The Lunar New Year opportunity for Vietnam and China

The latest edition of Kantar’s Consumer Insights Asia focuses on the Lunar New Year season. Although celebrated in several countries, Lunar New Year is particularly big in China Mainland and Vietnam. It represents a significant proportion of their annual FMCG spend - 18% in China Mainland and 14% in Vietnam.

FMCG performance in Asia during the first quarter of 2019 had an overall positive growth of 4.1%, slightly slower compared to Q1 2018. China Mainland continued to lead the growth for Northeast Asia at 5% while the Philippines lead the growth for Southeast Asia at a stellar 12%.

Jason Yu, Managing Director of Kantar Worldpanel Greater China, commented: “Lunar New Year remains critical despite its lower contribution in the past years. The holiday is still a key barometer for Chinese private consumption as it is the time for family reunions as well as gift-giving. Brands will have to uncover opportunities in new categories, new channels and new ways of consumer engagement at Lunar New Year to win consumers’ wallet as their consumption patterns continue to evolve.”

In 2019, a significant proportion of Lunar New Year spend was from gifting. In China Mainland the top gifting categories include yogurt, UHT milk, frozen food and biscuits whilst in Vietnam it included cooking aids, beer, carbonated soft drinks, biscuits and cakes.

With more disposable income, this year consumers were putting less importance on preparing food and instead pampering themselves and their family members during the festive time.

Modern trade and hypermarkets were the most preferred channels for both countries with e-commerce the fastest growing, particularly increasing its importance for China Mainland. The hottest categories differ between the two countries. For China Mainland they included frozen food, oyster sauce, juice and carbonated soft drinks. Urban Vietnams’ hottest categories included tea, confectionary, canned food, soft drinks, snacks and nuts.

The report identifies that there are four key areas which brands and retailers should focus on to better capture the Lunar New Year’s spending spree in the future. They include:

• Engagement
• Availability
• Gifting as sales promotion
• More focus on lower tier areas

Kantar’s Consumer Insights Asia is a quarterly report conducted by the Worldpanel Division that provides at-a-glance key FMCG performance indicators across the region and the spotlight of the quarter. Through this spotlight we reveal consumer insights, trends, and also opportunities that arise within the region.

Download the report through the link in the right side of this page.