Page 108 - #77 eng

I Story / Zhou Zhang. Layout / Yuqi

AMERICAN

ICE CREAM ON

ITS WAY TO D id you know that one-third of
world ice cream is consumed in
China? In 2014, China beat the
US became the world’s largest ice
CHINA cream consumer with 11.4 billion dollars spent
on it. Since then, the market has steadily grown
for over 10% annually, according to research-
ing and consulting service institutions,
Guanyan Data Centre.
The booming of the Chinese ice cream
market has attracted many successful high-end
ice cream brands to start their journey in
China, including Creamistry, the famous liquid
nitrogen ice cream franchises from South
California. Established in 2013, Creamistry
now has over 200 shops all over the world. And
at the end of last year, it has officially opened
its first shop in Shanghai after two years of
preparation.
Holly Lu, the brand director of Cream-
istry China told us, “We hope to have our own
place in the ice cream market here in China.
Our interactive way of making ice cream
through liquid nitrogen can be attractive to
new customers here. Eventually, we want to
build the image of a chain brand in China.”
However, to get a piece of cake from the
local market is not that easy. Even though China
has the world’s largest ice cream market, ice
cream has the lowest penetration rate among
Chinese consumers compared to other desserts.
Only 3% of the population are loyal ice-cream
lovers, according to the world-leading market
intelligence agency Mintel. Ice cream has not yet
become a part of Chinese people’s life. This
brings difficulties to the oversea ice cream
brands who plan to enter Chinese market: if they
want to approach local consumers and to per-
suade them to buy ice cream more easily, they
have to put extra effort to localize their brand
and educate their customers.
Yet to do a successful localization, a
brand needs to stick to its core, but also adjust
according to the market as Lu believes. For
Creamistry, the high-quality milk base is the
core they won’t give up.

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