goods market trends. ▼ Scan the QR code for free tickets So what trends and highlights emerged this year? What consumer insights lie behind the products? On November 8, New Distribution visited the food show to help you better plan your future business. Trend 1: Pre-made dishes are becoming home-oriented; health and nutrition are growth points. A few days ago, I saw a discussion about pre-made dishes in an industry WeChat group. One teacher said: 'Our company spent a few hundred yuan this week on pre-made dishes to solve lunch. Colleagues are happy because they're tired of takeout, and the quality is essentially the same. Some single people also enjoy pre-made dishes at home—cheap, simple, clean, and hygienic.' What does this indicate? Pre-made dishes are becoming part of daily life and home use. One day you go to a restaurant and order a cold dish like 'Saliva Chicken.' Before you know it, it's served and tastes great. Soon after, the boiled fish with pickled cabbage arrives, steaming hot, tender and tangy. Your dishes come quickly. Yes, most are pre-made. Leveraging industrial advantages, they pre-position production steps, using standardization and scale to significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency. Essentially, this is an efficiency revolution. 'Efficiency revolutions' are often praised and recognized, which is why pre-made dishes continue to grow rapidly despite criticism. As pre-made dishes become more integrated into daily and home life, taste requirements are rising. At this food show, Mudanjiang Tehuade Food Co., Ltd. shared this view. In their exhibition area, they showcased a new product for winter: 'Sauerkraut Hot Pot,' developed for home winter scenarios, available in two-person and four-person portions. Its highlight is innovation in nutritional balance and taste. Meatballs, pork belly, vermicelli, and other ingredients are stewed with sauerkraut, especially highlighting the sauerkraut flavor. It satisfies northerners' preference for sauerkraut while meeting nutritional balance principles. A representative from Tehuade Food mentioned that nutrition and health are major requirements for pre-made dishes at this stage, so product pairing is a delicate task. Since these are for home use, high fidelity in taste is crucial: first, low sodium and salt; second, reasonable nutritional pairing; third, select quality ingredients and produce conscientious food. Zheng Yongjie, project leader for Lushang Group's Shandong Health Meat and Shandong Pre-made Dishes dual public brand entering Shanghai, also stated that pre-made dishes are entering homes, schools, and medical institutions, which will demand higher safety, nutrition, and health standards. At the show, we saw the 'Lushang Shejian' product series exhibited under 'Quality Products from Shandong.' Mr. Zheng Yongjie introduced that 'Lushang Shejian' is a new gourmet brand under Lushang Group in the pre-made dish industry, representing Shandong's pre-made dish sector, aiming to inject new vitality and momentum into the industry. Trend 2: Discovering new consumption scenarios from market gaps. This year, a noticeable change is that few companies are willing to sacrifice profits for 618 or Double 11 sales reports. In all highly competitive industries, profit windows exist; as markets saturate and competitors intensify, profits erode. Currently, online traffic costs are rising, offline growth is increasingly hindered, and online and offline have nearly reached a balance. Interestingly, brands that still grow in stock competition think not in terms of categories but scenarios. At the food show, we found several such brand cases. For example, Mondelēz International, a global leader in biscuits, chocolate, gum, candy, and powdered beverages, owns brands like Oreo, Trident, Chips Ahoy!, Ritz, Halls, and Tang, well-known and loved by Chinese consumers. At the show, Mondelēz featured Oreo cookies and Oreo cookie crumbs. Today, Oreo's global sales have reached $4 billion, and China is Mondelēz's second-largest Oreo market, achieving double-digit compound growth in recent years. This stems from Mondelēz infiltrating Oreo crumbs into various scenarios, seizing the 'snacking daily' opportunity and matching the demand for 'mindful snacking.' Using Oreo crumbs as a base, they extend into milk tea, ice cream, baked cakes, etc., creating outing scenarios, pairing with festive occasions, and fostering warm atmospheres and love themes, bringing consumers into more Oreo consumption scenarios. Choubao Luosifen is another example. At the show, red, blue, and green packaging for luosifen quickly attracted visitors. It was learned that this product is a co-branded 'Baobao Nongtang Liuzhou Luosifen' with People's Sports. The packaging design draws inspiration from People's Sports newspaper and three classic moments in Chinese sports history, paying tribute to the Chinese sports spirit. This sports marketing move deeply combines eating luosifen with watching sports events, creating strong consumption experience awareness. Worth noting, Choubao also introduced a new product at the show: Choubao Stinky Tofu Luosifen Hot Pot. Staff explained that as winter approaches, this hot pot suits home scenarios—no washing, cutting, or seasoning needed. Just open the package and cook for over ten minutes. The fluffy, juicy stinky tofu paired with a spicy, rich luosifen beef tallow broth is addictive, offering 'lazy home' consumers the dual pleasure of luosifen and hot pot. During communication, Choubao emphasized: 'We hope to use the FHC platform to attract potential customers, build a foundation for future cooperation, and further expand overseas markets. We also want to establish deep connections with consumers across circles, enhancing brand favorability and influence through tastings and interactive games.' Trend 3: Behind high quality and healthiness lies the competition of ingredient stability and craftsmanship. Excellent companies often pursue quality, moving products and brands toward mid-to-high-end. Genki Forest's success is a prime example. This brand, known for 0-sugar, 0-calorie, 0-fat sparkling water, recognized young consumers' demand for fat reduction and health. They upgraded ingredients, replacing sugar with erythritol; built six factories; and introduced sterile carbonated beverage production lines, becoming one of only three companies in China with such lines. This reflects consumers' pursuit of high quality. In food, quality depends mainly on ingredients. If you dare to invest, use good materials, and reputation follows. Shanghai Tairui Food Co., Ltd. is a food solutions company where high quality, health, and safety are paramount. According to a representative, the Taiwan sausage presented at the show is a Taiwanese-style sausage specially crafted for mainland consumers through authentic techniques. It uses selected pork hind leg meat, 95% pure meat, manually separated lean and fat, no starch or coloring, with unique processing and cooking methods. The result is a product with Taiwanese flavor as a base, tailored to mainland tastes—chewy, juicy, and sweet. They collaborate with retail channels like RT-Mart and Hema to produce items with Taiwanese craftsmanship and flavor. Additionally, another food brand enterprise integrating R&D, production, sales, and logistics—Lihe Taste—aims to co-create global flavors. Take their Italian pizza, dubbed the 'ceiling of pizza.' It uses imported high-gluten flour and, most importantly, is baked in a wood-fired stone oven, yielding rich wheat aroma and a thin, crispy crust. 'In this era, the dining structure has changed, consumption patterns have shifted, and families eat pizza more frequently. We must provide perfect cooking solutions and ingredients for the new generation, making them love cooking and eating at home,' said Yu Miao, Deputy General Manager of Lihe Taste's Food Division and Head of the Zhenzhai brand. Similarly, Shanghai Yifu Food Co., Ltd., a veteran exhibitor at FHC, provides high-quality food ingredients and solutions. This year, they showcased 300-400 SKUs, including dairy, seasonings, and bakery products, with 30 factories globally. Yifu Food emphasized that consumer demand is generally moving upward. Although consumption is currently shrinking, demand for quality, healthy food continues to rise. Therefore, Yifu Food remains committed to product stability. Clearly, in the post-pandemic era, eating better is a trend, and healthy eating concepts are gradually taking root. Starting from creating 'delicious, healthy, high-fidelity' food and beverages, actively applying new food technologies is a key direction for companies to break through competition. Trend 4: Surging quality demand revives the cold chain equipment industry. In Hall N2, a cold cabinet manufacturer's booth attracted a steady stream of visitors, including international teams. Jincheng Refrigeration, founded in Taiwan in 1975, has nearly half a century of growth and is now a well-known refrigeration equipment manufacturer in China. On display were ice cream cabinets, open display cabinets, 4D premium cabinets, beef cabinets, wine cabinets, and ovens. Jincheng Refrigeration expressed strong confidence in the future of the cold cabinet industry. One key reason is the surge in consumer demand for quality. Under the pandemic's influence, consumers' demand for refined, health-focused storage functions has greatly increased, further driving industry innovation and development. In this consumption upgrade environment, Jincheng Refrigeration demonstrates meticulous attention to detail, providing tailored refrigeration and baking solutions through professional teams to maximize value. Staff explained: 'For every custom cabinet, we ask clients to bring their products for continuous testing. Based on product characteristics and temperature/humidity requirements, we determine the matching custom solution.' Furthermore, different cabinets have distinct advantages. For example, display cabinets offer customized temperature settings for different foods to maximize freshness; storage stainless steel cabinets achieve small footprint with large capacity, saving store space and reducing costs. Indeed, Jincheng Refrigeration holds over 500 national patents and a 160,000-square-meter production base, with all processes independently completed. A powerful refrigeration system and precision processing in every step are prerequisites for quality products. In 2023, with the relaxation of pandemic controls and stimulus policies from national and local governments, China's consumer market is steadily recovering, and the cold cabinet market is poised for new growth. Regarding the show's benefits, Jincheng Refrigeration noted: 'Markets change, demands are diverse. At exhibitions, we always discover new needs, new applications, and new clients. Through exhibitions, we can build relationships with new customers, develop new scenario applications, and perhaps these new markets will be future directions with significant growth potential, bringing new competitiveness to our company.' FHC Shanghai Global Food Trade Show has officially commenced. As a barometer for the food industry, it conveys numerous industry insights amid consumption upgrades. This year's show has expanded further, comprehensively covering food, catering, and local specialty culture. Various themed zones and exciting forums are underway—we look forward to your participation! Final Thoughts Throughout this food show, we see China's consumer goods market initiating a comprehensive health demand evolution and an unprecedented efficiency revolution—these are market development dividends. Retail growth logic has changed, from 'people finding goods' to 'goods finding people.' Through interest circles and lifestyle transmission, based on 'communities,' achieving efficient 'goods finding people' and building consumption scenarios to tap potential demand is a shortcut. In the era of stock competition, consumption upgrade is a major trend. Discovering growth opportunities among different demographics with new perspectives is the only way to find new increments. Each FHC Shanghai Global Food Trade Show makes these trends and dividends more visible, providing brands with more thinking and direction, promoting information exchange and cooperation, and driving greater growth for enterprises. Scan the QR code to get tickets