During the summer, ice cream is always a popular choice for people seeking to beat the heat. However, this year in mainland China, sales of ice cream priced at 12 yuan or above have been on the decline, indicating a shift in consumer preferences towards more affordable options.
According to a report by “The Economic Observer” on July 2, in the Chinese market this year, products priced between 1 yuan to 6 yuan have been selling the best, becoming the mainstream choice. While some trendy ice cream products like the “Russian-style crispy cone” have attracted customers through social media hype, sales of higher-priced items (above 10 yuan) have generally been poor.
A manager of a chain supermarket revealed, “Expensive ice cream may occasionally have buyers, but the repeat purchase rate is low as many customers feel it is not worth the price.”
Overall, from May to June in the years 2023 to 2025, ice cream priced between 3 to 5 yuan has been leading in sales, accounting for high percentages of 45.41%, 44.92%, and 45.97%, respectively. The sales percentage of premium ice cream priced above 12 yuan has gradually decreased from 5.99% in 2023 to 3.95% in 2025.
At the same time, starting in 2023, both the sales revenue and volume of ice cream have been declining. According to data from the retail monitoring agency Fast-Moving Consumer Goods, in traditional offline retail channels in China, taking the ice cream sales revenue and volume in May to June of 2023 as an index of 100, the sales revenue for the same period in 2024 and 2025 was 89.97 and 86.5, with sales volume indexes of 94.98 and 94.13. Sales revenue for ice cream has been shrinking offline.
The report indicates that consumers are displaying higher sensitivity to prices compared to previous years. Ice cream priced between 3 to 5 yuan continues to dominate the market, while the market share of higher-priced products above 12 yuan has been declining year after year.