Mooncake Market 2014: The trend of… homemade cakes is booming

The closer we get to August, the more exciting the mooncake market becomes, with a series of famous cake brands competing to find customers. This year in particular, this market segment is even more exciting because the trend of “buying homemade cakes” has suddenly increased, especially among young people on social networks.

Homemade moon cakes are of more interest to consumers this year, especially young people who are used to shopping online.

“Call me now to order attractive and elegant moon cakes that suit your loved ones' taste and are completely handmade by my sister and I, so there are no preservatives and they are absolutely safe.”

“In addition to serving the pleasure of deliciousness, I also satisfy the eyes with improved packaging design. It will be very polite and meaningful if everyone chooses to give a box of Melela Jelly Mooncake (Mother Le La) to friends, relatives, and colleagues.”

These days, on social networks and classifieds sites, one can read a lot of “online advertisements” like the above, appearing with the unique “talents” of many young people who want to “try their hand at the Mid-Autumn market”.

Homemade cakes are booming

Photographer Nguyen Hai Dong (HCMC) acknowledged that this is a "quite surprising" change for many consumers, as the trend of "eating homemade cakes" has exploded in the trend of choosing to buy moon cakes this year. "Many of my friends, including artists, have spontaneously announced that they are making moon cakes to sell and have naturally been ordered by many fans and relatives," said Dong.

It seems that, compared to previous years, the amount of information about young people, especially office workers, artists, etc. making moon cakes to give to friends as well as receiving orders for friends to buy as gifts, has "skyrocketed" compared to the 2013 Mid-Autumn Festival.

Many young people who are advertising to make moon cakes, when asked, all admit that at first they just wanted to "try their hand" at some traditional moon cake models, simply "making cakes out of free time".

But after investing well in baking and customer marketing, they received many orders, some people were ordered to make several hundred moon cakes within a week.

A "homemade mooncake shop owner" posts photos advertising his products on social media.

Three deciding factors

It can be seen that the choice of the "buying homemade cakes" trend is naturally noticed by at least 3 factors.

Firstly, the feeling of buying and ordering boxes of cakes made by close friends is really enjoyable for many people. “What could be better than bringing a box of delicious cakes home to invite your parents to eat and show them that this is a cake made by your friend. That way, your parents will enjoy it more because they can rest assured that it does not contain harmful chemicals like many types of cakes sold on the market,” a young person confided.

Second, of course, the culinary flavors of “homemade” cakes are more diverse and impressive to users. Many young people are very flexible in “self-creating” many types of mooncake fillings with “unique” designs and models, and affirming that “only fresh cakes are made” and that the shelf life is within 1 week, to attract friends to order. Compared to mooncake brands that “have a shelf life of several months”, buyers of “homemade” cakes are therefore more satisfied.

Third, in the context of economic difficulties, “homemade” cakes are cheaper, and direct distribution through word of mouth really helps consumers have more choices. They can buy cakes to “support their friends”, even to “test their friends’ skills”; at the same time, they save more money than buying “branded goods”.

"Homemade" moon cakes are considered safe, flexible in design and... cheaper than branded moon cakes.

A young person with the nickname Meo Meo, owner of the “jelly mooncake brand” (HCMC) said that the selling price of a box of her cakes is only 165,000 VND/box of 4 cakes. Another young person selling traditional mixed-filling baked mooncakes also announced that the selling price is 330,000 VND/box of 4 cakes. Obviously, these prices are attractive because they are quite cheap compared to the market.

A Kinh Do mooncake dealer in District 5 (HCMC) said that the price of this brand of mooncake with a self-serve box ranges from 348 - 441 thousand VND, with many high-end types sold from 499 - 650 thousand VND/box, always much more expensive than "homemade" mooncakes.

Furthermore, many consumers are wary of branded cakes because over the years, they have encountered boxes of moon cakes that “smell like burnt oil” and are inedible. There are many reasons for this situation, but of course the final result can only be that… consumers are more wary of branded cakes.

Fierce competition?

From that reality, it is easy to understand why many consumers have switched to ordering and buying “homemade” mooncakes. According to them, the only risk that can occur when buying “made in…myself” mooncakes is that the cakes are… too bad. But in that case, most consumers will console themselves by saying “just consider it as supporting a friend”.

Of course, the moon cake companies themselves have also recognized the risk of competition from such “nameless bakeries”. Some moon cake dealers said that this year’s full moon season, the sales policies set by the companies have also had many better options, from sales discount policies, returns, to conditions to support sellers in finding more customers.

This year's moon cake market has become more multi-dimensional and competitive.

At the same time, many famous bakeries also began to increase their competitiveness by making efforts to improve quality.

With such quality-oriented expressions, the moon cake market this year has become more competitive in the eyes of consumers. In particular, the trend of consumers “making and selling cakes at home” is really a trend that forces professional cake manufacturers to reconsider themselves!

According to BizLIVE.vn