What you need to know

Even though consumers nowadays are facing multiple choices of foods for self-consumption during festivals, traditional festive foods are still the mainstream option in the gifting market. Consumer spending trends reveal foods with a health halo are appreciated more and spending on chocolate confectionery, traditional festive foods, liquor and tobacco remains consistent overall but with a relatively higher cut-off. Bakery houses have become the most popular foodservice channel for purchasing festive foods, while tea shops and ice cream/dessert shops are especially appealing to younger consumers.

Old-established festive food brands are exploiting the revival of Chinese heritage (国潮) and experiencing resurgence in the market. Cross-category cooperation continues to energize the category and live streaming marketing creates new growth for foods consumed during festivals. Besides targeting traditional festivals, brands could consider further tapping into Western festivals such as Halloween, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Covered in this report

Festive foods mean foods and drinks purchased or consumed (for self-consumption as well as for gifting) during both traditional and Western festivals.

Besides traditional festive foods such as mooncakes, zongzi, other foods like fresh fruits, tea leaves, chocolate confectionery, health supplements, and baked goods are also included in this Report.

Festivals that lack real meaning or cultural background, such as shopping festivals invented by e-commerce channels are not included in the scope.

Mintel divides consumers into three groups based on their monthly household income (MHI), by city tier:

Sample size Tier one cities Tier two and three cities
Low MHI 1,027 RMB6,000-9,999 RMB5,000-8,999
Mid MHI 1,112 RMB10,000-17,999 RMB9,000-15,999
High MHI 1,161 RMB18,000 or above RMB16,000 or above
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