In October 2019, Califia Farms, a leading plant-based food and beverage company based in Los Angeles, California, partnered with Alibaba to sell their oat and almond-based products to Chinese customers on Alibaba’s Tmall Global e-commerce platform.
Plant-based milk has grown in popularity among Chinese consumers in recent years. Statistics from Alibaba’s market-research division (the Tmall Innovation Center) show the category has seen an 800% growth year-over-year in China.
To tap into this growing market, Califia Farms leveraged Tmall Global to study consumer taste and flavor preferences and launch products tailored to Chinese consumers. Califia Farms learned more about consumers’ preferences by monitoring community reactions and insights on the platform and offered an unsweetened version of its beverages, becoming a top seller in China.
Speaking about Califia Farm’s partnership with Alibaba, Greg Steltenpohl, founder of Califia Farms, said: