China Food & Beverage Market: Q1 2024 Trends

Newer data: China Online Food & Beverage Sales Rose 5.1% in H1 2026

Executive Summary#

China's online food and beverage market generated CN¥ 188.45 billion in Q1 2024, up 14.4% year-on-year (YoY), which was one of the strongest growth rates among major online consumer categories analysed by Moojing Market Intelligence (魔镜洞察). The first Chinese New Year without restrictions since the pandemic drove broad demand for New Year gift categories, and nut gift boxes alone grew 73.0% YoY. Beneath this seasonal boost, we see three structural forces reshaping the market. They are a return to rational purchasing anchored in value, a deepening consumer focus on health and ingredient safety, and the rise of emotional value, through gifting, nostalgia and self-reward, as a distinct and measurable driver of growth. We believe brands that align their product strategy with all three at once will be best placed to grow faster than the market in the quarters ahead.

Market Overview: Online Food and Beverage Sales Reach CN¥ 188.45 Billion#

Food and beverage was one of the strongest categories in China's online retail market in Q1 2024. The sector grew 14.4% YoY, ahead of 3C devices (+13.2%) and apparel and footwear (+12.1%) and well above beauty and skincare (+6.3%) and health supplements (+8.5%).

We believe this reflects a structural advantage, since food and beverage benefits both from everyday necessity and from strong seasonal occasions. Snacks, beverages, and grains and oils recorded the fastest sub-category growth, while online alcohol grew steadily. Among specific concepts, nut gift boxes grew 73.0% YoY, while food-medicine homology ingredients such as monkey head mushroom reached CN¥ 1.7 billion with growth of 101.2% YoY, an early sign that the food-medicine homology trend is gaining commercial traction. Brewed tea water, although smaller in absolute scale, grew 255.0% YoY, which suggests a fast-emerging beverage concept with considerable room to grow.

The macro backdrop gave modest support. Per-capita disposable income reached CN¥ 10,732 in Q1 2024, up from CN¥ 9,879 in Q1 2023, and consumer confidence indices improved gradually. However, growth in total retail sales slowed for three consecutive months in early 2024, which reflects the lasting effect of the pandemic period on consumers, who remain cautious about discretionary spending even as their expectations for income improve. Food and beverage, as a category that combines necessity with affordable indulgence, is well placed in this environment.

Consumer Trends: Value, Health and Attention to Ingredients#

The central consumer trend in Q1 2024 is a return to rational value-seeking, which we read as a new post-pandemic attitude and not as a return to pre-pandemic spending. The China Consumers Association's March 2024 Annual Consumer Rights Survey found that more than 56% of respondents expected household income to increase in the coming year. Their purchase decisions nevertheless remained anchored in "safety and quality" (37% mention after-sales service and 30% cite positive ratings) and in "value for money" (30% cite value and 23% cite low price). Moojing platform data shows that the share of low price-tier food and beverage products in Q1 2024 was significantly above Q1 2022 levels, so the shift toward value-oriented purchasing has lasted.

Health and ingredient safety are the most important product attributes. Research by the COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute identifies health and taste as the two most important purchase criteria. Moojing data shows how consumers express their demand for health, with "mind-body nourishment", "natural and additive-free ingredients" and "functional value" as the main sub-themes. This matters for product development, because "healthy" as a vague claim carries less weight than before, and consumers increasingly read ingredient lists and understand additives and functional efficacy.

Attention to ingredients is most visible in the snack market's sales by ingredient:

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Food-medicine homology ingredients, a category based on traditional Chinese medicine concepts such as wolfberry, poria and monkey head mushroom, grew 101.2% YoY to CN¥ 1.7 billion. Dairy derivatives such as buffalo milk and cheese grew 104.3% YoY, and plant milk concepts such as soy milk and coconut milk grew 73.3% YoY to CN¥ 680 million. These categories are still small in absolute terms compared with nuts and roasted goods, but their growth shows that consumers are actively looking for differentiated snack formats with health functions, and are not simply trading down to cheaper conventional products.

Emotional Value: The New Year Surge and the Gifting Economy#

Q1 2024 showed that emotional value, which includes gifting, shared celebration and seasonal experience, is a primary driver of growth in food and beverage, alongside functional demand.

The single hashtag "#StockUpForAGreatNewYear" generated 920 million interactions across social platforms, up 161.9% YoY. Major platforms ran dedicated New Year shopping festivals, and gift-box formats and Year of the Dragon limited editions were well received. Food trends also spread widely across the country during the quarter, from the Tianshui mala hot pot trend to the continued popularity of Zibo barbecue from 2023. This shows that consumers actively follow shared food experiences and enjoy eating as part of a collective celebration.

Gifting and self-reward show up clearly in the profile of snack consumers. Online snack consumers are mostly young women aged 16 to 30, and in Q1 2024 gifting to family and friends ranked above buying for themselves as their main motivation. The fast-growing consumer segments include foodies and office workers, who buy for taste as a self-reward, fitness and weight-loss enthusiasts, who choose by ingredients to manage their health, and middle-aged and older consumers and expectant mothers, who look for efficacy. We believe these segments show demand for emotional value and demand for functional value expanding at the same time, and the brands that grew in Q1 2024 addressed both.

Snacks and Condiments: New Brands Grow Through Content-Led Channels#

The snack and condiment categories show how content-led commerce has given new brands a fast route to scale in food and beverage.

In snacks, sales remain spread across many brands. New products have reached consumers through KOC livestreaming and short-video seeding, among them Norvan's truffle chocolate gift box, Zhenmo Fang's sugar-free Eight-Treasure Cake and Jiangzhong Food Therapy's monkey head mushroom biscuit gift box, which uses one of the food-medicine homology ingredients that grew fastest in the quarter.

In condiments, the online market reached CN¥ 4.90 billion, up 10.1% YoY, and the fastest-growing sub-categories were rice sauce (162.0% YoY growth) and oyster sauce (127.9% YoY growth). Many of the new condiment brands launched on content-led channels, and most of their lead products are compound condiments. Buji (不集) launched on a content-led channel in April 2023 with a range built on zero added refined sugar and low-fat, low-calorie formulas, including a chia seed salad dressing and a zero-sugar oden seasoning. Explorer Aunt built its range around a stone-ground chilli sauce made with peanuts and sunflower seeds and no preservatives.

In both categories, we believe new brands have succeeded through credible ingredient stories, formulas that suit a healthy diet and a launch strategy built on content-led channels.

Q1 2024 Social Platform Engagement: Key Food Topics#

The following data shows the scale of social engagement behind purchase intent in food and beverage in Q1 2024:

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Food quality and safety topics generated 660 million interactions, second only to New Year gifting content. As social platforms carry more discussion of food safety incidents and ingredient concerns, consumers build a fuller basis for their purchase decisions. We therefore believe brands that communicate their ingredients and safety credentials openly are meeting a growing social expectation as well as regulatory requirements.

Future Outlook: Three Strategic Priorities for Food & Beverage Brands#

In Q1 2024, health and safety were the baseline that consumers expected, while emotional and functional value were where the growth was, and brands need to plan for both established marketplaces and content-led channels. We see three strategic priorities in the Q1 2024 data:

1. Ingredient-led product development. Plant protein, food-medicine homology ingredients (monkey head mushroom, chia seeds, wolfberry) and clean-label dairy derivatives are the main routes to premium health products. "Zero-additive" and "natural" positioning has moved from a premium differentiator to something consumers expect from the whole category, so we believe brands entering without a credible ingredient story will find it harder to compete.

2. Gift and occasion formats. New Year goods formats drove the quarter's strongest growth, and seasonal formats such as gift boxes, limited editions and co-branded products deliver high returns when they are built on strong products. We believe snack brands should treat gift formats as a permanent part of their business and plan them beyond a single season.

3. Distribution across established and content-led channels. Brands need capability in both established marketplaces and content-led commerce. Buji's launch shows how a content-first launch works, with KOL seeding at launch, KOC content to build organic reach, and expansion to established marketplaces once the brand was known.

Consumer expectations for income are improving cautiously, as more than 56% of survey respondents expect household income to grow, which creates conditions for continued growth in both value-positioned and premium health products. The opportunity in food and beverage is broad, and we believe it favours brands with clear and credible positioning grounded in their ingredients.

Key Takeaways#

• China's online food and beverage market reached CN¥ 188.45 billion in Q1 2024, growing 14.4% YoY, one of the strongest growth rates among major online consumer categories.
• Nut gift boxes grew 73.0% YoY, and food-medicine homology ingredients grew 101.2% YoY, which points to lasting demand for functional snack formats.
• The "#StockUpForAGreatNewYear" hashtag generated 920 million interactions (+161.9% YoY), which shows that seasonal gifting drives revenue alongside everyday consumption.
• New brands such as Buji in condiments and Norvan in snacks grew quickly by combining credible ingredient stories with KOC livestreaming.
• Safe formulas (zero-additive, no preservatives) and innovative ingredients (chia seeds, truffle, matsutake) are the fastest-growing condiment concepts, and safe formulas exceeded CN¥ 400 million in total sales with growth of 55.7% YoY.

About the Data#

This analysis draws on Moojing Market Intelligence (魔镜洞察) data on China's online food and beverage market in Q1 2024. E-commerce data covers three leading Chinese marketplaces, and consumer insight data is drawn from social media listening across major Chinese social platforms. Macro data sources include the National Bureau of Statistics and the People's Bank of China depositor surveys. Consumer survey data is drawn from the China Consumers Association March 2024 Annual Consumer Rights Theme Survey and the COFCO Nutrition and Health Research Institute.