Lantern Festival Durian filling, calcium milk flavor, strange tangyuan into a hit

Today's Lantern Festival, are tangyuan ready?

Liu Dabo, who lives near Baoshan Bridge in Hangzhou's Xiacheng District, bought 5 packs of Youkang's hemp-core tangyuan at the nearby Century Lianhua Riverside Plaza store two days ago. "Preferential price, 1 yuan a pack, very cost-effective." Uncle Liu said, "Lantern Festival, how can you get less tangyuan?" Yesterday evening, the reporter saw in the Century Lianhua Riverside Plaza store that the freezer where the tangyuan was stored had been placed in the aisle where the traffic of the supermarket was more concentrated, and most of the brands of tangyuan were heavily promoted on the last day before the Lantern Festival.

Do you know what's new this year? What do young people like to eat? Judging from the data of major platforms, this year's tangyuan is highlighted by strange flavors such as durian, salted egg yolk, and calcium milk, while the old brands have become new Internet celebrities because of innovation.

Sold 360,000 bags in 5 days

The flower fairy Tangyuan can be called the face value of the bearer

Data from Hema Fresh shows that tangyuan is a seasonal category, but the sales period is relatively long, and the sales boom period starts from the winter solstice of the lunar calendar last year and continues to the fifteenth day of the first month. There are three more peaks in this whole phase: the winter solstice, December 22; the big Chinese New Year's Eve, the small Chinese New Year's Eve; and before the Lantern Festival.

That is to say, since many years ago, Tangyuan has been a resident guest in the refrigerator of each family.

Tmall data shows that Tangyuan increased by 117% year-on-year in February. Interestingly, among consumers, women account for 80% and men account for 20%; and from the perspective of consumer cities, the top 5 regions of Tmall's tangyuan sales are: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Beijing.

The reporter learned from China Resources Wanjia Supermarket that this year's Lantern Festival activities were launched on February 15, and as of now, the sales of Tangyuan have reached nearly 6 million yuan. "Hangzhou people still prefer Maxin Tangyuan, and the sales of Maxin Tangyuan during this year's Lantern Festival increased by about 5% compared with the same period last year." The relevant person in charge of Century Lianhua said.

Judging from the consumption data, good looks can also be productivity. For example, in this year's tangyuan, the flower fairy tangyuan (three flavors: rose flavor, jasmine flavor, osmanthus flavor) has become the face value and become the dark horse of sales. The buyer show of the official flagship store of Miss Food was exposed 30 million times in the Xiaohongshu, and through the content promotion of the Tmall flagship store, 5 days before the Lantern Festival, 360,000 bags of flower fairy tangyuan were sold out in thousands of supermarkets offline in the Tmall flagship store.

Tastes continue to innovate

Durian, salted egg yolks, and calcium milk flavor into a blockbuster

Like the flower fairy tangyuan, the innovative flavor of tangyuan is still an indispensable part of this year's Lantern Festival. "Two days ago, I bought two packs of durian-flavored tangyuan from ducks and dogs at CR Vanguard with the mentality of trying it out, and I didn't expect it to be delicious." Xiao Zheng, a post-95 girl in Hangzhou, told reporters that she usually loves to eat durian, and all kinds of durian flavors should be tried, "I plan to buy two more packs before the end of the event today, and also get a 50% discount." ”

Many long-established brands in the south have launched new and peculiar flavors of tangyuan on Tmall. Among them, Suzhou Daoxiang Village and Ningbo Tank Duck Dog have launched durian flavored tangyuan.

This year is the first sales attempt of Suzhou Daoxiangcun Group for rhubarb rice dumplings, Daoxiangcun Group's "Daoxiang Private House" has sold hot after Tmall launched rhubarb rice dumplings, with durian flavor, black sesame flavor, calcium milk flavor 3 flavors to choose from, and more than 20,000 bags have been sold in tmall's official channel alone.

The long-established southern brand that has gone to the whole country through Tmall has also launched salty tangyuan to meet the tastes of northern consumers. For example, Shanghai's time-honored Shen Dacheng launched fresh meat stuffing with cabbage; Longfeng and Wan Chai Pier also launched fresh meat dumplings; Guangzhou restaurants also wrapped salted egg yolks into tangyuan, creating original Cantonese quicksand phoenix flavor tangyuan.

The old brand meets the new retail

Ningbo with fire "tank duck dog"

In fact, as a traditional food, tangyuan is now being packaged and expanded sales channels. In Ningbo, the "tank duck dog" can be described as famous. Founded in 1926, this snack bar is making a bowl of Ningbo tangyuan into a century-old brand. Over the years, diners can buy quick-frozen tangyuan in the tank duck dog store, but they have never seen it in the supermarket.

This year's Lantern Festival, "tank duck dog" tangyuan can be found fresh in hema. The simple but textured packaging makes the old brand of the tank duck dog stand out.

"In 2016, there were not many Hema stores, but the consumer customer base was more in line with our product positioning, Shanghai consumers were also familiar with Ningbo snacks, and Hema had developed rapidly in recent years, the earliest stationed in Hema we only had three SKUs (inventory units), all of which were tangyuan, and now there are more than ten SKUs, and also developed steamed buns, buns, sugar osmanthus and other products." Cheng Dejun, deputy general manager of sales of Tank Duck Dog Co., Ltd., said.

As of December 31, 2018, Hema has opened 109 stores in 19 cities across the country, and the tangyuan of the tank duck dog has also been sold to the vast market from Dalian in the north to Dalian and south to Hainan with the expansion of the box horse in the country, which has also opened up the popularity and sales channels for the tank duck dog in the foreign market, and many supermarkets have taken the initiative to find the tank duck dog to ask for goods.

With the help of new retail big data, long-established enterprises and veteran craftsmen have also grabbed a trend shuttle, allowing many young consumer groups to rediscover the charm of traditional catering. The tank of duck and dog tangyuan plugged in the wings of new retail is flying higher. Reporter Zhu Yinling Ma Yan