Chocolate market analysis report

At present, what is the situation of the chocolate market in China? Let's look at this article.

first, the situation of Chinese chocolate market. At present, the domestic chocolate market is mainly manifested as follows:

1. China is about to become the chocolate market with the greatest development potential and the fastest growth rate in the world.

In China with a population of 1.4 billion, chocolate is developing rapidly with an annual growth rate of 1-15%, and the market consumption potential is as high as 2 billion yuan. China is the largest chocolate market in the world as long as the per capita annual consumption of chocolate reaches 1kg.

The chocolate market in China will develop rapidly, which is an excellent opportunity for domestic chocolate manufacturers. However, in the face of the situation that foreign brands are already dominant, domestic chocolate manufacturers can only compete and blend with international chocolate enterprises on a platform and break through the oligopoly of chocolate industry by constantly improving the quality of their products, selecting raw materials and upgrading equipment, connecting with the international market in technology, paying attention to market innovation, building a wide marketing network and strengthening brand management.

The importance of China market lies in that it is an undeveloped chocolate market with great potential, and there will be exciting growth opportunities in the coming decades. At present, the annual consumption of chocolate in China is about 3 billion yuan, and the per capita consumption of chocolate is about 4 grams to 7 grams per year. The market value of about 35 million US dollars seems huge, but in fact it only accounts for .5% of the international market. The annual per capita consumption of chocolate in Europe is more than 7 kg, while that in South Korea and Japan in Asia is 2 kg on average. It is generally believed in the industry that the chocolate market in China will have an annual growth rate of 1% to 15%.

FMCG research center's statistics of Shanghai sweet food market in 25 show that chocolate is the largest part of the sweet food market, accounting for 41% of the total sweet food market, followed by candy: 3%, gum sugar: 2%, and functional candy: 9%.

2. At present, there are still many problems in the chocolate produced in China

There are few brands and single taste; Improper selection of chocolate processing equipment and incomplete supporting facilities; Problems such as weak product development strength and slow product upgrading have always made it impossible to get rid of the embarrassing situation that the quality and taste are not satisfactory and can only wander in the low-end market. Since 199s, the famous foreign chocolate manufacturers who have entered the China market one after another have obviously occupied the dominant position of the whole chocolate market. With their strong economic strength, they played the brand of science and technology and culture, and emphasized the excellent quality and unique taste of their products, and quickly occupied the market. From the perspective of industry concentration, the most important indicator for dividing the market structure, the four largest chocolate enterprises occupied nearly 7% of the market.

In this way, on the one hand, the chocolate market in China will develop rapidly, and domestic chocolate manufacturers will face an excellent opportunity, but on the other hand, most of the country will be occupied by foreign brands. Therefore, how to fundamentally improve the quality of domestic chocolate and enhance the brand competitiveness of domestic chocolate is a problem that domestic chocolate manufacturers have been thinking and paying attention to.

3. It has become an inevitable trend for China enterprises to build chocolate brands.

From a global perspective, the price of products is becoming less and less a hot spot of competition in the chocolate industry, but it has become a new development trend to improve raw materials, develop new tastes, concentrate brands and continuously shorten the distance with consumers. Some experts have concluded that the three characteristics of today's international chocolate market are: selecting raw materials (especially milk); Improve technology and develop new taste; Brand management. All three are closely related to quality. Let's look at the development trend of chocolate manufacturers in China from three aspects.

first of all, from the aspects of raw material selection and equipment upgrading. For a long time, domestic chocolate had the problem of single variety and mediocre flavor. In recent years, domestic manufacturers have devoted themselves to the selection of raw materials, odor removal and material refinement. For example, Yake Food Co., Ltd., one of the largest candy manufacturers in China, selected the first-class cocoa beans from Ivory Coast in West Africa and the high-quality milk powder from natural pastures in New Zealand, cooperated with advanced equipment introduced from Italy and Germany, and adopted special processing techniques of fine grinding and refining, which made the products present attractive taste. The wonderful chocolate just launched is even more attractive. In order to adapt to the consumption trend of international chocolate products, domestic chocolate is made into new products by mixing chocolate base with crispy cereal products, low-calorie candy or fruit and vegetable products, and professional concepts like sports chocolate have also been widely adopted by domestic candy chocolate enterprises, including Yake, and high-quality functional chocolate has been introduced.

Secondly, take the initiative in technology and connect with the international community. Chocolate is an imported product, and domestic chocolate is indeed deficient in production technology and technology accumulation. But now some domestic chocolate enterprises have begun to take the initiative and actively cooperate with foreign professional and technical institutions. Yake is a good example.

the third aspect is to strengthen brand management and build a wide marketing network. It is an important means for foreign brands to occupy the market by playing technology and culture cards. Moreover, imported brands of chocolate have invested a lot of money in advertising, trying to establish their own brand image with the help of the media. Compared with foreign brands from afar, some national enterprises have begun to rely on national culture and ideas to strengthen the connotation of their own brands.

4. Competition pattern of chocolate market in China

Compared with the highly competitive chocolate market in Europe and America, the chocolate market in China has a low degree of competition, few competitive products and great development potential. Such a market is undoubtedly a huge cake, which naturally makes western chocolate giants salivate. At present, the top 2 heavyweight chocolate enterprises in the world have all entered China, and there are more than 7 imported or joint-venture chocolate brands in Shanghai supermarkets. The continuous participation of imported chocolate brands has accelerated the evolution of China chocolate market to international competition.

Competing enterprises are divided into three camps: the first camp is foreign brands represented by Dove, Cadbury, Hershey and Ferriero, which occupy most of the high-end chocolate market; The second camp is a joint venture brand represented by Di Chin and Kaiser Vuitton, which dominates the mid-range chocolate market; The third camp is represented by local brands such as Shenfeng and Golden Monkey, occupying the main share of the low-grade chocolate market. The sales momentum of imported and joint-venture brands is strong, and the performance of domestic brands is poor: regardless of high-altitude brand communication, advertising, low-end product marketing, market vividness and sales promotion, both imported and joint-venture brands occupy a prominent position in terms of market share and product popularity. Except for Di Chin Chocolate, Shenfeng and Caesar Vuitton, other brands are not performing well.

second, the comparison of the brands of domestic chocolate enterprises and international chocolate enterprises

1. Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of foreign-funded enterprises

Main advantages

(1) Origin and origin advantages: chocolate was born in Central America, developed and prevailed in Europe and America, and the world-recognized top chocolate was produced in Switzerland. The sales of the three major chocolate manufacturers, Mars, Hershey and Nestle in Switzerland, accounted for more than 7% of the global market. Chocolate is authentic only in Europe and America, which is the consumer psychology that any local enterprise can't change in a short time.

(2) technical and product advantages: in 1828, cocoa butter squeezed by Van Houten in the Netherlands was mixed with crushed cocoa beans and white sugar to give birth to the world's first chocolate. The technology of chocolate making in the big chocolate countries in Europe and America has gone through 175 years, and the chocolate processing technology and technology have been forged to perfection, with thousands of varieties and specifications, and 3-5 new products are born every year, which makes the local chocolate enterprises far behind.

(3) Brand and marketing advantages: The top 2 chocolate brands in the world, after decades or even hundreds of years of marketing in many countries and regions around the world, have deeply rooted their brands in consumers' minds and seized an important position in consumers' minds. These brands often have rich experience in marketing, sales and communication with consumers and a set of scientific and meticulous marketing, advertising and terminal operation modes.

(4) Strength and resource advantages: Foreign chocolate enterprises entering the China market are often heavyweight enterprises in the world food industry and well-deserved food predators. They not only control the source of high-quality raw materials, but also have great advantages in capital, technology, talents and resources. For example, Nestle is the world's largest food company with annual sales of 44 billion US dollars, while Mars is the world's seventh largest food company with annual sales of 1 million US dollars.

Main disadvantages

(1) Lack of understanding of China market: It is manifested in the lack of comprehensive, concrete and true understanding and grasp of China market circulation system, market structure, distribution channels and methods in small and medium-sized cities, regional differences, consumer psychology, consumer behavior, food culture and taste differences.

(2) consumers' misunderstanding of chocolate: due to their insufficient understanding of chocolate, consumers generally have that chocolate is a candy with high sugar and high calorie, which will not only make people fat, but also lead to misconceptions such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, causing some consumers to want to eat, but they are afraid to eat and afraid to eat.

Marketing Strategy

With Mars Company in the United States as a typical representative, foreign-funded chocolate enterprises are superior to domestic chocolate enterprises in terms of methods, skills and strategies in market operation. They do not take sales in one place as the only goal, but instead pay attention to long-term market share in China market and brand building and management. Their common strategies are:

(1) Supported by strong financial strength, they spend a lot of money to build a high brand awareness with huge advertising investment, public relations and event marketing. For example, in 2, the top ten domestic advertisements in the chocolate industry were all divided by Dove, Cadbury, Hershey and Ferriero, among which the advertising expenses of brands such as Dove of Mars Company were as high as 5 million yuan.

(2) attach great importance to marketing human resources. They believe that only first-class marketers can do things that other companies can't do, and first-class marketers must have first-class salary and treatment. Therefore, they often recruit first-class marketing personnel at a price several times higher than that of the industry to create first-class sales performance. With their strong brand power and first-class human resources, these multinational giants have taken advantage in dealer recruitment, distribution, circulation, terminal sales, product display and promotion.

2. Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of local enterprises

Main advantages

Understanding the external environment, China market and consumer psychology: As a native local enterprise, it naturally knows the external environment such as domestic politics, law, economy, culture, technology and nature, and at the same time, it has an accurate grasp of China's market structure, market circulation system, consumers' buying behavior and psychology.

main disadvantages

(1) technology and products: compared with the centuries-old history of chocolate processing and manufacturing technology in Europe and America, the history of chocolate production in China is less than half a century, and there is still a considerable gap between China and foreign famous brands in terms of taste, packaging and other technologies. Outstanding performance in chocolate varieties, single taste, improper selection of chocolate processing equipment, incomplete supporting facilities, weak product development, slow product upgrading.

(2) Consumer psychology: In the subconscious of consumers in China, chocolate is totally exotic, and only the chocolate in Europe and America is truly authentic. Consumers believe that domestic chocolate is not at the same level as imported chocolate in terms of quality and taste.

(3) Marketing resources: Due to the lack of sufficient financial strength, local enterprises are generally short of marketing resources such as product research and development, technological innovation, human resources, advertising and marketing promotion.

Third, summary of chocolate market

1. Chocolate consumption is a market with great development potential in China

For China, chocolate is still a relatively new food. It has a history of more than 5 years in China. Large-scale production began in the 197s, and rapid development began in the 199s. So far, the output is not very large. According to the preliminary statistics of the industry, the total production in China is about 7, tons. Per capita consumption is about 5-6 grams. In developed countries, such as Japan, the average per capita is 7 kg, and in Europe, the average per capita is basically above 1 kg. It can be said that the domestic development is very fast, but there is a big gap. The development of chocolate is related to the standard of living. With the improvement of living standards, consumption will gradually expand. In recent years, the per capita income of the country has gradually increased, and the next 3-5 years will also be a relatively fast stage of chocolate development in China.

2. Brand competition in the domestic market is at the low end

At present, domestic chocolate still has few brands and single taste; Improper selection of chocolate processing equipment and incomplete supporting facilities; Problems such as weak product development strength and slow product upgrading can never get rid of the embarrassing situation that the quality and taste are not satisfactory and can only wander in the low-end market.

3. International brands play a great role in the domestic market

The entry of international brands has promoted the consumption of chocolate by domestic consumers and promoted the development of the domestic chocolate market. Its advanced management concept, high-quality products and exquisite packaging have all prompted China chocolate brands to continuously upgrade themselves.

However, international brands also have disadvantages. They don't understand the local culture of China, and they have misunderstandings in consumer positioning. For example, the famous Red Bull beverage failed in the China market because of its high price positioning. Firstly, the understanding and grasp of China's market circulation system, market structure, distribution channels and methods in small and medium-sized cities, regional differences, consumer psychology, consumer behavior, food culture and taste differences are not comprehensive, concrete and true. The quality and grade of the second famous foreign brands of chocolate are relatively good, but some imported chocolates are common foreign brands, and the quality may not be as good as that produced by domestic enterprises in China. Third, the freshness of chocolate produced abroad is not as good as that produced at home. If they are brand products of the same quality and experienced consumers, they can feel that the freshness produced in China is better than that of imported products.

4. Domestic consumers have misunderstandings about chocolate.

Because they don't know enough about chocolate, consumers generally believe that chocolate is a candy with high sugar and calories, which will not only make people fat, but also lead to misconceptions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which makes some consumers want to eat it, but they are afraid to eat it.

5. Chocolate brands don't have the main cultural brand.

Chocolate is a product with profound culture, including lovers' culture, health culture and gift culture. However, at present, the brand focuses on the quality of chocolate. For example, Hershey's appeal is her small figure and big taste, Dove's appeal is the silky feeling of milk, Cadbury's appeal is smoothness, and wonderful chocolate's appeal is delicious.

6. Consumers attach more importance to brands and quality

Although consumers love these two foreign brands of chocolate so much, when asked whether they like foreign brands or domestic brands of chocolate, nearly half (45.7%) of consumers said that as long as the products are of good quality and the price/performance ratio is appropriate, it doesn't matter whether they are foreign or domestic brands, while 32.1% of consumers like foreign brands and 22.2% like domestic brands. Mainly due to the fact that foreign brands of chocolate products on the market are generally superior to domestic brands in quality. There are 9