Today, Nestlé Purina officially announced the launch of Zhenzhi Nutritional Staple Food Can in Tianjin. This is also the first cat wet food product produced in Purina’s Tianjin factory. The localization of this product, which it regards as a strategic level, also means that Purina's Tianjin factory has achieved production capacity covering a wider range of product categories.

"Our positioning is to provide all-round care for pets. A high-quality food supplier that provides a full range of nutritional solutions at all stages of life, now our (Tianjin factory) product line 'puzzle' has been completed," Chen Xiaodong, head of Nestlé Purina's pet food business in Nestlé Greater China, said today. , Purina's localized production capacity layout has been realized ahead of schedule, and the next step is to continue to enrich the product line. In the future, it is hoped that "most products will be produced locally." He also talked about the latest insights into the current pet food consumption trends in China, as well as specific plans for future localization. Let’s take a look at the details below. Seizing a new track It is understood that as a well-known high-end cat food brand under Nestlé Purina, Zhenzhi cat staple food cans have been popular in overseas markets for more than 40 years. "We have noticed that among young pet owners in China, especially in the cat field, the consumption trend of high-end and quality is particularly obvious. Pet owners are pursuing a more exquisite feeding experience." Chen Xiaodong introduced that Zhenzhi staple food produced in the Tianjin factory The can uses Nestlé Purina's exclusive production process, which allows the product to better integrate nutrition and palatability. At the same time, the raw materials have also undergone strict testing to ensure safety. In addition, Zhenzhi is a global advocate for the new concept of "one meal, one can" cat food Moreover, the product packaging of 85 grams per can is also the result of repeated testing. It will not be excessive for cats and will not cause waste. On this basis, the product was also optimized based on local market research. He further explained that in China, most cats are domesticated and exercise relatively little, so the ratio of protein and fat in Zhenzhi staple food cans is optimized to about 4:1 (4 times protein: 1 times fat). In order to prevent pets from overweight, 44 kinds of nutrients are adjusted and matched according to the physiological characteristics of Chinese pets. Research results have proven that there is a certain correlation between a pet's weight and lifespan. "If the weight is well controlled, the lifespan will be longer."

At the same time, wet food, as a category of staple food, is also regarded by Nestlé Purina as a new breakthrough to quickly enter the Chinese market. "Wet food, as a cat staple food with high protein, better hydration and palatability, has become the mainstream of consumption in mature markets such as North America and Europe. The ratio of wet food to dry food in these markets is 1:1. But now wet food in the Chinese market is still It’s just in the initial stage.” In Chen Xiaodong’s view, this is a good time for Nestlé Purina to enter the wet food track. At present, there is no strong leading brand in the domestic wet food market. Zhenzhi hopes to use its global brand advantage to bring the concept of scientific pet care and exquisite feeding to Chinese consumers. Snack Agent noticed that according to the "2023 Pet Food Industry Research Report" released by Guohai Securities in January this year, pet staple food mainly includes pet dry food and pet wet food. Among them, the domestic pet wet food market is growing rapidly, and in the cat staple food market Penetration is higher. Citing data from global market research and consulting firm Future Market Insights, the report points out that the global pet wet food market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.3% from 2022 to 2032.

However, the above report also pointed out that there is a gap in the development of domestic and foreign pet wet food markets, and there are still a large number of potential customers in the wet food market. "According to data from the "China Pet White Paper", young pet owners know more about wet food brands. Pet owners born in the 1990s have the highest awareness of staple wet food at 76%, followed by those born in the 80s and 95s. There are still a lot of wet food markets. Potential customers, there is broad room for future growth. "The report believes that the penetration rate of pet wet food in the European and American markets is much higher than that in China and Japan, and the Chinese wet food market still has considerable room for development. Accelerating localization In addition to localized production capacity layout, Nestlé Purina also hopes to implement more localized strategies in R&D, production and channels, in order to lay a solid foundation for rapid growth in the Chinese market in the next 5 to 10 years. Chen Xiaodong revealed that Nestlé Purina will set up its ninth largest basic R&D center in the world in Beijing, and send relevant R&D personnel to the most mature overseas markets to learn advanced applied R&D technologies.

"At present, the local application R&D team of the Tianjin factory has become increasingly mature. We have an expert team of 6 people. A large proportion of local R&D tasks in China can rely on the Tianjin team. Completed. The new basic research and development center will focus on the most front-end research and development links to improve basic research and development capabilities," he said. In the production process, Chen Xiaodong believes that pet consumption is somewhat similar to coffee, which also originates from Western consumer culture. In the long run, Nestlé Purina hopes to embody the "Twenty-Eight Principle" layout idea in China: most products are produced locally, and some come from the continuous introduction of the most advanced international brands and products.

Nestle Greater China

Chen Xiaodong, head of Nestlé Purina pet food business

“Our Tianjin factory is equipped with Purina’s most advanced production equipment in the world. We hope that most of the production processes can For local production, because only in this way can we truly be close to the actual needs of the local market and respond quickly. If we rely entirely on imports, it may take two or three years to respond to the Chinese market," Chen Xiaodong said. Finally, in terms of channels and channels, Chen Xiaodong said that the main group of Chinese pet owners are very young and have lived in the digital age since childhood. An example is that when it comes to pet consumption, if home-delivery channels are included, most of the business comes from online. In North America or Europe, most of the business comes from offline, including traditional supermarkets and professional channels. Therefore, we must place great emphasis on localization in channel construction and layout, and cannot copy foreign channel management experience, or even feed back localized digital operation experience in China to the headquarters or other markets. It is understood that last year, Nestlé Purina took the new O2O in-depth marketing model as its development focus, and took the lead in in-depth cooperation with O2O instant home delivery platforms such as Ele.me, Meituan and JD Daojia. It has settled in more than 6,000 stores on the three major platforms, covering cities Reach 100.