China Online Food & Beverage Market H1 2026: From Scale to Value

• The market grew steadily, and value ran ahead of volume. China's online food and beverage sales grew +5.1% to CN¥ 304.57 billion in the first half of 2026 on mainstream e-commerce platforms, while volume rose +3.8%, with snack food the largest category at CN¥ 71.99 billion, meat products growing fastest at +24.2% and instant food following at +12.0%, and the gap between sales and volume growth shows the industry moving from winning on volume to adding value through quality.
• Category growth is stratifying, as healthification lifts higher-priced and everyday categories alike. Seen through growth, scale and average price together, the market's categories form a layered structure, and the ones creating growth in a largely saturated market are those that tie their products to health claims and daily scenarios.
• Snacks grew on price and structure while volume fell, and health-focused hero products set the pace. Online snack sales grew +9.5% while volume fell 5.2%, with braised snacks, nuts and dried fruit as the base and chocolate and ready-to-eat seafood among the fastest growers, the largest brands ceding share to a long tail of smaller ones, high-protein snacks growing +14.1% to CN¥ 6.75 billion, and snacks sold on emotional selling points growing fastest of the five selling-point dimensions, at +30.9%, as shoppers moved from satisfying cravings to nutrition and quality.
• Flavour holds the base of beverages, while efficacy claims have become the growth engine. Flavour ingredients remained the largest beverage selling point at CN¥ 8.06 billion, drinks sold on efficacy claims grew fastest at +26.6%, and within those claims drinks sold on a gut-health claim were the largest at CN¥ 610 million, while beauty and skin-care claims (+37.3%) and nourishing and moisturising claims (+33.7%) supplied most of the growth, as the health positioning of drinks moved from basic sugar reduction to natural ingredients and claims drawn from traditional Chinese food culture.

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• China Online Food & Beverage Sales Rose 5.1% in H1 2026
• China Online Snack Sales Rose 9.5% in H1 2026 as Volume Fell
• China's High-Protein Snack Sales Grew 14.1% in H1 2026
• Beverage Efficacy Claims Grew 26.6% in China in H1 2026