The sub-forum on New Consumption Trends Outlook at the 2025 Frost & Sullivan New Investment Conference concluded successfully

On August 27th, the sub-forum on new consumer trend outlook, hosted by Frost & Sullivan (Frost & Sullivan, referred to as 'Frost & Sullivan'), the world's leading growth consulting firm, and co-organized by the 19th Frost & Sullivan China Growth, Innovation and Leadership Summit and the 4th New Investment Conference (hereinafter referred to as '2025 Frost & Sullivan New Investment Conference'), successfully concluded.

As the role of consumption as the core engine of economic growth continues to strengthen, China is further unleashing market potential through both policy and technological drivers by 2025. Since the beginning of this year, the state has intensively introduced a series of measures represented by the 'Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption', stimulating consumption and expanding domestic demand in multiple aspects such as increasing income and reducing burdens, high-quality supply, and optimizing the environment. At the same time, cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and smart hardware are reshaping consumption scenarios, and new hotspots like emotional IP are emerging continuously, bringing new growth opportunities to enterprises. Against this backdrop, accurately understanding global consumption trends and accelerating innovation and technological integration have become the keys for entrepreneurs and investors to seize new consumption opportunities and promote sustainable industry growth.

At the New Consumption Trends Outlook Sub-forum, participants focused deeply on key tracks such as the globalization layout of consumer brands, technology-driven consumer innovation, sustainable consumption practices, food and beverage consumption, and industrial upgrading. They delivered keynote speeches on topics including "New Global Consumption Trends, How to Empower Brand Growth, Brand Communication, and Brand Going Global," sharing practical experiences and successful case studies in brand building and communication. At the conference site, in conjunction with Frost & Sullivan's research accumulation, important reports such as the "2025 China Compound Nuts Beverage Industry Development White Paper" and the "2025 China Peanut Oil Industry White Paper" were grandly released.

Mr. Zhang Jian, Partner and Managing Director of Frost & Sullivan Greater China, presided over the New Consumption Trend Outlook Sub-forum at the 2025 Frost & Sullivan New Investment Conference and delivered an opening speech, officially kicking off this forum.

Mr. Liu Xu emphasized the important role of consumption as the core engine of economic growth in his speech, pointing out that it is continuously driving the high-quality development of the economy. Expanding consumption is the top economic priority for 2025. Mr. Liu believes that policy dividends have injected a boost into the consumer industry, but relying solely on policies is not enough. The market needs real 'breakthroughers' - enterprises that can accurately grasp global consumer needs and proactively predict trends. He looks forward to the forum deeply leveraging Frost & Sullivan's professional insights in the primary and secondary markets. Through three dimensions: trend analysis, case breakdowns, and cross-border dialogues, the forum will focus on the growth of the consumer industry from a global perspective, present cutting-edge solutions, explore the breakthrough paths for enterprises in the new consumer era in all aspects, and promote the efficient resonance of industrial value and capital momentum. Anchor new opportunities with a global perspective and reshape the growth pattern with innovative momentum!

Keynote 1: 40 Years of Continuous Innovation, Building a Global Nutrition Brand for Yuwang

First of all, Mr. Liu Xiqian, Chairman of Yuwang Group, delivered a keynote speech titled '40 Years of Continuous Innovation Have Built Yuwang into a Global Leader in Nutrition Products', reviewing in detail Yuwang's continuous investment in research and development. From the technological innovation in oil processing in the 1980s, to successfully breaking through the bottleneck in soy protein production technology at the beginning of this century, to significant breakthroughs in the industrial application of non-GMO soybeans and the deep processing of dietary fiber in recent years, Yuwang has always been at the forefront of technology. This has not only won Yuwang many national patents and the right to set industry standards, but also laid the foundation for its core competitiveness in the international market. The speech particularly emphasized that it is these independent intellectual property rights and core technologies that have built an insurmountable competitive barrier for Yuwang.

Keynote Presentation 2: Food in China - Innovations in Chinese Restaurants

Mr. Zhao Peng, founder of Guangshunxing, emphasized in his keynote speech on the theme 'Eating in China - Innovation in Chinese Restaurants' that the Chinese catering industry must innovate in three dimensions: product, model, and brand, in order to achieve transformation and upgrading in the new consumer environment. He pointed out that by integrating traditional flavors with modern health concepts, optimizing operations using digital technology, and shaping culturally rich and story-driven brands, Chinese cuisine can not only meet domestic market demands but also go global, allowing the taste of China to shine brightly on the international stage.

Keynote 3: Health Preservation and National Trends - The Latest Trends in the Beverage Industry

Next, Mr. Hu Kaiji, founder of Chunfeng Tea Drink, delivered a keynote speech titled 'Health Preservation Trendsetters - The Latest Trends in the Beverage Industry'.

Mr. Hu Kaiji profoundly elaborated on how 'health preservation national trend' has become the latest trend in the beverage industry. He pointed out that with the dual pursuit of health and traditional culture by the younger generation, 'health preservation' is no longer exclusive to middle-aged and elderly people but has evolved into a fashionable consumer trend. Chunfeng Tea Drink is in line with this trend by combining traditional health ingredients such as monk fruit, tangerine peel, and peach gum with modern tea drinks, successfully creating a delicious and healthy 'health preservation tea drink'. Mr. Hu Kaiji believes that in the future, the beverage industry will pay more attention to the health value and cultural connotations of products. Brands can only stand out in the fierce market competition by deeply exploring traditional wisdom and innovatively expressing it, leading a new trend.

Keynote 4: Scientific Marketing in the New Consumption Trend

Ms. Xu Miao, Partner of EY's Client and Growth Services, delivered a keynote speech titled "Scientific Marketing in the New Consumption Trends".

Ms. Xu Miao pointed out that the current new consumption trend is characterized by personalized consumer needs, expanded and integrated consumption scenarios, and omnichannel consumption becoming the norm. She proposed that enterprises need to rely on their own advantages to clarify market positioning, drive growth through digital user operations across all channels and scenarios throughout the entire cycle. She emphasized that the retail industry should activate people, business, and data to create a data-driven refined operation model. This speech not only provided clear practical ideas for enterprises undergoing consumption trend transformation but also sparked in-depth reflection and discussion within the industry on 'scientific marketing' - such as how to balance personalized needs with scale efficiency, how to truly implement digitization in business scenarios, and how to enhance user value through refined operations. These topics will also become the direction for continuous exploration in the future consumption field.

Keynote 5: Consumer Stocks Going Public: Decoding the Hong Kong Listing Window and Secondary Market Pricing Logic

Mr. Wan Yong, Chairman of SULLIVAN TELE-TREND CLOUD TECHNOLOGY and Chief Executive Officer of TradeGo, delivered a keynote speech titled "Consumer Stocks on IPOs: Decoding the Hong Kong Listing Window and Secondary Market Pricing Logic".

Mr. Wan Yong pointed out that due to the impact of the A-share '827 New Policies' and restrictions on the main board industry, the difficulty for consumer stocks to go public in A-shares has increased significantly, with no successful cases since 2023. Hong Kong stocks have become a new choice for consumer stocks due to advantages such as IPO recovery and shorter processes; since 2023, several consumer companies have gone public in Hong Kong and have all performed impressively, with many consumer companies submitting applications to list on Hong Kong stocks or completing overseas filings. Mr. Wan Yong also emphasized the importance of the overseas expansion strategy, using brands like Popomart as examples to illustrate its role in enhancing corporate market value and competitiveness, providing decision-making references for relevant parties.

Mr. Wan Yong's speech provided a comprehensive and in-depth perspective for consumer enterprises, investors, and practitioners in the capital market. It helped all parties better understand the listing opportunities and secondary market performance of consumer stocks in the Hong Kong stock market, offering a strong reference for relevant decision-making. In the current capital market environment, how consumer enterprises can seize the Hong Kong listing window and maximize value through the secondary market is an important topic worthy of continuous attention and exploration.

Keynote 6: Mastering the Experiential Economy: Winning with Interaction

Mr. Manoj Menon, Founder and CEO of Twimbit, delivered a keynote speech titled "Mastering the Experience Economy: Winning with Interaction & Communication".

Mr. Manoj Menon pointed out the characteristics and challenges of analyzing the experience economy, noting that consumers are no longer satisfied with just products and services themselves; they place more emphasis on the entire consumption process. This experience encompasses the entire process from initial contact with a brand, to purchasing products or services, and then to subsequent after-sales support. Enterprises need to optimize interactive communication through customer communication, internal collaboration, and partner linkage. He also provided suggestions for building an effective interactive system through technology, cross-departmental collaboration, and partner alliances, offering new ideas for enterprise development to the attendees and highlighting Twimbit's value to the industry.

Keynote 7: Sports Marketing for Corporate Overseas Expansion

Ms. Hu Xiaoling, Executive Director of Shanghai Roundtable Industrial Development Group Co., Ltd., delivered a keynote speech titled "Sports Marketing to Assist Enterprises in Going Global".

In this speech, Ms. Hu Xiaoling pointed out that sports marketing, as a unique marketing tool, has strong dissemination power and influence. It can transcend cultural and geographical boundaries and establish close emotional connections with global consumers. For enterprises hoping to go global, the wide attention and fan base that sports events provide offer an excellent opportunity for brands to be exposed. By sponsoring sports events and signing with sports stars, enterprises can quickly enhance their brand's visibility and reputation in the international market.

In addition, Ms. Hu Xiaoling also emphasized that when using sports marketing to help enterprises go global, companies need to accurately target their target markets and audiences, and choose sports events and resources that match their brand image. At the same time, attention should be paid to localization strategies for marketing activities, fully considering cultural differences between different countries and regions, so that sports marketing activities can better integrate into local markets and resonate with consumers. With the continuous development of the global sports industry, sports marketing is expected to become a powerful weapon for more enterprises to open the door to international markets.

Keynote 8: Marketing Solutions for the New AI Era

Mr. Yuan Xucong, Chief Analyst of AI at Frost & Sullivan and Deputy Dean of the LeadLeo Research Institute, delivered a keynote speech titled 'Marketing Solutions for the New AI Era'.

Mr. Yuan Xucong pointed out in his speech that as the core driving force of artificial intelligence technology transformation, large models can be regarded as the largest-scale information revolution following the 21st-century internet revolution. This revolution has profoundly changed the content production end and information circulation model, comprehensively reconstructing the ecological chain of content production, circulation, and consumption. AI has improved the efficiency and quality of content generation through automation and intelligence, promoting the diversification and scaling of content. At the same time, with precise recommendations and efficient filtering, it has accelerated information circulation and value realization, connecting creators, platforms, and users to create an open, collaborative, and diverse new ecological system. Enterprises need to break away from dependence on traditional devices and turn towards multi-terminal devices such as smart glasses and smart watches, enhancing their content multimodal adaptation capabilities, including the integration of text, images, audio, and video. AI technology is driving brand communication from a broad coverage standardization method to precise personalized push and scenario-based communication, aiming to achieve efficient content matching and personalized user connections, comprehensively optimizing brand reach effects and dissemination efficiency.

In addition, Mr. Yuan Xucong also emphasized that as information dissemination shifts from traffic expansion to an era of credible governance, industries should introduce a whitelist media and trusted data source system to strengthen the priority dissemination of authoritative content. At the same time, AI and network security technologies are deeply integrated to build a full-chain information monitoring mechanism from source to dissemination, promoting a more transparent and credible information ecosystem. He believes that when enterprises use AI for marketing, they should follow relevant principles to ensure the accuracy, effectiveness, compliance, and traceability of information, in order to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the AI content ecosystem.

Release and Interpretation of the "White Paper on the Development of China's Compound Nuts Industry in 2025" and the "White Paper on the Peanut Oil Industry in China in 2025"

On the forum, Ms. Zhang Xiaojing, Executive Director of Frost & Sullivan Greater China, released the '2025 China Compound Nuts Industry Development White Paper' and the '2025 China Peanut Oil Industry White Paper'. The '2025 China Compound Nuts Industry Development White Paper' details the overall pattern of the global nut market, emphasizing China's important position in the global nut industry. The white paper points out that China is not only a major nut consumer but also leads in nut processing technology innovation and emerging market expansion. At the same time, the white paper provides an in-depth analysis of the development dynamics of the domestic compound nut market, including continuous expansion of market scale, upgrading trends in consumption structure, and innovative sales models that integrate online and offline activities. In addition, the white paper systematically sorts out major enterprises in the industry, covering their market share, product innovation capabilities, and performance in brand building and channel expansion. It also looks ahead to the growth potential and challenges faced by China's compound nut industry over the next few years.

The '2025 China Peanut Oil Industry White Paper' provides a comprehensive analysis of the development trends of the global edible oil market, highlighting the unique position of China's peanut oil industry in the global market. The white paper delves into the current development status of China's peanut oil market, including the stability of raw material supply, innovative breakthroughs in production technology, and changes in consumer trends in the terminal market. At the same time, the white paper provides a detailed interpretation of the competitive landscape of the peanut oil industry, covering the market share of major enterprises, brand influence, and measures in product quality control and food safety management. It also makes forward-looking predictions on the development direction and competitive situation of the peanut oil industry in the future.

Roundtable Forum 1: In-depth Analysis of the Baking Supply Chain Industry

Facing multiple challenges such as volatile bulk raw material prices, rapidly changing consumer tastes, intensifying market competition, and continuously rising costs, the supply chain of China's baking industry is undergoing severe tests. Against this backdrop, a roundtable forum themed 'In-depth Analysis of the Baking Supply Chain Industry' was held to gather industry wisdom and jointly explore ways to break through bottlenecks and new growth engines. Zhang Su, founder of New Species Research Institute, served as the host and engaged in a deep dialogue with industry leaders such as Miao Miao, Director of the Anji Professional Dairy Market in Greater China at Nestle, Li Dong, CFO of Tim Hortons China, and Chen Yaoxiong, founder and chairman of Guangzhou Liuhe Food Co., Ltd. They jointly analyzed the current situation and future trends of the baking supply chain.

Miao Miao, the Director of Professional Dairy Market at Nestle's Greater China region, focused on the commonly used dairy raw materials in the baking industry and conducted an in-depth analysis of the current market situation and development trends of the dairy supply chain. Miao pointed out that as consumers' demand for the quality of baked products continues to rise, the demand for high-quality dairy raw materials is also growing. Nestle's Professional Dairy, leveraging its strong supply chain advantage, strictly controls product quality from pasture to factory, providing stable and high-quality dairy raw materials for baking enterprises. At the same time, it continuously innovates product categories according to market demand changes to meet the diverse production needs of baking enterprises.

Tim Hortons' China regional CFO, Li Dong, interpreted the cost optimization strategy of the baking supply chain from the perspective of corporate finance and cost control. Li Dong believes that the baking supply chain involves many links, and cost control is of utmost importance. Tim Hortons has effectively reduced supply chain costs by optimizing supply chain layout, integrating upstream and downstream resources, and using digital technology to improve supply chain operational efficiency. At the same time, this has ensured product quality and supply stability, enabling the company to gain an advantage in the fierce market competition.

Chen Yaoxiong, founder and chairman of Guangzhou Liuhe Food Co., Ltd., shared his company's experiences and thoughts on the construction and development of the supply chain as a representative of baking raw material manufacturers. Chen pointed out that baking raw material companies need to continuously improve product quality and innovation capabilities, strengthen collaboration upstream and downstream of the supply chain, enhance supply chain efficiency through technological innovation and management optimization, and provide solid raw material support for the development of the baking industry.

Roundtable Forum 2: New Trends in Healthy Foods

This roundtable forum invited four industry veterans: Mr. Taibai Jincheng, founder of PinYue's Big Product Marketing; Mr. Wang Naixin, director of Keryang Brand; Ms. Zhao Yan, general manager of the RoadTie Media Brand Management Center; and Ms. Fu Yingna, partner of ChenRui Capital. Through in-depth dialogue and intellectual exchange, they presented a wonderful sharing on the development of the healthy food industry titled "New Trends in Healthy Foods" for both on-site and online audiences.

Mr. Tai Bai Jincheng, founder of PinYue's major product marketing strategy, has delved into the creation of phenomenon-level major products in the health food sector from a product strategy perspective. Combining years of practical experience, he points out that a true 'major product' is not only a guarantee of sales volume but also the core carrier of brand value. In the health food field, successful major products need to accurately target unmet consumer pain points, possess clear differentiated labels, and achieve large-scale market penetration through efficient supply chains, thereby leading the development of a niche category.

Mr. Wang Naixin, the brand director of Keyang, as a representative of health food brands, shared Keyang's thoughts and practices in the growth process from "0 to 1" to even "from 1 to 10". He emphasized the importance of "returning to the essence of the category" and "adhering to long-termism", believing that brand building in health food cannot be separated from a relentless pursuit of product ingredients, efficacy, and quality. At the same time, he also introduced how to establish deep emotional connections with consumers through content marketing, transforming a traditional ingredient into a trendy symbol of modern healthy lifestyles.

Ms. Zhao Yan, General Manager of the Road and Rail Media Brand Management Center, interpreted the changes in the marketing environment for healthy foods from a macro perspective of media and communication. She pointed out that in the first half of 2025, China's advertising market increased by 0.6% year-on-year. Health foods, condiments, cooking oils, etc., which align with the concept of healthy living, have seen significant investment and demonstrated strong potential in the market.

In the era of information explosion, brands need to continuously communicate with consumers to build their mental recognition. Health food brands need to develop communication strategies based on their own development stage. Currently, consumers are particularly cautious when choosing their food intake. Utilizing high-energy offline scenarios such as high-speed rail media to convey brand concepts can not only establish trust in the brand but also reach a wider range of potential users. For a company to develop sustainably in the long term, it requires long-term advertising investment to better build consumer mentalities and construct a brand moat.

Ms. Fu Yingna, a partner at Chenrui Capital, interpreted the investment trends in the health food industry from a capital perspective. In recent years, capital's attention to the health food industry has continued to rise, especially in niche areas such as functional foods, plant-based foods, and precision nutrition foods, with both investment cases and amounts showing an upward trend. From an investment logic perspective, companies with core technical barriers, clear profit models, and strong supply chain capabilities are more likely to attract capital. At the same time, with the standardized development of the industry, those companies that focus on compliant operations and value consumer rights will have more long-term development space.

The forum reached a consensus: China's health food industry has entered a new development stage driven by value. Future competition will far exceed the products themselves and is a comprehensive contest of brand power, product strength, channel capability, and communication. Only those brands that truly understand consumers, adhere to their original commitment to quality, and are adept at using diversified strategies to engage with the market can navigate this blue ocean steadily and achieve long-term growth, securing future sovereignty in the market.