Bits & bytes

The Chinese fast moving consumer goods online market is worth more than $25.3bn today, far surpassing any other country in the world. China has always been the winner in the e-commerce space — on the annual Single’s Day event in 2015, Alibaba alone sold almost double of Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and Thanksgiving combined — $14.3bn.

FMCG categories represent the largest area of retail spending overall, however it has lots of headroom to grow online. To understand the role and relevance of FMCG in the Chinese e-commerce space, OC&C recently conducted a survey in Q3 2016 and looked into 13 selected sub-categories, ranging from infant milk formula, packaged food and soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, to beauty and personal care. The survey covers 4,600+ respondents across all demographics from 16 cities.

The goal is to better understand the three key questions which are commonly shared among FMCG executives:

1. How relevant is online for FMCG in China?
2. Is Alibaba the only bet?
3. Where, and how, can I play?