After the Spring Festival, followed by the Chinese New Year, everyone is back in a fighting stance after the New Year.

Looking at the big picture, still cautious, still optimistic. According to McKinsey's simulation analysis, the number of middle- to high-income and high-income households is expected to reach 200 million in 2025, and the number of high-income cities is expected to reach 82. In other words, increasing urbanisation and rising income levels are expected to continue to drive consumption growth in the medium to long term. This can also be perceived from the overall catering consumption data: in 2023, the domestic catering revenue will exceed 5.2 trillion yuan for the first time, a record high, and the catering revenue increase will be 13.2 percentage points ahead of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

Specifically to the bakery industry, the "2023-2028 China Bakery Industry Market Depth Research and Investment Outlook Special Research Report" released by the China Business Industry Research Institute predicts that the market size of China's bakery industry will reach 310.2 billion yuan in 2023 and 336 billion yuan in 2024, and the compound growth rate is still strong.

Then how will the bakery industry develop in 2024 under the base of people with consumption power, continuously expanding bakery market and full competition situation. At present, in the domestic baking consumer group, the old generation of consumers mostly take it as snacks to supplement, the main consumers of the young group in addition to snacks, more began to regard bakery products as staple food, this point whether in the shop sales or instant online orders can be responded to. In the main food scene, breakfast is the most common. According to the "Survey Report on Chinese Residents' Breakfast Diet", 42% of the residents spend 0-10 minutes for breakfast, accounting for the highest proportion; 39% of the residents spend 10-15 minutes for breakfast, ranking second; and in the reasons for not eating breakfast, time constraints are the main reason, as high as 53.9%. Especially in the relatively fast-paced first-, second- and third-tier cities, the actual situation is highly relevant. Therefore, bread purchased a few days ago or bought on the way to work has become the breakfast of choice for many office workers due to its convenience and speed. From the form of purchase, instant retail has long penetrated into everyone's consumption routine, bakery products are naturally no exception.

Many young people from the first single takeaway extended to the takeaway to buy everything habit, such consumption patterns are very high viscosity, and in addition to force majeure, will not happen reversible. Inside look at our editorial department to hoard bags, but also basically choose the same city takeaway or cross-regional express. After all, unless the office workers pass by the bakery on the way to and from work, it is really difficult to have the time and physical strength to go to the shop.

However, compared to shopping in shop, this kind of instant online consumption will usually have a certain degree of limitations, such as seasoning fillings perishable usually can not be mailed, topping is also easy to keep the type of difficult to affect the experience of ordering, as well as if it is the next day to reach the more important to consider the aging of the embryo problem, and even more details such as the summer to prevent the bread from deterioration of the ice packs attached to the mail, but at the same time also prone to cause the bread aging (0-10 degrees Celsius is the temperature of accelerated aging bread). 10℃ is the accelerated temperature band of bread aging) and so on. But generally speaking, online consumption to break through regional restrictions, giving consumers a variety of choices and all kinds of fresh to try the opportunity, and compared to the impulse to buy in-store, online has a more relaxed decision-making time to prudent order, so once attracted by the product, the repurchase rate is also quite objective.

Finally, let's look at frozen bakery. According to Ligao's data, in the bakery shops end of the sales scale growth slowed down, but the supermarket channel and catering, tea, coffee and other channels of faster growth, the market capacity continues to expand, but also the side of the shop and other channels of the selection of the difference. The production structure of large-scale frozen dough factories with a high degree of automation has not changed much, and products such as shortening, pineapple buns, doughnuts and hamburger embryos are still the main items.

The advantage of small and medium-sized frozen bakery factories lies in the relative flexibility of their production lines, which allows them to achieve a certain degree of complexity through manual labour and match the market's differentiated demand.

As for the frozen bakery products sold directly to the C-suite, they are relatively small in volume, still focusing on frozen tart crusts, frozen pizzas and other products, and from after-sales evaluation and communication with industry personnel, they are mostly concentrated in the mothers' group. Therefore, compared with the C-end products with higher costs of customer acquisition, marketing and maintenance, frozen bakery factories are more interested in the B-end distribution channels.

To get more information like above , stay tuned at baking show in Bakery China.

Bakery China, organized by China Association of Bakery and Confectionery Industry (CABCI) and Bakery China Exhibitions Co., Ltd. was launched since 1997. Bakery China is the Asia Pacific's leading event serving the entire value chain for the bakery and confectionery market. The event presents all range of ingredient, equipment, packaging and services, and enables global leading professionals and buyer delegates to meet and share the latest innovations and thinking on manufacturing & distribution, R&D, applications and related services for bakery industry.It is the first choice trade fair to enter China's bakery market.

The 26th Bakery China will be held on May 21-24,2024 at National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC), Shanghai, covering 320,000 sqm show space. Over 2,200 exhibitors and 400,000 visits are expected.

(source：CIB Institute of Baking Technology)