The CGF China Day 2025, held on 11th and 12th September, convened an assembly of more than 600 industry leaders in Beijing to explore and shape the future of consumer goods and retail. Under the ambitious theme, “Shaping the Future of Consumer Goods and Retail Together,” the event served as a dynamic platform for dialogue, innovation, and strategic collaboration across the fast-evolving Chinese market.

Key Takeaways: Driving Transformation Across the Consumer Goods Landscape

The conference featured opening remarks and leadership insights from Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods Forum; Mr. Fei Gao, President of Mengniu Group and CGF China Board Co-Chair; and Mr. Shaohua Pu, President of Bailian Group and CGF China Board Co-Chair.

Their collective vision underscored the critical need for collaborative action to navigate current challenges and seize emerging opportunities.

Since its launch in 2018, CGF China Day has consistently served as a “highly anticipated annual premier event in the consumer goods industry that plays the role of “an important bellwether guiding the development of the consumer goods industry in China and globally”.

Across two days of impactful discussions and four parallel events, participants delved into crucial themes poised to redefine the industry’s trajectory. Key takeaways from the CGF China Day 2025 include:

This summary will delve into the critical insights and practical solutions presented, offering a comprehensive overview of how industry leaders are collaboratively forging a resilient and sustainable future for consumer goods and retail in China.

Decoding the Future of Chinese Consumers and Market Dynamics

The CGF China Day 2025 dedicated significant attention to dissecting the dynamic and evolving landscape of the Chinese consumer market, acknowledging both unprecedented challenges and new growth opportunities and highlighting that adapting to rapid shifts is imperative for businesses seeking sustainable success.

Evolving Consumer Behaviour and Market Shifts

Mr. Wenzhong Zhang, Founder of Wumart Group / Dmall, provided crucial insights, observing that the emergence of new consumer groups, diverging subcategory performance, and the development of novel scenarios and channels are actively creating fresh growth opportunities and surprises in the consumer market. As the value chain undergoes profound reshaping, consumers are gaining stronger influence. Agile retailers are successfully transforming, while traditional players and brands resistant to change face significant challenges.

This evolving market was a cornerstone of the panel discussion titled “Future Chinese Consumers and Consumer Market,“ moderated by Mr. Michael Chen, Partner, McKinsey. Panellists, including Mr. Liming Huang, Chairman, Bright Dairy; Mr. Haibin Wu, General Manager, FamilyMart, Chinese Mainland; and Mr. Ning Zhang, Co-founder, HotMaxx, explored critical themes such as market challenges and transformation, rational consumption and premiumisation, data intelligence for product innovation, and the new ecosystem of retailer-supplier collaboration. These insights collectively painted a picture of a market in flux, demanding sophisticated, adaptive, and consumer-centric strategies.

Strategic Adaptations for Growth and Efficiency

To succeed in this complex environment, companies must adopt precise and agile approaches. Mr. Michael Chen cautioned that “to win over future consumers, companies must enhance efficiency, adopt precise strategies, and operate with systemic and agile execution”. This resonated with insights from Mr. Jianzhong Tian, Chairman, China Ants Alliance, who detailed multi-faceted pressures on retail, including economic downturn, rationalised consumption, integrated online/offline channels, and intensified competition, all shaped by younger generations as a key consumer force.

The importance of collaboration and innovation was stressed by leaders such as Mr. Peng Cai, General Manager, Beverage Department, Panpan Food Group in sessions focused on improving innovation success and enhancing brand-retailer collaboration.

A more detailed summary of the China Day 1 Plenary is available in Mandarin.

Advancing Healthier Lives: Enabling Healthier Consumer Choices

The 2025 CGF China Healthier Lives Roundtable served as a dedicated platform for highlighting strategies where manufacturing and retail expertise directly address consumer needs and market dynamics.

Ms Luo Hongliang, Head of Collaborative Health at Danone’s Open Innovation Centre and Chair of the Steering Committee for the CGF China Better Health Living Initiative, extended a warm welcome to all attendees. The meeting centred on two core themes: how to empower consumers to make healthier choices through whole-industry chain collaboration, and how to precisely seize opportunities within the silver economy while exploring innovative pathways for age-appropriate food products. The conference aimed to forge industry consensus and chart a clear course for advancing China’s health sector development.

Innovation in Product Development and Consumer Guidance

Leading food companies presented specific strategies that move beyond traditional product offerings to actively guide consumers toward healthier consumption patterns.

Ms Liu Ting, Senior Nutritionist at Nestlé China, shared an innovative practice demonstrating leadership in healthy eating by using Portion Guidance to help consumers manage their intake.

Ms Ding Shaohui, Senior Director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at Starbucks China, showcased the company’s contribution to a healthy lifestyle, detailing strategies aimed at achieving ‘True Taste Sugar-Free’ to partially resolve the tension between health demands and taste preferences.

DingDong Fresh, a key retail platform, provided insights into its operational strategy, with Mr. Deyin Wu, Head of Quality Control Center, detailing “DingDong Fresh’s Path to Healthy Eating.” Amidst a global surge in health-conscious consumption and domestic policy promotion of wholesome diets, DingDong has witnessed substantial growth in sales of low-fat, low-calorie and other health-focused products. In response, the company has successively launched initiatives including Mums’ Choice, Clean Label (now rebranded as ‘Clean Ingredients’), ABCD Nutrition Grading, and Smart Diet Manager. 

These business practices complement efforts aimed at macro-nutritional improvements, such as providing insights on the implementation of the ‘Three Reductions’ (Salt, Sugar, Oil), a key focus for industry reformulation efforts.

Ms Han Junhua, Secretary-General of the Chinese Nutrition Society, shared that China has made multiple advances in food labelling to support the Healthy China initiative. The newly revised mandatory nutrition labelling standard GB28050 was released in March 2025, introducing compulsory labelling requirements for saturated fats and sugars.

Amidst vast product offerings, retail platforms increasingly guide health-conscious consumption. Mr Yu Changyuan, Director of JD Group’s Innovative Retail Quality Control Standards Department, outlined how JD establishes dynamic quality standards and curates health-concept products. By ‘making it easier for consumers to understand,’ complex nutritional terminology is translated into accessible language, enabling smarter purchasing decisions.

Prioritising the Rapidly Growing Silver Economy

A significant strategic takeaway emphasised the vast potential and specialised needs of China’s elderly population, establishing this market segment as a priority for product innovation and growth. Discussions focused explicitly on Elderly-Oriented food and Nutrition and how businesses can capitalise on market expansion. This was further supported by analysis detailing the foundational steps required for specialised product development, such as the presentation on the “Six-Pronged Path” for the Development of Senior Nutritional Foods.

Leveraging Consumer Data and Behaviour Insights

Food businesses highlighted the necessity of rooting their health strategies in concrete consumer research and behavioural data to ensure interventions are effective and resonate with the target audience.

Haleon, a major consumer health company, provided valuable market data, with Rachel Wang sharing key findings from the “2025 Chinese Consumers’ Selfcare Awareness & Behavior Report.” These insights are critical for manufacturers and retailers looking to tailor their offerings and communications. The overall strategic direction stressed the importance of industry collaboration and technical expertise, promoting a “science-led, industry-collaborated, and consumption-upgraded” approach to influence labeling and consumer choice.

Deepening retailer-supplier collaboration emerges as consensus

The Healthier Lives forum’s most significant highlight was the strong consensus among participants to deepen retailer-supplier cooperation.

Retail platforms possess vast consumer insight data, while manufacturers hold robust R&D and innovation capabilities. Participants unanimously agreed that establishing more efficient data-sharing and rapid-response mechanisms is crucial. Retailers can feed frontline consumption trends and search preference data back to manufacturers to drive more agile and precise product innovation. Simultaneously, both parties can engage in deeper collaboration across areas such as consumer education, establishing dedicated health zones, and co-developing standards.

A more detailed summary of the CGF China Healthier Lives Roundtable is available in Mandarin.

Leveraging Technology for Supply Chain for Efficiency and Transparency

The CGF China Day underscored the pivotal role of digitalisation and advanced technology as crucial enablers for future success within the consumer goods sector, exploring how digitalisation is rapidly transforming traditional supply chains into dynamic, data-driven ecosystems, offering new levels of efficiency and transparency.

Operational Automation and Data-Intelligent Systems

Companies are increasingly focused on using data to achieve cost reduction via streamlined operations and enhanced performance. Manufacturers, for example, are leveraging data intelligence for end-to-end automation. 

Denis Li, Head of Customer Supply Chain at Nestlé China, shared a case study on the company’s collaboration with Wumart, highlighting their practice of driving supply chain transformation through end-to-end automation and data intelligence. To address retail industry pain points such as data silos and inefficiencies, Nestlé connected upstream and downstream data to build a digital and intelligent management platform. This transformed experience-based judgments into precise, data-driven decisions. The platform achieved a leap from single-point analysis to holistic diagnosis, enabling it to intelligently analyze the root causes of stockouts and optimise promotions and shelf displays.

Supply Chain Resilience and Collaborative Ecosystems

The importance of collaboration built on standardised data assets was a key theme. Yuying Zheng, Director of Master Data Management at P&G China, emphasised that shared, high-quality data is foundational for robust supply chain management.

Starbucks China further demonstrated how digital integration can extend to supplier relationships, fostering a more connected and resilient supply chain.

The panel discussion on “Digitalisation Enabling Supply Chain Resilience & Sustainability” further explored these collaborative approaches, focusing on three core topics:

  • The systemic challenges in supply chain ecosystem collaboration,
  • The value logic of sharing industry best practices,
  • The driving forces behind achieving dual objectives of supply chain resilience and sustainability.

Product Digitisation and Enhanced Traceability

Fengming Mao, Director of the Product R&D and Data Sharing Office in the Product Development and Operation Department of GS1 China, pointed out that in the face of new global digital trade regulations, such as the EU’s Digital Product Passport (DPP), the unified GS1 standard is the key data infrastructure. He shared that GS1 standards have been widely applied in China in areas such as food and medical device traceability, smart customs declaration, and drug traceability, playing a crucial role in enhancing regulatory efficiency and serving the digital economy.

Erica Xie, Product master data transformation leader, Procter & Gamble, Greater China, presented P&G’s practice in digital product master data transformation to address the significant challenges faced by brand owners and retailers in product data management—including high costs and long processing time. Through strategic collaboration with GS1 China, P&G (China) has successfully implemented automated exchanges of product master data with both retailers and e-commerce platforms. Furthermore, the company is actively leveraging product QR codes, enabling consumers to effortlessly access product information and verify authenticity through simple scans. future.

AI-Driven Innovation in Retail and Food Production

A session on the “Practice, Challenges and Response Strategies of AI Applications’ brought together prominent industry leaders, included Mr. Guangrong Chen, CEO, Alibaba Tmall Supermarket & FMCG Division, Executive Director of Sun Art Retail Group; Mr. Yijun Wang, Vice President of Strategic Investment, Bright Dairy, and Mr. Longgang Huang, President of Manufacturing, Director of New Hope Dairy & Meihao Food, Executive Director of New Hope Services.

Their discussions extensively covered how AI is being leveraged to significantly enhance operational efficiency, achieve substantial cost reductions, and crucially, to empower modern agricultural practices and optimise food production to enhance productivity, quality, and sustainability from farm to fork. Their contributions reflected a broader industry-wide shift towards embracing intelligent solutions for operational excellence and continuous innovation.

Yuelei Fan, GM of Platform Operations at Meituan Instashopping demonstrated how the instant retail model provides new momentum for local consumption and concluded that the blend of rapid delivery logistics and digital platforms is creating new channels and opportunities within the Chinese market, resulting in a 43% higher repurchase rate for merchants who provide good service compared to others.

Xiao Mu, General Manager of Merchant Tools and Open Platform at Alibaba-Tmall Taobao Group, pointed out that since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, AI had become the new engine for the e-commerce industry. He explained that the Group experienced three phases in its AI application: technology exploration, reducing costs and increasing efficiency for merchants, and driving consumer-side growth. In terms of cost reduction and efficiency, AIGC technology helped merchants lower the cost of product image creation by 70% and the company launched tools such as intelligent agents for order fulfillment and graphic design. For consumer growth, Taobao achieved a significant increase in conversion rates through AI shopping assistants, AI models, and intelligent discounts.

A more detailed summary of the CGF China Digital Supply Chain Roundtable is available in Mandarin.

Advancing Sustainability and the Green Transition

On 12 September, the 2025 CGF China Green Transition Conference enabled industry leaders to address the growing importance of sustainable practices within the consumer goods sector and drive collaborative solutions. It highlighted CGF China’s commitment to spearheading global and domestic efforts in sustainability, navigating the complexities and opportunities in transitioning towards more environmentally responsible practices.

Leadership, Policy, and Green Certification Challenges

The Green Transition Conference was initiated with welcome remarks and an agenda overview from Qi Zhang, Co-Chair of the CGF China Sustainability Steering Committee and Head of Sustainability at Nestlé Greater China, and Cathy Chen, Vice Co-Chair and Head of Internal Communications & Sustainability at Danone China. They set the stage for crucial discussions on advancing the industry’s sustainability agenda.

Key closed-door exchanges specifically delved into the current development status and challenges of green-related certifications in China. This included a critical assessment of the complexities involved in achieving and verifying green credentials within the Chinese market.

Discussions highlighted the evolving regulatory landscape, with sessions exploring “Trends in UN Plastics Treaty Negotiations” and “Domestic Policy Directions for Plastic Packaging Design” presented by Wang Wang, Executive Vice-President of the China Plastic Recycling Association (CPRRA). These conversations underlined the critical need for industry practices to align with national and international environmental policies to cultivate a more sustainable future.

Embracing Circularity Through Sustainable Packaging

A central feature of the conference was the valuable sharing of the application of the Golden Design Principles (GDRs), developed by the CGF Plastic Waste Coalition of Action, within the context of the circular economy. Cedric Dever, Director, Sustainability, CGF, demonstrated how global retailers such as Loblaw, Walmart, Carrefour, and Tesco apply the Golden Design Rules. With new regulations forthcoming in China and a growing environmentally conscious consumer market, there is increasing demand for more sustainable packaging.

The conference also hosted the Launch & Award Ceremony for the Consumer Goods Industry Sustainable Packaging Communication Strategy Guide and Best Practice Case Study Booklets & CGF Golden Design Rules Case Study Booklets.

Several keynotes explored the international landscape:

  • Guanglong Wu, Senior Specialist, Foreign Environmental Cooperation Centre, Ministry of Ecology and Environment (FECO), China, provided insights into the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee’s (INC) efforts to develop a legally binding international instrument on plastic pollution.
  • Xiaoting Chen, Program Manager, Ellen MacArthur Foundation (UK) Beijing Representative Office, shared the recent progress of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment 2030, the world’s largest voluntary initiative. Looking ahead to the next five years, the Global Commitment will continue to balance ambition and practicality, adhering to the principles of aligning standards, simplifying reporting, and maintaining flexibility to drive deeper transformation in the global plastic packaging industry.
  • Qi Zhang, Co-Chair of the CGF China Sustainability Steering Committee & Head of Sustainability, Nestlé Greater China, moderated a roundtable discussion on the future trends in green packaging design standards with Joanna Zhou, Packaging Sustainability R&D Director, P&G; Stephanie He, Senior Manager, Sustainability, Corporate Affairs, Walmart China; Mike Chen, Vice President of CPRRA (China Plastics Reuse and Recycling Association);Victor Wang, Secretary General of CPRA (Plastic Recycling Association of CRRA); Xuewen Gao, Deputy Secretary-General of the Circular Economy Committee of CPF (China Packaging Federation); and Huiqiang Cheng, Deputy Secretary General & Research Fellow, China Development Research Foundation.

Representatives from three major Chinese industry associations shared insightful perspectives on the localisation of technologies versus the internationalisation of standards, affirming their mutual empowerment.

Decarbonisation Strategies and Green Transition Practices

Companies also showcased tangible innovations in green transition:

Junqiang Gui, Vice President of Foshan Haitian Flavouring & Food Co.,Ltd., shared green transition practices from a manufacturer’s perspective, illustrating practical steps in sustainable operations while Samira Tang, Sustainability Lead from Zespri Greater China Region, a company 100% owned by kiwifruit growers, spoke of building a green supply chain system from orchard to market to adapt to the effects of climate change.

The critical area of carbon footprint reduction was addressed by Yang Liu, Expert Partner at Bain & Company, who provided insights into Scope 3 carbon emission reduction strategies for retailers’ supply chains and an overview of the current climate transition Status.

A panel discussion on “Challenges and Insights on Scope 3 Emission Reduction” further explored effective strategies for retailers to manage indirect emissions across their value chains. Yang Liu, facilitated an engaging dialogue with Anping Gao, General Manager of Safety, Environment and Sustainability Department, Mengniu Group, Joy Li, ESG Director, JD.com, and Xuan Gui, Head of Business Development and Relationship Management, CDP China on leveraging technological innovation, management reform, and strategic transformation to achieve supply chain emission reduction.

Pointing out that food systems account for nearly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, Tony Zou, Vice President and General Manager of Social Enterprise, Danone Greater China, explored the potential of food systems in climate governance and Danone’s green transition pathway in the Chinese market. He highlighted three priority areas where Danone is actively supporting China’s “dual-carbon” goals: reducing carbon emissions in direct operations, empowering low-carbon transition across the value chain, and sharing pioneering practices to drive systemic change and called for “collaborating with more like-minded enterprises, institutions, and organisations to jointly advance the low-carbon transition of the food and beverage industry”.

Sharon Bligh, Director, Health & Sustainability, CGF, emphasised the critical role of local efforts in advancing the global green transition. Speaking on the key focus of the Climate Transition Coalition, she looks forward to China sharing practical experiences to jointly drive scalable impact.

The event also featured the Launching Ceremony of China’s First “Green Products Selection Guide” in the FMCG Industry, a significant step towards guiding businesses and consumers towards more sustainable product choices.

Fostering Consumer Awareness and Driving Green Consumption

A key focus was placed on strategies to enhance consumer awareness and confidence in environmentally friendly brands and green certifications. 

The transparency needed to build consumer trust in sustainable product offerings was a key topic of the panel “Unlocking New Consumer Potential: Enhancing Consumer Awareness for Sustainable Consumption,” hosted by Xiaoying Wang from Ant Group, with contributions from Qingzhi Liu of the China Environmental Certification Center (CEC) and Gillian Sun from Impact Hub Shanghai. The panellists explored communication methods and transparency initiatives needed to build consumer trust in sustainable product offerings, identified strategies to drive behaviour change towards a greener consumption culture within China and showcased diverse, real-world approaches to promoting sustainable choices to consumers.

The “Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) China Green Product Selection Guide (2025 Edition)” was officially unveiled. The guide addresses industry pain points such as fragmented green labeling and the proliferation of “greenwashing” by establishing a unified, credible, and actionable product selection framework that covers the entire life cycle and supply chain of consumer goods. It aims to provide clear and reliable references for retailers in product selection, support brands in transitioning and upgrading, and help consumers make purchasing decisions.

A more detailed summary of the CGF China Green Transition Day is available in Mandarin.

Strengthening Food Safety through GFSI-Recognised Certification

The 2025 GFSI China Conference, held on 12 September, was a pivotal parallel event during the CGF China Day, underscoring the unwavering commitment of the consumer goods industry to food safety.

Addressing Challenges and Reinforcing Certification Value

According to Junshi Chen, Chief Advisor of China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) and GFSI China Local Group Honourable Expert, China’s food safety is “stable and improving,” but requires a shift from a traditional hazard approach to a risk-based mindset. Academician Chen highlighted the 3 main concerns in order of risk priority: foodborne diseases, information asymmetry and rumours, food authenticity, and called for integrated “farm-to-table”, full-chain management, with a focus on strengthening weak links such as transportation and storage. He urged leading food businesses to play a guiding role in driving collaborative efforts across the entire supply chain to collectively strengthen food safety defences.

Yongnin Wu, Chief Scientist of CFSA, demonstrated the benefits of technological innovations such as AI-powered smart regulation and synthetic biology to strengthen food safety risk governance. 

Li Sun, Deputy Director/Professor, Chinese Academy of Quality Inspection & Testing, highlighted the significance of third-party certification and food safety supervision, as a globally recognised compliance assessment tool, in a period where China’s economy transitions from scale to strength, and products shift from quantity expansion to quality improvement.

Elevating Standards and Building Industry Capacity

Maintaining the integrity and effectiveness of the GFSI framework was a significant area of discussion. Participants critically examined auditor competence and certification body standards, emphasising the necessity for highly skilled and consistent auditing practices to uphold the credibility of the GFSI system.

Major manufacturers shared insight on implementing robust food safety practices during a dedicated Panel on “Food Safety Capacity Building Practice,” moderated by Chuanwu Xiong of IQC Consulting and including Janette Zhou, Danone Beverage China; Xinjun Han, Ferrero China; and Na Hu, Wanchen Group.

Gang Lu, Director of the Quality and Safety Department, Mengniu Group, demonstrated the leading role and responsibility of a major enterprise within the industry chain, sharing how Mengniu systematically identifies and manages critical risk points by leveraging technological methods such as microbial structure analysis, gene sequencing, and rapid testing.

Sanjeev Sharma, APAC Food Safety and Quality Assurance Senior Director, PepsiCo, spoke of the growing challenge of global water scarcity. PepsiCo has adopted a threefold strategy: widespread implementation of water-saving technologies, advancement of water replenishment initiatives, and ensuring safe water access. The company has successfully launched multiple water reuse projects in regions where regulations permit, emphasising comprehensive risk assessment and process control based on the HACCP system.

Stam Yang, Vice President of Food Safety, Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs, Starbucks China and GFSI China Local Group Steering Committee Vice Co-Chair, shared how Starbucks’ proprietary “Smart Food Safety” system, which integrates full-chain data, remote video monitoring of suppliers, IoT sensors in stores, and smart labeling, achieves seamless end-to-end food safety management, reducing human error, improving store efficiency, and ensuring strict control at every step to maintain high quality.

Co-Governance and Application of GFSI-Recognised Certification

The conference also delved into the broader ecosystem of food safety governance. Dong Chu, Industry Policy Research Specialist at the China Chain-Store & Franchise Association (CCFA), highlighted collaborative efforts between industry and regulatory bodies particularly within the retail and catering sectors. He warned that online growth has intensified pressure on offline operations, leading to price wars and quality risks and stressed the need for stronger headquarters accountability and unified supply chain standards.

A key Panel on “GFSI-Recognised Certification Application: Challenges and Opportunities” brought together industry leaders such as Maggie Cai, Quality Assurance Senior Director at Yum China, and Ray Jin, Regional Head of North Asia at BRCGS, moderated by Yu Li of the China National Food Industry Association (CNFIA) to critically assess the practicalities and strategic implications of applying GFSI-recognised certification within the Chinese market, addressing both existing hurdles and avenues for future growth and acceptance.

A more detailed summary of GFSI China Day is available in Mandarin.

Conclusion & Looking Ahead: Sustaining Momentum for a Collective Future

The CGF China Day 2025 unequivocally demonstrated the consumer goods industry’s collective dedication to navigating complex challenges through unified action and forward-looking strategies. The event served as a powerful reminder that continuous collaboration, embracing technological innovation, and a steadfast commitment to sustainability and food safety are paramount for building a resilient and thriving future for consumers in China and globally.

The event concluded with a strong, unified message. Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director of The Consumer Goods ForumMr Fei Gao, President of Mengniu Group & CGF China Board Co-Chair; and Mr Shaohua Pu, President of Bailian Group & CGF China Board Co-Chair, sincerely thanked all participants for their engagement, personally inviting them to the CGF Global Summit 2026 in Vienna.

This collective commitment to future engagement ensures that the progress generated here will continue to drive the forum’s mission for “Better Lives Through Better Business.”

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