Kantar Worldpanel reported 4.7% growth rate in China’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market for the last 52 weeks ended September 11th 2015. The overall market in the third quarter increased by only 2.7% in sales volume which decreased to a record low in recent three years.First-tier and second-tier cities grew by only 0.7% compared the previous quarter this year in transactions while small and less developed cities maintained a high growth rate of 6.5% in FMCG sales. Traditional shopping malls, supermarkets and convenience stores in key cities tended to pace at rush of booming online shopping market.
International retailers continued to lose competitiveness in Chinese FMCG retail market. Market share of international retailers in the third quarter of 2015 was only 13.5%, one percentage point down compared to Q3 2014. Compared with fast expansion to small and less-developed cities by local retailers, international merchants were losing advantages in brand and fame especially in large cities due to high pricing. The penetration rate of international retailers in China dropped to 29.6% in Q3 according to Kantar Worldpanel.
Contrast to the sluggish of offline retail market, Chinese online FMCG market continue to maintain a high growth rate. The total transaction value online has reached over 60 billion (US$9.46 billion) this year. However, online sales of FMCG products only made up 3% to 4% of the total online retail market. In 2015, nearly 40% of families purchased FMCG products through online stores, representing 6 percentage points higher compared with the same period last year.
E-commerce in China was expected to reach US$672.01 billion in 2015, accounting for over 40% of global e-commerce retail sales according to eMarketer.
Also read: China E-commerce Market to Reach US$3.8 Trillion in 2018