Over the years, Chinese tastes have evolved because of globalization and increasing purchasing power. Chocolate was considered quite rare or for special occasions before, but now it’s ruling on shops’ shelves. From luxury Belgian chocolate made by master chocolatiers to mass distribution of chocolate products, China’s chocolate market is one of the most promising for brands that wish to export their activities overseas.
With almost 1.4 billion Chinese inhabitants and a growing middle class, it is a wonderful opportunity for brands to conquer and retain a wide audience. The China Chocolate Market size is expected to grow from USD 3.83 billion in 2023 to USD 4.85 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 4.81% during the forecast period (2023-2028). Therefore, the Chinese chocolate market is an attractive choice for foreign manufacturers trying to introduce chocolate and cocoa products in China.
Chinese Chocolate Market Overview
Being one of the most consumed and appreciated food products, chocolate is the most popular sweet dessert in the world, with a global industry predicted to reach 160.9 billion dollars by 2027.
Even though China is way behind the U.S. and Switzerland in terms of chocolate consumption, it has witnessed a growing demand in the past few years, becoming a very promising industry in China, especially for foreign chocolate companies.
The Chocolate Industry in China
Chocolate was introduced in 1705 to the Chinese emperor Kangxi as a gift, but the chocolate market in China has boomed since the 1990s. Considered for a long time as a premium product for special occasions, it progressively became a kitchen cupboard essential for many Chinese. It is important to know that Chinese consumers are not used to eating chocolate, and it was thanks to foreign brands expanding their activities in China that chocolate consumption was democratized.
Chinese people are not used to eating chocolate and desserts, as Chinese culture was never about sweets. Chinese food usually consists of 5 tastes; salty, spicy, sweet, sour, and bitter. But the sweet taste is added to main sour dishes and is not treated as something separate, reserved for dessert as we do it in the West.
Although international chocolate makers like Mars Group, Nestlé, or Ferrero are already storming the chocolate market in China, this market is still considered untapped, leaving opportunities for new brands to have a piece of this (chocolate) cake.
China’s Chocolate Consumption
What is important to mention is the fact that most of the chocolate in China is not consumed as such, because Chinese people are still in the process of getting used to consuming chocolate. They prefer to add it to other chocolate products, like cakes with a fragrant milky taste enriched by milk chocolate, soft candy with chocolate chips, biscuits, and sweet drinks.
China’s chocolate market is dominated by cocoa and dark chocolate, as Chinese people are more conscious about their health and are aiming for a more balanced diet with saccharine desserts instead of real sugar. According to Market Watch research, cocoa beans reached 64,127.70 tons in 2022 with a CAGR of 6.60% in terms of volume.
What are the Biggest Chocolate Companies in the Chinese Market?
Many international chocolate brands were able to enter the Chinese chocolate industry, allowing Chinese consumers to purchase chocolate easily. The following brands are dominating the mass distribution chocolate market in China;
- Mars: 40% of the market share
Mars is the biggest player on the chocolate market in China, with a lot of products being widely popular among Chinese netizens in recent decades. Here are the main brands of Mars Group company;
- Ferrero: 28% of the market share
- Cadbury
- Hershey’s
- Nestlé
It is important to know that foreign chocolate brands are taking up to 70% of the Chinese chocolate market. China chocolate market presents an enormous potential for international companies, as Western sweets and other products are increasingly popular among Chinese people, especially in cities like Shanghai, Hong Kong or Beijing.
The other 30% of China’s chocolate market share is from local brands such as the Chinese chocolate brand Leconte (that has been sold to Hollygee in 2016). However, it is also important to know that in China, the maximum amount of cocoa authorized is about 25%, whereas it is around 35% minimum worldwide. Thus, it is difficult for Chinese brands, for example, to export their chocolate overseas, which gives foreign brands a competitive advantage in the market.
How to Sell Your Chocolate in China?
What is important to understand about China chocolate market is that Chinese netizens are new to chocolates and sweets, as it’s something that they didn’t have in their culture before. The capita consumption in China is still very small in comparison to other countries like US or even Japan, where every person eats 1.2kg a year. In China, it’s only 0.1kg.
Although there are a lot of business opportunities for foreign brands on China chocolate market, chocolates are gaining popularity rather in big cities like Shanghai, where people are used to Western products and international standards. Therefore, while crafting a marketing strategy for your brand, you need to think of appropriate distribution channels so that your chocolates gain the audience you are looking for.
Supermarkets and grocery stores have the biggest sales of chocolates in China, but when it comes to other distribution channels that cater to chinese standards, the most profitable will be;
Chocolate Stores
If you want to expand your activities in China and sell chocolates, you are probably wondering if you should open your store. Even though the majority of Chinese consumers are buying chocolate directly in supermarkets or on e-commerce platforms, the younger generation now wants higher-quality and creative products with high prices, because they consider them more luxurious.
Opening a flagship store of your brand in one of luxury malls or shopping streets in first tier city in the country will make your brand stand out. However, don’t forget that you might also need to use e-commerce platforms to increase your sales and build brand awareness.
Chinese E-commerce Platforms and Online Marketplaces
Following China’s rapid digitalization over the past decade, several e-commerce platforms were able to stand out in the Chinese market, grabbing over 900 million users in 2023, and enabling this enormous spurt in China’s e-commerce sector. Thus, all kinds of chocolate brands need to sell their chocolate online, using e-commerce platforms.
If you want to target a wide audience of consumers, you need to have the best tool to do so. E-commerce platforms allow you to control directly your sales, enabling at the same time consumers all across China to purchase your chocolate and receive it within the day. Let’s check the most popular ones;
How to promote your chocolate in China?
With China being one of the most competitive markets in the world, it is difficult to attract consumers without an effective marketing strategy. In a country where everything is digitalized at a faster pace, targeting tech-savvy consumers using digital tools has become essential for both Chinese and foreign brands.
The Importance of Branding for Imported Chocolate in China
In China, more than everywhere else in the world, a brand’s image is an important key factor in its success among Chinese consumers. People are willing to buy a branded product ten times more than a non-branded one.
This is partly because China suffered for a long time from a bad-quality reputation following various scandals and counterfeited goods. And since the competition in the market is huge, consumers prefer to rely on brands that they already know or someone recommended to them.
Imported Chocolate Brands Need an Online presence in China
In one of the most digitalized countries in the world, brands need to have an online presence. By this, you’ll be able to target this tech-savvy population as well as increase your brand awareness. There are several aspects to consider;
Having a Chinese Website
For most of the chocolate brands selling their products in China, it is essential for them to create a website in Mandarin Chinese. In general, the first thing consumers will be looking at is your website. Indeed, they will enter your brand’s name on Baidu and check what appears there first. You need to make sure that it will be your website, that will be well optimized for SEO in China.
Don’t forget that you must adapt your website for smartphones, as the majority of the population uses their smartphone to do online research, on their way to work, or during lunch break.
As the most popular search engine in China by far, Baidu is a step you can’t skip in China. However, increasing your website’s ranking on Baidu requires a slightly different way of thinking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) compared to what you might be used to with Google. Considered the “Chinese Google”, Baidu is the most popular Chinese Search Engine and stands as the 5th most consulted website in the world. As of 2022, it represents 71.9% of the Chinese market share.
Baidu is an opening window to enter the Chinese chocolate market as consumers will do their research on it to discover your brand. If you are not visible through the first pages, you won’t probably get much traffic. That’s why working on Baidu’s SEO is as important as setting up your e-commerce online shop.
To do it successfully without wasting too much time, you can contact specialized experts such as GMA. We have helped many companies increase successfully their rank on Baidu, gaining much traffic, and thus, much more clients.
Chinese Social media
With more than 1.02 billion internet users in China, it has become essential for brands to be on social media. However, due to the Great Firewall, social apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat are unavailable. This means that you will need to comply with Chinese social media if you want to target new Chinese consumers.
As you understand, the Chinese population is among the most connected in the world, and with a tech-savvy population, it is considered mandatory to have an official account and be at the core of trending topics. When looking for chocolate brands, Chinese internet users will research your brand online. When hesitating between your brand and another, they will look at reviews, forums, pictures, etc.
Created by the Chinese company Tencent and released in 2011, WeChat, also known as Weixin (微信) in China, is the most used social media in China with 1.26 billion users as of 2023, far beyond Weibo, and is expected to grow even more.
WeChat is one of the leading social networks worldwide, ranking sixth in terms of active user number, and becoming a lucrative marketing platform with its plethora of different functionalities. Its success relies on the fact that Wechat was able to integrate almost all the features that made the success of the world’s most popular networks.
One of the powerful and useful ways to take advantage of WeChat is to create an H5 brochure that you’ll be able to share with your followers, and directly on your social media accounts. It is cost-effective and works like a website within the WeChat platform.
Launched in 2009 by the Chinese technology company Sina Corporation (新浪), Weibo (微博) is one of the biggest social media platforms in China. As its name indicates (“micro-blog”), Weibo provides micro-blogging services and is often compared to Twitter. However, it has evolved into a microblogging hybrid with Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, and YouTube over the years.
As of 2021, Weibo has 56.8% of the Chinese microblogging market in terms of active users, and 86.6% in terms of browsing time over Chinese competitors such as Tencent and Baidu. It has more than 511 monthly active users and millions of posts per day, making it the largest Chinese-language mobile portal. Almost all Chinese millennials are using this social app to follow celebrities, KOLs, brands, read news, etc.
With the majority of foreign brands having an official account on Weibo, you will probably have to consider creating an official account on Weibo. To do so, you can contact us and our team will take care of it.
Little Red Book
Little Red Book is one of the most famous social media and e-commerce platforms in China. Also known as Xiaohongshu (Chinese name) or simply RED, this platform has 300 million registered users with the majority being women. They look for shopping recommendations and opinions about products they want to purchase, look for travel, fashion or beauty tips and many more. The app is compared to a mix between Instagram and Pinterest, with its e-commerce platform.
There are many more platforms worth exploring in China and every brand might be suitable for different ones, depending on your target audience. If you’d like to understand the social media landscape in China, please check more here.
Online and Offline Promotion During Chinese Holidays
Traditional holidays and events in China are extremely important in terms of sales. This is when people gather together to eat, weather it’s home-made food or restaurant treats. They also look for some luxury products to buy as gifts.
For example, during the Mid-Autumn festival that takes place every year in October, it is part of the tradition to offer and eat moon cakes. These moon cakes are pastries usually filled with red beans, egg yolk, or meat and they are round, which represents the full moon. You can see how they look below;
Although a lot of Chinese netizens will still prefer to eat the traditional version of those cakes, many foreign and Chinese chocolate manufacturers like Godiva (Belgian chocolate brand) have created their chocolate moon cakes variations, attracting curious consumers, especially the younger generation that is already used to all kinds of chocolates and other Western sweets.
But the Mid-Autumn festival is not the holiday to generate the biggest sales on the chocolate market. The most lucrative day for chocolate sales is Valentine’s Day when people in first-tier cities tend to gift each other with chocolate boxes in addition to flowers. And what is important to mention is that there are a few days in the year that are celebrated as our Valentine’s Day in China, so there are even more occasions to eat chocolate!
Chocolate Brand Case Study: Ferrero Rocher
Ferrero Rocher started to sell its first products in China in 1994. It first positioned itself as a luxury brand but later changed to something more affordable, which was a move that brought the company great success in the Chinese chocolate market.
Ferrero Rocher is extremely popular in China thanks to its gold packaging. In fact, Ferrero’s golden packaging symbolizes fortune in China. And while hard candy and jellied fruits were distributed during weddings, young newly-weds tend to include chocolate as well in their candy packages. Hence, more than 15% of Ferrero Rochers’ sales in China come from wedding gifts.
Today Ferrero Rocher and other products from Ferrero company are becoming a daily necessity for many Chinese from big cities like Shanghai or Guangzhou and it’s fair to say that it has established a strong, undeniable reputation on the market.
Contact us to Sell Your Chocolate in China
With China being one of the most promising markets for chocolate brands, many of them are trying to enter the Chinese market in order to conquer a wide audience. The chocolate market is indeed still considered untapped and has a lot of opportunities for brands that are willing to invest themselves in order to adapt to the Chinese market and to Chinese consumers.
Collaborating with an agency specialized in the Chinese market is the best way to achieve your goal and increase your Return On Investment. As all companies are different, the marketing and advertising strategy must be tailored according to their needs and within their financial means.
Proud of the success of the companies we have helped over the years, we know exactly the needs of each company and the strategies that must be tailored to them in order to get the best of the Chinese market.
You can also look at our case studies here
And of course, if you have questions about selling, advertising, exporting, etc. your chocolate in China, contact us directly, and we will reply to you within 24 hours.
59 comments
Glynn Kelly
We are an chocolate manufacture from Cape Town South Africa.
We are inquiring if any company would be interested in importing our chocolate range
zortilo nrel
Have you ever thought about writing an ebook or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog centered on the same subjects you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would appreciate your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.
Hervinder Pal Singh Bhandari
Prices of white chocolates and others? Minimum to maximum prices? I am in Delhi area for now. I can change my location if that helps. Renting my properties in Berlin, Sydney, AEmain? Other milk products? Tetra pack milk? Bulk buying?
Yakup
Hello,
In Turkey, we product quality hazelnuts.I want to find market to sell it.So how can we find a contact?
JOHNSON WU
Hello,
We are reselling foreign imported brand of chocolates on Wechat, and we have thousands of Wechat group, and we want to resell your brands.
Can you contact me
greeRE porter
Hello,
Very few brand of chocolate in China are popular, and I guess lotof space for Small Chocolate Brand? I am Right?
Jewel Ahmed
TRACKERS BD Solution is the company in Bangladesh to track your vehicle in real time, its software is very suitable and comfortable.
B to B morocco
Interesting thanks for your post
Johny wang
Hello,
We are a new Retail Store in China, and would like to buy Chocolate Brands from Europe or Russia. We want famous Brand, already in western Supermarket and with good potential in China.
We are a Chinese Company contact us for negociation and introduce your brands to us
IGOR
Dear Johny,
I am a supplier of the best quality chocolate produced in Kazakhstan factory “Rakhat” http://www.rakhat.kz/en/o-kompanii/
Please contact me to discuss details.
Cheers,
Igor
Bryant Harris
Hello Johny
Are you still looking for popular chocolate brand to sell in your store? Where in China are you located?
Simon Kendrick
We are an Ecuadorian chocolate company called AOG Foods,
Our organic range is what we would like to begin selling in China. our products currently sell in Ecuador, Canada, and the USA
We have Inventory ready to be sent out
Olivier
Hi Simon,
I send you an email already. 🙂
CND
Hello – interesting postings. Looking for a list of Chinese manufacturers in Chocolate or Chinese purchasers of semi cocoa finished products. Thanks
EMERSON
can i sell my chocolate in china what do i have to do
Michael
Hi Phillip
I am looking to enter the chocolate market in China.
how can i get in touch with you?
Michael
Majed Shamlan
Good evening,
we are Shamlan Company for Trade and Import, Republic of Yemen. Please, I want your product catalog to view it. We are looking for foodstuff companies to be their agent in Yemen. My sincere greetings and best wishes to you for continued progress, advancement and prosperity
General Manager / Majed Shamlan
00967711000925
EMERSON
could you supplay big bars of dark sweet chocolate to my factory
Olivier
Hello Micheal,
Just send us an email. Best way.
Majed Shamlan
Good evening,
we are Shamlan Company for Trade and Import, Republic of Yemen. Please, I want your product catalog to view it. We are looking for foodstuff companies to be their agent in Yemen. My sincere greetings and best wishes to you for continued progress, advancement and prosperity
General Manager / Majed Shamlan
00967711000925
EMERSON
hi olivier could you supplay big bars of dark sweet chocolate to my factory
Jeanett
First of all, invite your basic family, then your godparents and grandparents.
The initial Adirondack chair was built by Thomas Lee in 1903.
You have been thinking about every detail, how the itinerary would flow.
erumeh tony
please i need a chocolate seller or producer to bring in chocolate to my country Nigeria and sell, i sell vigor chocolate here in my country and the price as gone high and people still want to buy. it boast the libido of men for sexual erection and here in Nigeria is large market for it and i am ready to develop supplier for china chocolate market here in Nigeria
in case any one is interested email me on erumehtonyaudu yashoo.com or call me on +2348069101090 i will help to register your product here in my country Nigeria under food product NAFDAC national food and drug administration commission then will franchise the business and you can sell like 10 container of chocolate in a month
EMERSON
hi my name is emerson from Angola we are produse very nice chocolate in our factory in Angola maybe we can help you email me sp we talk
thanks
Majed Shamlan
Good evening,
we are Shamlan Company for Trade and Import, Republic of Yemen. Please, I want your product catalog to view it. We are looking for foodstuff companies to be their agent in Yemen. My sincere greetings and best wishes to you for continued progress, advancement and prosperity
General Manager / Majed Shamlan
00967711000925
Olivier
@Ellis,
Young Urban, around Shanghai .
Majed Shamlan
Good evening,
we are Shamlan Company for Trade and Import, Republic of Yemen. Please, I want your product catalog to view it. We are looking for foodstuff companies to be their agent in Yemen. My sincere greetings and best wishes to you for continued progress, advancement and prosperity
General Manager / Majed Shamlan
00967711000925
Ellis
@Olivier
Thank you very much
Ellis
What is the most popular Chinese target market for consuming chocolate? In other words which age group in China buys the most chocolate?
Maria
Chinese women like chocolate and besides this, it’s becoming trendy to receive chocolate gifts on special occasions. It’s a western trend and everything that’s popular in the West is being adopted by chinese people quite fast.
The only problem is the chinese culture that emphasizes slimness in women…not sure chinese women will ever eat sweets very often.
ronald williams
I’m Mr ronald i want to invest in any business in good faith I have equity capital for profitable investment. Get back to me via email with your business proposal or your project plans for review.
Thanks.
Mr ronald williams.
INS Global Consulting
Yes, I agree with you that the big problem lies in the cultural mentality of Chinese women.
To be thin is praised everywhere, from the web to TV and in the families as well.
The question is : is a Chocolate brand able to combine the two or there is any case of chocolate brands promoting chocolate as “healthy” ?
Philip
It’s a very good idea to brand a chocolate as a healthy food because it offers consumers, especailly who care a lot about their body shape, a reason to eat chocolate. What’s more, there’s nobody doing it as big companies have already positioned their brand and small companies are still seeking for their positioning.
TArek
Hi
Can you guide me more on how to establish a chocolate store in China?
I have a high end swiss Belgium chocolate with gift wrap chocolate items.
Thank you
Olivier
Hello Tarek,
We can help you to do that, just contact us and our expert will guide you.
Ewald
Good discussion and view on China. I was wondering where are the Swiss? Known for the Chocolate but not very active in China, I see the Belgians more and more but not the Swiss.
Philip
Compared with Swiss chocolate industry, belgium seems to be more suitable for export and also adaptation to Chinese market. Especailly for the taste where you can find huge gap between western taste and Chinese taste.
Philip
Hi, Maria. what you said is totally right. and now girls are not so crazy for slimnness and they can always find more reasons to eat chocolate than refuse it.
Ali
Dear sir,madam
I m want to enter china market for choclte ,candy and bubble i have business in pakistan since 2000
Dear im intrested to export chclate etc from china
Anna
Good day? My company produces a hand-made chocolate of premium quality in Belarus and it has no parallel in the world.
How can we cover Chinese market?
contact me please via email anita_1351@mail.ru
Melanie Fenelon
Hello Philip
I am a Dutch trained chocolatier who has been making and selling chocolates for 25 years. I am pleased to tell you that it is possible to “lose weight” while eating chocolate. Good quality Dark chocolate – made with cocoa-butter and soy lecithin as the emulsifier & over 52% cocoa content (the higher the cocoa content the better) – will increase your body metabolism by 24% if it is eaten 15 – 30 minutes before a main meal. The amount you can eat is VERY important….40gr is enough per day ( if you exercise a lot you can increase this amount to up to 100gr but ONLY if you are a very active person – otherwise it wont work).
40gr of Dark chocolate will also increase the serotonin levels in your body which will make you feel happier.
I am writing a book – soon to be released – of my own recipes which I plan to use as a teaching tool. I am learning the Chinese language for the last 14months and plan to have the book translated into Chinese so that the quest for the right information can be sourced by Chinese who wish to become real chocolatiers and not just ‘buyers’ of chocolate.
I enjoyed your Blog. Thank you
Melanie
SAYEF
Please send us the price quotation with minimum order quantity
Yair
Dear Sayef,
please send us an e-mail:
tmaryair@netvision.net.il
The best chocolate in the world !
Huge chocolate type with a lot of mixing.
Olivier
Dear SAYEF where can we contact you?
please send us an e-mail at marketingtochina@gmail.com
Frank
Hello Melanie Fenelon,
I’m waiting for your book.
Best wishes,
Frank
Elnaz Ghaneh
So interesting. thanks to share this informations. Do you have any information for Iran Market?
Thanks.
Mubunga Hannington
Hello Philip,am running a chocoate company and i would like to enter Chinese market. my major products are dark chocolate renging from 65% to 100% i don’t use flavours and i also make chocolate for lovers .my chocolate is organic. How can i enter the china market. Help me
Ram Chandra Sharma
Dear Sir,
i want starting new trading company for baby toys and etc items. can i it
Faisal
Dear sir
Please send us the price quotation with minimum order quantity how can i get in touch with you?
Faisal
Pakistan
Hamid amiri
Dear Sir / Madam,
We are a Business Service Provider in Iran and giving the service to manufacturers to develop their export market.
One of our customers, is CHOCO PARS Co., which is in the market since 50 years ago, and now we are presenting them to international market.
They are producing/distruting several kind of products such as followings:
Chocolate
Jelly Powder
Cake Powder
Syrups ( Juice)
Sweets
We want to enter the Chinese Market
We can also supply Private Label products.
Please feel free to contact us if you need any further information.
Best Regards
Hamid Amiri
Business Development Department Manager
Olivier
It is about Chocolate Marketing , how to sell , not howto buy.
Philip
Hi, Elnaz. I have noticed that Sino-Iran trade has increased greatly since 2010. Let me know what business are you interested and I hope I can offer more details.
Angel
Thank you for such a fantastic blog. Where else could one get this kind of info wiettrn in such an incite full way? I have a presentation that I am just now working on, and I have been looking for such information.