Vibrant, transparent retail is emphasized
On the main roads of Ho Chi Minh City, moon cake stalls have been set up, most of them belonging to familiar brands such as Kinh Do, Bibica, Huu Nghi, Nhu Lan, Dong Khanh... The common selling price of moon cakes with 1-2 eggs ranges from 60,000 - 200,000 VND/piece, differentiated by traditional or high-end product lines.
In parallel with traditional sales channels, businesses promote online distribution on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee Mall, TikTok Shop, combined with KOL/KOC and livestream. This strategy helps brands reach young customers and businesses, while optimizing costs compared to maintaining large retail counters.
Moon cake stalls have appeared on the streets of Saigon.
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However, the excitement also comes with risks. Many products of unknown origin and counterfeit goods appear everywhere, potentially posing a risk to food safety. To protect consumers, Ho Chi Minh City has launched the “Green Tick of Responsibility” program to identify safe products and encourage businesses to be transparent about quality. This not only helps increase trust but also aims to build a healthier market in the long term.
Traditional cakes: Familiar brand maintains market share
Traditional moon cakes still occupy the majority of the market, meeting the needs of popular consumption and family gifts, playing an important role in the culture and tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Besides beautiful designs, many people prioritize choosing cakes with guaranteed quality from famous brands.
Kinh Do continues to maintain its leading position with a diverse collection, from convenient mini boxes to the high-end Trang Vang line. Nhu Lan - a long-standing brand in Saigon still maintains its appeal thanks to its traditional flavors and reasonable prices. Bibica and Huu Nghi focus on expanding their distribution systems, offering many familiar cake designs and flavors such as green beans, mixed, and lotus seeds. Dong Khanh, which is associated with the name of gourmets, maintains its brand with classic mixed cakes.
Thanks to reasonable prices and familiar flavors, the rustic product group continues to be the top choice of the majority of consumers, creating stable purchasing power in the context of tightening family spending.
Long-standing mooncake brands in Saigon are likely to maintain their position during this year's moon festival.
High-end cake line with unique theme design - Season of 5-star hotel
In addition to the popular product line, high-end mooncakes from 5-star hotels this year attracted attention with their unique designs and creative flavors. These luxury boxes mainly target corporate and high-class customers, reflecting the trend of personalization and a clear change in consumer tastes during the festive season.
This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival also witnessed an unprecedented early start from major brands, especially the hotel mooncake group. As early as June, many 5-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City such as JW Marriott Hotel Saigon, Renaissance Riverside Saigon, Mai House Saigon and Mia Saigon launched their mooncake collections to the market, nearly three months earlier than the full moon of the eighth lunar month.
The early product launch is not only to anticipate the high-end gift season, but also a strategy to promote and position the brand in the context of increasingly fierce competition. The meticulous investment in packaging design also shows how hotels see Mid-Autumn Festival as an important "playground" to affirm their position in the high-end segment.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival saw an unprecedented early start from major hotel brands in Ho Chi Minh City.
The price of hotel mooncakes in 2025 ranges from 1 million to more than 3 million VND/box, depending on the number of cakes and accompanying gifts such as tea, wine or design accessories. Packaging is a highlight when many brands invest heavily in highly aesthetic box designs, many collections have an artistic, fashion or Eastern cultural influence. Some hotels also introduce velvet handbags, stylized cylindrical boxes, or "transformable" designs that can be reused after the festive season.
This year, JW Marriott Saigon’s “Nguyet Loc Vien” mooncake collection is inspired by the image of families gathering in a traditional garden space, enjoying tea, eating mooncakes and watching the moon. The product includes two special box versions: “Mam Trang” with a fresh green tone representing new vitality and “Nguyet Hoa” with a gentle pink color, symbolizing prosperity under the moonlight.
The highlight of the collection is the “Boi Phuc Ky Vien” box, elegantly designed like a treasure box, decorated with images of sprouts and herbs on a fresh green background, reminiscent of a full moon night scene. Inside are 6 traditional cake flavors combined with premium ingredients, creating a variety of flavors for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Meanwhile, the “Autumn Point” collection of Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon reflects the trend of combining tradition and creativity. The product design is inspired by chrysanthemums, with two box versions expressing simplicity and closeness through embossed motifs on a blue background and rough paper patterns, targeting customers who prefer elegance but not too ostentatious.
In terms of flavor, the collection aims for diversity and harmony between traditional ingredients and new innovations, including Sichuan shrimp with a rich and complex flavor, West Lake lotus seeds that retain their classic features, mixed eight treasures with many rich ingredients and Tieguanyin tea that brings a light feeling. This combination is aimed at attracting customers who want an experience that is both traditional and modern, while creating a competitive advantage in the increasingly rich hotel mooncake market.
In the context of the increasingly competitive high-end mooncake market, Mia Luxury Collection's "Moonlit Blossoms" creates a highlight with a cylindrical box design with a handle stylized like a handbag, different from previous traditional products. The theme of natural beauty is expressed through sophisticated floral motifs, along with a fuchsia pink velvet bag that evokes both a classic and modern style, meeting the aesthetic trends of young and urban customers.
In addition to the traditional flavors that evoke memories, Mia Luxury Collection introduces three new flavors to attract consumers looking for innovation: Citron & Cheese, Cafe Latte and Truffle & Ham. The collection is divided into two versions: “Wild Flower Jade” aims at the harmony between tradition and modernity, while “Red Lantern of Paradise” focuses on creativity with the highlight of truffle & ham. The products are aimed at those looking for unique experiences and sophisticated designs, while demonstrating the trend of product diversification in the current mooncake market.
In addition, Mai House Saigon's "An Lanh Moon Night" stands out with its design inspired by the image of a peaceful moonlit night, with a noble yellow color - a symbol of wealth and prosperity. The lotus motif combined with the full moon creates an elegant whole, and comes with a matching paper bag, suitable for high-end gift needs.
In terms of flavor, the collection includes four types of cakes with messages of blessing: Buddha jumps over the wall representing abundance; special roasted chicken shark fin with a rich and delicate flavor; modern cheese tiramisu and creative but elegant bamboo charcoal cheese glitter, stimulating the curiosity of diners' taste buds.
The 2025 mooncake market in Ho Chi Minh City shows a clear differentiation: traditional cakes still maintain their appeal thanks to their familiarity and reasonable prices, while high-end collections from hotels dominate the luxury gift segment. In that context, consumers are increasingly concerned with the factors of origin transparency and food safety, while businesses need to balance product innovation and social responsibility. This year's mooncake season, each mooncake product, from rustic to high-end, carries its own story, contributing to diversifying and deepening the traditional reunion picture of Vietnamese people.
