在上海著名传统糕点连锁店杏花楼的一家分店，即将到来的中秋节气氛非常浓厚。数千盒月饼高高的堆在店内，员工们几乎寸步难行。
与此同时，在店外，券贩子正试图吸引顾客进店，他们手里拿着促销券，提供的折扣高达店内明示价格的25%。
今年中秋节在阳历9月22日，这是一个传统的中国节日。人们庆祝的方式是吃月饼，这种甜点圆圆的形状象征着家人团聚。
根据上海糖烟酒茶商业行业协会(Shanghai Confectionery Industry Association)的数据，2009年，上海的月饼销量为2.1万吨，价值18.5亿元人民币(合2.75亿美元)。厦门市场研究机构中国报告大厅(China Reports Hall)的数据显示，全国的销售额预计在110亿元人民币。
"这是一年中企业向业务合作伙伴、政府官员以及自己员工表达谢意的时刻，"中国市场研究集团(China Market Research)驻上海董事总经理雷小山(Shaun Rein)表示，"这是建立关系的一种重要方式。"
然而，最近几年，在中国，赠送月饼呈现出了一种新的意义。显示购买力和与价格挂钩的谢意变得更为重要。小山表示："随着人们变得更为富有，他们需要更为昂贵的礼物。"
食品零售商怀着热情利用了这一商机。在杏花楼，通常单价在5元左右的月饼被重新包装，装入礼盒。普通包装、8个装的一盒月饼最低售价为78元，对于那些想购买高价月饼的人而言，那里还有780元的鲍鱼鱼翅月饼。
星巴克(Starbucks)和哈根达斯(Häagen-Dazs)等西方零售商也利用了这一季节性零售机会。哈根达斯的月饼券是中国流通最广的月饼券之一，该公司提供的月饼礼盒售价在268元至988元之间，对于许多中国工薪阶层而言，价格有些过高。
上海波特曼丽思卡尔顿酒店(Portman Ritz-Carlton)食品和饮料经理克里斯•卡明斯基(Kris Kaminsky)表示，该酒店今年希望销售约2万盒自产月饼。他表示，价格通常并不体现在月饼上，而是在包装上。"我们制作了一款非常漂亮的红色包装盒，看上去就像一个珠宝盒。在吃完月饼后，盒子可以收藏。"
月饼也是中国转赠最多的礼品。"很多人把收到的月饼送给其他人，"知名美食作家沈宏非表示，"这不是因为人们不想吃，而是因为一些人收到了太多月饼礼盒，他们也希望把它们当作礼物送给别人。这代表着尊敬和给面子。"
波特曼丽思卡尔顿酒店所在地上海商城(Shanghai Centre)总经理拜伦•肯(Byron Kan)今年选择将哈根达斯的月饼券送给公司客户，作为礼物。
"（月饼）确实是重要且必须的公司礼品，"他表示，"但几年前，公司开始赠送越来越昂贵的月饼，以至于包装和里面礼品的价格超过了月饼（本身），于是政府决定干预并为包装价格设限。"
如今，你再无法买到附赠手表或以纯金包装的月饼礼盒了。
许多月饼券都被兑换成现金，这让券贩子和中间商赚取了不蜚的利润。但由于这些月饼券设有截止日期，因此这些买卖活动的窗口有限。CMR的小山表示："根据距离领取截止日期的时间远近，这些月饼券的价格也随之涨跌。"
咖世家(Costa Coffee)中国区总裁保罗•史密斯(Paul Smith)提供了自己的解决方案。他表示："我们给月饼券设定的有效期最长到中秋节后一年。"据他预计，今年该公司的70家门店将销售8000盒月饼。
"因此，如果今年没有领取月饼，明年照样可以领。"
译者/梁艳裳
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001034731
At a branch of Xing Hua Lou, a famous traditional bakery chain in Shanghai, the evidence of the upcoming Autumn Moon Festival is visible. Thousands of boxes of mooncakes are stacked high inside the store and the staff can barely move.
Outside the store, meanwhile, touts try to entice customers in with laminated pamphlets offering up to 25 per cent off the listed price.
The Autumn Moon Festival – which this year falls on September 22 – is a traditional Chinese holiday. It is feted by the consumption of mooncakes, the roundness of the sweet pastry symbolising the union of family members.
According to the Shanghai Confectionery Industry Association, 21,000 tonnes of mooncakes were sold in the city in 2009 – worth Rmb1.85bn ($275m). Sales for the whole of China were estimated at Rmb11bn according to China Reports Hall, a market research firm based in Xiamen.
"It's the time of the year for businesses to show gratitude to their business partners, to the government officials and to their own employees," says Shaun Rein, the managing director of China Market Research (CMR) Group in Shanghai. "It's a vital way of building relationships."
However, in recent years the gifting of mooncakes has taken on a new significance in China, where a show of purchasing power and price-indexed gratitude has become more important. "As people get richer, they need more expensive gifts," says Mr Rein.
Food retailers have cashed in on this opportunity with zeal. At Xing Hua Lou, single mooncakes, which typically cost about Rmb5 each, are repackaged in gift tins. The lowest price for a basic boxed set of eight goes for Rmb78, while for those seeking luxury there is a Rmb780 version filled with abalone fins.
Western retailers such as Starbucks and Häagen-Dazs have also embraced the seasonal retail opportunity. Häagen-Dazs, whose mooncake vouchers are one of the most circulated in China, offers boxed sets that range in price from Rmb268 to Rmb988 – a steep price tag for many Chinese workers.
Kris Kaminsky, the food and beverage manager at the Portman Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai, says the hotel expects to sell about 20,000 of its boxes this year. The value is often not in the mooncakes, he says, but in the presentation. "We've created a very nice red box that looks like a jewellery box. It's a box to be kept after the mooncakes are eaten."
Mooncakes are also the most re-gifted item in China. "Many people give their mooncakes to someone else," says Shen Hongfei, a well-known food writer. "Not because people don't want to eat them but because some receive so many gift boxes that they want to offer them as presents. It's a sign of respect and gives face."
Byron Kan, the general manager of the Shanghai Centre, which houses the Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel, has chosen to give Häagen-Dazs gift certificates this year to his corporate clients.
"[Mooncakes] are indeed vital, must-do corporate gifts," he says. "But when companies started giving more and more extravagant mooncake gifts, to the point that the packaging and the gifts inside cost more than the mooncakes [themselves], the government decided to step in a few years ago and put a limit on the price."
Now you can no longer buy a mooncake box with a watch as a gift inside or with solid-gold packaging."
Many vouchers are returned for cash, allowing touts and middlemen to make a healthy profit margin. But as with any paper asset with an expiration date, the window for such buy and sell activity is limited. "The value of these mooncake vouchers go up and down according to how close one gets to the final date," says Mr Rein of CMR.
Paul Smith, the president of Costa Coffee China, which expects to sell 8,000 boxes from its 70 outlets this year, offers his own solution. "We honour the vouchers for up to one year after the date," he says.
"So if they don't get to collect for this year, they can do it next year."
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