Zongzi prove a hit for both businesses and consumers

There is no escaping the traditional Dragon Boat Festival glutinous rice dumplings, even in the air. EVA Air yesterday displayed a selection of the dumplings that it will be serving on its flights today. PHOTO: LUO PEI-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES

The offer of home delivery services has enabled convenience stores to grab an astonishing share of the market for zongzi, the glutinous rice dumplings which are the traditional must-eat food for today's Dragon Boat Festival.

Since early this month, the nation's five major convenience store chains have taken pre-paid orders from customers for zongzi -- prepared by various food manufacturers or famous local restaurants -- priced at between NT$25 and NT$100 apiece.

As of yesterday, President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), which runs 7-Eleven outlets, had sold out 200,000 boxes of salty or sweet dumplings, double last year's sales. (A box contains as many as eight dumplings.)

"The trend for corporations and businesses to give gift packages of rice dumplings for the holiday has really caught on in recent years," said Zenia Lee (李玉雯), a President Chain public relations official.

"With the offer of home delivery, customers do not have to worry about delivery problems," she said.

However, a survey released by 9999 Job Bank yesterday showed that only about 14 percent of employers polled planned to give zongzi to their employees, compared with 72.83 who said they would give employees a holiday bonus. According to the survey, the average bonus would be NT$1,279 per person.

Even so, convenience stores still hold an edge that other retailers find difficult to match, according to Zoe Yeh (葉青蓉), a public relations official for the 1,600-outlet Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利).

"Compared with buying rice dumplings in wet markets or hypermarkets, [convenience-store] customers have a wide variety from different places to choose from, be it in the north or south," Yeh said.

Having only entered the zongzi market in the last two to three years, these chain operators have displayed remarkable business performance, and FamilyMart is predicting a six-fold sales of 30,000 boxes this year, she added.

Hypermarkets don't offer home delivery services so they are relying on super-low prices for their zongzi to lure customers.

Fiona Wang (王彤芳), marketing manager of RT-Mart (大潤發), said her company expects to sell a total of 12 million dumplings, each costing between NT$10 and NT$36.

Undaunted by retailers' marketing strategies, five-star hotels are showcasing their own deluxe zongzi, which have abalone, crabmeat or roast duck as stuffing to enrich the flavor.

Good quality, however, always comes with a price tag. Most of the hotels' zongzi are priced between NT$80 and NT$380 and customers must pick up their orders.

Paulina Lin (林婉君), assistant public relation manager of The Sherwood Taipei, said the hotel's 5,000 homemade abalone dumplings sold out quickly this year.

"Faced with changing consumer behavior after convenience stores joined the battle, hotels have to maintain quality but cannot lower prices in a bid to consolidate their original customer base," she said.

Grand Hyatt Taipei is the only five-star hotel that is not marketing zongzi.

"You lose the freshness when you microwave the delicacies" to reheat them, said Tina Chen (陳甦妤), the Hyatt's public relations manager.