Mid-Autumn Festival toy market in 2024 sees decreased purchasing power.

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, a wide variety of children's toys with diverse designs and eye-catching appearances are being sold in stores everywhere. Prices this year haven't fluctuated much compared to previous years; however, the atmosphere for shopping for Mid-Autumn Festival toys is rather gloomy, with reduced purchasing power.

For nearly a month now, toy stores throughout Ninh Binh province have been given a makeover, overflowing with colorful Mid-Autumn Festival toys. According to surveys, stores began importing new toy models in early July to meet customer demand for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

With the trend of constantly changing designs each year, traditional, handcrafted toys are gaining popularity this year. In particular, products made in Vietnam, using environmentally friendly materials, are inexpensive, and feature images reflecting national culture, such as masks, star-shaped lanterns, paper lanterns, bamboo animal figures, fabric carp and lion heads, and some wooden toys, are gradually gaining dominance.

Besides that, prices remain unchanged compared to previous years, specifically: lanterns with or without lights range from 20,000 to 40,000 VND, masks from 30,000 VND, drums from 15,000 VND…

The market is diverse and abundant in goods, but contrary to the bustling atmosphere on the first day of sales, in recent days, small traders have been worried because the demand for toys has decreased significantly.

Customers in Ninh Binh city are choosing toys for their children.

Ms. Pham Thi Hang, owner of the Mega Sun children's toy store in Tam Diep city, said: Compared to last year, the number of Mid-Autumn Festival toys sold is quite slow at this time, possibly due to the impact of natural disasters, storms and floods over the past two weeks, which has led parents to limit letting their children go out to play.

To stimulate sales of children's toys during the Mid-Autumn Festival, many stores have implemented promotional programs for bulk purchases, sold online to expand their customer base, offered gift wrapping services, and provided home delivery...

Ms. Dinh Thi Tuyen, representative of MyKingdom toy store, Ninh Binh city branch, said: "The store has more than 4,000 imported toy products from abroad, always guaranteed to have clear labels and origins, giving customers plenty of choices. To help customers access good, reputable products at competitive prices, this year, on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the store system is launching many attractive promotions when buying toys, with discounts of up to 50% on each product. Especially, with a bill of 799,000 VND or more, customers can purchase additional products at a 70% discount. The program is valid from September 1st to 30th. However, after half a month of implementation, the number of customers is still not as vibrant as in previous years."

Mid-Autumn Festival toys have a unique characteristic: they "follow trends" seasonally, with each season featuring a new design, shape, and color scheme different from the previous year. Therefore, if not sold out this year, the remaining stock will be difficult to sell the following year, not to mention the risk of damage due to the materials being difficult to preserve.

However, small business owners are still hoping for better business and a surge in sales on the 14th and 15th of the 8th lunar month, as this is considered the "golden" time for selling products for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Sharing the same difficulties as other small business owners, Ms. Hoang My Hanh, owner of a toy store on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street in Ninh Binh City, said: After the store closed due to the storm, the number of customers decreased significantly. In the past few days, the store has started to have customers again, and the items they prefer are affordable, inexpensive items priced at 40,000 VND or less.

Currently, with many provinces and cities in the Northern region focusing intensely on overcoming the consequences of Typhoon No. 3 and the resulting floods, and with localities within the province also concentrating on responding to the floods and inundation, the organization of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the province is being directed to be implemented safely and economically.

Therefore, from the consumer's perspective, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival will also see certain changes in shopping and holiday celebrations. While some people are tightening their spending due to the difficult economic situation, others tend to choose to donate gifts to underprivileged children and children affected by floods instead of buying Mid-Autumn Festival toys, contributing to a meaningful Mid-Autumn Festival filled with sharing.

Text and photos: Lan Anh

Source: https://baoninhbinh.org.vn/thi-truong-do-choi-trung-thu-2024-suc-mua-giam/d20240916111447640.htm