The price is infinitely close to 500 yuan, 499 yuan, the shipping fee for moon cakes is 199 yuan, more than 500 yuan, and the name is changed.
There is still a hidden "high price" phenomenon in the moon cake sales market
□ Sun Tianjiao, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
The moon cakes in the shape of rabbits and crabs are lifelike, and the exquisite moon cake advertisements are shining under the glass window... Recently, a reporter from "The Rule of Law" visited several offline supermarkets in Beijing and found that as the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, the festive atmosphere is getting better and better. With the strong growth, major stores have launched mooncake gift boxes one after another, and many consumers came straight to the mooncake gift box and returned with a full reward.
This year, the National Development and Reform Commission and other relevant departments have successively issued relevant documents to regulate the controversies surrounding the "excessive packaging" and "high price" of mooncake gift boxes, including the key supervision of mooncakes with a price of more than 500 yuan, the prohibition of tie-in sales, and the prohibition of excessive sales. Packed goods for correction, etc.
The reporter's investigation found that in the current offline mooncake sales market, "astronomical" mooncakes with a price of more than 500 yuan have basically disappeared. However, on some online shopping platforms, not only there are still a large number of "astronomical" mooncakes, but there are also a lot of mixed sales of mooncakes. .
Not only that, after the official delineation of the key supervision line of 500 yuan, some merchants avoided supervision by means of infinitely approaching 500 yuan price tag, "astronomical" freight, and replacing moon cakes with cake names.
Experts interviewed by reporters said that although many of the above-mentioned chaos are not clearly regulated, they are actually a kind of "edge ball" behavior, which also needs to be strengthened.
In order to better regulate the chaos in the moon cake sales market, the relevant departments should form a normalized supervision situation, let merchants and consumers improve their awareness of luxury, and consciously resist issues such as excessive packaging and illegal tying of moon cakes.
Selling high-priced mooncakes online
Tying situation still exists
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the relevant departments launched a set of "combination punches" for the moon cake sales market.
In June this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and other four departments jointly issued the "Announcement on Curbing "Sky-High" Mooncakes and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"), proposing to implement key supervision on boxed mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan.
At the same time, it is clearly required that operators selling boxed mooncakes shall not tie-in or mix other commodities in any form.
The content of the "Announcement" shows that due to different fillings and packaging materials, although there are certain differences in the production cost of boxed mooncakes, the overall production cost will not be very high. The average production cost is about 70 yuan per box.
In recent years, some companies have bundled or mixed sales of shark fin, bird's nest, ginseng, Cordyceps sinensis, tea, liquor, foreign wine, jewelry, silk scarves and other high-priced commodities and even luxury goods in boxed mooncakes. It is sold under the name of "moon cakes" and has become the main source of "high-priced" moon cakes.
This phenomenon not only deviates from the origin of traditional culture, but also makes moon cakes easy to alienate and become a carrier of corruption, which has a negative impact on social atmosphere.
On August 15, Amendment No. 1 of the National Standard "Restriction of Excessive Packaging Requirements for Food and Cosmetics" (GB 23350-2021) was officially implemented.
The emphasis of the standard includes reducing the number of packaging layers, reducing the number of packaging layers for moon cakes and rice dumplings from a maximum of 4 layers to a maximum of 3 layers; compressing the packaging gaps; reducing packaging costs. For rice dumplings, the ratio of packaging cost to sales price has been reduced from 20% to 15%.
Rao Wei, deputy director of the Consumer Rights Special Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association and senior partner of Beijing Tianchi Juntai Law Firm, told reporters that the relevant ministries and commissions do not prohibit all moon cakes with a price of more than 500 yuan, but implement key supervision. , including requiring operators to properly keep transaction information for 2 years in case of legal inspection by relevant departments, and conducting cost investigations on operators if necessary.
Under the regulations, the reporter recently visited and investigated offline and found that the price of moon cake gift boxes on sale is relatively stable, mostly in the range of 100 to 300 yuan.
However, after searching on major online shopping platforms in descending order of price, the reporter found that there are still many mooncake gift boxes that exceed the price threshold of 500 yuan.
Not only that, because the public relations of major brands have successively launched branded Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, some luxury brands' Mid-Autumn Festival PR gift boxes have also become a member of the "high-priced" mooncake market.
On a second-hand trading platform, a seller posted a mooncake gift box of a certain brand, calling it a VVIP limited-edition mooncake, which can only be obtained by top customers whose annual consumption reaches one million.
In the product photos posted by him, there are two gift boxes printed with product patterns, a palace fan, a wooden barrel and a drawer box, and there are 3 moon cakes in the drawer.
The price of this product is 1999 yuan, and the seller said that "it's not moon cakes but identity" and "the price of these two boxes is more than this price".
Mooncake tie-in sales also exist.
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a brand launched a Harry Potter co-branded Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncake Gift Box.
In this series, buying a gift box can not only get moon cakes packed with elements of the wizarding world of Harry Potter, but also peripheral gifts such as wand pens and monster books in the movie. The official price is 289 yuan to 589 yuan.
Under the product reviews of its flagship store, many consumers said that they "just bought it for Harry Potter peripherals", and this series of products are currently out of stock, and they need to wait until the Mid-Autumn Festival before they can be shipped.
Rao Wei said that in the sales process of moon cakes, for the convenience of eating, matching with corresponding items, such as reusable tableware, knives, forks, etc., is a normal business behavior.
However, tying some items that are not directly related to moon cakes, such as shark fin, bird's nest, ginseng, Cordyceps sinensis, tea and other items, if the consumer is not clearly informed at the time of sale, it is suspected of infringing the consumer's right to know and should be subject to consumer rights and interests Regulation of the protection law; even if the contents of the box are clearly notified, it should not be promoted because it is contrary to laws and regulations such as protecting wild animals and promoting the traditional Chinese virtue of frugality, as well as public order and good customs.
According to Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, in recent years, the mooncake market has indeed been regulated a lot compared to the past, especially the problems of excessive packaging and luxury prices have been significantly improved.
However, in reality, there are still some moon cake merchants who disrupt the market order and damage the legitimate rights and interests of consumers by changing their faces, blurring prices, and disguised tie-in sales.
More than 500 yuan to change name
Merchants play word games
There are fewer mooncakes over 500 yuan. However, the reporter's recent investigation and retrieval found that a large number of mooncakes priced at 498 yuan, 499 yuan or even 499.99 yuan appeared on major online shopping platforms, and the shipping fee for mooncakes priced at 499 yuan was displayed as 199 yuan.
Ren Chao, a professor at the School of Economics and Law at East China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview that on the one hand, the 500 yuan threshold for "sky-high" mooncakes is an absolute numerical standard, which can reduce the uncertainty of law enforcement by market supervision departments. Improve the efficiency of law enforcement, and also provide moon cake manufacturers with certain standards and appropriate adjustments to the production and sales model of moon cakes.
Merchants only let the price of moon cakes be slightly lower than 500 yuan, which is suspected of coping with supervision and evading supervision.
If this kind of "edge ball" pricing method can easily evade regulatory penalties, it will attract many producers and operators to follow suit.
Ren Chao believes that the 500 yuan threshold for "sky-high" moon cakes should not be the only trigger for investigating and punishing "sky-high" moon cakes.
If mooncakes are priced at 499 yuan or 498 yuan and are deliberately evaded by mooncake sellers, this fact reflects that the absolute numerical standard is too rigid, cannot effectively fit the reality, and is easy to be circumvented.
Therefore, the standard still needs to be further refined to improve practical utility.
It is worth noting that, in addition to playing "edge balls" in terms of prices and sales models, some merchants also played "word games" on product names in order to catch the Mid-Autumn Festival.
As the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, a chocolate brand has launched a limited-edition gift box for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The products in the outer box of the gift box are very similar to the moon cake gift box and moon cake.
On its official website, there are a total of 6 chocolate gift boxes in the Mid-Autumn Festival limited gift box interface, priced between 279 yuan and 469 yuan.
However, in another Mid-Autumn Festival gift certificate exchange column, in addition to the above 6 gift boxes, there are also 2 products marked as "limited edition luxury gold", which are 16-pack and 36-pack gift boxes, priced at 969 yuan and 969 yuan respectively. 1699 yuan.
In the introduction interface of these two products, the content of the copy is chocolate cakes.
A brand has recently launched a co-branded Mid-Autumn Festival gift box from the Louvre Museum, and marked it as a "moon cake ice cream" series on the product packaging.
Judging from its official information, there are 7 gift boxes in this series, 4 of which are more than 500 yuan, and the most expensive gift box is priced at 999 yuan.
At the counter of the brand's shopping mall, the reporter asked the clerk about one of the bright full moon series gift boxes priced at 758 yuan.
When introducing, the clerk used "ice cream mooncakes" to explain it many times, and clearly stated that it was "ice cream filled mooncakes".
In the flagship store of the brand on an online shopping platform, the reporter searched the Louvre series of Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes and found that the names of several products with a price of less than 500 yuan clearly mentioned "ice cream mooncakes", while those with a price of more than 500 yuan Several items did not display the word "mooncake" in the name.
Chen Yinjiang believes that the use of pastries, cakes, ice cream and other forms to "replace" moon cakes is also a typical "edge ball" behavior. Such products are often similar to moon cakes in terms of raw materials and appearance. They are very similar to moon cakes, at least they are similar products, so even if they are not called moon cakes, they can still be regulated in accordance with relevant regulations.
In fact, although the government has repeatedly issued documents prohibiting the sale of "high-priced" mooncakes, many consumers still flock to high-end gift box mooncakes.
Ms. Wang, a citizen of Langfang, Hebei Province, has purchased nearly 10 gift boxes of mooncakes from a five-star hotel through online purchases this year, with each box costing nearly 500 yuan.
According to her introduction, there are 8 moon cakes in this moon cake gift box, which are bought to give to relatives and friends during the festival.
She originally planned to buy it at an offline hotel, but was told by the clerk that this mooncake had been sold out, and the online price was more than 100 yuan more expensive than offline.
"Our family has been buying this mooncake for the past few years. It tastes good, and the gift box packaging is also very festive." In Ms. Wang's opinion, she is willing to pay a high price to buy mooncakes, just for the packaging, because "giving people a face".
According to the keywords provided by Ms. Wang, the reporter found that the brand has a special flagship store after searching for products on an online shopping platform. In the evaluation, many consumers said that they are "beautifully packaged" and "suitable for gift giving".
In Ren Chao's view, although "high-priced" moon cakes have been criticized many times, they are still banned.
A big reason is that while mooncakes are being marketed, the elements of "gifting" are artificially added.
Moon cakes deviate from the meaning of cultural traditions. The "sky-high" moon cakes cater to the gift-giving needs of some consumers, making the price falsely inflated.
In other words, the threshold of 500 yuan does not solve the problem of "high-priced" moon cakes once and for all, but should promote the positive value of moon cakes to the society, convey cultural symbols such as reunion, and eliminate negative signals such as "gifting" and "showing off". Suppress the phenomenon of "sky-high" moon cakes.
Governance action is on the way
Punishment needs to be strengthened
"Restricting Excessive Packaging of Commodities and Requires Food and Cosmetics", "Announcement on Curbing "Sky-High" Moon Cakes and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry", "Notice of the State Administration for Market Regulation on Remediating Issues such as Excessive Packaging of Commodities, "Sky-Price" Moon Cakes and Crab Cards and Crab Vouchers", After the promulgation of a number of relevant documents, the relevant departments have carried out governance on related issues such as "high-priced" moon cakes and moon cake bundling.
Recently, the State Administration of Market Supervision released information showing that as of August 31, market supervision departments across the country dispatched nearly 200,000 law enforcement officers, inspected more than 170,000 business operators, and inspected more than 33,000 market entities such as hotels and supermarkets around price issues. , and at the same time corrected a batch of behaviors that produced and sold over-packaged commodities in accordance with the law.
The State Administration for Market Regulation announced a number of typical cases of centralized rectification of over-packaged goods and "high-priced" moon cakes.
Among them, Sichuan Renshou Jiangling Food Co., Ltd. rented the premises of Renshou County Hope Department Store Co., Ltd. to sell boxed mooncakes with the specification name "Chuyue".
The nominal manufacturer is "Chengdu Xindu District Guanshengyuan Food Co., Ltd.", the net content is 815g, the sales price is 60 yuan per box, a total of 30 boxes, and the value of the goods is 1800 yuan.
After on-site sampling and inspection by Meishan Metrology Institute, the porosity of moon cake packaging of this specification is 79%, which does not meet the requirements of the national standard "Restriction of Excessive Packaging Requirements for Food and Cosmetics" on the porosity of moon cake packaging.
The Market Supervision Bureau of Renshou County, Meishan City, Sichuan Province ordered it to make corrections immediately in accordance with the "Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste".
Judging from the publicized cases, the relevant regulatory authorities in various places have mainly dealt with merchants with over-packaged goods and "high-priced" moon cakes by correcting, ordering corrections, and removing goods from shelves, and have not imposed penalties such as fines.
In the opinion of relevant experts, there are still problems such as weak supervision and insufficient punishment for the chaotic sales of moon cakes such as "high-priced" moon cakes.
In Ren Chao's view, moon cakes should take into account market demand while returning to the true nature of traditional culture.
In this regard, the management of the Mid-Autumn moon cake sales market should not be too strict, but it should not be too loose.
The market supervision department shall conduct policy publicity to all moon cake production and sales channels, inform and guide all merchants about the reasonable and appropriate production and sales of moon cakes from the source, and avoid "astronomical prices" of moon cakes.
At the same time, merchants are required to clearly mark the price of moon cakes to avoid "moon cake assassins".
He also mentioned that market supervision departments should strengthen market inspections.
The personnel of the market supervision and management department shall regularly monitor the price of moon cakes sold on the online platform, and conduct random price tests for offline moon cake sellers.
The suspected tying of moon cake gift boxes should be investigated and dealt with. If the sky-high moon cakes that do not meet the regulatory requirements are found, the merchants should be urged to remove them from the shelves in time.
Regarding the 499 yuan moon cakes suspected of evading supervision, market supervision and management personnel should consider other factors such as shipping costs, packaging, etc., and comprehensively judge whether the 499 yuan moon cakes violate supervision.
Chen Yinjiang believes that the regulatory authorities must constantly strengthen supervision, not just to seize the nodes of the Mid-Autumn Festival to carry out strict management, but to form a normalized supervision.
The key to banning the phenomenon of "high-priced" moon cakes is to make moon cake operators fully realize the importance of returning moon cakes to ordinary food attributes, establish a legal and compliant business philosophy, effectively change business ideas, and focus more on product transformation and packaging. To reduce the burden, win the market development with high-quality products and high-quality services.
In addition, consumers should also strengthen their awareness of rational consumption and environmental protection, and consciously resist issues such as excessive packaging and illegal tying of moon cakes. If a merchant is found to have violated relevant laws and regulations, they should not only refuse to buy, but also report to relevant departments to prevent Merchants have a fluke mentality.