Table of Contents
Executive Summary
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- Market Context
- Innovation Trends
- What Consumers Want and Why
- Self-gratification is strong among females under-30s
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- Figure 1: Gifting recipient for different festivals, December 2020
- Channel strategy is a game of volume and efficiency
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- Figure 2: Purchasing channel, December 2020
- Different price points for different gifting targets
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- Figure 3: Price budget for the Spring Festival, December 2020
- Flavour customisation with a personal blessing
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- Figure 4: Interest in customization, December 2020
- Sugar reduction and eco-friendly packaging will help brands respond to health-conscious consumers
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- Figure 5: Interest in traditional festive foods innovation, December 2020
- What We Think
Issues and Insights
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- Leverage technology to make festive foods more fun and novel
- The facts
- The implications
- Regional culture and e-commerce bring more opportunities for regional brands to thrive
- The facts
- The implications
- Use environmentally-friendly packaging to convey healthiness
- The facts
- The implications
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- Figure 6: Nestlé Kit Kat Santa's Workshop Advent Calendar, UK, 2020
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- Figure 7: Oatly Ikaffe’s carbon report on packaging, Denmark, 2019
Market Factors
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- Food spending holds strong throughout a challenging 2020
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- Figure 8: Financial confidence in the next three months, 2019-2020
- Figure 9: Changes in spending compared to last month, % of spending more, 2020
- Revival of traditional culture enriches the meanings of festive food
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- Figure 10: Interested cultural elements incorporated, November 2020
- More opportunities for regional specialities as e-commerce expands further
- COVID-19 makes family bonding more important
- More mindful of healthy eating even when shopping for festive food
Competitive Strategies
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- Finding ways to stand out: a year of co-branding
- Heritage brands meet e-sports
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- Figure 11: DAO XIANG CUN X Honor of Kings (王者荣耀) Gift Box, China, 2020
- Play up “retro” with full experiences
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- Figure 12: Yuan Qi Sen Lin X Xiang He Bo Bo Pu gift box for Mid-Autumn Festival, China, 2020
- International brands joining the game
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- Figure 13: NESCAFE X GUANGZHOU RESTAURANT gift box for Mid-Autumn Festive, China, 2020
- Regional brands join forces with regional museums
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- Figure 14: Qian Sheng Yuan X Suzhou Museum mooncake gift box, China, 2020
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- Figure 15: Shanxi Thirteen X Shanxi History museum, China, 2020
- Deep dive into traditional culture to enrich holiday vibe
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- Figure 16: Rabbit in the Moon gift box from Yu Xiao Guo, China, 2020
- Figure 17: Mooncake gift box from Ma Xiao Jiu, China, 2020
Who’s Innovating?
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- Use self-heating technology to bring convenience and elevate taste experience
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- Figure 18: Self-heating broth zongzi from Zhenzhen Laolao, China, 2020
- Vinegar bubble beads and hairy crabs
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- Figure 19: Toasted hairy crabs mooncake with vinegar bubble beads from Hema, China, 2020
- Bring novelty to tradition with new product shapes
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- Figure 20: Nayuku X Hema Treasure Zongzi, China, 2020
- Ambrosial shows how festive food can be consumed in new ways
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- Figure 21: Mooncake-flavoured ambient yogurt from Ambrosial Yili, China, 2020
- Interactive fun packaging
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- Figure 22: Sound and light mooncake gift box from Simple Style, China, 2020
- Figure 23: Mooncake gift box from Liuhexin and MSHC, China, 2020
- Festive foods gift box for pets and their owners
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- Figure 24: “Pet owner & Pet Mooncakes” (人宠月饼) from Navarch (耐威克) and DaddySweety (爸爸糖), China, September 2020
The Consumer – Gift Giving Incidence by Festival
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- Traditional festivals still dominate
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- Figure 25: Festivals on which consumers buy foods as gifts for others, 2014, 2017 and 2020
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- Figure 26: Gifting recipient for different festivals, December 2020
- The Spring Festival is the Holy Grail for buying festive foods
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- Figure 27: Gaps in gifting incidence, buying for oneself vs buying for others, December 2020
- Self-gratification is significant in females under 30s on Western festivals
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- Figure 28: Incidence of gift giving – bought for oneself on Western festivals, December 2020
Purchasing Channel
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- Leaders are obvious but emerging channels are also diversifying volume
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- Figure 29: Purchasing channel, December 2020
- Lower tier cities rely more on comprehensive shopping websites
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- Figure 30: Typical purchasing channel, by city tier, December 2020
- New channels have higher conversion rates among consumers who need novelty recommendations from social media
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- Figure 31: Purchasing channel, by preference for getting recommendations from social media, December 2020
Gifting Budget for Spring Festival
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- RMB400-800 covers average spend for multiple occasions
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- Figure 32: Price budget for the Spring Festival, December 2020
- Price budgets for self-indulgence and business partner show no difference on city tiers
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- Figure 33: Price budget for typical recipients for the Spring Festival, by city tiers, December 2020
Interest in Customisation
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- Flavour and texture customisation garner strongest interest
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- Figure 34: Interest in customization, December 2020
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- Figure 35: Interest in customization - TURF Analysis, December 2020
- Customization service will benefit hotels and restaurants
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- Figure 36: Interest in customization, by purchasing channel, December 2020
Interest in Traditional Festive Food Innovations
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- Sugar gets attention as consumers want healthier offerings
- Co-branding without product novelty does not stand out, even among younger generations
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- Figure 37: Interest in traditional festive foods innovation, December 2020
- Fun for females under-30s, premium ingredients for males in their 40s
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- Figure 38: Typical interests in traditional festive foods innovation, by age and gender, December 2020
- Health-conscious consumers show higher interest in eco-friendly packaging
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- Figure 39: Interest in traditional festive foods innovation, by typical attitudes, December 2020
Attitudes towards Festive Foods
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- Environmentally-friendly packaging can equally convey premiumness
- More health-conscious shopping, even for festive foods
- Classic or novel? Each has its fans
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- Figure 40: Attitudes towards festive foods, December 2020
Meet the Mintropolitans
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- Western festivals are about pleasing myself
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- Figure 41: Buying for oneself on festivals, by consumer classification, December 2020
- Mintropolitans expect more innovations that are high-end and fun
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- Figure 42: Difference of innovation interests for traditional festival foods, by consumer classification, December 2020
Appendix – Methodology and Abbreviations
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- Methodology
- TURF Analysis Methodology
- Abbreviations
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