Good News on Listing | Frost & Sullivan Assists Hunan Mingming Very Busy Business Chain Co., Ltd. to Successfully Go Public in Hong Kong (1768.HK)

Hunan Mingming Very Busy Commercial Chain Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Mingming Very Busy') successfully went public on January 28, 2026. The company plans to issue 14,101,100 H shares, of which 90% will be international offerings and 10% will be public offerings. The maximum offering price per share is HK$236.6, with an estimated net raise of approximately HK$3124 million.

During the process of listing in Hong Kong this time, Frost & Sullivan mainly undertook the following tasks: helping the issuer accurately and objectively understand its positioning in the target market, using objective market data to discover, support and highlight the issuer's competitive advantages, assisting the issuer, investment banks and other intermediaries in completing the writing of relevant parts of the prospectus (such as overview, competitive advantages and strategy, industry overview, business and other important chapters), helping the issuer complete communication with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and investors, assisting investors in quickly understanding the market ecosystem and competitive landscape, and providing assistance to the issuer in completing feedback on various industry-related issues from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, etc.

Frost & Sullivan has always been a leader in helping companies go public in Hong Kong. According to LiveReport's big data, from January to December 2025 and over the past 36 months, Frost & Sullivan provided listing industry advisory services for 82 (accounting for 72%) and 180 (accounting for 71%) Hong Kong-listed IPOs respectively, ranking first in terms of number. It has rich industry experience and communication skills with regulatory authorities, exchanges, investment and financing institutions, and various related agencies.

• The company is a well-known food and beverage retailer in China, with continuous rapid growth;

   

• The company is a leader in the volume-based retail model, solving industry pain points through innovative product development, creating a joyful and comfortable shopping experience, and reconstructing the supply chain.

   

• The company boasts outstanding product capabilities and a robust supply chain, as well as full-process digitalization capabilities, further bolstering excellent operations;

   

• The company has a wide and deep store network, with locations that are highly visible and accessible;

   

• The company leverages innovative marketing to capture users' minds, deeply embedding its brand image in their hearts;

   

• The company is a mature and steadily developing food and beverage retailer in China. According to a Frost & Sullivan report, among all chain retailers in China for 2024:

  - Ranked first in terms of GMV for snack food and beverage products;

  - The contributed food and beverage products ranked fourth in GMV.

Food and beverages cover a wide range of products that meet people's leisure enjoyment and daily nutritional needs, and are an important part of the Chinese consumer market. The continuous expansion of the Chinese economy, along with the ongoing advancement of urbanization and the increasing disposable income, has driven stable growth in the Chinese food and beverage market, making China the world's largest food and beverage market. Since food and beverages are essential daily consumer goods for the public, it is expected that the Chinese food and beverage market will maintain steady growth in the future.

Retailers play an important role in connecting consumers with manufacturers. The market scale of China's food and beverage retail industry has experienced stable growth in recent years, increasing from RMB 5.5 trillion in 2019 to RMB 7.1 trillion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.2%. The market scale of China's food and beverage retail industry is expected to reach approximately RMB 8.7 trillion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2029 of 4.3%.

Retailers include chain retailers, independent retailers, and online retailers. Chain retailers occupy the largest market share in the food and beverage retail industry. In 2024, chain retailers contributed CNY 3.6 trillion to the total GMV of food and beverage products in China, accounting for 51.6% of the total GMV of the food and beverage retail industry in China. The food and beverage retail industry in China is highly fragmented, with the top five chain retailers accounting for only 4.2% of the market share in 2024. In 2024, ranked by the GMV of food and beverage products, our group ranked fourth among Chinese chain retailers, accounting for 0.8% of the market share.

In recent years, driven by the improvement in food consumption levels, the rise of diverse consumption scenarios, and changes in consumer preferences, China's leisure food and beverage retail industry has achieved stable growth. From 2019 to 2024, the market scale of China's leisure food and beverage retail industry increased from RMB 2.9 trillion to RMB 3.7 trillion, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.5%. Looking ahead, it is expected that China's leisure food and beverage retail industry will continue to expand, with the market scale expected to reach RMB 4.9 trillion by 2029, and a compound annual growth rate of 5.8% from 2024 to 2029.

In the past five years, China's leisure food and beverage retail industry has been accelerating its penetration into lower-tier markets. By 2024, the GMV of lower-tier markets had reached 2.3 trillion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% from 2019 to 2024. In contrast, the GMV of high-end markets reached 1.4 trillion yuan in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.0% from 2019 to 2024. From 2019 to 2024, the growth rate of lower-tier markets led that of high-end markets, and it is expected to continue to grow strongly in the future. It is anticipated that between 2024 and 2029, the compound annual growth rate of lower-tier market GMV will remain at 6.8%, continuously leading the high-end market with an expected compound annual growth rate of 4.1%. The improvement in consumption levels and the enhancement of infrastructure mark a maturing market structure in lower-tier markets with great potential for future growth. In addition, retail formats closer to consumers and more convenient, represented by leisure food and beverage specialty stores, are rapidly emerging.

In the past five years, China's leisure food and beverage retail industry has been undergoing continuous changes. In terms of the proportion of total market size in the leisure food and beverage retail industry, the GMV generated by grocery stores has decreased from 24.2% in 2019 to 22.7% in 2024, while the GMV generated by supermarkets has dropped from 49.2% in 2019 to 45.8% in 2024. In contrast, the proportion of GMV generated by specialty stores has increased from 7.6% in 2019 to 11.2% in 2024. The GMV generated by specialty stores has grown from RMB 218.4 billion in 2019 to RMB 419 billion in 2024. Looking ahead, it is expected that the proportion of GMV generated by specialty stores will continue to rise from 2024 to 2029.

The consumption behavior of leisure food and beverages is characterized by immediacy, connectivity, and scenario-triggered nature. When purchasing leisure food and beverages, consumers pursue product diversity, quality-price ratio, new product experiences, shopping experiences, and store atmospheres, which are often difficult to meet through supermarket channels, grocery stores, or e-commerce platforms.

Among the retail channels in the snack food and beverage retail industry, the specialty store channel has grown the fastest. It refers to retail stores that specialize in snack food and beverage categories, offering carefully selected products and customized shopping experiences to meet specific consumer preferences. The hypermarket model is an innovative emerging model within the specialty store channel, focusing on providing a combination of carefully selected multiple brands, categories, and specifications. It emphasizes the high-quality-price ratio positioning, offering consumers a more cost-effective and convenient shopping experience, and has become an important force in the expansion of the snack food and beverage retail industry. The hypermarket model uniquely and effectively addresses the pain points of the snack food and beverage retail industry in China:

●Product diversity

The volume merchant model focuses on creating a one-stop shopping experience with multiple brands, categories, and specifications, thereby establishing stronger consumer loyalty. In contrast, retailers such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience stores struggle to meet consumers' diverse needs for casual food and beverage products. Moreover, due to the volume merchant model's focus on the categories of casual food and beverage products, it can more keenly identify emerging consumer trends and preferences, anticipate market opportunities in advance, and cooperate closely with manufacturers to seize the lead in popular products before other retailers, ensuring effective and rapid product iteration and updates.

● Aligns with consumption habits

The consumption behavior of leisure food and beverages is characterized by immediacy, synergy, and scenario-triggered nature. Unlike staple foods that focus on planned consumption through large supermarkets and shopping malls, the convenience store model has built important consumption scenarios for leisure food and beverage consumers who value shopping experience, atmosphere, and variety of SKUs by providing a joyful and comfortable shopping environment. In addition, convenience store stores effectively stimulate purchasing desire through promotional activities, sample tastings, and community shopping guides, an advantage that cannot be replicated by e-commerce channels. At the same time, by offering small-packaged products, the convenience store model reduces the cost for consumers to try new products and make mistakes.

● Price performance ratio

The volume-based retail model streamlines the supply chain system by conducting large-scale centralized procurement, simplifying intermediate distribution links, and reducing costs. This optimized supply chain model enables products under the volume-based retail model to be priced about 7%-40% lower on average than those in supermarkets or convenience stores.

The following table presents a comparison between different retail channels in the snack food and beverage retail industry:

In 2024, chain retailers contributed 57.1% of the total GMV of China's leisure food and beverage retail industry, reaching RMB2.1 trillion. The leisure food and beverage retail industry in China is highly fragmented, with the top five chain retailers accounting for 6.0% of the market share in 2024. In terms of leisure food and beverage GMV, our group was the largest chain retailer in China in 2024, occupying 1.5% of the market share.

● Continuous economic growth and increasing disposable income

The per capita disposable income of Chinese residents increased from RMB 30,733 in 2019 to RMB 41,314 in 2024, and is expected to further grow to RMB 54,536 by 2029. The compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2029 is expected to reach 5.7%. The increase in disposable income levels has enhanced consumers' overall consumption capacity and willingness for recreational products such as leisure food and beverages. Therefore, the increase in disposable income is expected to directly drive the growth of leisure food and beverage consumption, thereby promoting the continuous expansion of China's leisure food and beverage retail industry.

● Continuously penetrate the underserved market

The retail industry of leisure food and beverages in China is accelerating its development towards lower-tier markets, with a continuous and rapid increase in penetration rates. The proportion of the lower-tier market in total GMV has risen from 58.8% in 2019 to 61.7% in 2024, and it is expected to further increase to 64.7% by 2029. With the maturity and upgrading of the retail industry in lower-tier markets, there is great potential for future growth. At the same time, retail formats closer to consumers, such as specialty stores, are gradually becoming the development direction of the leisure food and beverage retail industry. These formats better meet consumers' needs for accessible, convenient, and flexible shopping experiences, driving the rapid development of the leisure food and beverage retail industry in lower-tier markets.

● The growth of personalized and diversified consumer demands

Consumers' demand for personalized and diverse consumption of leisure food and beverages has become an important driving force behind the industry's development. These demands prompt retailers to offer more healthy, functional, and personalized product options, such as low-sugar, low-fat health snacks, as well as innovative products with regional characteristics or niche flavors. In addition, consumers' pursuit of quality and experience drives the diversification of retail channels, with emerging models such as volume merchandising constantly emerging to meet consumers' needs for convenience and variety. Moreover, personalized demands have given rise to innovations in marketing methods, such as cross-border brand collaborations and customization services, further enriching market supply. These continuously changing consumption habits are broadening the breadth and depth of consumers' demand for leisure food and beverages, encouraging faster product turnover and shorter innovation cycles, thereby increasing overall spending on leisure food and beverages. Therefore, these continuously changing consumption habits not only stimulate innovation on the supply side but also drive demand-side consumption, forming a mutually reinforcing cycle that helps sustain the continuous growth of China's leisure food and beverage retail industry. Retailers that meet personalized needs can better ride on the wave of growth in China's leisure food and beverage retail industry.

● Increasingly diverse consumption scenarios and habits

The diversification of consumption scenarios for leisure food and beverages has played a significant role in promoting the development of the retail industry. As leisure food and beverage products increasingly integrate into consumers' daily lives, they can capture incremental demand in various scenarios such as leisure gatherings, travel, office work, and learning activities. The expansion of these consumption scenarios drives category penetration of leisure food and beverages, encourages consumer repurchases, and supports sustainable growth in sales volume. In addition, diverse consumption scenarios prompt retailers to continuously provide innovative forms and packaging specifications, enriching the product supply available for consumers. This further increases consumer participation, thereby promoting the continuous expansion of the leisure food and beverage retail industry. Retailers that supply innovative forms and packaging specifications suitable for various scenarios can better capture the expansion of the leisure food and beverage retail industry.

●Rapidly changing consumer demand

Providing popular product categories is challenging because retailers need to continuously screen and introduce new products while ensuring quality, price advantages, and sufficient supply to meet consumer needs. This requires retailers to establish strong supplier relationships, implement efficient inventory management, and have the operational capability for large-scale sales of best-selling products. In addition, consumer preferences are often unpredictable, and factors such as social media dissemination and health trends can lead to changes in consumer preferences. Retailers need to use data analysis, consumer insights, and market research to predict trends, while maintaining flexibility in product procurement and distribution to quickly respond to emerging preferences.

● Food Safety and Quality Management

With consumers' increasing expectations for food safety and product quality, as well as the continuous improvement of regulatory standards, how to continuously ensure food safety standards poses a key challenge to Chinese leisure food and beverage retailers. Retailers need to strictly control the expiration date of products, maintain product freshness and safety. Retailers must fully implement quality management measures throughout the entire supply chain to meet regulatory requirements for food safety and product quality and deepen consumer trust.

● Brand awareness

In the retail industry of leisure food and beverages, strong brand recognition plays a crucial role in influencing consumer purchasing decisions. Mature retailers consolidate consumer loyalty through stable product quality, innovative capabilities, and effective marketing strategies. New entrants must break through the established mindsets of mature consumers to gain market share. This requires substantial marketing investment, time accumulation, and consistent product delivery, which will be a significant challenge for new competitors.

● Supply chain capabilities

The retail industry of leisure food and beverages requires strong supply chain capabilities, including strict product quality control, cost management, and timely delivery of goods. Mature retailers ensure supply stability, cost advantages, and strong bargaining power by establishing long-term cooperative relationships with core suppliers. However, new entrants need a large amount of capital investment and professional capabilities in building a reliable supply chain.