In August, Tmall Global and CBNData jointly released the Tmall Global Cross-border Health Food Consumer Insight Report (“Report”) [1], which introduced the latest online cross-border health food consumption trends and consumer preference on the Tmall Global platform.
ChemLinked has sorted out some highlights which as are as follows:
Online Cross-border Health Food Market Overview
China's health food market is undergoing rapid development, with retail sales approaching 185 billion yuan in 2019. The online e-commerce channel has become an increasingly prominent channel, accounting for nearly 30% of all sales in Health Food.
Source: China Business Industry Research Institute
Source: Euromonitor, Guosen Securities
According to the report, as online cross-border consumption has become a daily routine, China's cross-border consumer number will exceed 200 million in 2020. Tmall Global has become the No.1 choice for health food cross-border e-commerce shopping, and the consumption scale in this platforms is steadily expanding.
Source: Analysys
On one hand, consumer groups in the cross-border health food market are more segmented, with Gen Z, city workers, middle-aged and elderly people in small towns showing prominent growth potential. On the other hand, people's demands for health food are more diversified and becoming more specific.
Online Cross-Border Health Food Market Consumer Insights
Chinese consumers have five primary demands for cross-border health food:
Oral beauty and body shaping
Sports nutrition
Body function maintenance
Traditional nourishing
Epidemic prevention
Oral beauty and body shaping
Females and young people generally have the highest demands for oral beauty and body shaping products.
Popular beauty ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, collagen have become the main ingredients for oral beauty products.
| Oral beauty main functions and ingredients | |
| Moisturizing | Hyaluronic acid, peptide, resveratrol |
| Whitening | Nicotinamide, vitamin C, grape seeds, glutathione |
| Anti-aging | Collagen, anthocyanin |
On Tmall Global, Australian brands Swisse and Blackmores are the most popular brands in the hyaluronic acid and nicotinamide oral beauty categories.
| 2019 Tmall Global hyaluronic acid products TOP5 hot brands | 2019 Tmall Global nicotinamide products TOP5 hot brands |
| Swisse | Blackmores |
| FANCL | Biocyte |
| Shiseido | Puritan's Pride |
| HECH | FOR BECARED ONE |
| Floreve | Doctor’s Best |
Source: CBNData
Additionally, sales of anti-aging collagen products from Japan soared in recent years, such as POLA's liquid series.
The main functional requirements in the body slimming sector are diet management, absorption improvement, and bowel cleansing.
| Body slimming main functions and products/ingredients | |
| Diet management | Dietary fiber powder, meal replacement powder, meal replacement milkshake |
| Absorption improvement | Enzymes, glycolytic decomposition, yeast |
| Bowel cleansing | Prune, aloe, barley, chlorophyll |
On Tmall Global, Metamucil, isdg, and Nu-lax are the TOP1 hottest brands in the dietary fiber powder, enzymes, and bowel cleansing categories.
| 2019 Tmall Global dietary fiber powder products TOP5 hot brands | 2019 Tmall Global enzymes products TOP5 hot brands | 2019 Tmall Global bowel cleansing products TOP5 hot brands |
| Metamucil | isdg | Nu-lax |
| Herbalife | SVELTY | Swisse |
| Slimfast | Shintani Enzyme | Kanpo-yamamoto |
| Fatblaster | DOKKAN | Erba vita |
| Nutrilett | BIO-E | Nutrition care |
Source: CBNDat
In addition, fat burning pills and visceral fat decomposition products are emerging and popular among middle-class people.
Sports nutrition
In China, the national fitness culture is booming. The report pointed out that by 2022, more than 37% of Chinese people will participate in regular physical activities. In the context of society's increasing interest in sports and fitness, consumers pay more attention to the sports nutrition categories.
Segmented categories covering bone health, exercise enhancement, and exercise repair have shown growth potential in the sports nutrition sector.
| Sports nutrition main functions | |
| Bone health | Calcium supplements |
| Exercise repair | Joint repair, muscle repair |
| Exercise enhancement | Efficiently gain muscle and improve sports performance |
Although calcium supplements for adults are the mainstream products in the bone health category, calcium supplements for pregnant women, children, and middle-aged and elderly people have been gaining increasing traction, and products in the forms of drops and gummies are becoming increasingly popular.
In the sports repair category, consumers prefer to use glucosamine chondroitin to maintain bone and joint health.
| 2019 Tmall Global joint repair products TOP5 hot brands |
| Move Free |
| Blackmores |
| Puritan’s Pride |
| Schiff |
| Swisse |
Source: CBNData
Apart from the whey protein powder, the muscle-building powder, nitrogen pump, testosterone and other products are also becoming appealing for consumers in the exercise enhancement category.
Body function maintenance
In recent years, Chinese consumers have been paying more attention to body functions such as immunity, cardiovascular balance, gastrointestinal and endocrine health. Consumption of products tailored for these needs is going towards a growth trajectory.
According to the report, nearly 40% of Chinese people suffer from gastrointestinal distress, and the causes vary with ages.
| People of different ages face different gastrointestinal problems | |
| Children | The digestive tract is weak and prone to the disorder. |
| Adults | Work pressure and irregular work and rest lead to imbalance of micro-ecological flora. |
| Pregnant women | Hormonal changes in the body cause gastrointestinal peristalsis to slow down, leading to constipation and flatulence. |
| Middle-aged and elderly | Declining absorption/excretion function. |
On Tmall Global, products targeting addressing the gastrointestinal discomfort are popular, such as probiotics powder from Life Space, gut relief powder from Nutrition Care, and probiotics capsules from SWANSON.
| 2019 Tmall Global gastrointestinal products TOP5 hot brands |
| Life Space |
| Nutrition Care |
| SWANSON |
| Chong Kung Dang LACTO-FIT |
| NOW |
Consumers also focus on fortifying immunity. Melatonin product sales have increased rapidly, showing that people are eager to improve immunity by improving sleep. Japan, the United States, and Germany are among the TOP3 most popular countries in this category.
| 2018-2019 Tmall Global immunity enhancement category TOP3 popular countries & brands | ||
| TOP1 Japan | TOP2 the United States | TOP3 Germany |
| FANCL | Vitafusion | Bayer |
| DHC | Centrum | Orthomol |
| ORIHIRO | GNC | Altapharma |
According to a study published in The Lancet by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention [2], stroke was the No.1 cause of death for Chinese people in 2017. Consumers' awareness of cardiovascular care increases year by year, leading to the popularity of related products such as fish oil and Co-Q10.
| 2019 Tmall Global cardiovascular products TOP5 hot brands |
| Blackmores |
| GNC |
| Swisse |
| Healthy Care |
| Nature Made |
Source: CBNData
For females, private health such as ovary, vaginal and urogenital cares is also a crucial parts of health. Probiotics products from Jarrow Formulas and Clinicians have recorded handsome sales on Tmall Global.
| 2018-2019 Tmall Global Privates Balance sectorTOP5 fastest growth brands | |
| Jarrow Formulas | the United States |
| Clinicians | New Zealand |
| Nutricelebrity | the United States |
| Garden of Life | the United States |
| NOW | the United States |
Source: CBNData
Traditional nourishing
Traditional nourishing consumption group has become younger and younger in recent years. Instant bird's nest, Korean ginseng, and instant fish maw are the TOP3 most popular products among young people, and traditional nourishing brands are also trying to roll out young and chic products catering to their needs. For example, South Korean ginseng brand Cheong Kwan Jang has collaborated with Line Friends to roll out passion fruit and ginseng liquids on Tmall Global, which have been popular among young students and workers.
Epidemic prevention
At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit China and has considerably increased Chinese people’s awareness of epidemic prevention. The number of views of related categories such as medical devices and health products soared by nearly 40% month-on-month, the report said.
The number of views on OTC medicines/medical devices has the fastest growth rate, followed by dietary nutritional supplements and traditional nourishing products. Vitamin C, calcium tablets, fish oil, probiotics are among the top search terms on Tmall Global during the outbreak period.
***Disclaimer: All images used in this article are from the internet.
ChemLinked has released the 2020 China Vitamin & Dietary Supplements Industry Development Report jointly with the Dietary Supplement Professional Committee of China Chamber for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products.
You can click https://food.chemlinked.com/report/2020-china-vitamin-dietary-supplements-industry-development-report for more information!
