Nghe An: Mooncake market is quiet during the epidemic season

Moon cakes are being sold widely on online sales groups. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Just over a week to goMid-Autumn Festival,However, this year, due to the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, mobile cake stalls in Vinh City as well as districts and towns that are implementing social distancing must close according to regulations. Unable to sell through traditional channels, bakeries have promoted online sales, home delivery through channels such as the company's fanpage, Facebook, Zalo and through e-commerce platforms, online shopping sites with a variety of products and prices.

Browse fair sites, online business groups, and productsmoon cakesis being advertised quite loudly. However, the number of customers ordering is modest.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, a distributor of moon cakes for a traditional confectionery company in Vinh city, said: “I received the goods from the beginning of the 7th lunar month and displayed them in grocery stores, but at that time no one was interested. Now that the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, grocery stores are closed, so I switched to selling online, posting cakes for sale on groups and fairs, but only received a few hundred retail orders. Sales have decreased by 70% compared to previous years, even though the price has been reduced by 10-15%.”

Consumption is very slow, currently many distributors have large inventories of moon cakes. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Many private enterprisesMoon cake production in Vinhare in a similar situation. Stores are closed and only have online sales channels, so sales are very limited. Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, owner of a moon cake production facility on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street (Vinh City), said: "To prepare for this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, my facility has imported more than 30 million VND worth of raw materials. However, due to the complicated developments of the epidemic, the number of customers ordering has decreased by more than 50% compared to expectations. Currently, in addition to promoting advertising and offering promotional programs, I have come up with a plan to spread the cakes on weekdays, the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, not focusing on the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Instead of focusing on the Mid-Autumn Festival, many production facilities sell every day and on the first and fifteenth day of the month. Photo: Thanh Phuc

If in previous years, this was the time when individual moon cake makers were busy making cakes to serve "huge" orders, this year, many households had to "turn off the stove", stop making cakes and stop selling. With experience making and selling "handmade" moon cakes for ten years, there were peak years when she made up to 3,000 cakes to serve customers, but this Mid-Autumn Festival, Ms. Hoang Viet Ha (Le Loi, Vinh) decided to stop selling. According to Ms. Ha, this year, the epidemic was complicated, the price of input materials increased while there were not many ready orders, so she did not dare to take the risk.

Ms. Hanh Tam said that this year, she only makes cakes for regular customers who have pre-ordered in limited quantities. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Although she did not "turn off the stove" completely, Ms. Hanh Tam (Ben Thuy, Vinh) said: "This year, I only make according to orders from regular customers, making a small amount extra to sell to other customers. In addition to the % discount for orders of 4 cakes or more, I also support shipping costs for customers who order online, and support boxes for customers who order cakes as gifts."

According to analysis, this year, the continuous epidemic has had a significant impact on each family's income. Therefore, everyone tightens spending, does not invest in non-essential items, so moon cakes are not a priority item to buy. On the other hand, buying and selling is mainly online while shipping fees are quite high, so buyers are not very interested.

Due to the pandemic and the economic impact, families are tightening their spending, and moon cakes are not an essential item that is prioritized for purchase. Photo: Thanh Phuc

For most businesses and individuals making moon cakes, the main customers are businesses, agencies, and units that order them as gifts for employees and partners. However, this year, most units have also cut back on this expense due to the pandemic prevention and control work, thus losing the main and large-buying customers.

In addition, the Mid-Autumn Festival activities were not organized, so large orders from this activity were canceled. Therefore, in addition to the handmade kitchens and production workshops,handmade moon cakesMany small retailers have closed down, and many large businesses have also announced that they will stop producing this type of cake. Some brands, although not stopping completely, said they will only produce a limited amount./.