Recently, “Why are mooncakes not selling well” has become a hot topic on mainland China’s Weibo. With the Mid-Autumn Festival still approaching, mooncakes in many places are being discounted in advance to boost sales. Data shows that the sales of mooncakes in major stores have dropped by 45.17% compared to the same period last year, and gift box sales have nearly halved.
According to reports from mainland Chinese media, during the monitoring period from August 14th to September 13th, the sales volume of mooncakes in major stores decreased by 40.67% compared to the previous year.
Various shopping malls, supermarkets, and online platforms have started promotions ahead of time, with discounts on offline mooncake gift boxes ranging from 40% to 10% off. Some brand gift boxes that were originally priced at over 300 RMB have now been reduced to selling for over 200 RMB.
The mooncake market has been shrinking previously. Public data shows that in 2025, the sales of mooncakes in mainland China were approximately 28.24 billion RMB, a 5.9% year-on-year decrease; and the production was 518,000 tons, a 5.4% year-on-year decrease, marking the first decline in nearly a decade.
The decline in sales of high-priced mooncake gift boxes is more evident. Data from the research platform “Qin’s Consumer Research” under the digital service provider in the consumer goods industry in China, Qinsights, showed that the sales of gift boxes priced over 1000 RMB decreased by 76% year-on-year; the proportion of gift boxes priced over 500 RMB in conventional sales channels dropped from 7.2% in 2023 to 1.8% in 2025. Currently, gift boxes priced between 68 to 200 RMB account for over 60% of the market.
As reported by “21st Century Business Herald,” a mooncake distributor in Changsha, Ms. Luo, mentioned that this year, mooncakes priced below 100 RMB sell the best, while those priced over 200 RMB are more challenging to sell. The sales volume of gift boxes priced at 79 RMB, 99 RMB, and 139 RMB is relatively better.
Ms. Luo also stated that some mooncake brands commonly seen in previous years have disappeared, and some mooncake companies are facing the need to change their business direction or close down. She estimated that this year’s mooncake sales volume may decline by more than 20% compared to the previous year.
On online platforms, many mooncake gift boxes are now priced below 100 RMB, with some products selling for as low as twenty to thirty RMB. Live-streaming channels also offer newcomer discounts, platform vouchers, and discounts for group purchases of multiple boxes.
Mr. Dai, a seasoned e-commerce operator, told “Upstream News” that although mooncakes typically start selling more than a month in advance, the majority of transactions are concentrated in the first half of the month before the Mid-Autumn Festival. Businesses must bear the risk of inventory backlog from when they stock up. Through live sales, they also need to pay commissions to hosts, buy traffic, and provide subsidies, meaning that even selling a large quantity of products at a low price does not guarantee profitability.
Data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first eight months of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods in mainland China only increased by 1.1% year-on-year; among them, in August alone, the increase was just 0.4% year-on-year.
In the first eight months of this year, sales at specialty stores, department stores, and brand boutiques included in the statistics for above-quota retail sales decreased by 2.2%, 3%, and 10% respectively. The retail industry’s “above-quota” refers to units with annual main business income of over 5 million RMB.
A bakery owner in Zhejiang said that this year’s overall mooncake sales have declined, especially for high-priced gift boxes, with a noticeable decrease in corporate group purchases and more buyers purchasing for personal consumption.
A consumer survey conducted by iMedia Consulting in 2025 showed that 50.4% of respondents buy mooncakes for “personal daily consumption,” surpassing the 42.5% who choose to “give as gifts.”
Chinese financial commentator Jiang Han stated in his personal column that high-priced mooncakes traditionally served the function of business gifting and maintaining relationships. As consumers shift towards personal consumption, they pay more attention to price, ingredients, and actual taste, and are less willing to continue paying high prices for luxury packaging and brand premiums.