Sales of consumable products maintain steady growth

The growth in sales value of China's fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in the second quarter remained relatively stable at 4.7 percent, compared to 4.6 percent in the first quarter, as trading up for premium products is slowing down, market research shows.

Value growth slowed to 5.6 percent in the year ending June 13 from 6.1 percent in the one year ended March 21, consumer market research firm Kantar Worldpanel said in a research report.

Lower-tier cities are seeing an annual 8.9 percent growth, faster than Tier 1 and 2 cities.

International retailers lost market share to local retailers as they held a combined 20.4 percent share of sales value in the second quarter at the national level, 1.4 percentage points lower than the same period a year ago, it said.

In the year ending June 13, the penetration rate of e-commerce in FMCG sales reached 32 percent, 44 percent higher than in 2012, with more families going online to buy FMCG products. Categories such as beer, foreign spirits and non-UHT milk tripled their sales value in the online channel in the last six months.

Brands and retailers will adopt a multi-channel strategy to leverage the opportunities of both e-commerce and offline channels, with impact from online channels continuing to impact consumer purchasing behavior, Kantar Worldpanel said.