Imported Milk Powder in China: What Drives Brand Growth
By Jotham Lim
5 min read
Newer data: China's Dairy Market: Online Sales Hit CN¥ 44.7B in 2025
Executive Summary#
Online sales of adult milk powder across three of China's largest marketplaces grew 16.1% year-on-year (YoY) to CN¥ 9.18 billion in 2023. Within that growing market the results of imported brands varied widely, which suggests that foreign provenance is no longer enough on its own to sell milk powder in China [1]. We believe three factors separate the outcomes: distribution spread across several marketplaces, brand building through content on the platforms where consumers discover products, and deliberate targeting of the consumer segments that are growing fastest.
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A Growing Market With More Brands in It#
Over the five years from 2019 to 2023 the number of active brands more than tripled, with a small dip in the second half of 2022, and concentration among the largest brands has eased since January 2019.
Active Brand Count, 2019-2023#
| Month | Number of Brands |
|---|---|
| 2019-01 | 786 |
| 2019-06 | 857 |
| 2019-12 | 1,194 |
| 2020-06 | 1,275 |
| 2020-12 | 1,382 |
| 2021-06 | 1,551 |
| 2021-12 | 1,901 |
| 2022-06 | 2,385 |
| 2022-12 | 2,311 |
| 2023-06 | 2,354 |
| 2023-12 | 2,441 |
The 3.1x increase in active brands, from 786 to 2,441, reflects a large number of new entrants who reached Chinese consumers through cross-border e-commerce. We believe this fragmentation gives well-run challengers more room while making scale alone less of a protection for established brands.
Content Commerce and Clean Labels: btnature's Approach#
The Australian brand btnature built its position in China's adult milk powder market on three things, which together show how an imported challenger can scale in this category.
Cross-border infrastructure. btnature used cross-border e-commerce infrastructure to reach Chinese consumers without domestic manufacturing, through a cross-border import channel that grew 9.2% YoY.
Content on a product-discovery platform. The brand invested heavily in content marketing on China's leading product-discovery platform, which accounts for 17.7% of adult milk powder social media voice volume. Its influence goes further than that share suggests, because consumers research products there before buying them on the marketplaces, so it works as a funnel from awareness to purchase.
Clean-label positioning. btnature's "Blue Label" products appealed to health-conscious consumers looking for additive-free, naturally sourced options, in line with a broader trend in which solubility concepts grew 259% and branding grew 57.3% YoY.
Channel Diversification and a New Format: a2's Approach#
The New Zealand brand a2 rebalanced its distribution across marketplaces in 2023 and expanded on JD.com (京东).
The brand's most commercially significant move was the launch of the "Purple TonTon" (紫桶桶) branded canned product in a 900g specification, which gave its range a distinct new product in the imported segment.
Where the Market Is Growing#
The segment data explains why scale without segment-specific innovation offers little protection in this market. The whole-family segment grew just 0.4% YoY and generic adult milk powder only 1.1%, while the middle-aged and elderly segment grew 53.0%. Brands whose sales sit mainly in the whole-family segment therefore hold them in a part of the market that has stopped growing.
Established dairy brands face the same test, and Nestle's investment in the elderly segment through its Yiyang (怡养) sub-brand is one response to it.
Three Lessons for Imported Brands#
Diversify across marketplaces. Dependence on a single channel leaves a brand exposed, and brands that spread their distribution across several marketplaces, including content-led commerce on Douyin (抖音), have more ways to reach the consumers who are buying.
Invest in content-driven awareness. btnature's approach suggests that investment in content marketing can lift sales across marketplaces.
Target the growth segments. The middle-aged and elderly segment is where the market is growing, and for imported brands we believe foreign provenance combined with functional health positioning makes a strong offer there.
Key Takeaways#
- btnature's approach shows how cross-border channels, content on a leading product-discovery platform and clean-label positioning can help an imported brand scale in China
- a2's rebalancing across marketplaces and its 900g "Purple TonTon" canned format show how channel and specification choices shape an imported brand's offer
- In a fragmenting market, scale without segment-specific innovation offers little protection, since growth has moved to the middle-aged and elderly segment while the whole-family segment has stalled
- Active brands more than tripled in five years, and concentration among the largest brands eased, which leaves structural openings for well-run challengers
More from This Report#
This article is part of a series based on the Moojing Market Intelligence China Milk Powder Market Report. Explore related analyses:
- China's Aging Population Reshapes the Milk Powder Market
- China Milk Powder: Buyers Want Taste, Brands Sell Nutrition
For custom research or data inquiries, contact us at info@moojing-global.com, visit moojing-global.com, or connect on LinkedIn.
About the Data#
This analysis is based on Moojing Market Intelligence data covering online transaction records across three of China's largest marketplaces from January 2019 to December 2023, with competitive brand benchmarking of Devondale (德运), Nestle, a2, Anchor (安佳), btnature, and Maxigenes (美可卓).
[1] Moojing Market Intelligence, adult milk powder market data, January-December 2023.
This content adheres to Moojing's editorial standards .
Frequently Asked Questions
Because foreign provenance stopped being sufficient on its own. The market itself grew 16.1% to CN¥ 9.18 billion, yet the results of imported brands within the same year varied widely. Three factors separate the outcomes: channel diversification across several marketplaces, content-driven brand building on discovery platforms, and deliberate targeting of the fast-growing consumer segments.
Sharply, and the trend runs across the whole five years from 2019 to 2023. Concentration among the largest brands has eased steadily since the start of 2019, while the number of active brands went from 786 to 2,441, a 3.1x increase driven by new entrants using cross-border e-commerce to reach Chinese consumers without domestic manufacturing. That structural fragmentation benefits well-executed challengers and erodes the advantages of incumbency, which is why scale alone no longer protects a position.
Three things at once. It used cross-border e-commerce infrastructure to reach consumers without domestic manufacturing, through an import channel growing 9.2%. It invested heavily in content marketing on China's leading product-discovery platform, which carries 17.7% of adult milk powder social voice but whose influence exceeds that number because consumers research there and buy elsewhere, making it an awareness-to-conversion funnel rather than a sales channel. And it positioned on clean labels, additive-free and naturally sourced, aligning with a broader movement in which solubility concepts grew 259% and branding 57.3%.
That share without segment-specific innovation erodes. The whole-family segment grew just 0.4% while the middle-aged and elderly segment grew 53.0% and generic adult milk powder only 1.1%, so a brand whose scale is concentrated in the whole-family segment holds it in the segment that stopped growing. The same test applies to the established dairy brands, and Nestle's investment in the elderly segment through its Yiyang (怡养) sub-brand is one response to it.
