Mooncakes aren't selling well, so why are they still being sold?

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, many retailers are on edge and are offering even deeper discounts on mooncakes. Meanwhile, many companies confirm that the market for gift mooncakes and boxed mooncakes is doing better this year.

On October 2nd, many mooncake retailers in Ho Chi Minh City increased their promotions to "buy 1 get 3 or 4" to attract customers - Photo: N.TRÍ

Many retailers said they had anticipated a slow market and reduced their imports, but didn't expect it to be this slow.

Why do they keep selling them every year when sales are getting worse and worse?

On the afternoon of October 2nd, while preparing to change the price list from "buy 1 get 3" to "buy 1 get 4" for the Dong Khanh brand mooncakes with the Golden Rice Flower logo, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Vu, representative of a mooncake stall on Pham Van Dong Street (formerly Thu Duc City), said that they still have over 400 mooncakes left and are forced to offer significant discounts to attract customers.

At a neighboring stall, with a large quantity of Dong Khanh cakes still in display cases, the seller said they were offering a "buy one, get three free" promotion, but if customers bought in bulk, they would get four, or even five free if they bought over 100 cakes. However, upon further inquiry, the prices here were higher than elsewhere, even for the same Dong Khanh cakes under the Golden Rice brand.

"Prices vary from place to place, so it's difficult to compare them; it mainly depends on each retailer's policy. But the price reduction here is genuine; they have to lower prices to clear out existing stock. The last batch of mooncakes has an expiration date in mid-November, but if we wait until after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it will be very difficult to sell and we'll likely incur losses," this person affirmed.

Explaining why mooncakes have been selling poorly in recent years despite low demand, Mr. Vu said he has reduced the amount of mooncakes imported by 20-25% compared to previous years, and by 30-35% specifically for the Dong Khanh brand.

"The demand for individual cakes among consumers is quite slow compared to previous years, and it's getting slower and slower. This was anticipated, but we didn't expect it to be this slow," Mr. Vu said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Do Bich Lien, a retailer on Quang Trung Street (formerly Go Vap District), said she still tries to sell mooncakes because the wholesale price of some types of mooncakes is only half the retail price for consumers, or sellers receive a fairly high discount, possibly 30-40%, while others receive a discount of 15-30% depending on the quantity purchased and the policy of each company.

"The high discount rate, if successful in selling, results in substantial profits, so many retailers are still confident in importing and selling them despite anticipating a decrease in purchasing power this year," Ms. Lien explained.

Retail cake sales have decreased, but are cakes still doing well as gifts?

Speaking to Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, a representative of a business said that street vendors mainly buy cakes to eat, but this year these customers are tightening their spending, buying only two instead of four, using the money for more practical products. In addition, consumers have more choices, such as buying through e-commerce channels.

For wholesale channels, low-quality and counterfeit cakes are facing difficulties this year due to strict government inspections of origin, which helps cakes from reputable companies and brands gain more market share. Mr. Phan Van Thien, Deputy General Director of Bibica Joint Stock Company, confirmed that the retail cake market is facing challenges this year. However, gift cakes and boxed cakes are still selling well this year, showing growth compared to last year.

"The company has proactively expanded its customer base to include agencies and businesses, introducing new products that suit consumer tastes, such as diet-friendly cakes, cakes for people with diabetes, and low-sugar, low-fat cakes. This year, the company sold approximately 500 tons of various products, a 10% increase compared to the same period last year, and some product lines even ran out of supply," Mr. Thien affirmed.

Meanwhile, a representative from the Southern branch of Huu Nghi Food Joint Stock Company stated that the high-end, boxed mooncake segment (primarily for gifting) accounts for approximately 40% of the company's total revenue this year and is experiencing very strong growth compared to last year. Retail sales (mainly to distributors) have increased, but at a more modest rate.

"Wholesale customers buying for gifts usually make their purchases early, while retail customers buy later. In many areas, even without deep discounts, retail customers in the last week can account for 40-50% of the entire season's sales, so the retail channel still has hope for increased sales," a representative from the branch assessed.

Many businesses believe that, in addition to reduced consumer demand, this year's decline in mooncake sales is also due to the impact of heavy rain and storms in the central and northern regions right during the peak of the Mid-Autumn Festival season.

Is it possible to lower the price of mooncakes?

A representative from one company stated that the general trend is for mooncake prices to increase every year, possibly by 4-8% depending on the brand, which also creates difficulties for consumers.

However, lowering prices is not easy because the price level of mooncakes has been established for a long time, not to mention that mooncakes intended for gifting are often given a high-end image, which inadvertently drives up the price of mooncakes in general.

"Furthermore, mooncake production is seasonal; unsold stock is essentially wasted, and manufacturers may even suffer heavy losses. They have to carefully balance packaging and raw materials because the materials used to make mooncakes cannot be used for other types of cakes. Therefore, the price of mooncakes is significantly higher than the production cost, partly due to the extremely high risk. However, if sales are good and they sell out quickly, the manufacturers will make substantial profits."

NGUYEN TRI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/banh-trung-thu-e-sao-van-ban-20251002234726789.htm