Feb 17, 2026
Image by Freepik
PwC’s recently released Voice of the Consumer 2025 – China Report makes clear that China’s consumer story is no longer one of simple expansion or contraction. Instead, it is one of reallocation. While discretionary categories face pressure, spending on health, illness prevention, and personal wellbeing remains resilient — and in many cases, structurally protected — despite broader macroeconomic uncertainty.
At the centre of this shift is a rapidly growing consumer segment characterised by a preventative mindset. This group invests early to avoid future health costs, prioritising supplements, functional nutrition, and lifestyle interventions over reactive treatment. PwC’s data shows this cohort actively avoids ultra-processed foods, exhibits high concern about additives and preservatives, and seeks “clean label” products that are minimally processed and naturally derived. Crucially, this behaviour is not aspirational; it is habitual and disciplined.
Health, in this context, has become the new luxury. Status is no longer signalled primarily through conspicuous consumption but through informed choices: what one eats, how it is sourced, and whether it aligns with long-term wellbeing. PwC notes that Chinese consumers place higher importance than global peers on nutritional value, specific dietary benefits, and food that supports preventative health outcomes. Supplement usage is rising, alongside a broader shift toward nutrient-dense, functional formats.
This mindset is inseparable from sustainability. PwC’s findings are unambiguous: 63 percent of Chinese consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable food, materially higher than the global average. Sustainability is no longer a “nice-to-have” or a brand add-on; it is increasingly viewed as integral to product quality and personal health. The report highlights a deeply held belief among this cohort that personal health and planetary health are two sides of the same coin. Consumers actively seek and verify sustainable packaging, third-party certifications, and transparent environmental claims.
Against this backdrop, our deer velvet is unusually well positioned. Deer velvet naturally aligns with a preventative health paradigm. It is nutrient-dense, traditionally respected, and increasingly supported by modern science. It is not an ultra-processed ingredient, nor does it rely on artificial enhancement to justify its value. In a market where consumers are rejecting complexity and “chemical” formulations, velvet’s natural origin is a strategic advantage.
Our production system strengthens this further, including grass-fed farming, strong animal welfare standards, and robust traceability systems, which speak directly to PwC’s finding that trust, transparency, and provenance are becoming prerequisites rather than differentiators. QR code-enabled traceability, certification, and science-backed claims are now expected by wellness-focused consumers, not merely appreciated. Our velvet can meet these expectations not just at a brand level, but equally as important if not more so, at a systems level.
PwC also cautions that success for international products in China now requires sophistication, not distance. While “Guochao 2.0” (a desire to celebrate traditional Chinese heritage and identity in this new era) reflects growing confidence in domestic brands, the report is clear that Chinese consumers remain open to imported ingredients that offer superior quality, safety, and heritage — particularly when they are embedded within trusted domestic brands rather than positioned in isolation.
This creates a clear pathway for New Zealand velvet — namely partnering with leading Chinese health brands that celebrate Chinese culture, wellness traditions, and modern science, such as Beijing Tong Ren Tang, Dong Er E Jiao, and similar players. Under this model, New Zealand velvet provides the premium, credible, and sustainable foundation, while Chinese partners provide cultural fluency, consumer trust, and relevance.
Taken together, PwC’s insights point to a compelling conclusion. The growth opportunity for deer velvet in China is not simply volume-led, price-led, or trend-led. It is values-led. Velvet is optimised for the demand shaping the next decade of Chinese consumption: preventative health, clean nutrition, sustainability, and trust.
DINZ continues to work strategically to reinforce transparency, invest in science, deepen sustainability credentials, and align with partners in China who can translate provenance into culturally meaningful value. In doing so, New Zealand deer velvet is not chasing consumer change; instead, it is already ahead of the curve and awaiting its moment in the sun.
