Customers buy moon cakes at a store in HCM City. Moon cake producers are launching many products a month before the mid-autumn festival. — Photo Courtesy of KIDO Group

HCM CITY — Moon cake producers are launching many new products ahead of the mid-autumn festival next month.

The market this year is forecast to be a special year as last year's festival was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic so sellers could not set up booths to sell moon cakes as usual.

Food producer KIDO Group this year plans to sell over 300 tonnes of moon cakes under KIDO’s Bakery brand.

The company said that KIDO’s Bakery moon cakes will hit the market from the beginning of this month. The cakes will be sold in both online and offline channels. Online, the cakes will be available on Lazada, Tiki, and Shoppe, and offline at nearly 600,000 KIDO stores and the Chuk Chuk tea and coffee beverage chain in HCM City and Hà Nội.

To date, the company has received orders from many companies and organisations who buy the cakes as presents for their staff and partners.

Mondelez Kinh Đô Vietnam announced that to ensure its moon cakes reach consumers easily, safely, and conveniently, this year, the company expanded to nearly 1,000 points of sale, bringing the total number of moon cake distribution points to 13,500 stores nationwide.

Now consumers can buy their favourite moon cakes from any Kinh Đô store, supermarket, convenience store, or buy from major online shopping channels such as Lazada, Tiki, Shopee, and food delivery app Grab.

"After a hiatus in 2021, consumers look forward to celebrate the mid-autumn festival this year with lot of enthusiasm! Mondelez Kinh Đô is known for its exquisite range of moon cakes and is a symbol of festivity and togetherness for millions of Vietnamese across the globe," said Sameer Yadav, marketing director of Mondelez Kinh Đô Vietnam.

"Today, more than ever before, consumers are conscious of quality and are very selective in making choices when it comes to gifting. We understand our consumers and will bring back the magic of Tết Trung Thu [mid-autumn festival] to them with innovative products, best in class packaging and consumer engagement programmes," Yadav said.

Starbucks Vietnam is also ready for the mid-autumn by launching the “Mid-Autumn Festival” collection which is now is available at Starbucks stores and at the online Starbucks Flagship store at LazMall and Shopee.

The products will be four cakes of green tea, roseberry, coffee with egg yolk and Monthong Durian with egg yolk, at a cost of VNĐ680,000 (US$28). Meanwhile, the box of two cakes will have green tea and coffee with egg yolk at VNĐ380,000 ($16).

For the mid-autumn this year, companies are focusing on products that are healthy for customers.

Trần Lệ Nguyên, deputy chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of KIDO Group said: “In the past five years, the moon cake market has lacked breakthroughs. In addition, in the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the mooncake market to almost freeze due to social distancing.”

KIDO said that in recent years, along with the development of society, consumer demand is also increasing day by day. Consumers are more interested in the taste of cakes that are not only rich in traditional flavors but also have to be updated with modern trends such as fresh, low-sweet, tasty and healthy.

Besides taste, moon cakes are also used by companies, businesses, households and individuals as gifts for partners, customers, relatives and friends. Therefore, the sophistication and modern spirit in packaging design is also emphasised.

It is easy to see many booths have been set up to sell moon cakes in HCM City with diversified brands.  VNS