■ "Moon cakes with sky-high prices" come every year, but unlike previous years, this year has ushered in a "strong supervision" with a high level of intensity and a longer front.
■ In June of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Announcement on Curbing "Sky-High" Mooncakes and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry", proposing that boxes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan be The packaged moon cakes are subject to key supervision, requiring operators to produce and sell boxed moon cakes without using precious metals, mahogany and other precious materials to reduce the excessive use of packaging materials.
■ In order to curb the "high-priced moon cakes", the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission has also taken action recently.
According to the People's Political Consultative Conference website, the relevant person in charge of the Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Team of the National Development and Reform Commission has formulated a specific supervision plan for the National Development and Reform Commission's work to curb the "high-priced" moon cakes, established a regular work scheduling mechanism, and specified a person to follow up.
■ This means that the "slimming" of moon cakes has entered the era of strong supervision.
under the new regulations
"High-priced" mooncakes are hard to find
499 yuan into a "ceiling"
In the past few years, every Mid-Autumn Festival, the "high-priced" mooncake gift box has attracted much attention.
In 2021, the Maotai coffee mooncake gift box launched by Shanghai Peninsula Hotel will be priced as high as 1688 yuan; the mooncake gift box jointly launched by Haagen-Dazs and the Louvre Museum will be priced at 1188 yuan.
These two mooncake gift boxes have aroused heated discussions in the public opinion.
But this year, "high-priced" moon cakes are hard to find, and 499 yuan has become the ceiling of the price of moon cake gift boxes.
Changes come from an announcement.
In June of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued a related announcement to curb "sky-high" mooncakes, requiring the supervision of boxed mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan.
Why 500 yuan is the price red line?
The Red Star Capital Bureau learned that the National Development and Reform Commission had conducted a cost survey on more than 30 moon cake companies, and then came to a conclusion based on data from industry organizations and e-commerce platforms.
"Judging from the market situation for many years, the average production cost of boxed mooncakes is about 70 yuan per box. The sales of boxed mooncakes with a unit price of less than 200 yuan account for more than 80%, and the unit price of more than 500 yuan accounts for about 1%. The unit price of boxed mooncakes does not exceed 500 yuan is highly accepted by the society." said the relevant person in charge of the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission.
In order to curb the "astronomical price" of mooncakes, the "Announcement" proposes that when selling boxed mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan, the operator should save the transaction information legally obtained in the transaction, such as transaction date, payment records, etc., for the relevant departments to check according to law.
Under the new regulations, the "sky-high" moon cakes on the bright side have disappeared.
The Red Star Capital Bureau searched and found that on the Jingdong platform, the categories of mooncakes sold include Cantonese-style mooncakes, ice cream mooncakes, and Hong Kong-style mooncakes.
Among them, the most expensive mooncake gift box is priced at 498 yuan.
The moon cake gift box on Douyin Mall has a maximum price of 388 yuan.
On Taobao, the categories of mooncakes are similar, but the prices are all below 499 yuan.
The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that although a nut mooncake gift box on Tmall supermarket is priced at 875 yuan, the price after the discount is still 499 yuan.
The Peninsula Hotel, which once launched 1,688 yuan of Maotai coffee mooncakes, has the highest price of the mooncake gift box sold in the official flagship store this year at 499 yuan.
Not only on e-commerce platforms, but also in major offline supermarkets, the price of mooncake gift boxes placed for sale also does not exceed 500 yuan.
On August 29, the Red Star Capital Bureau visited RT-Mart and other supermarkets, and most mooncake gift boxes were priced between 200-400 yuan.
The most expensive of RT-Mart is a mooncake gift box in Daoxiang Village, priced at 489 yuan.
A businessman named "Group Purchase of Branded Mooncakes" told the Red Star Capital Bureau that it was really impossible to find (mooncakes over 500 yuan) this year because "the state regulations cannot sell them."
There is still a "grey living space"
Under the new regulations, the "sky-high" moon cakes on the bright side have disappeared.
On the e-commerce platform, the highest-priced mooncake stuck on the "red line", priced at 499 yuan.
However, the investigation by the Red Star Capital Bureau found that the "high-priced" mooncake gift box still has a gray living space, and the transaction method is more concealed.
1. Sell packaging
Many mooncake gift box manufacturers have aimed their business at individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises, selling empty boxes individually, or launching custom mooncake gift box packaging services.
The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that the sales of companies that "make money from paper" are quite considerable.
Taking the Alibaba platform as an example, the turnover of various mooncake packaging gift boxes in the past 30 days has reached one million yuan.
Different from previous years, this year's "Mooncake Slimming Order" not only requires the implementation of key supervision on boxed mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan, but the relevant national standards issued since then also stipulate that the sales price of mooncakes with a sales price of more than 100 yuan, the proportion of packaging cost to the sales price. From 20% to 15%, and packaging materials must not use materials such as precious metals and mahogany.
Under this circumstance, many mooncake gift box manufacturers have aimed their business at individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises, selling empty boxes separately, or launching customized mooncake gift box packaging services.
The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that recently, Taobao, JD.com and other e-commerce platforms have many novel and diverse mooncake gift boxes, including mooncake gift boxes that can be used as shadow puppet light boxes, hollowed-out paper gift boxes similar to pop-up books, and some that can be folded into a moon probe. Rocket's gift box, etc., sales are considerable.
Some mooncake gift box sellers told the Red Star Capital Bureau that a variety of mooncake gift boxes in the store can be sold individually in gift box packaging.
Take one of the moon cake gift boxes called "Flying the Sky and Embracing the Moon" as an example. There are multiple layers of drawing boards with different moon patterns embedded in them, and the gears can be turned to change the combination of different patterns.
The customer service staff of the merchant said that the creative moon cake gift box of "Flying the Sky" is 188 yuan, including 8 moon cakes, but if you only buy the packaged gift box, the price is 100 yuan, and the price for bulk purchases can be as low as 80 yuan.
How much is the production cost of the "Flying Moon and Moon" moon cake box priced at 100 yuan?
The merchant did not disclose its production cost to the Red Star Capital Bureau, but Mr. Liu, the person in charge of another merchant specializing in the packaging of paper products, said that the cost of a box of paper mooncakes is about ten yuan. The packaging cost is also around 20 yuan. "The production cost is very low, mainly because the design creativity is expensive, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands."
Mr. Liu told the Red Star Capital Bureau that in the past, the moon cake gift boxes for enterprises were more inclined to business style. "There are more dark blue and bright red, and the gift box should be simple and tall." The gift boxes that individual merchants like are actually more similar to cultural and creative industries. For the works, "the appearance should be exquisite and special, and it is best to use it twice."
The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that the sales of such companies that "make money from paper" are quite considerable.
On the Alibaba platform, the turnover of various mooncake gift boxes in the past 30 days has reached one million yuan.
Search "moon cake box" on Taobao, and the monthly sales of many products are also more than 5,000.
In fact, as a seasonal food, the gross profit margin of moon cake gift boxes is quite high.
Take the moon cake giant Guangzhou Restaurant (603043.SH) as an example. In 2021, Guangzhou Restaurant's moon cake business revenue will be 1.521 billion yuan, with a cost of only 662 million yuan and a gross profit margin of 56.46%, the highest gross profit of all businesses.
And this is the data after the gross profit fell due to factors such as rising raw material prices. Previously, the gross profit margin of its mooncake business exceeded 60%.
Attracted by high profits, more and more companies have entered the moon cake field.
Data from iiMedia Research shows that Chinese mooncake companies have doubled in the past ten years. As of July this year, the number of registered mooncake companies in my country has reached 40,478.
The size of the moon cake market is also rising, from 13.18 billion yuan in 2015 to 21.81 billion yuan in 2021. It is expected that the sales of moon cakes in China will reach 24.38 billion yuan in 2022.
2. "Underground" trade
Some merchants said that they can add WeChat to buy (moon cakes of more than 500 yuan); some merchants said that Taobao can't buy more than 500 yuan, and bird's nest abalone (high-priced moon cakes) can only go offline.
In addition, some merchants have been exposed to a 499 yuan mooncake gift box, but consumers need to pay an additional 600 yuan for shipping to make up the difference.
The "sky-high" moon cakes on the bright side have disappeared, but the Red Star Capital Bureau's investigation found that the "sky-high" moon cake gift box still has a gray living space, and the transaction method is more concealed, and the phenomenon of "underground" transactions of sky-high moon cakes has appeared.
On August 30, the Red Star Capital Bureau asked several e-commerce merchants if they had more high-end moon cake gift boxes for sale. One of the merchants made it clear that they did, and sent a WeChat account, indicating that the Red Star Capital Bureau used WeChat to communicate.
Subsequently, the merchant sent a "2022 Mid-Autumn Festival Gift Box" form through WeChat, which included 15 mooncake brands, such as Nantaiyue, Hibake, Daoxiangcun, Jinhua, Meixin, Haojiao, etc., all of which are well-known brands in the market. .
Red Star Capital Bureau found that in the form provided by the merchant, most of the moon cake gift boxes are priced between 100-300 yuan, but there are also more than 500 yuan.
Among them, Hibake, Tianlunzhile, Jinhua, Haojiao, etc., some gift boxes range from 540 yuan to 888 yuan.
There are also more expensive ingredients such as abalone, black truffle, and sea cucumber in moon cake fillings.
A merchant selling high-priced mooncakes told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the price of online mooncakes this year cannot exceed 499 yuan, so there is no link, and they say that they are directly connected with the manufacturer, "absolutely authentic, and the supply is sufficient."
Another food franchise store replied to the Red Star Capital Bureau that bird's nest abalone (high-priced moon cakes) can only be taken offline.
When the Red Star Capital Bureau further inquired about how to purchase offline, the other party did not reply.
Regarding the mooncake brands listed in the above table that cost more than 500 yuan, the Red Star Capital Bureau consulted a number of official flagship stores, and the relevant staff said that they did not have the above-mentioned high-priced gift boxes.
Among them, the customer service of the flagship store of Haojiao said that there is no "Moonlight Treasure Box" gift box (699 yuan) online this year, and the table is from last year.
The customer service of Jinhuali Foods flagship store also said that the "815 Prestige Pack" (658 yuan) gift box in the form has already been removed from the shelves.
However, the Red Star Capital Bureau consulted several Taobao stores that sell good hometown and other brands. Some stores replied that there are "Moonlight Treasure Boxes" for 699 yuan, but Taobao can't sell more than 500 yuan. If you want to buy, take other links , just change the price.
In addition to "underground" transactions, there have also been cases where mooncake gift boxes "make up for the difference".
Previously, Sino-Singapore Jingwei reported that in a gift shop, a mooncake gift box (1540 grams) was priced at 499.99 yuan, but consumers were required to pay an additional 600 yuan for shipping, and the gift box was priced as high as 1099.99 yuan.
The customer service staff of the store said that if the gift box is sold at the listed price, it will lose money, and the 600 yuan shipping fee is used to make up the difference.
The Red Star Capital Bureau found that the store that currently claims "600 yuan shipping fee" can no longer be searched, or has been removed from the shelves.
Regulation strikes
Comprehensive encirclement and suppression of "high-priced moon cakes"
Promote the return of mass consumer goods such as moon cakes to the origin of traditional culture
"In recent years, the mooncake market has been generally standardized and orderly, and the prices of most mooncakes are relatively close to market demand. However, there are still some companies that use various methods to hype the prices of mooncakes, and the problem of sky-high prices still exists." Director of the Political Research Office of the National Development and Reform Commission and spokesperson Jin Xiandong pointed out at a press conference in August that before the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, market supervision and inspection will be intensified, and violations of laws and regulations will be severely investigated and publicly exposed, and high-end hotels, restaurants and e-commerce platforms will be the focus areas. .
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission once said that the main purpose of issuing the "Announcement" is to promote the return of mass consumer goods such as moon cakes to the origin of traditional culture, to advocate thrift, to oppose waste, to form a broad social consensus, and to curb the phenomenon of "astronomical prices" of traditional festival-related commodities.
Following the launch of the "Announcement" in June, the National Development and Reform Commission has carried out research, publicity and industry guidance for two months.
In early August, the State Administration for Market Regulation decided to organize a centralized rectification operation within two months.
At the end of August, the National Development and Reform Commission issued another document, saying that it has extensively collected clues on various issues, quickly urged relevant parties to make rectifications, and handed over suspected violations of laws and regulations to relevant departments for verification and investigation.
During the investigation process, some high-end hotels sold mooncake gift boxes mixed with high-end tea, tea sets, etc. There were also some online merchants who reported that they were selling mooncakes and wine together, with a price tag of 499 yuan and an additional 600 yuan for shipping. question.
The National Development and Reform Commission said that they urged rectification and removed the offending products.
On the other hand, the National Development and Reform Commission has officially handed over to the relevant departments a batch of clues about the problems involving boxed mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan.
On September 1, the National Development and Reform Commission once again issued a document to disclose the progress of the joint inspection of the mooncake market by the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Law Enforcement Inspection Bureau of the State Administration of Market Supervision, and the Price Supervision and Competition Bureau to relevant places.
According to data from the State Administration for Market Regulation, as of August 31, market supervision departments across the country dispatched law enforcement officers to inspect 150,000 operators and more than 30,000 market players such as hotels and supermarkets around price issues.
The Red Star Capital Bureau learned from the relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission that the reason for issuing the "Announcement" is that the issue of sky-high moon cakes has shown signs of rebound. These phenomena not only deviate from the origin of traditional culture, but also encourage extravagance and waste. Alienation may become a carrier of corruption.
Bai Wenxi, vice chairman of the China Enterprise Capital Alliance, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that although the situation has improved in recent years, the mooncake market has experienced excessive packaging and excessive marketing under the pressure of competition for so-called innovation and profitability. The situation is still relatively common.
Strengthening supervision at this time is to prevent the same problem from flooding again.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Qiang Yaxian Xie Yutong Wang Tian