"Making money in the baking industry is the Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival." During the Mid-Autumn Festival, moon cakes are a must-have food for every household and one of the most valued business opportunities for businesses.
According to the data of China Bakery and Sugar Products Industry Association, the output of moon cakes in Mid-Autumn Festival this year is about 300,000 tons, and the sales volume is expected to be about 20 billion yuan. The product price remains basically stable, and the market competition is further intensified.
The reporter visited and found that the Mid-Autumn moon cake market in this city, after the hot time was wrong than in previous years, the price was more affordable and close to the people, and the traditional old flavor and old brand were more favored.
▲ Citizens line up to buy moon cakes.
The peak of moon cake sales is wrong.
As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, there is a long queue in front of Xinle pastry shop in Honghuli, Hongqiao District. "It has been lined up for more than two hours." The citizens who will soon be at the door told reporters.
Compared with previous years, the queue this year is almost twice as long, and the end of the queue has extended to the small garden in the community behind the store. Some elderly people took advantage of the queue to sit on the bench in the small garden for a while. "Oh, I’m so tired that my waist is exhausted. I haven’t stood for that long. I buy it back in an hour every year. "
▲ The team buying moon cakes extended to the small garden behind the store.
In addition to the citizens of this city, there are many foreign customers in this year’s team. Xiao Gao, a 90-year-old boy from Tangshan, came here for the first time to queue up to buy moon cakes. "If the daughter-in-law lets you come, you have to come." He said with a smile, in recent years, with the early fame of Tianjin, the reputation of Honghu in Hongqiao District has also soared. "I always see online celebrity bloggers visiting stores, and I love to eat the five benevolence. At about 10:15 am, I drove from home and arrived in an hour and 20 minutes. I plan to buy 4 gift boxes first. "
Compared with previous years, this year’s moon cake sales peak came later. "We started selling moon cakes in stores on August 1, but the real popularity should be a week ago." Han Yali, the store manager, told the reporter, "Maybe the people now think that the later they buy the mooncakes, the shorter they will stay at home."
The same is true in large supermarkets, which began to enter the peak season of moon cake sales last week. "This year, everyone generally bought it late. In previous years, it was sold very well after more than ten days." He Li, the customer service manager of RT Mart Supermarket, analyzed, "Now there are many sales channels, not only for overbought, online and offline, but also for some baking shops, with scattered customers."
According to the Mid-Autumn Moon Cake Industry Trend Report 2024 issued by China Bakery and Sugar Products Industry Association, the traditional channel is still the mainstream in this year’s moon cake sales, but the e-commerce platform and live delivery continue to receive key attention. The sales of moon cakes on several platforms show that some special moon cake varieties have been welcomed by consumers. For example, nearly 100,000 pieces of Jin Jiu Wuren Golden Leg Mooncakes packed in 1 kg have been put together on the platform, and the sales volume of 2 kg is close to 30,000 pieces. "This shows that online sales channels have played a positive role in the promotion and sales of mooncakes".
In addition, some innovative and cross-border moon cakes have also achieved good sales on the online platform. For example, the sales of online celebrity moon cakes such as Black Myth doubled. In the process of online sales, live delivery and short video have become important marketing means. Tianjin local brand Xianghe Bobo Shop is promoted through live webcasts and short videos, expanding the market to a wider area; Xinle moon cake also tried to "touch the net" for the first time this year, and the group purchase coupons and vouchers launched were quickly sold out.
In order to cope with the peak passenger flow, all stores have increased their staff, including workers from the production plant, who have arranged to help in the stores. "There must be more than 15 people in this class, all at the front desk", and Xinle pastry shop is busy. At the same time, in order to improve efficiency, merchants will issue paper-based mooncake purchase orders for customers waiting in line to fill in in advance and hand them directly to salespeople after entering the store. "There are also two electronic settlement machines, and both WeChat and Alipay can be scanned," the staff told reporters.
Liu Lingling, manager of Xiangdezhai pastry direct store, said, "At present, the store sells 100 to 200 pieces of bulk moon cakes and more than 100 boxes of moon cake gift boxes on average every day. In August, it will enter the peak season of sales, and in September, there will be more gift boxes. Customers will take the gift box with them while eating, and some customers have chosen to make a reservation and come back to get it. "
The price is falling, how is the quality?
In large supermarkets, when many consumers push shopping carts to buy moon cakes, they obviously feel that the prices are more affordable than in previous years: "There are quite a lot of kinds, the prices are reasonable, and there are promotions before the holidays."
The reporter saw that the three squirrel brand gift boxes have 10 mooncakes per box, and the lowest price has reached a box in 39 yuan. Almost all Taoxiang Village and Wufangzhai are in a box of 100-200 yuan. Combined with the promotion activities launched by supermarkets, the prices range from tens to more than 100 yuan. Dangbo, a salesperson of Taoli mooncake, told Tianjin Radio reporter that there are more kinds of mooncake gift boxes pushed by supermarkets this year, and the price is lower: "Our most expensive one is 299 buy one get one free, and the cheapest one is 99 buy one get one free, which is 50 yuan per box, which is cheaper than some bulk ones."
"The mooncake gift box with simple packaging and mid-range price is currently the best seller." He Li, the customer service manager of RT Mart Supermarket, said that the hundreds of brand moon cakes launched by supermarkets this year, except for high-end moon cakes such as Maxim’s, hardly exceeded a box in 200 yuan.
And bulk moon cakes have also lowered their prices this year. "There is more than one piece of ice crust, five pieces of Soviet-style moon cakes with 16 pieces of 9 pieces, and nine pieces of mini moon cakes with 8 pieces in a box …" The prices of some bulk months are lower than those of ordinary cakes on weekdays. "This is also the taste and consumption consciousness that manufacturers adapt to people now."
There are also some time-honored brands of moon cakes in this city. In Xiangdezhai pastry shop located in Huanghe Road, Nankai District, bulk mooncakes and mooncake gift boxes occupy half of the counter space. Most mooncakes are 100g in size, and the price is 8-10 yuan per piece. At the same time, the quality of stuffing has increased.
Chen Xianbiao, director of operation of Xiangdezhai Food Co., Ltd.: "For example, in previous years, Wuren moon cakes were all 12 yuan, but this year they were reduced to 10 yuan, and some high-end nut fillings such as cashews and pine nuts were added, which improved the quality of our raw materials."
Founded in 1846, Xiangdezhai brand is one of the oldest Chinese brands in Tianjin. This year, the company not only built a modern production workshop in Xiqing District, but also opened a number of direct stores in Tianjin, Langfang and Dalian. Combined with the process of "frozen semi-finished products", the production cycle of cakes can be dispersed, and the freshness and taste are maintained, while the production efficiency of products is improved. "The trend of concentrated production capacity in the Mid-Autumn Festival has moved to the five months from May to September, which makes our costs more rational, prices lower and competitiveness stronger." Chen Xianyu said.
Compared with previous years, the specifications and prices of Xinle moon cakes purchased on the spot have hardly changed. However, the store not only launched preferential group purchase coupons this year. "The feeding changes every year, and the raw materials added to it are more refined. For example, in this material, I used to put 5 kg of peach kernels, and now I may put 8 kg of this raw material."
In 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and other four departments jointly issued the "Announcement on Curbing" High-priced Mooncakes and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry "to promote the return of mooncakes to the attributes of mass consumer goods. In April this year, the revised version of the "General Rules for the Quality of Moon Cakes" was officially implemented. The new regulations made it clear that wild protected animal ingredients such as shark’s fin should not be used in moon cake fillings, and rare and precious ingredients such as bird’s nest should not be used.
Wearing a "magic spell", the price of moon cakes returns to rationality. According to the information recently released by China Bakery and Sugar Products Industry Association, the mainstream mooncake gift boxes are concentrated between 70 yuan and 220 yuan this year, which is flat or slightly lower than that in 2023. The "sky-high" mooncake gift boxes above 500 yuan have basically withdrawn from the conventional market.
Some folklore experts said, "The implementation of the national standard" Restricting over-packaging of commodities requires food and cosmetics "clearly limits the over-packaging of moon cakes, and stipulates that moon cakes should not be packaged and" bundled "with red wine, tea and other ingredients. Under the combined effect of these measures, the rational return of moon cake prices will not only benefit the lives of citizens, but also promote the healthy development of the market, reduce waste and promote the return of traditional culture!"
Reporter | Liu Keqi
Edit | Chen Tong
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Original title: "Mid-Autumn Festival" What moon cakes are waiting in line in Tianjin this year? 》
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