Selling hand-carried moon cakes, profit 300 million/month

Hand-carried mooncakes costing millions of dong are flooding the market, creating an unprecedented fever; thanks to that, traders are making a fortune this year, with some earning up to 300 million dong in just over a month.

Hand-carried moon cakes dominate

With less than half a month to go until the Mid-Autumn Festival, all kinds of domestic and foreign mooncake brands have appeared on the shelves. Especially this Mid-Autumn Festival, hand-carried mooncakes have appeared everywhere, with all kinds, from popular products priced at only a few tens of thousands to boxes of cakes costing millions.

For example, at a clean food store in Phan Xich Long (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), there are nearly ten types of moon cakes imported from Hong Kong alone, with prices ranging from 1.1 to 1.6 million VND/box, such as: Musang King durian moon cakes, moon cakes with overflowing salted egg yolk, gold-plated moon cakes, etc.

Similarly, another store specializing in selling imported fruits and candies on Hue Street (Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi) also advertises selling all kinds of imported moon cakes that are taking the market by storm.

Hong Kong mooncakes are flooding the market.

Not only that, on the social network Facebook, hand-carried moon cakes from Hong Kong, Korea or Japan are also widely available with many different brands.

Notably, according to the shop owners, unlike other types of hand-carried fruit that customers have to order 3-7 days in advance, some types even have to be ordered half a month in advance, customers only need to call to order hand-carried moon cakes, and they will receive them about 1 hour later. Because, most hand-carried moon cakes are imported in large quantities, some places even import thousands of boxes at a time.

Ms. Dao Thi Thu Vinh in To Ngoc Van (Tay Ho, Hanoi) has just received 3 boxes of moon cakes, hand-carried from Hong Kong, from the delivery staff. She shared that she has never bought hand-carried goods so quickly. She just placed the order 45 minutes ago and the cakes were delivered to her home.

According to Ms. Thu, at the beginning of the season, before the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, she had to wait 2 days to order moon cakes. Now, hand-carried moon cakes are everywhere, and advertisements for these cakes are everywhere.

“Sometimes, buying hand-carried mooncakes, especially Hong Kong mooncakes, is easier than buying handmade mooncakes from non-professional housewives,” she commented.

She said that her colleagues had to “order” handmade mooncakes half a month or even a month in advance, and the price was up to half a million VND per box. Meanwhile, hand-carried mooncakes can be ordered the same day. In particular, this type is very suitable for giving as gifts because it ensures luxury.

These types of hand-carried moon cakes are popular among people.

Traders make big profits

Entering the market, continuously creating fevers due to being favored by Vietnamese consumers. Accordingly, hand-carried mooncake traders this year have a bumper crop.

While sitting and packing a series of orders into bags for the shipper to prepare for delivery, Ms. Tran Ngoc Linh's two phones in Tam Trinh (Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi) rang continuously. After answering three phone calls at once, Ms. Linh turned to brag: "At this time, there are only customers calling to order Hong Kong mooncakes because it is the peak season."

Ms. Linh has been selling mooncakes imported from Hong Kong for 2 years now, but specializes in two types of cakes: Lava green box and Lava purple box, priced at 950,000 VND/box and 1.5 million VND/box respectively. Of which, the green box is ordered more by customers.

According to her, the moon cake market this year is really vibrant, there are many types of cakes, and the number of customers ordering is also large and much earlier than last year.

“Last year, I sold nearly 2,000 boxes during the entire Mid-Autumn Festival. This year, I imported 2,000 boxes but by the end of the 7th lunar month, they were all sold out. I imported another 1,000 boxes but now they are almost sold out.”

Ms. Linh said that she sold all the remaining cakes in the warehouse, she is worried that from now until the Mid-Autumn Festival, she will not be able to collect more goods because in Hong Kong, customers are also rushing to buy cakes.

Sharing about the money she earns after each Mid-Autumn Festival, Ms. Linh revealed that she makes a profit of about 100,000-150,000 VND per box of cake. For example, the green box of Lava cake, calculated at the wholesale price in Hong Kong plus the cost of air freight to Vietnam, is up to 800,000 VND/box. If the retail price is 950,000 VND/box, the profit is 150,000 VND, minus the shipper's fee, the remaining is 130,000 VND.

If calculated by box, the profit is not large. But this season, if she sells 3,000 boxes, she will pocket at least 300 million VND after deducting expenses.

Thanks to the fever of hand-carried mooncakes, in just over a month, Mr. Le Minh Hieu, owner of an imported food store on Nguyen Trai (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) also earned nearly a hundred million in profit.

“I only sell them with other foods, so I don’t sell many cakes. But those who specialize in selling moon cakes are making a fortune this time of year. Because each time they import at least 300 to a thousand boxes of cakes. And as soon as they are imported, they sell out because the demand for buying them to eat and giving as gifts is high this year,” said Mr. Hieu.

According to VNN