Seasonal businesses, Mid-Autumn Festival gift businesses are one of the most attractive “seasonal gold mines” of the year. But after the Mid-Autumn Festival, everything seems to return to the starting point. Fanpages cool down, customers forget, brands retreat into the background. So the question is: How can a business that only sells moon cakes still survive all year round? How can customers wait until Mid-Autumn Festival to remember you instead of scrolling through thousands of other similar options? Let’s find out 5 solutions to this problem.
The Challenge of a “One-Season” Business
Small mooncake brands often operate in a “quick and dirty” manner:
- OEM or manufacture a few months before the season.
- Focus on selling from the 7th lunar month to the 15th of the 8th lunar month.
- Then… suspend all activities until next year.
It sounds reasonable because the demand for mooncakes is only high for a short time. But the price to pay is that every year you have to start from zero:
- Loss of old customers due to lack of interaction.
- Loss of brand recognition due to no longer appearing in the minds of consumers.
- Completely dependent on advertising and “cheap prices” to compete.
Solution 1: Turn your brand into an emotional symbol of gratitude
Understand that customers don’t buy mooncakes just because they are delicious, but because of the meaning of gratitude. If your brand is just a “place to sell cakes”, you are easily replaceable. But if you become a “keeper of memories”, you have your own place. So you need to create an emotional strategy: Turn customers into memory companions, not just buyers.
Solution 2: Build a loyal customer base even if you don’t sell year-round – Strategy: “Out of season, not out of mind” – Even out of season, still present in mind
You don’t need to sell cakes all year round, but you do need to maintain relationships all year round. After each Mid-Autumn Festival, send a thank you email or text message along with a quick survey about your shopping experience. Don’t forget to collect information: name, address, birthday, New Year… to make a list to send discount codes next season. You also need to maintain a VIP customer “group” or Zalo OA: update some light content every month (reminiscences, countdown to the full moon season, behind-the-scenes cake making, next year’s concept…).
Solution 3: Sell additional supporting products to extend the brand life cycle – Strategy: “Bridge product” – a product that bridges the seasons.
Don’t force yourself to become a multi-industry business, but you can develop ancillary products that match the spirit of moon cakes. These ancillary products help your brand “survive” beyond the moon cake season, without incurring too much operating costs.
Solution 4: Refresh the experience every season, keep customers looking forward to it – Strategy: “Look forward to it every year”, the brand must make people look forward to it, not just remember it
Mid-Autumn Festival is held every year, but customers only remember what is unique. Choose a new theme every year, don’t repeat the same theme for a few years, you can also collaborate with artists, illustrators to create limited edition cake boxes (collab branding), it doesn’t have to be a very famous artist, you can depend on your business’s financial situation and budget allocation to have reasonable cooperation. Sometimes new people are a new trend. One of the trends you can refer to is: adding personalization elements: corporate logo cakes, QR codes to send video greetings…
Solution 5: Invest in a timely “call back” system – Strategy: “Data-driven comeback” – return to the market with data, not luck
This is a step that many small businesses forget – but it is extremely important. You need a system that helps you:
- Store a list of customers who bought cakes last year.
- Send automatic emails/sms/messages in the 6th-7th lunar month: “Do you remember the cake box from last year?”
- Automate early promotions, gifts for old customers, limited-time discount codes.
Don’t just sell cakes, but evoke memories, emotions and presence
A business that only sells moon cakes can still thrive all year round, if it understands what it is selling. It’s not just the cake, but the emotions of the moon season, the memories of reunion, the expectations.
Let your brand not be forgotten when the moon season ends, but become a part of life, even if it’s just an article, a cup of tea, or a story that touches the heart.
