FMCG in China reported new record recovery

Among the top retailers Yonghui maintained the fastest growth rate, up by 11%.

Kantar Worldpanel’s latest figures for the 12 weeks ending 3 November 2017 show that consumer spending on FMCG in China grew by 5.5% compared to the same period last year. Modern trade grew by 3.1% which is faster than the 1.9% recorded for the same period last year. Smaller store formats led the growth, with supermarket and convenience stores up by 3.9% and 4.8% respectively. E-commerce's value growth remained strong at 26%.

Among the top retailers Yonghui maintained the fastest growth rate, up by 11%. Sun Art group, driven by RT-mart, also achieved fast growth at 5.7% and further strengthened its leading position. With Alibaba being the shareholders of Sun Art group, the retailer looks set to accelerate its growth with empowered digital capabilities and as well as acting as delivery center for Tmall supermarket.

30% of urban Chinese families bought FMCG online in the past 12 weeks, only up by 3.3% compared to last year. As penetration growth slows down, e-commerce giants will need to focus more on driving the number of trips and basket size in order to maintain growth. Over the past three years, JD.com continued to narrow its gap with Tmall in penetration.