A report note based on the writing of Mooncake Consumption in 2022’s Mid-Autumn Festival by Doris Liu at JD.com

Overview

• There are more than 100 flavors of mooncakes that have been sold. More than 90% are gift box packaging.

Traditional and non-traditional flavors

• The top 5 traditional flavors are white lotus seed paste with salty duck egg yolks, lava custard, five kinds of nuts, black sesame, and red bean paste with sales up by 37, 58, 10, 9, and 4 times compared with last month respectively.
• The non-traditional flavors of soy milk, jasmine matcha, and chocolate milk increased by 10 times while the avocado lava and green plum flavors rose increased more than 5 times compared to the Mid-Autumn 2021

Consumer group by age

• The 16-35 group increased by 3.4% month-over-month (MOM)
• The 16-25 group prefers mooncakes with nuts, with over 50% selection of hazelnut
• The 36-45 group accounts for 40% of total sales of low sugar mooncakes stuffed with egg yolk with white lotus seed paste and pine nuts with lotus seed paste

Sales peak seasons

• The Chinese New Year
• The 618 Grand Promotion
• The Mid-Autumn Festival

Conclusions

• People prefers gifting mooncake on the platform
• The most preference of mooncake is traditional flavor while the highest growth is non-traditional
• People care more about their health. Young adulthood consumption grows steadily MOM, preferring nuts flavor which is rich in nutrients and supporting heart health & weight loss. While the middle-aged prefer low sugar which is good in regulating blood sugar, weight control, heart and skin heath
• The Chinese families or groups gather in festivals and enjoy mooncakes as snakes or desserts