A tiny zongzi ignites a fierce battle in the billion-yuan market every Dragon Boat Festival. But after the battle, questions remain: how to break seasonal limits, how to turn internet fame into lasting popularity, and what stories can be told beyond zongzi. The annual zongzi showdown has reached new heights this year. In addition to flavor innovations, this year has seen changes in how zongzi are eaten, with brands launching self-heating zongzi. Qianji's "Steam Fresh Zongzi," the co-branded "Self-Heating Zongzi" from Zihaiguo and CHALI, and Zhenzhen Laolao's "self-heating" zongzi all went on sale before the Dragon Boat Festival. Self-heating zongzi maintain traditional flavors while being easy to heat, making them an ideal choice for consumers who are lazy but crave zongzi. From traditional hand-wrapped zongzi to today's self-heating versions, the evolution of eating methods reflects merchants' precise capture of market changes. For thousands of years, as one of China's most culturally significant traditional foods, zongzi has remained popular. As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, both new and old brands are constantly innovating, and cross-industry marketing is flourishing. The billion-yuan market is ablaze with battle. Everything can be zongzi Zongzi appeared in China over 2,000 years ago. As early as ancient times, when ancestors learned to use fire, they began wrapping food in leaves and roasting it over flames, a method recorded in history as "bao peng" (wrapped cooking). During the Spring and Autumn period, people began wrapping millet in wild rice leaves into horn shapes, called "jiaoshu," used to worship ancestors and offer to deities. Besides ancestor worship, the custom of eating zongzi also commemorates Qu Yuan, a minister of the Chu state. After Qu Yuan was framed by villains and drowned himself in a river, people threw zongzi into the river to prevent fish and shrimp from eating his body. By the Jin Dynasty, "jiaoshu" officially became the festive food of the Dragon Boat Festival. Zhou Chu's "Fengtu Ji" records: "In midsummer at Duanwu, the regional lords align. Enjoy jiaoshu, and the turtle and fish follow virtue." During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, "jiaoshu" evolved to use ruo leaves (or reed leaves) to wrap glutinous rice, with additional fillings such as bean paste, pine nuts, dates, and walnuts, enriching the variety of zongzi. As the core of zongzi, fillings have changed continuously over millennia. Since the Jin Dynasty, zongzi has been designated as Dragon Boat Festival food, with ingredients like meat, chestnuts, red dates, and red beans wrapped inside. Song Dynasty people even added candied fruits. Eating methods also varied; for example, Tang Dynasty people made zongzi by wrapping glutinous rice with saffron spices, then slicing and serving with honey. Due to regional differences, zongzi vary in taste and shape. Today, almost every region has its unique flavor: Beijing's jujube zongzi, Shandong's yellow millet zongzi, Shanghai's lard and bean paste zongzi, Jiaxing's fresh meat zongzi, Huzhou's lard and bean paste zongzi, Shaanxi's honey-cooled zongzi, Sichuan's pepper-salt zongzi... Different eating habits across regions have led to a north-south flavor divide, with an age-old "sweet vs. savory" debate. Northern zongzi are chewy and fragrant, often filled with red dates or bean paste, and occasionally preserved fruits; southern zongzi are more complex in preparation and diverse in fillings, with fresh meat zongzi being the most popular. The glutinous rice is soaked in straw ash water and steamed with meat filling, producing a fragrant aroma. Different preparations and flavors reflect local customs and showcase zongzi's inclusiveness. The sweet-savory debate has long been exploited by merchants, with flavors like latiao (spicy strips) zongzi, durian ice zongzi, ice cream zongzi, and hotpot zongzi emerging endlessly, greatly satisfying consumers' curiosity. Beyond novelty, the trend toward high-end zongzi is also evident. According to the "2022 JD Supermarket New Flavor Zongzi Consumption Trend Report," there are over 130 new flavors on sale, with premium ingredients like abalone, matsutake mushrooms, and bird's nest gaining favor. In addition to fillings, gift box packaging has become a key tactic for merchants to attract traffic. For example, Li Ziqi's "Dragon Boat Fragrant Zongzi" features a national-style hand-drawn package that can be assembled into a dragon boat shape. Hangzhou time-honored brand Zhiweiguan has launched 11 styles of guochao (national trend) zongzi gift boxes, not only with packaging exuding Chinese charm but also with poetic names like "Zong You Qianqiu," "Long Fei Zong Wu," "Zong Guan Gujin," and "Dui Zong Dang Ge." Additionally, co-branding is a common tactic for merchants promoting zongzi. Last year, the co-branded zongzi gift box between Honor of Kings and Wufangzhai, and the co-branded spicy beef zongzi from Heytea, Da Long Yi Hotpot, and plant-based meat brand Starfield, generated significant buzz and demonstrated the power of co-branding to break into new circles. This Dragon Boat Festival, the co-branding craze continues. Internet-famous milk tea brand Cha Mi Cha, Coucou Hotpot, and Zhulaoda jointly launched the "Zhu Shi Da Ji" Dragon Boat gift box, which includes zongzi, Yilan oolong tea bags, and eco-friendly tea sets, allowing consumers to enjoy tea with their zongzi. Giants are also active. PepsiCo and Zhenzhen Laolao co-branded to launch cola zongzi, using a secret process to infuse rice with cola, achieving a fusion of zongzi and cola. Zongzi giant Wufangzhai, meanwhile, has tapped into the health trend this year by co-branding with Yan Zhi Wu, a brand known for bird's nest products, to launch the "Zong Xing Peng Yan" Dragon Boat gift box, which both inherits cultural traditions and caters to young people's wellness concepts. Zongzi has been passed down for over 2,000 years, not only as a delicacy but also as a cultural symbol. In the era of guochao revival, zongzi continues to shine with new brilliance. Old and new brands bet big, zongzi competition intensifies Despite its strong seasonality, zongzi's status as a national food remains unaffected. Especially in recent years, with the wave of domestic brands, zongzi has become more popular among young people. E-commerce platform data shows that from mid-May to the Dragon Boat Festival last year, zongzi sales increased by over 300% month-on-month. During the 618 shopping festival, the post-90s generation became the main consumers of zongzi, ranking first in both number of buyers and spending across all age groups. A search for "zongzi" on Xiaohongshu yields over 700,000 posts, with many tutorials on wrapping zongzi ranking high alongside eating content. The enthusiasm of young people for zongzi has attracted brands to invest. A search for "zongzi" on Tmall returns half time-honored brands and half creative zongzi from other brands. If mooncakes and qingtuan are still in a state of "gods fighting, evenly matched," then when it comes to zongzi, Wufangzhai is the undisputed top player. Founded in 1921, Wufangzhai is one of the first batch of China Time-honored Brands recognized by the Ministry of Commerce, with the reputation of "King of Jiangnan Zongzi." Besides excellent craftsmanship and exquisite products, this century-old brand is equally adept at marketing, not losing to internet-famous brands. Among many time-honored brands, Wufangzhai is hailed as the best at making advertisements. It gained countless fans with its retro-style ad "Meet in 1989" for the Double Ninth Festival in 2018, the sci-fi short film "Guesthouse" for the Dragon Boat Festival in 2019, and the Chinese animation ad "Crossing the Bridge" for the Mid-Autumn Festival that same year. Furthermore, Wufangzhai excels at co-branding, from Lashuo Shuo and Zhong Xue Gao to Xiaoguan Tea and Lay's—it hasn't missed any brand popular with young people. It's fair to say that Wufangzhai spares no effort in breaking into the youth market. Besides Wufangzhai, Zhulaoda collaborated with plant-based meat brand Starfield and snack brand Wei Back in 2020 to launch the world's first plant-based meat zongzi, featuring zero cholesterol, zero antibiotics, and zero artificial flavors. Earlier, Zhulaoda was acquired by Qinglian Food, which owns several high-end pork brands. As a time-honored brand, Zhulaoda is now racing ahead on the path of technology and high-end positioning. While Wufangzhai enters the market with a splash and Zhulaoda pursues high-end positioning, another time-honored brand, Zhenzhen Laolao, has been doing OEM business for Hema and Liangpin Puzi in recent years. From products to marketing, although their strategies differ, time-honored brands are transitioning from tradition to the future. While time-honored brands are making efforts, newly popular new tea brands, traditional consumer brands, and even consumer brands far removed from the zongzi category have all set their sights on zongzi. Naixue's Tea launched six flavors in its zongzi gift box this year; Chashili matched each zongzi to a province; Guoran Jiangzi even incorporated coffee into zongzi, with its "latte zongzi" being described by consumers as "a sweet zongzi that isn't too sweet." Beyond new tea, catering companies are trying to wrap their signature dishes into zongzi. Dadong made Dadong roast duck zongzi, Guilongman made Jiangnan preserved vegetable and pork belly black rice zongzi, Lipu taro and oat black rice zongzi, and aged tangerine peel and bean paste black rice zongzi... In recent years, new consumer brands have emerged frequently, often excelling in marketing, and cross-industry collaboration is a relatively effective and rapid way to break into the market. Zongzi is more of an advertisement than a product; by creating internet-famous zongzi, brands aim to make a strong presence among young circles. According to Douyin data, during the 2021 Dragon Boat Festival, zongzi short videos on Douyin e-commerce accumulated over 1.1 billion views, with a total live-streaming duration of 250,000 hours. From mooncakes to qingtuan to zongzi, new brands haven't missed any representative seasonal food. But when riding trends becomes the norm, original ingenuity turns into ineffective "involution." When internet-famous zongzi are everywhere, brands find it harder than ever to stand out. "Zong" to IPO At the beginning of 2022, Wufangzhai's IPO was approved, and this "China Time-honored Brand" will soon be listed on the main board of the A-share market. According to the prospectus, from 2018 to 2020 and the first half of 2021, zongzi business revenue accounted for 66.28%, 67.74%, 70.77%, and 84.06% respectively. If Wufangzhai successfully goes public, it will be the only company on the A-share market primarily engaged in zongzi, a seasonal food. As Wufangzhai's signature product, zongzi has been famous since the 1940s for its sticky but not mushy texture, rich but not greasy taste, fragrant and chewy, and balanced sweet-savory flavor. In 2020, Wufangzhai sold a total of 400 million zongzi. Roughly calculated with a population of 1.4 billion, on average, one in every 3.5 people has eaten a Wufangzhai zongzi. As its main business, Wufangzhai continues to invest in zongzi. In addition to two major production bases in Jiaxing and Chengdu, which serve as food manufacturing and logistics distribution centers, Wufangzhai has established a rice base in Baoqing, Heilongjiang, and a wild ruo leaf (zongzi leaf) base in Jing'an, Jiangxi. Although zongzi sales declined in the previous two years, revenue has continued to rise thanks to higher average order values. In 2021, the year of Wufangzhai's centennial, after a series of promotional campaigns, both sales volume and revenue of Wufangzhai zongzi exceeded the full-year 2020 levels within half a year. Although Wufangzhai has secured the top position in the zongzi market, zongzi is still hard-pressed to escape its identity as a seasonal food. Data shows that nearly 85% of zongzi sales occur during the Dragon Boat Festival, with daily consumption accounting for only 15% of total sales. Although Wufangzhai's prospectus mentions that in East China, zongzi has become a common breakfast item, outside East China, consumers in other regions are not particularly interested in zongzi. According to data from OTO Consulting, from May 2020 to April 2021, consumption of zongzi in East China exceeded 930 million yuan, accounting for over 80% of the national retail market share. From a market-wide perspective, according to China Food Data statistics, the compound annual growth rate of the national zongzi market size from 2020 to 2024 is expected to be 7%, a decline of nearly 3% compared to the CAGR from 2015 to 2019. With the product reaching its peak, Wufangzhai has begun developing side businesses in recent years. In 2019, Wufangzhai officially announced its "Nuo+" strategy, aiming to upgrade from zongzi to glutinous rice-based foods, further broadening its track. Today, Wufangzhai has formed a product portfolio centered on zongzi, including mooncakes, tangyuan, pastries, egg products, braised products, and other rice products. Additionally, Wufangzhai has ventured into catering, using Chinese cuisine to transform zongzi from a seasonal food into a table staple. Wufangzhai Chairman Li Jianping stated at a press conference that the company aims to be "the guardian and innovator of Chinese cuisine" with innovative marketing. According to the prospectus, the funds raised from this IPO will be mainly used for the Phase III Intelligent Food Workshop Construction Project, the Digital Industry Smart Park Construction Project, the R&D Center and IT Upgrade Construction Project, the Chengdu Production Base Upgrade and Renovation Project, and to supplement working capital. Built on zongzi, and using zongzi to break boundaries, the century-old Wufangzhai is attempting to complete its digital transformation through IPO and embark on a path of diversified development. Conclusion With the support of guochao, zongzi, as a traditional pastry, has regained popularity. Time-honored brands are making frequent efforts, striding forward as industry leaders, while rising stars like new tea and new Chinese bakery brands are continuously expanding the market through a combination of tradition and innovation. In terms of heritage, zongzi has unique advantages, but innovation faces challenges. Its high-carb, hard-to-digest nature is undoubtedly a major obstacle to promoting it among young people. However, it's worth noting that in addition to traditional glutinous rice, healthy zongzi made with low-fat brown rice, quinoa, and other ingredients have begun to appear to cater to young people's health and weight concerns. A tiny zongzi ignites a fierce battle in the billion-yuan market every Dragon Boat Festival. But after the battle, questions remain: how to break seasonal limits, how to turn internet fame into lasting popularity, and what stories can be told beyond zongzi. In the chaotic arena where new brands and time-honored brands clash, which traditional pastry will be the next to regain popularity? Source: Guanchao New Consumption (ID: TideSight) -END-