The Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day are approaching, and as the longest holiday of the year, this is undoubtedly the most important consumption window for the FMCG industry. Although consumer confidence is still in a period of volatile recovery, the "holiday rebound effect" brought by the long vacation remains significant. From the consumption performance of this year's May Day and Dragon Boat Festival, it can be seen that the active integration of local cultural tourism and consumption scenarios has driven a comprehensive upgrade in holiday omni-channel consumption. The 2025 double festival is expected to continue the active consumption momentum of 2024, becoming a "golden window" for unleashing consumption potential. Combining the latest reports from authoritative institutions such as Nielsen, this article will analyze the consumption trends of this year's double festival market and provide some targeted response strategies. New Consumption Trends for the 2025 Double Festival

  1. Cultural Tourism Consumption: Short-Distance Travel Dominates, "Empty-Bag Travel" Creates Instant Demand During this year's double festival, short-distance travel will continue to be the mainstream choice. Data shows that during the 2024 Mid-Autumn Festival, the high-speed rail travel radius shortened to 361 kilometers, with markets within a 3-hour transportation circle being exceptionally active, and suburban scenic spots seeing a surge in popularity. This trend is expected to continue in 2025, with self-driving travel potentially accounting for over 80%. Chart data source: NIQ O2O database, desktop research, Meituan Flash Purchase May Day Consumption Trend Insights "Empty-bag travel" has become a new trend, with consumers increasingly relying on instant retail platforms for on-the-go replenishment, leading to significant growth in demand for energy drinks and healthy fast food. This provides new market opportunities for beverage manufacturers.
  2. Gift Box Consumption: Health, Personalization, and Regional Characteristics Equally Valued The double festival window brings significant benefits to the gift economy, with regional specialty products becoming key to breaking through. Fun and practical snacks and healthy gift boxes are more favored by consumers, with price bands showing both consumption upgrading and differentiation. Healthy gift boxes have become an important direction for consumption upgrading. 47% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for products with added vitamins, high fiber, and other nutritional ingredients. Demand for medicine-food homologous products (such as Chinese-style health waters), vitamin-supplemented beverages, and children's probiotic drinks continues to rise. Snack gift boxes are showing polarization: basic versions compete on price, while emotional value versions (such as co-branded IPs and cute packaging) attract younger consumers. Consumers increasingly value emotional connection, making personalized gift boxes a new growth point.
  3. Lower-Tier Markets: Returning Home Drives County-Level Consumption Returning home for family visits effectively drives household consumption in lower-tier markets, with significant growth in county-level gift demand and increased stockpiling in supermarkets and fresh food stores. Large-format beverage packaging is more accepted in county-level family gatherings and daily consumption scenarios. The rise of "micro-vacations" in county towns, with short-distance travel and parent-child experiences (such as fruit picking and intangible cultural heritage crafts) becoming mainstream. Data shows that 45% of tourists are post-90s and post-00s, driving overall consumption in county restaurants, homestays, and specialty products.
  4. Banquet Market: Policies Boost Consumption Upgrading Bookings for wedding and birthday banquets have surged, with increased demand for healthy beverages and customized alcoholic drinks. Policy guidance is also accelerating the recovery of the banquet market. For example, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, recently introduced a new round of consumption stimulus policies, offering tiered subsidies of up to 5,000 yuan for banquets held in hotels that meet certain table and spending thresholds. Five Response Strategies for Double Festival Growth
  5. Scenario-Based Layout, Covering the Full Consumption Cycle For travel scenarios, it is recommended to implement a "trunk plan" at gas stations and large community supermarkets, promoting full-case or multi-pack promotions, and deploying promoters at key points. Collaborate with instant retail platforms to offer pre-order services for "self-driving health replenishment packs," bundling beverages with snacks, healthy fast food, and sun protection/insect repellent products to meet consumers' one-stop shopping needs. For reunion scenarios, focus on the Mid-Autumn reunion feast, highlighting the health attributes and human warmth of products. Cooperate with popular homestays, hotels, and restaurants to optimize product displays at checkouts, in freezers, and in private rooms. Table displays should primarily feature large packs or multi-packs, accompanied by festive greeting cards, with copy that reflects product selling points and resonates emotionally with consumers. Partner with restaurants to create beverage sets that alleviate spiciness, greasiness, and heat, providing solutions for hotpot, barbecue, and crayfish. For leisure scenarios, focus on internet cafes, billiards halls, chess and card rooms, and fitness centers, offering products that quench thirst and bring pleasure. Create a differentiated brand atmosphere through customized store signs, informational notices, and exclusive freezer designs, and equip each scenario with corresponding product promotional posters that match the emotional appeals of consumers in those settings. Emphasize frozen product displays in stores, such as setting up "sports exclusive zones" in gym freezers for electrolyte and energy drinks, and launching "e-sports hydration stations" in internet cafes, offering co-branded mouse pads for purchases of functional drinks over 50 yuan. Drawing on the successful experience of Mingren in regional markets, introduce interactive games in the dining channel, such as finger-guessing, "ice bucket grab," and lucky draws, to enhance consumer participation and stickiness through fun and interactivity, effectively boosting the sales atmosphere.
  6. Health Innovation and Packaging Upgrades in Parallel Consumer demands are increasingly discerning, wanting both taste and health, enjoyment and value for money. Brand manufacturers need to precisely refine product selling points, such as reducing sugar and calories without compromising taste, adding natural functional factors, and adopting fashionable new packaging, and communicate differentiation around consumer concerns. Implement diversified display and sales formats such as "six-packs," "double handles," "carry bags," and "full cases," offering greater promotional discounts than usual to let consumers feel the holiday value. Additionally, launch limited-edition flavors or packaging in different regions to stimulate consumers' desire to collect and share, which not only increases product buzz but also tests market acceptance of new flavors.
  7. Deepen Lower-Tier Markets and Create Regional Characteristics In the fiercely competitive FMCG beverage market, deepening lower-tier markets and linking regional characteristics is an effective strategy to stand out. Focus on building pallet displays in leading county and township supermarkets to seize holiday full-case sales opportunities, improving product display images and guiding consumers to purchase full cases. Create image stores in township and county mid-to-large supermarkets, using vibrant in-store and outdoor decorations and securing prime frozen beverage display positions to increase freezer visibility and open-and-drink rates, boosting sales during the peak season. Explore local cultural heritage and Mid-Autumn traditions, cooperate with well-known IPs, and launch joint promotions with regional cultural characteristics, allowing consumers to feel the rich regional cultural atmosphere while tasting beverages, enhancing product value.
  8. Omni-Channel Layout to Capture Growth Opportunities In addition to cooperating with instant retail platforms like Meituan and Ele.me, increasing inventory and delivery capacity in high-demand areas such as scenic spots, hotels, and transportation hubs, also deploy self-service vending machines in more offline scenarios to provide consumers with convenient shopping experiences. Carry out all-staff marketing during the double festival, using live streaming, short videos, and other content formats to showcase product features and drinking scenarios. Collaborate with top KOLs for product promotion to increase brand visibility and stimulate consumer purchase desire. Pay attention to hard discount supermarkets, which are key focuses for players like JD.com, Meituan, Hema, and Wumart, as well as emerging channels like snack discount supermarkets. These are key areas where brand manufacturers should focus their efforts during the double festival. Adjust product packaging and marketing strategies according to different channel characteristics, such as launching small packages suitable for single-person consumption in instant retail channels, and creative and fun packaging in content e-commerce channels to attract consumer attention.
  9. Optimize Gift Box Strategies, Balancing Value and Emotion The gift box market is differentiating, with healthy gift boxes becoming the new favorite and the 50-200 yuan mass price band rapidly rising. Gift box strategies need to be more refined and innovative. The price band strategy should focus on the 50-200 yuan mass price range, offering gift box options at different price points to meet various gifting budgets. Set up basic, upgraded, and high-end tiers to cover diverse needs. Enhance the display of health elements in outer packaging, and consider adding customized health cups, health teas, and other items to increase the richness and perceived value of gift boxes, strengthening the health attributes to cater to modern consumers' health needs. Inject emotional value into gift boxes through packaging design, co-branded IPs, and creative marketing, such as adding personal blessings or customized packaging, to meet consumers' personalized gifting needs and enhance emotional appeal. Additionally, during key promotional periods, brand manufacturers must work together to consolidate market pricing, stock up reasonably while strengthening cargo flow supervision to avoid price conflicts between channels. Final Thoughts Only through innovation and change can one seize the initiative. In this era of consumption upgrading and differentiation, only manufacturers that accurately grasp consumption trends, quickly respond to market changes, and continuously innovate products and marketing strategies can ultimately win battles and reap fruitful results. Xing Renbao, with 18 years of marketing management experience, has served at Coca-Cola, Yili, Red Bull, and other well-known FMCG companies. He currently serves as Assistant to the Executive President of Marketing at Huabin FMCG Group, focusing on corporate marketing diagnosis, manufacturer-dealer relationships, channel operations, and digital transformation.