What you need to know
In this Report, Mintel describes how supermarkets and hypermarkets must face the new business challenge posed by rapid online grocery retail growth. It shows consumers are both willing and active online shoppers, but still often show loyalty to chain stores, yet increasingly want better-quality products, services and incentives. Consumers are buying more different grocery products online, including fresh, chilled and frozen foods, which presents a logistical challenge to the online retail sphere for home delivery – a challenge to which physical store chains still have the advantage, thanks to their existing logistics networks. This Report also shows how consumers are becoming choosier about where they shop, and how they have diversifying needs, according to their lifestyles and how they shop, including via mobile phones. Also covered are some of the innovative ways in which both retailers and brands are engaging with consumers online directly to create new business opportunities.
Products covered in this Report
This Report covers the retail sale of food and non-food products through supermarket and hypermarket outlets within the People’s Republic of China. These outlets are defined as:
Supermarkets: Modern chain grocery (food and non-food) retail outlets with sales areas of between 300m2 and 5,999m2.
Hypermarkets: Modern chain grocery (food and non-food) retail outlets with sales areas of 6,000m2 and above.
Warehouse stores: Modern chain grocery (food and non-food) retail outlets that require shoppers to become members and hold a membership card before they can use the store – usually, but not exclusively, for business owners.
Modern grocery: Includes all of the above, plus convenience stores (included only as a comparison against the core market), which are defined as being modern chain grocery (food and non-food) retail outlets with sales areas of less than 300m2.
Online grocery: Online retail businesses that sell both food and non-food products, as well as the online sales derived by bricks-and-mortar grocery retail chains.
For the purpose of this Report, a low-income household is one with monthly household income of RMB 7,999 or below; a middle-income household is one with monthly household income of between RMB 8,000 and 15,999; and, a high-income household is one with monthly household income of RMB 16,000 or above.
