How "rolled" are mooncakes in 2021?
Unexpectedly, even the mooncakes were rolled up inside!
Museum joint names, cultural and creative gift boxes, blind boxes... On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, moon cakes have become popular again, and major moon cake brands have tried their best to "contend for beauty". This year, the moon cake industry has a wave of cultural and creative joint names.
But they did not expect that this year's biggest competitor would be the "spiritual cake" printed with the hospital's exclusive logo.
"A box of spiritual cakes will last a whole day after eating." This is a "secret" used by netizens in the "circle" to tease themselves.
Two days ago, the moon cake gift box they had sold for 78 yuan-"Mooncake at No. 600 Wanping South Road" was fired online for 1288 yuan.
Every year I squeeze my head and sell every year, because moon cakes are really profitable.
The annual report of a listed company shows that its gross profit margin is as high as nearly 60%.
Therefore, the analysis believes that even if the cost of raw materials is rising this year, moon cakes are still a good business.
The high-margin moon cake industry has attracted competition from major companies and formed different factions.
"The fierce competition for moon cakes is far beyond imagination." Some companies said in an interview with reporters.
Desperately play the moon cake world
Mooncake merchants can be said to have exhausted their tactics, and all kinds of mooncakes are competing with each other.
As a seasonal fast-moving consumer product, every second in the market is "race against time". Mooncakes of all kinds have been on the hot search. In the mooncake industry, consumers will never know the next popular one. What are moon cakes?
Shape taste flower
"Ice cream", "feeding bottle", various shapes, "snail noodles", and "crayfish" taste different
The Tianyan Check App shows that there are more than 10,000 patent applications related to "moon cakes" in my country, and there are currently more than 1,800 patents in active state, most of which are appearance patents. Mooncakes in the shape of milk bottles are one of them.
The patent introduction shows that the "baby bottle moon cake" is shaped like a baby bottle.
In addition, the wonderful moon cake patents include "river crab moon cakes" and "ice cream moon cakes".
As an appearance patent, the shapes of these mooncakes are crab shape and ice cream shape respectively.
In addition, there are hollow ring-shaped moon cakes, separable multi-layer moon cakes, etc. There are many kinds of patterns, too numerous to mention.
In addition to these peculiar-shaped moon cakes, there are also many moon cakes with a variety of materials.
Snail powder flavor, crayfish flavor, mustard salmon flavor, hairy crab flavor, fresh meat flavor, milk tea flavor... all kinds of wonderful moon cakes.
A Hu spicy soup moon cake, according to an e-commerce platform, 6 pieces of beef and spicy soup flavored moon cakes cost about 109 yuan to purchase, and 8 ordinary Hu spicy soup flavored gift boxes cost about 230 yuan.
I like spicy soup and moon cakes.
Putting Hu spicy soup and moon cakes together, this wonderful collision and combination is the right Henan flavor.
Product introduction shows that its ingredients include beef, fungus, shiitake mushrooms, peanuts, gluten, etc.
According to the merchant, the merchant behind this mooncake was originally an authentic Hu spicy soup restaurant in Henan, and the taste is absolutely authentic.
Despite this, the reporter found that this moon cake has no sales yet.
This year, the most "destructive" mooncake with snail noodles was born. The filling is made of sour bamboo shoots, snail meat, tribute vegetables, and rice noodles.
Judging from the product introduction, the surface of the mooncakes with snail noodles is black and shiny, very much like an asphalt road under high temperature.
According to the merchant, this is because the cuttlefish juice is added to the skin.
How does it taste?
According to the evaluation of the customers who have eaten it, “the skin is thin, the filling is very unique, and the taste is a little bit spicy.” It is not at all the horrible taste of “Chang'e and Wu Gang don’t want to go down after eating it” speculated by some netizens who have not practiced it.
In addition, online sales also include hairy crabs, fried pearls with vinegar and fresh meat. You can feel the vinegar pearls popping on the tip of your tongue when you bite it; the shrimp meat with Q bombs is combined with fresh meat. Spicy crayfish mooncakes made with fillings; sushi salmon mooncakes with salmon, fish roe, seaweed and wasabi seasoning...All kinds of fillings, only you can't think of, no business can't do it.
Cross-border fun
The hospital museum has started a joint name for moon cake merchants, and there are many ways to play blind boxes
"Overnight, it seems that all Shanghai is looking for mooncakes at No. 600 Wanping South Road." No. 600 Wanping South Road refers to the Shanghai Mental Health Center. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival, this moon cake from the hospital became a "net celebrity model."
The Shanghai Mental Health Center, also commonly known as the Shanghai Mental Hospital, has its own topics and enthusiasm, making this mooncake full of "self-deprecating attributes."
This mooncake is printed with the words "Shanghai Mental Health Center" and "SMHC 1935", and it has a variety of flavors such as milk cheese, green apple, coffee and chocolate.
According to media reports, the moon cakes launched by the Shanghai Mental Health Center are not for sale. The price of 78 yuan is only available to internal employees, and they must be purchased in the cafeteria with meal cards, but this does not prevent them from getting out of the circle.
On September 11, according to the "Look at the News" video, this moon cake of the Shanghai Mental Health Center was sold at a price of 599 yuan and 699 yuan on a second-hand platform. Some netizens even broke the news that they saw the price of 1288 yuan. 16.5 times the original price.
In addition, you may have seen the dividends brought by the “national tide” wind in the first half of the year to brands such as shoes, clothing and cosmetics. One of the categories for sale.
In terms of packaging creativity and cultural connotation, major museums undoubtedly have considerable advantages-for example, the Palace Museum, which is far ahead in the field of cultural creativity, has launched the "My Heart" brocade box series and "Forbidden City Architecture" in one breath. The series and the Forbidden City Craft Inheritance series are gorgeous and magnificent.
The National Museum, Shaanxi History Museum, Shanghai Museum, Jinsha Site Museum, etc. are not far behind, and have launched their own special cultural and creative moon cakes, competing for beauty.
This year's moon cake merchants also introduced more new ways to play.
Such as moon cake × silk scarf, moon cake × wine, moon cake × kite cross-border combination...
Realizing the "strong alliance" through IP cooperation has also become a very popular way to play this year. Sichuan brand Aida is one of them.
On September 16, the person in charge of the Aida brand introduced to reporters that this year the company and Changhong have made a joint name with the aim of giving customers some freshness and jointly promoting the spread of Sichuan culture and customs.
While continuing to launch Dunhuang co-branded mooncakes, Liangpin Shop has added the popular blind box gameplay.
According to reports, the special blind box launched by the company contains mobile phone lanyards, wooden seals, note pads, sachets and other objects. These small objects are also the same peripheral products of the Dunhuang Research Institute's cultural and creative products.
Under fancy marketing, moon cake prices of some manufacturers have also gone up.
The reporter saw in the Haagen-Dazs flagship store on Tmall that the price of a gift-boxed moon cake jointly customized by Haagen-Dazs and the Louvre was as high as 998 yuan, even if the coupon was used, the price was as high as 798 yuan.
And this is not the highest price of the mooncakes jointly named by Haagen-Dazs and the Louvre.
Cater to new needs
Merchants fancy Zhongda Health Track's low-sugar mooncakes, triggering a consumer boom
From "Five-Ken Mooncakes" to this year's "Low Sugar Mooncakes", the tastes and marketing methods of mooncakes are constantly being updated.
In this regard, Daoxiangcun said in an interview with reporters that the scale of the mooncake market has been expanding and the trend of brand concentration has become increasingly obvious.
In addition to price, consumers pay more attention to the taste and quality of moon cakes.
Especially affected by the epidemic, consumers' demand for “healthy mooncakes” has increased.
Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes that the development trajectory of moon cakes follows the trajectory of the entire Chinese economy.
Some merchants took a fancy to this year's hot big health track and launched mooncakes featuring plant-based meat and low-sugar, especially low-sugar mooncakes. Although they were not launched for the first time this year, they triggered a consumer boom under this year's health trend.
Daoxiang Village told reporters that this year’s mooncakes, based on years of reducing oil and sugar, have launched sugar alcohol mooncakes and low-sugar mooncakes, which are liked by consumers with a “healthy and low-sugar” lifestyle.
In addition, the Cantonese-style mooncake brand Maxim's also launched a low-sugar series of mooncakes this year.
When the reporter visited a Hema Xiansheng store in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the store staff told the reporter that the best selling in the store is the low-sugar mooncakes launched by Maxim's.
The employee said that young people prefer to buy low-sugar moon cakes for health reasons.
An employee of another Wumart supermarket also said that the buyers of low-sugar mooncakes are mainly young people, and some young people buy it for health reasons as a gift to their elders, while older consumers are not inclined to buy the price because of price considerations. More expensive low-sugar mooncakes.
However, in early September, some netizens appeared on hot searches for diarrhea after eating the mooncake gift box given by Zhihu. Consumers were worried about whether low-sugar mooncakes were really healthy.
On September 8, Zhihu stated in an apology letter that the factory products were tested by the manufacturer and independent third-party agencies and met the relevant quality standards of the food industry, but ignoring that the maltitol used to replace sucrose may cause some people to intolerate it. , Causing physical discomfort, has been contacted to recall all moon cakes.
Plant meat mooncakes have not been accepted by most consumers from the beginning.
On August 3, Shanghai’s time-honored brand Shen Dacheng announced on Weibo that it will launch a plant-based mooncake that uses soy protein and wheat protein to simulate the texture and taste of meat. “Compared with ordinary mooncakes, the protein content is higher and saturated. The fatty acid content is lower and the calorie is lower..." The Weibo caused controversy among consumers immediately after it was issued. At present, the relevant Weibo on Shen Dacheng's official Weibo has been deleted.
Reflecting the "anxiety" and "involution" of mooncake companies
According to data from iiMedia Consulting, China's moon cake sales have increased from 13.18 billion yuan in 2015 to 20.52 billion yuan in 2020, showing an upward trend.
With the normalization of epidemic prevention and control and the people's greater emphasis on traditional festivals, the demand for visiting relatives and friends will continue to recover. It is estimated that China's mooncake sales will reach 21.8 billion yuan in 2021.
The 21.8 billion yuan mooncake industry can accommodate many factions and various companies.
Enterprise / high gross profit margin
Some companies rely on selling moon cakes
Prop up the revenue "half of the country"
For moon cake manufacturers, some netizens commented like this: "Two months of hard work, a whole year of lying down."
The moon cake sales window is short, only two months before the Mid-Autumn Festival, but many companies can support half of their revenue every year by selling moon cakes alone.
In the A-share market, relatively few companies have a high proportion of mooncake production in their revenue, including Guangzhou Restaurant (603043.SH), Yuanzu Shares (603886.SH), Taoli Bread (603866.SH), and *ST Maiqu ( 002719.SZ) and so on.
According to the financial report, from 2017 to 2019, the revenue of Guangzhou Restaurant from selling moon cakes alone was 898 million yuan, 1.038 billion yuan, and 1.192 billion yuan.
In 2020, Guangzhou Restaurant will have a revenue of 1.378 billion yuan from selling moon cakes, accounting for 41.9% of total revenue, and a gross profit margin of 58.37%.
It can be seen that just selling moon cakes in the first two months of the Mid-Autumn Festival can bring 40% of the income to Guangzhou restaurants.
Another moon cake giant-Yuanzu shares, in 2017, the revenue of moon cake gift boxes was 618 million yuan, accounting for 35.64% of the company's total revenue, and the gross profit margin reached 67.83%.
The revenue of moon cake gift boxes in 2018 and 2019 was 695 million yuan and 829 million yuan, respectively.
By 2020, Yuanzu has sold more than 40 million boxes of Chinese and Western pastry gift boxes, including moon cakes and zongzi, with revenue of 1.388 billion yuan, gross profit margin of 55.96%, and revenue accounting for approximately 56%.
In 2020, *ST Maiqu’s "festival food" revenue was 70.482 million yuan, with a gross profit margin of 53.16% and revenue accounting for 8.05%.
Taoli Bread's moon cake sales revenue was 118 million yuan last year, an increase of 11.19% year-on-year, and the gross profit margin was 34.43%.
According to a CCTV financial report, Dong Kezhi, director of the overseas business department of Suzhou Daoxiangcun Group, said that the company exported more than 20 containers and more than 5 million moon cakes in 2021, which is a 70% increase in moon cake exports this year compared to 2020.
intense market competition
Concentrated market share, with seasonal attributes
Competition is particularly fierce in a short period of time
At present, the small moon cake has a market value of tens of billions, and the market size is still increasing.
According to iiMedia Consulting's data, from 2015 to 2020, the sales of moon cakes in China are on the rise, from 13.18 billion yuan to 20.52 billion yuan. It is estimated that China's moon cake sales will reach 21.81 billion yuan in 2021.
According to the "Mooncake Data Consumption Report 2020", the domestic Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake sales volume has been continuously increasing.
In 2015, the output of moon cakes was 328,000 tons, with sales of 13.18 billion yuan. In 2019, the output of moon cakes was about 364,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.4%; sales were about 19.67 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.9%.
In 2019, the sales of mooncakes in my country reached 1.38 billion, which means that every Chinese can share one.
At the same time, market share is increasingly concentrated in the head market, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises have been eliminated.
According to data from Tianyan Check, in 2020, the number of mooncake companies registered was 2,522, down 11.5% year-on-year; currently, there are 23,000 mooncake-related companies in operation and surviving in my country, which is a decrease from the end of 2020.
From January to August 2021, the number of new mooncake companies registered was 783, a year-on-year decrease of 51.3%.
On the other hand, because of the seasonal nature of moon cakes, there is no longer a market once the Mid-Autumn Festival is over, and the competition in a short period of time is particularly fierce.
The wonderful flavors of mooncakes emerge in endlessly, and it is also showing the "anxiety" and "involution" of mooncake companies.
The current mooncake players are mainly divided into three camps: established catering companies, baking/pastry companies, and cross-border companies.
In recent years, there have been more and more cross-border players, such as Hey Tea selling milk tea, Nayuki's tea, and good product shops selling nut snacks, all wanting to get a piece of the pie.
Compared with the previous two, cross-border companies have their own traffic, which has a certain degree of brand effect and topicality, and is easier to become a "net celebrity". However, the "Mooncake Data Consumption Report 2020" pointed out that cross-border companies generally use The foundry model often does not have advantages in terms of technology and formula.
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News Reporter Yu Yaoqiang, Asia Milling, Peng Xiangping, Dai Jiajia, Intern Guo Wenyi, Comprehensive Daily Economic News