‘New retail’ — where online and offline strategies converge — may be the sector’s hottest topic after it was coined by Alibaba founder Jack Ma last year, but what is the thought behind the buzz word?
The Yulin Dog Festival, the highly polarising annual celebration of dog meat in southern China, took place as usual last month, albeit to even greater protests from critics and mounting disapproval from locals.
Ingredients firm AAK has been rapidly growing its footprint in Asia-Pacific across a number of categories, backed by plans for a new plant in the Philippines and a customer innovation centre in Japan.
Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey has revealed the firm’s Asia strategy now hinges on being “within a click’s reach of desire” due to the region’s soaring mobile and digital use.
Beverly Hills luxury confectionery manufacturer and retail brand Sugarfina will open its first store in Asia this July and already has further expansion plans for other Asian markets.
Coca-Cola and bottling partner Swire Group have opened a new production plant in Yunnan, China, adding another piece to the puzzle in the beverage giant’s China growth strategy.
Alibaba says it has already completed transforming a quarter of RT-Mart’s 400 China stores, equipping them with ‘new retail’ technology designed to bridge the gap between e-commerce and traditional bricks-and-mortar operations.
US functional coffee and matcha tea firm NuZee has established a new, wholly-owned subsidiary and broken ground on a new manufacturing plant in Korea as it seeks to boost its trade in Asia.
Around 91% of parents and almost all their children (99.5%) do not meet the recommended weekly dairy intake set by the Hong Kong Department of Health, a new survey has revealed.
China retailer JD Supermarket has launched the JD Healthy Food Initiative in a bid to improve food safety, traceability and consumer access to healthier foods.
Chinese consumers have deep-rooted concerns about food safety and fraud in the domestic supply chain, according to research led by Newcastle University.
A new Hong Kong vegan brand, Right Treat, has introduced its first product in Hong Kong — a plant-based pork alternative called Omnipork or “new pork” in Cantonese.
Japan’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, has launched a 24-hour delivery service, Net Konbini, to compete with e-commerce players such as Rakuten and Amazon.
Yoghurt and cheese are winning in China's dairy market, with Chinese consumers willing to pay a premium for dairy products with health-related attributes.
The trade spat between China and the US will serve to strengthen China’s booming cross-border ecommerce market, industry experts have said, even though uncertainty around regulations is again heightening.
DuPont is set to open a new Innovation Application Centre in Japan later this year, highlighting wellness, snacking and ageing as the region's hottest trends.
New Zealand officials have declared a labour shortage in the Bay of Plenty, where 1,200 vacancies need to be filled to harvest kiwifruit amid rising overseas demand, especially from China.
Plant-based ingredients firm Roquette has expanded its Food Customer Technical Service Centre (CTS) in Tokyo on the back of rising local demand for proteins, fibres and healthy carbohydrates.
China manufacturer JMU Limited (Zhong Mei Lian) says it has set up a new R&D centre to develop Ready-to-Cook (RTC) and Ready-to-Eat (RTE) food products as part of an “efficiency revolution”.
Coca-Cola Japan has launched its first ready-to-drink (RTD) frozen beverage in a re-sealable pouch, which the company says is the first such innovation around the world.
Welch’s – which is owned by the US National Grape Co-operative – has unveiled its new global ingredients strategy, with expansion in Japan and an examination of the potential in China high on the agenda.
Poor sleep and physical activity habits could be associated with the high prevalence of obesity among pre-school children, according to researchers in China.
Japanese condiment maker Ajinomoto has launched a new service that uses artificial intelligence to select the perfect recipe for a dish depending on a consumer’s tastes.
Walmart has committed to reducing greenhouse emissions from its Chinese operation by the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 40m households by 2030.
Havi and SF Holding have announced that they have entered into a joint-venture agreement aimed at building a leading cold chain logistics company in China.
A study backed by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has found that lower household income and educational levels are linked to a higher chance of women being overweight or obese.
Seven years after a tsunami wiped out a nuclear reactor in Fukushima, causing widespread radiation contamination in a largely agricultural region, the prefecture continues to struggle in getting crucial overseas markets to accept its produce.
Young mothers and families in China increasingly have greater spending power — one market expert reveals how food and beverage firms can boost sales in this segment.
The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), a charity working to protect the environment and human rights, has detailed what it claims is the shocking extent of illegal fishing and human trafficking by the Taiwanese fish industry.
With a new store opening every 15 hours, Starbucks’ China operation is on track to overtake that of the US as its biggest market within a decade, according to its boss.
A new report shows that mainstream media coverage of health concerns regarding soft drinks is increasing, but this has not filtered down to social media where users are more likely to be concerned about packaging and celebrity marketing.
China’s bottled water sales volume growth dipped from 5% in 2015 to 4.2% in 2017, due to market saturation and intensified competition in beverages, but other Asian markets are in the top five fastest growing.
Korean alcoholic beverages such as soju, traditionally clear liquor usually distilled from rice, wheat or barley, appear to be gaining in popularity in South East Asian markets.