Infant Formula Milk Powder Market Enters The New National Standard Era, Innovation And Differentiation Become The Key To Breaking The Situation

In the field of infant formula milk powder, with the improvement of consumers' health awareness and the pursuit of high-quality products, the sheep milk powder market has shown a booming trend in recent years. According to the new statistics of Zhongtong Research Institute, as of October 2024, 124 goat milk powder series had passed the registration review of the new national standard for infant formula milk powder, of which the domestic goat milk powder series accounted for more than 90%. This data not only highlights the strong competitiveness of domestic goat milk powder brands under the new national standard, but also indicates that the Chinese goat milk powder market is entering a new stage of development.

The implementation of the new national standard puts forward stricter requirements on the raw material source of infant formula goat milk powder products, and clearly stipulates that the milk protein raw material must be 100% from goat milk. The introduction of this policy is undoubtedly a deep cleaning of the market. Since the implementation of the new policy in February 2023, a large number of "half sheep" products containing bovine whey powder have been eliminated, and "all sheep" products have become the mainstream in the market, marking that the sheep milk powder market has officially entered a new stage of competition.

However, with the standardization of the market and the intensification of competition, the goat milk powder market is also facing a problem that cannot be ignored: the homogenization trend of formula is obvious. In the new national standard sheep milk powder, OPO, DHA, ARA and other key nutrients have become the standard configuration of the product. Simple stacking of nutrients and formula improvement and upgrading have been difficult to build a significant differential competitive advantage. In the face of this situation, how to gain advantages in the fierce market competition has become a major challenge for many sheep milk powder brands and channels.

In the face of homogenization, the industry needs to break through the old and innovate, and explore new development models and innovation paths. For brands, the primary task is to strengthen product research and development and improve the technological content of products. Through in-depth research on infant nutrition needs, develop functional nutrients with independent intellectual property rights, and create products with differentiated competitive advantages. At the same time, the brand also needs to pay attention to brand construction, improve brand image and reputation, and enhance consumers' sense of identity and loyalty to the brand through brand stories, brand culture and other ways.

For channels, it is necessary to actively adapt to market changes and adjust sales strategies. On the one hand, strengthen the cooperation with the brand side to jointly promote high-quality products and improve the market share of products; On the other hand, pay attention to consumer education and services, and enhance consumers' shopping experience and satisfaction by providing professional parenting knowledge and personalized services. In addition, the channel also needs to pay attention to the new retail model of online offline integration, use the Internet and big data technology to achieve marketing and personalized services, and improve channel efficiency and profitability.