A New Channel for FMCG Physical Retail Stores

                                        

Online fast-moving consumer goods (hereafter referred to as “FMCG”) has experienced a fast growth from 1.4 billion dollars in 2010 to 17.1 billion dollars at present. The market size has exceeded that in England and United States. 

E-commerce, which has a bright prospect and being popular among consumers, must be a new channel for FMCG. 


1. The main age groups for consumers have turned to maturity from youth

The youth were the major groups for the emerged e-commerce initially. It is because new industry is far more accepted by youth, who are easily to get new things. 

But now, the rise of FMCG brands further speeds up the development for e-commerce. Consumers are enjoying great selections with the increasing range of FMCG online. 

Reports showed that the consumer groups has changed from the youth into that about 30 to 50 years old. The increasing earning and spending capacity is a result of this transformation. Stable but busy work, family construction and other factors contributes to promoting greater engagement with e-commerce. 


2. Consumers rely on famous e-commerce platforms

Consumers have their favourable e-commerce brands in different categories. For example, Amazon wins support from a lot of consumers for its imported foods. 

As to the awareness, Tmall and taobao have great market penetration. The promotion such as Double Eleven, turns a Single’s Day into a shopping day, which gets the consumer minds to a certain extent. 

It is exactly the platform size and product variety for alibaba that makes this consumer dependence. 


3. From physical stores to the e-commerce is a trend

Fast shopping has become a trend at present and e-commerce is an important channel for physical stores. In this way, consumer groups have more selections through e-commerce, it’s really good for both the physical stores and the consumers. 


Let’s take Suning as an example. Suning was only a physical retail outlet for household appliances before, but in recent years, e-commerce came and enlightened Suning. It also sells a variety of goods online, which improves its competitive advantages among a number of competitors. It’s success for drawing consumers in physical stores to online stores has won a good reputation in a short time. 
The development of internet technology promotes the transformation for physical retail stores. In this era, only expanding more channels can physical stores retain consumers. It’s a new stage for the whole physical retailing industry in fact.