Grocery retailers have experienced a tough period in recent years due to rising store rental and rocketing sales of e-commerce retailers. This has encouraged more innovation in the sector and a strong requirement to tailor offers to the local and even regional clientele. Chinese market leaders from Sun Art Retail and China Resources Enterprise groups (often government-backed) are outdoing western rivals by utilising their knowledge of the Chinese consumer with local management offering discounts on regional specialities, and creating the feel of a local market in a big box format.
A trend throughout the category is “offline to online” or O2O and accompanying e-commerce platforms or apps have become unanimous amoung retailers in China. Imported products are now prominent throughout all major retail chains in China. While some retailers have a specific ‘imported food’ section featuring more famous brands, upmarket brands Olé, city’super and City Shop have shelves lined with imported food and beverage from all over the world in every product category.
