On 4th
November, the China Association for Quality (CAQ) has published the 2016 National Consumer Satisfaction Research
on Liquid Milk. The study reveals, that the satisfaction of Chinese
consumers is decreasing, compared to 2015 and demands for the quality of milk are
changing. Suppliers have to be prepared for the changing needs of their Chinese
customers.
Source: www.cnchemicals.com/
The
results of the research can be summed up in four main points, according to CCM.
The first trend shows, that characteristics like consumer satisfaction, brand
image, and perceptual quality are all decreasing in the survey, namely 1 point,
1 point, and 2 points respectively. This slight fall doesn’t seem to be
important, nevertheless it is showing a trend that should be seen as a signal
for milk selling companies. Consumers are attaching more value to quality and
reputation of the milk. The research also states, that consumers respond little
to Sales promotion in general and be negatively affected by price hikes, which
lowers their satisfaction levels again.
Another
result of the report is the high popularity of fresh milk and UHT milk among
the Chinese consumers. The benefit of UHT milk is caused in the insurance, that
the high temperature sterilization provides a long shelf life and kills
dangerous bacteria. This guarantees a well fit into the modern life style of a
growing number of Chinese customers. Therefor, 31.2% of those questioned prefer
the UHT milk, according to the report. The second highest preference belongs to
fresh milk. The main benefit hereby results of the higher nutritional value in
fresh milk. Also notable is the rising taste of formulated milk such as
flavored milk, namely chocolate milk and vanilla milk.
The
third point of the most important results contains the high preference of
liquid milk over milk power. This is explained with the rich nutritional
properties in liquid milk. The main nutritional is calcium.
The
last result deals with the distribution preference. According to the survey,
almost 90% of the participants like to buy their milk in the good old
supermarket. The next choices are convenience stores and also delivery by the
manufacturers directly. Although the market of online purchases is growing in
general, for milk this is only a weak distribution share. Less than 2% of the
milk is purchased via E-commerce, according to the report. The supermarket
still represents the most convenient place to get the daily doses of calcium
for the Chinese consumers.
Suppliers
of milk should have these changes in mind, when promoting and selling their
milk brands in the Chinese market. It is true the consumption of liquid milk
has a slower growth in general the last years, but the changing preferences are
for sure an opportunity for milk suppliers to approach the Chinese changing
needs and ensure the share of their milk brands in the Chinese market.
The
China Association for Quality released the research on 4th November for the
sixth time since 2011. The investigation contains surveys of more than 9,000
Chinese consumers from 31 provinces in whole China. Those questioned could
select between 31 brands and the surveys were carried out online and on phone
interviews. In the survey, it is possible to rate between 0 (complete
unsatisfied) and 100 (complete satisfied) points. The average value of the
points was 74, a four percent loss compared to the value of 2015.
Source CCM, China Association for Quality
The
graphic shows the development from 2012 to 2015. The index is separated into
three fields: Consumer Satisfaction Index, Perceptual Quality Index, and
Consumer Confidence Index and shows the industry average of those. According to
the figure, all three areas had the lowest value in 2013 and were growing
constantly since then. In the newest report from 2016, there will be another
fall in the satisfaction value, as discussed earlier.
About CCM:
CCM is the leading market intelligence provider
for China’s agriculture, chemicals, food & ingredients and life science
markets.
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Tag: dairy