Goat milk powder growth: H&H increases its footprint in China’s offline space

This month, it entered into a cooperation with Kidswant, and late last month, with Aiyingshi. Combined together, the two retailers have about 670 retail branches across China.

The goat’s milk toddler formula is meant for children between 12 and 36 months old and is one of its latest launch under the Biostime brand.

The goat’s milk category is set for a period of accelerated growth this year, according to H&H’s baby nutrition and care (BNC) China’s executive CEO Zhu Dingping.

It is claimed that a main advantage of goat milk over cow milk is that it has a closer resemblance to the human breast milk. 

He added that these partnerships would help the product in making a ‘big step’​ into the offline retail space. 

Besides the retail agreement, H&H will also work with the two retailers on brand promotion and consumers’ engagement.

Online, the product is available in the major platforms such as JD, Tmall, and Mama100’s WeChat store. 

Better digestibility and nutrition​

The goat milk product is said to contain fewer potentially allergenic proteins that may be present in cow’s milk, such as the αS1-casein, and uses a new formulation, the SN-2 Plus, to improve nutrient absorption.

The new formulation is friendly for infants with a weaker digestive system, said H&H Group chief technology officer Patrice Malard.

The product also contains other nutrients such as DHA, ARA, and prebiotics GOS and FOS.

The company added that the products were made in a HACCP environment and were directly imported from Australia.

Goat and sheep​

Although a niche category, the goat’s milk infant formula is gaining popularity in China, with more domestic companies venturing into this area.

Dairy giant Yili launched its first goat’s milk infant formula last December, with the milk sourced from the Netherlands.

"The market of goat milk infant formula has been growing rapidly in China…With increasingly specialised nutritional demand from young mothers, the goat’s milk formula we have launched is expected to help revive the domestically-made infant formula products,"​ local media English China News Service ​quoted Zhao Xin, vice-president of the Yili Group.

Other Chinese goat’s milk infant formula manufacturers include Guangdong Yashily Group and Synutria Dairy Group. 

There are also firms which find potential in sheep’s milk.

Danone Nutricia said last year that it planned to develop a full sheep’s milk infant formula range this year​, following the launch of its sheep milk toddler formula.