Chinese grocery market sector is highly fragmented : CTR, Kantar Worldpanel

Jason Yu, general manager at Kantar Worldpanel China, said, "So far, there is no dominant national player – a reflection of the fact that local chains are increasingly competitive and often have a significant stronghold in certain regions.”

The foreign brand Walmart Group (with outlets Walmart and Trust-Mart) is currently the largest grocery retail brand in China, but it merely represents 3.6 per cent in sales value share. Its household penetration rate is 21.3 per cent.

CR Vanguard Group and RT-Mart follow in second and third position, with 2.9 per cent and 2.7 per cent of the market share, respectively.

The research suggested that the top five retail brands take up only 13.4 per cent of the Chinese market share. This shows great opportunities for mergers and business consolidation in the coming years.

Kantar Worldpanel also reveals that RT-Mart approach the Chinese consumers differently compared to other major players. It overtook Carrefour by doubling its businesses in prefecture level and county level cities.

Hypermarket and supermarket combined account for 53.9 per cent share in the municipalities and provincial capitals.  But it only reports 39.3 percent share at county level cities and 34.9 per cent share in counties. Traditional grocery stores, free markets and direct sales still make up the largest part of consumer purchases in this geography.

CTR Market Research and Kantar Worldpanel developed this National FMCG Retailer Flash research for the first time this year. The research measures 40,000 Chinese urban households, and 100 product categories including cosmetics, food and beverages and the toiletry/ household.