Beyond Meat accelerates expansion in China by opening store on Pinduoduo
Beyond Meat is accelerating expansion in China by inking a partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, as the U.S-based meatmaker aims to boost sales in China where consumption of meat alternatives is low.
In a statement released on Thursday, Beyond Meat announced the launch of an online store on Pinduoduo, its first store on the Chinese e-commerce platform known for group buying and low pricing products.
Pinduoduo’s on-demand delivery will ensure consumers to get products within 48 hours of orders being placed, the company said.
In April, 2020, Beyond meat entered China through a partnership with Starbucks China.
Within its first year in the market, Beyond Meat has also inked a foodservice partnership with Yum! China as well as with well-known brands in China’s dining scene, including Jindingxuan, GangLi Beijing, Slow Boat Brewery, W Hotel Shanghai and more.
In July 2021, Beyond Meat strengthened its online service after launched its first online store on JD.com, which would help it to expand its reach to 300 cities across China, the company said in a statement back then. A year before that, it begun selling products on Alibaba’s flagship supermarket Freshhema, which integrate grocery stores and restaurants with e-commerce and technologies such as big data.
In order to scale up production, Beyond Meat will open a new research and development center in Shanghai, following the establishment of production plants in Shanghai and Jiaxing.
“Asia account for 44 per cent of meat consumption of about 700 billion pounds (317.5 billion kilograms) globally, and that this number was projected to grow by 70 per cent by 2050, said Nick Halla, senior vice-president of Impossible Food, Beyond Meat’s biggest competitor.
According to the Good Food Institute (GFI), an American think tank, there is an emerging trend in China where demand for alternative protein is growing fast, and investments in the sector almost doubled to USD312 million last year.