China's Food Industry Influencers: Dying Goats, Banned Brie and Grocery Trolls
Late last month importation of the soft, creamy and seemingly harmless cow's-milk cheese Brie was banned in China. The edible mold that helps form Brie's bloomy rind saw it and a host of other platter favourites including blue, Camembert, Roquefort and goat's cheese become the latest prohibited foodstuffs in China. They follow a string of fast-growing imports, from chilled beef to kiwifruit, which have been banned and unbanned over the years.
The blacklisting is another reminder of how unpredictable selling into China can be. Even the most prepared cheese exporter would have struggled to foresee and plan for the [hopefully short term] ban. China is well known for its unique regulations - most are a little more predictable, but do require vigilance to ensure you won't end up with a series of unnecessary fines or even be banned in China.
The changes to China’s Food Safety Law in 2015 are case in point. The amendment removed a clause that required victims to prove personal injury or loss to be eligible for compensation. This has spawned a cottage industry of professional complainers who've developed sophisticated operations to challenge food brands and retailers for compensation. Simple labelling mistakes including font sizes being too small or the lack of Chinese translation account for more than two-thirds of the court cases.
On top of keeping up with rules and regulations, brands also need to reinforce their legitimacy with an inherently untrusting Chinese consumer. There are many ways to do this, but the lowest hanging fruit is often gaining trust through your brand's website.
Imported food brands that are marketed effectively still have a natural trust advantage over domestic players, reinforced with every scandal that goes viral, such as goats dying from eating pesticide-soaked spring onion leaves from an area that supplies vegetables to cities like Shanghai and Beijing. In other recent viral news, it was revealed that Chinese farmland covering an area half the size of California is polluted by a wrap that releases potential carcinogens into the soil and accumulates pesticides and other toxins applied to crops. Would you buy imported food if you could?
Unpredictable changes in China's regulation can be frustrating or even damaging, yet the opportunities and ever-growing demand for imported foodstuffs will usually outweigh the downsides. This is particularly true for those brands who stay abreast with and understand the regulations, and the market, marketing and sales channel trends - something agencies like China Skinny can assist with.
Here are this week's news and highlights for China:
Food & Beverage
China’s Grocery Trolls Make Giant Piggy Banks of Wal-Mart and Carrefour: Changes to China’s Food Safety Law in late 2015 removed a clause that said victims must prove personal injury or loss to be eligible for compensation spawning a cottage industry of professional complainers. Last year local governments in Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces said as many as 90% of food safety complaints were from such plaintiffs.
Camembert Crackdown! China Bans Soft Cheese Imports: Products containing certain molds are being blocked from being imported into China including Camembert, Brie, Roquefort, blue cheese and goat cheese. China imported more than $400m of cheese last year with the majority being mozzarella destined for use in pizzas.
Goat Deaths Spark Debate Over Pesticide Abuse: Toxic pesticides continue to be used en masse in China leading to consequences such as the death of almost 100 goats who ate spring onion leaves bought from a wholesale vegetable reseller in Shouguang - a major vegetable wholesale hub in China that supplies fruits and vegetables to metropolises including Beijing and Shanghai. Unlicensed, small pesticide producers scattered across the country supply many of China’s 250 million small farmers.
Wrapped in Plastic, China’s Farmland Is Suffering: QuickTake Q&A: Chinese farmland covering an area half the size of California is under polyethylene wrap which scientists say is causing environmental pollution on an epic scale. It is also releasing potentially carcinogenic phthalate acid esters into the soil which can be absorbed by vegetables, in addition to accumulating pesticides and other toxins applied to crops.
Chinese Consumers
The Chinese Consumer is Being Overlooked by Investors: Disposable income per household in China rose 7.3% in real terms in the first half of this year. Moreover, 8.55 million jobs were created in urban areas in the first seven months of 2017 according to JPMorgan. In sharp contrast, India is generating roughly 1 million jobs a year at a time when it needs to fashion 10 times more to absorb the youth streaming in from the countryside in search of a better living [paywall].
Alibaba to Open its First Brick-and-Mortar Mall in China: In April Alibaba is opening a five-story brick-and-mortar mall, dubbed "More Mall" on a 40,000-square-meter plot of land at its headquarters in Hangzhou. The company hopes to "enrich the real-world shopping experience with technology and convenience".
Daigou Down Under: The Chinese Shopping Trend Taking Australia by Storm (and a Public Listing to Boot): Sydney-based AuMake makes over $10 million a year by selling products to daigou in brick-and-mortar stores and to Chinese consumers directly. It is planning to float on the ASX in October via a back-door listing in a bid to "consolidate the fragmented daigou market".
Digital China
Counterfeit or Credible? UX Design for Authenticity in China: In China, websites must work harder than in other markets to gain users’ trust. Displaying the company’s local presence, past client work, and being available to answer questions via online chat are critical.
JD.com and California STEP Partner to Help Small Businesses Reach a Quarter Billion Chinese Consumers Online: JD.com has teamed up with the California State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) to assist California merchants expedite their entry into the Chinese online market with store set up and maintenance, marketing and shipping.
Chinese Tourists
China Needs 7,240 New Planes in Next 20 Years: Boeing Forecast: Boeing has forecast that Chinese-based airlines will need $1.1 trillion worth of airplanes in the next 20 years - almost 20% of new airplane demand globally - with three-quarters of orders being single-aisle aircraft. This doesn't account for the Chinese tourists driving growth of foreign airlines. The forecast is over 6% higher than Boeing made last year indicating increasing confidence in the market.
Don’t be Fooled—Just Because it’s a Five-Star Hotel Doesn’t Mean it’s Clean: A viral video exposé revealed unchanged bed linen and dirty toilets in five-star Hilton, Shangri-La, Intercontinental and JW Marriott and its subsidiary W hotels in Beijing.
Payments
Where In The World Is Alipay?: More than half a million Chinese businesses and 1 million taxis use Alipay.
Luxury
5 Surprising Facts About the Luxury Shopping Habits of Chinese Millennials: Chinese millennials are more likely to discover trends from brand websites not social media; they're much more cautious, less impulsive; are less likely to pay more for personalized goods and services than their Western counterparts; quality and uniqueness are the two biggest factors that draw them to a luxury brand; and Chinese are more brand loyal than Western shoppers according to a Deloitte report.
Chinese Luxury Goods Prices Start to Close Gap with Europe: Helped by the strengthening RMB, luxury goods on average are now 32% more expensive than identical items in France compared with 41% a year ago — a trend that is driving up domestic luxury spending on the mainland. The decreasing price disparity is most pronounced in the clothing and footwear category [paywall].
That’s the Skinny for the week! See previous newsletters here. Contact China Skinny for marketing strategy, research and digital advice and implementation.
