冰柜里长出一座菜园子 冰淇淋的尽头是“吃草”？| 国潮一夏

This article unpacks the "fruit & vegetable trend" that has taken China's ice cream industry by storm this summer. Key takeaways for general readers include:

1. Fruit and vegetable ice cream currently follows two distinct approaches. Industry giants like Yili and Mengniu focus on substance: they add real fruit and vegetable ingredients, position their products as low-fat and low-calorie, and target health-conscious consumers. Internet-famous brands like NaiMi take an appearance-focused approach: they shape ice cream into the form of vegetables like carrots or potatoes, but the flavor has nothing to do with the produce, drawing traffic through novelty-seeking curiosity.

2. Shopping tips: Viral novelty-shaped ice creams are one-off social products, good for a single taste test and photos, but rarely lead to repeat purchases. If you want a low-burden, healthy treat, prioritise affordable options from major brands — they offer better value and align more closely with health goals.

3. This trend emerged as China's ice cream market enters a stage of stock competition, where traditional flavors have become heavily homogenized and brands are forced to find new growth breakthroughs. It also aligns perfectly with the ongoing rise of health-focused consumer trends.

This article outlines the current state and underlying logic of the fruit and vegetable trend in China's ice cream industry, offering the following insights for brand operations and innovation:

1. Consumer trend context: China's market for healthy ice cream has already surpassed 10 billion yuan in size, with a compound annual growth rate of over 32% over the past five years. Its core audience includes women aged 18-35, people managing their weight, and Gen Z. Consumer demand for low-burden ice cream is growing rapidly, making this a high-potential track.

2. Product development paths: Two proven go-to-market approaches have emerged. Large established brands can leverage their existing distribution networks to pursue the real fruit/vegetable ingredients + health labeling route, quickly roll out products to test market response, and collect user data to inform future category iteration. Internet-native brands can pursue the novelty shape route to create flash-in-the-pan traffic-driving products, but they should note this model rarely drives sustained repeat purchases.

3. Pricing strategy: Brands should avoid the crowded 5-15 yuan price band. Instead, either enter the mass-market 2-5 yuan price tier to scale up through repeat purchases, or position products as mid-to-high-end to capture experience and social-driven pricing premiums, enabling differentiated competition.

This article analyzes the opportunities and risks of the fruit and vegetable ice cream trend, with the following practical guidance for sellers on product selection and operations:

1. Market opportunity: Healthy ice cream is in a high-growth phase. Gen Z and weight-conscious consumers in China's first- and second-tier cities already have high acceptance for fruit and vegetable ice cream, and the track still has clear room for growth. Early布局 allows sellers to capture a share of the industry's growth dividend.

2. Key risk warning: Sellers should be cautious when stocking viral novelty-shaped fruit and vegetable ice creams. These products rely on novelty to draw traffic, so their social popularity cycle is very short, usually only one to two weeks. Since brands need to lock in production capacity 3-6 months in advance, sellers are very likely to end up with excess inventory after the hype fades. Additionally, most consumers only buy these products once to try them, so there is effectively no repeat demand.

3. Product selection and operational recommendations: Prioritize affordable, healthy fruit and vegetable ice cream options from major brands. Their pricing fits mass market expectations and they deliver more reliable repeat purchase rates. For distribution, prioritize channels with high young foot traffic like convenience stores, which better match the target customer base. Viral novelty products can be stocked in small quantities as limited-time traffic drivers, but large bulk orders should be avoided.

This article outlines the latest shifts in the ice cream industry, offering the following takeaways for ice cream manufacturers and processors:

1. Shifting production and design requirements: The market has split into two distinct demand streams. First, large established players like Yili and Mengniu require products with added real fruit and vegetable juice/pulp, and have high requirements for raw material quality and production cost control. Second, internet-famous brands require products that closely replicate the shape of vegetables, and prioritize mold design and appearance accuracy.

2. Business opportunities: Healthy fruit and vegetable ice cream is in a high-growth stage, and demand for mass-priced products is stable. Factories can pre-position production capacity for fruit and vegetable raw material preprocessing to meet the product iteration needs of large brands, and secure stable long-term orders.

3. Operational insights: When fulfilling orders for novelty-shaped viral products, factories should align production cycles with the short traffic cycle, and avoid long-cycle, large-volume orders that can lead to excess inventory after hype fades. Factories can develop small-batch flexible production capabilities to match the short-cycle, fast-iteration characteristics of viral products, reducing risk for both parties.

This article analyzes the stock competition landscape of China's ice cream industry and the development logic of the fruit and vegetable trend, offering the following industry insights for ice cream-related service providers:

1. Industry development trends: China's ice cream market has entered a stage of stock competition. Traditional flavors such as cream and chocolate are heavily homogenized, price bands are solidified, and the entire industry is stuck in a "volume without profit" trap. Healthification is the clearest current innovation direction; healthy fruit and vegetable ice cream is growing fast and has large room for future expansion.

2. Core pain points for brands: First, it is difficult to launch successful new products in traditional tracks, and brands struggle to differentiate their products to open up profit margins. Second, the production cycle of viral novelty products does not match their short traffic cycle, which very easily leads to excess inventory. Third, it is difficult to control costs for healthy fruit and vegetable ice cream, with most new products stuck in the crowded 5-15 yuan middle price band that lacks competitiveness at either end of the market.

3. Solutions that service providers can develop: Service providers can offer small-batch flexible production services for viral novelty products to match short traffic cycle demand. For healthy product lines, they can help brands optimize their fruit and vegetable raw material supply chains to lower production costs, enabling brands to enter the mass-market price band and improve product competitiveness.

This article outlines the characteristics of today's new ice cream products, offering the following operational guidance for offline ice cream sales channels including convenience stores and supermarkets:

1. User demand characteristics: Consumer demand for ice cream has clearly split. One group of consumers wants affordable, healthy options for daily consumption, while another group craves novel, curiosity-driven novelty products to try. Platforms can adjust their shelf product mix based on their own positioning.

2. Sourcing and product selection guidance: Prioritize stocking affordable, healthy fruit and vegetable ice creams from leading major brands. These products are priced to fit mass market expectations, deliver reliable repeat purchase rates, and contribute stable revenue. For viral novelty-shaped products, platforms can bring in a small quantity for limited-time pop-up events to attract younger customers to the store, but should not allocate long-term fixed shelf space to them.

3. Risk mitigation: Viral novelty products have very short popularity cycles, so platforms should avoid large bulk stockpiles to prevent expired product losses. Leveraging their advantage as high foot-traffic locations for young consumers, platforms can partner with internet-famous brands to host national or regional first launches, using novel products to drive in-store traffic while strictly controlling distribution volume to minimize risk.

This paper documents the latest innovation trends in China's ice cream industry, offering the following reference value for industrial research:

1. New industry developments: China's nearly 200 billion yuan ice cream market has shifted from an incremental growth market to a stock market. Traditional flavors are heavily homogenized, mainstream price bands are solidified, the entire industry is trapped in a "volume without profit" dynamic, and the sector is also facing demand diversion from new tea drinks and iced coffee. The industry is actively seeking new breakthroughs, and fruit and vegetable ice cream is the latest major innovation direction. It currently features two distinct business models: innovation centered on raw materials, and innovation centered on marketing.

2. New industry challenges: The fruit and vegetable ice cream category broadly suffers from pricing misalignment. A large number of new products are stuck in the 5-15 yuan middle price band, with neither the experiential premium of mid-to-high-end products nor the price advantage of budget options, making long-term survival difficult. Marketing-driven novelty-shaped fruit and vegetable ice creams also face a mismatch between production cycles and short traffic cycles, combined with low repeat purchase rates, so they cannot support the long-term development of the category.

3. Implications for category development: Only the model built on real raw material innovation, with supply chain optimization to lower costs and enter the mass price band, and sustained by repeat purchases, can ultimately convert fruit and vegetable ice cream from a viral internet trend into a stable mainstream category. This is the only viable path for the long-term development of the track.