China’s mooncake sales fall over 20% due to anti-corruption policy
September 2, 2013 Leave a comment
China’s mooncake sales fall over 20% due to anti-corruption policy
Staff Reporter
2013-09-02
China’s mooncake sales this year are expected to fall at least 20% in the wake of the government’s anti-corruption policies, with some producers shutting down while others have switching to targeting foreign companies or individuals, the Shanghai-based First Financial Daily reports. “I have worked for a supermarket for more than 10 years, and every year around this period, promotions for mooncakes have been seen everywhere, but in recent days, in my supermarket there is not any such promotion at all,” said Mr. Yin, a marketing executive of an unidentified large-sized supermarket.Large retail enterprises such as Lianhua Supermarket, RT-Mart, and Carrefour have not formally launched the large-scale promotions and sales for mooncaskes so far this year, and even as they begin doing so next month, mooncake sales this year will not match previous years, the report said.
Many retail stores like Carrefour are negotiating with their suppliers to adjust the structure of their products, reducing their inventory of high-end mooncake gift boxes, while increasing the amount of bulk mooncakes.
Anti-corruption policies have significantly reduced the sales of mooncake gift boxes, but bulk mooncakes are still needed for individual consumers, Yin said.
In addition to supermarkets and shopping malls, hotels used to be one of the major channels selling mooncakes, but not this year. Kaiyuan Hotels have seen its mooncake orders from the government or state-run enterprises fall by more than 50% this year, while pharmaceutical companies have submitted almost no orders, one hotel salesperson said.
The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong Hotel has been aware of the possible changes after the government launched the campaign early this year, so that the hotel began proposing mooncake sales plan in February, switching its client list to foreign enterprises, said Mr. Wang, the hotel’s marketing executive. The hotel also began mooncake promotion and sales in April, two months before previous years, Wang said.
Wang Guojun, director of the Committee of Experts of the China Food Industry Association, estimated the mooncake sales this year will drop by at least 20%. In previous years, sales should have already reached 60% to 70% of the yearly total, but so far this year, sales reached only around 40%.
Wang also attributed the sales decline to China’s slowing economic growth this year, which has slowed private consumption.
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