Seasonal products
Trends to watch:
Spring is one of the critical promotional seasons for food and beverage brands in China. Popular flavors include cherry blossom, plum, and white peach.
Brands | Brands | Characteristics |
Oreo | Spring limited version of cookies |
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Yili Yousuanru | Spring sakura limited version of milk beverage |
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Nescafe | Spring limited cherry blossom soufflé latte | This new spring product combines the fragrance of cherry blossom and the sweet flavor of soufflé as a taste innovation. |
M&M'S | Spring limited cherry blossom blind box | Only 5% of blind boxes nationwide have cherry blossom pink beans inside. |
Soup's got talent | Sakura season limited pink Japanese Tonkotsu ramen | It combines sakura pink noodles with rich broth. |
Qiaqia | Spring limited sunflower seeds | Sakura white peach flavor. |
Dairy & milk powder
Trends to watch:
Children's cheese products are a vital direction for brands to promote cheese in the Chinese market.
Functional yogurts added with probiotics and other ingredients are gaining popularity.
As the trend towards premiumization gathers steam in the infant formula sector, many brands start to leverage various high-end ingredients, such as HMO to empower more value for their products.
Brands | Products | Characteristics |
Junlebao |
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Meiji | Probiotic yogurts | The new products use two lactic acid bacteria strains, R-1 lactic acid bacteria and LG21 lactic acid bacteria, which can improve immunity and gastrointestinal health. |
Nestlé | BEBA SUPREME infant formula | The formula is the first German ultra-high-end infant formula powder covering all three categories of HMO. It debuted through Tmall Global. |
Yili | Smokable cheese | The new product is designed as a new form of cheese that kids can suck directly. |
Tea & coffee & beverage
Trends to watch:
Collagen and probiotics are still popular functional ingredients for beverage innovation.
Hyaluronic acid expects to become a next hot ingredient applied in food and beverage.
Brands | Products | Characteristics |
Coca-Cola |
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VOSS | Collagen peptide sparkling water | The new product has two flavors of lychee rose and citronella. It adds sturgeon collagen peptide, which has many functions such as anti-oxidation, free radical scavenging, and immunity enhancement. |
COSTA | Peach probiotics latte | It uses two patented probiotics strains from Fonterra NZMP. |
Hankow Er Chang |
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Bloomage Biotech | Hyaluronic acid drinking water | Each bottle contains 66mg of sodium hyaluronate and features zero sugar, zero fat, zero calories, and no additives. |
Uni-president | A-HA fermented juice sparkling water | The new product is made from real fruits and fermented by synthetic strains and features zero fat and no phosphoric acid. |
KFC |
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Health & wellness
Trends to watch:
More innovative products focus on the two major consumer needs of sleep quality improvement and weight management.
Brands | Products | Characteristics |
Snickers | Whey protein energy bar | It contains 20g of protein (including whey protein, cow's milk protein, and calcium caseinate), 8g of dietary fiber, and 0 trans fatty acids. |
WonderLab | Y-aminobutyric acid gummy | The new product contains GABA to relieve pressure and anxiety and promote emotional balance. It also adds natural extraction of raw materials, including tea theanine and passion flower to improve sleep quality. |
ffit8 | Women's Day limited protein bar | The new rose walnut flavored protein bar adds female-friendly ingredients including fish collagen peptide, conifer cherry, red rose petals, walnuts, and red beet without the extra sugar. |
SMEAL | Probiotic freeze-dried powder | It highlights “melt in the mouth within three seconds" and has two flavors of grape and cranberry. |
QUAKER | Smart Calories meal replacement milkshake | Each bottle’s heat is controlled at 206Kcal and added with nicotinamide, vitamin A and other nutrients. |
Huiyuan | Y-aminobutyric acid compound juice drink | It contains passion flower, tea theanine, GABA and other natural ingredients, helping calm nerves, fight anxiety and improve sleep quality. |
Plant-based
Trends to watch:
Plant-based beverage, represented by oat milk, is continuing to keep strong growth momentum, with more new products springing up.
Collaboration with coffee shops has become a popular choice for brands to enter the Chinese market or do brand promotion.
More new plant-based meat products are adapting to Chinese people’s daily meat consumption scenes.
Brands | Products | Characteristics |
Cereal Planet | Oat drink | No added sugar and salt. |
Starfield | Plant-based meatballs | It targets the hot pot consumption scene. |
McDonald's | Plant-based breakfast series | The series highlights the use of 15mm thick plant-based meat. |
Yili Plant Selected | Oat milk | It contains 10g of dietary fiber without the extra sugar. |
7-Eleven | OmniEat plant-based meals | The series includes black pepper new shredded pork pasta, new pork shao-mai, new pork crystal dumpling, etc. They are co-launched by 7-Eleven and plant-based food company Green Monday and are available at all 7-Eleven stores in Hong Kong. |
alpro | Plant-based beverage for barista professionals |
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Vitasoy | Upgraded version of plant-based milk for baristas | Oat milk and almond milk have been upgraded in terms of formula and packaging. |
ChemLinked provides Customized New Product Monitoring Services in the China FMCG market, free to contact us if you’d like to learn more.