Tomorrow is the night that Chinese believe the full moon is at its brightest, shining on farmers for the mid-Autumn harvest. To celebrate, many of China’s 1.4 billion people will have hung lanterns and gifted sweet mooncakes filled with red-bean or lotus-seed paste. It is also the beginning of the much-anticipated 8-day national holiday.

SIAL China is Asia’s largest food exhibition, and something that China Skinny has been attending for many years, watching with interest as food and beverage vendors in China have evolved. This year was a milestone for the event, as the 20th anniversary. Yet in light of the global pandemic, and strict travel restrictions into China, it was always going to be a tough year, particularly as foreign brands have made up around half of the exhibitors at recent shows.

WeChat mini programs have been jewel in the WeChat crown over the past few years, as the only major segment of WeChat seeing strong growth in usage and users. Savvy brands have understood behaviour and trends on the platform and developed mini apps that met those needs. The infographic below highlights some key takeaways for brands to help them understand China’s mini program usage.

Following up from our 2016 study into how foreign brands are performing in the dairy category in China, utilising our Dairy Tracker, we have analysed performance for the first eight months of 2020. The results are likely to continue to surprise you…

Today is a big day for China Skinny. It is the first time that we have made our internal tools available for companies to track and monitor their categories. Over the past decade we’ve worked with, spoken to and surveyed thousands of brands exporting to China, and the most common challenge we hear is getting reliable and actionable information about the market, and keeping up with the constant change. The limited consumer and market-knowledge held by most foreign brands is also confirmed every time we do a category audit. With the massive changes in the market and consumer preferences since Covid, we think that there has never been a more important time for brands to be in sync with the China market.

These are some of the claims camel milk powder brands have used to launch their products onto the Chinese market. While some have been proven to have a lick of truth, the evidence has been derived from unsubstantiated scientific research, non-transferable animal experimentation, industry financed research or anecdotal experimentation.

China's bottle water giant Nongfu Spring provides some good lessons on how to succeed in China, even after its share of scandals

Post-90s are now the biggest age group online in China and a significant spender. Yet they are unlike any other demographic in the market. The infographic below highlights the segment’s online preferences and behaviours to shed light into what pushes their buttons and where to push them.

There is no doubt that foreign brands have been viewing China with apprehension for a while now as political tensions continue to escalate between western superpowers, namely the US and Australia. China has found itself in a seemingly never ending series of retaliations, most recently with Trump’s Tiktok ban and the last two Australian journalists being flown out back home.

Many execs from the world’s luxury brands are likely to be toasting the resilient Chinese consumers who are the bright spot in otherwise abysmal sales. As LMVH’s global sales contracted 38% between April to June, consumers in China shelled out 65% more on their fashion and leather goods than a year earlier. Similarly, Kering’s worldwide revenue declined 29%, whereas sales in China grew 40%. Tiffany’s China sales were up 90% in May from 2019 while they fell 45% in the US in the first half of the year. The list goes on…

Chinese APP usage has skyrocketed since the pandemic, and we take a look at how that usage has changed.

One of the groovy innovations we spotted at the Taobao Maker Festival last month was from Wu Qiuqiao, the Hunan-based cat hanfu designer. Who is the cat hanfu designer?

China is notorious for its festivals, which are increasingly morphing into “themed shopping occasions.” When it comes to love, there are six official days on the calendar which fit the mould of the Western Valentine’s Day. Qixi, or the ‘Double Seven Festival’, on August 25 this year, is thought to be the most romantic and authentically Chinese. It celebrates a 2,000 year old love story with its roots in Chinese mythology; a mortal man, a goddess, forbidden love, talking oxen, astrological obstacles and bridges made up of magpies – all your ingredients for a powerful tale of romance.

The coronavirus is likely to change the face of retail the world over. Brick & mortar retailers have taken the double-hit of falling consumer spending, and a pivot to ecommerce as consumers seek to minimise their risk of infection in public spaces.

On August 19, we were among more than 2,000 exhibitors and 80,000 professionals gathered in Shanghai for the 23rd Pet Fair Asia at Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

The Centre now has 17 halls (an increase from 14 halls in 2019) and 225,000 m² (up from 185,000 m² last year) of exhibition space, making this year’s exhibition the largest for pet supplies globally.

There are few industries which have taken a hit like tourism since COVID-19. Whilst the ramifications have been hardest on airlines, hotels and tourism operators, many other categories are likely to feel the impact. As we’ve noted before, international travel increases exposure to, and affinities with, foreign products and lifestyles, strengthening the likelihood of buying those products and services down the line.

Search data from Trip.com (Ctrip) indicates how little Chinese travellers are paying attention to overseas destinations at present. While domestic tourist is close to where it was by traveller numbers in both hotels and on airplanes, it is likely to be some time before international tourism returns back to where it was pre-covid.

On 11 August 2020, Jun Lei the CEO and Co-Founder of Xiaomi gave an opening speech on the company’s 10th anniversary, sharing stories of their product launches and memorable moments over the last decade.