Easy to make and cheap to buy, instant noodles have long been China’s most popular convenience food.
More than 46.2 billion packets were sold in China and Hong Kong in 2013. But by 2016 those sales had tumbled to 38.5 billion packets. That’s a drop of almost 17%. Given most other instant noodle markets have remained steady over the past few years, it is an unusual problem. So what’s going on?
Aspiration: Customers want better food. Just add boiling water to the bowl, and you can have it. As appealing as that sounds, one factor in the decline could well be that some Chinese are upping their expectations at dining. Consumers are more interested in life quality than just filling their stomach these days.
Population shift: Farmer workers are going home. One of the big consumers of instant noodles are farmer workers. They are away from home, often living in poor conditions and want to save money to send back to their families. But the number of farmer workers is going down.
Travel: Infrastructure(基础设施) improving, habits changing. Travelling in China 20 years ago, people filled their stomach by eating instant noodles. But Chinese trains and stations have improved. They offer more choices, then noodle sales on the railways fall. And more Chinese people spend billions flying instead of using trains.
Smartphones and the Internet: There’s another form of “quick food”. About 730 million people in China now surf the Internet, 95% of those using smartphones to connect. And apps that offer food delivery to your home, office or wherever you happen to be are a real promising industry.
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