From Mid-Autumn Festival barbecues and autumn-winter hot pot occasions to year-end gatherings, Christmas parties, and Lunar New Year dish pre-orders, the second half of the year represents a key consumption period for food brands. However, food purchases are characterized by a short purchase journey, high immediacy of demand, and strong responsiveness to food-related content. This means peak-season marketing should go beyond concentrated year-end promotions, with brands starting to build new customer audiences and accumulate purchase signals as early as September and October.
Looking at market trends in the second half of the year, CPM and CPA tend to remain relatively low in September and October, while CVR performs comparatively well. From November onward, as year-end promotions and demand for gatherings and gifting intensify, advertising competition is also expected to increase.
Food brands can therefore capitalize on the pre-peak warm-up period by first engaging consumers through food-related video content, new product launches, and seasonal occasions, then scaling campaigns around gatherings, gifting, and Lunar New Year dish pre-orders during the year-end peak season.
How Does Food Consumption Demand Differ Between September–October and November–December?
What sets the food industry apart from other categories is that consumer demand is highly influenced by seasonality, festive occasions, and immediate consumption occasions.
From September to October, demand is primarily driven by the Mid-Autumn Festival, seasonal autumn foods, and everyday grocery shopping. Consumers are more likely to make an immediate purchase after seeing new products, food-related videos, or promotional content. From November to December, demand gradually shifts toward more planned purchases, including group dining, gifting, stock-up purchases, and pre-orders for Lunar New Year dishes.
| Sep–Oct Warm-Up Period | Nov–Dec Peak Season | |
| Key Audience | Household shoppers, food enthusiasts, solo consumers seeking ready-to-eat meals or home delivery | Gathering organizers, gift buyers, Lunar New Year dish shoppers, corporate and group-buying customers |
| Key Products | Mooncakes, barbecue ingredients, pomelos, hot pot and seasonal nourishing ingredients, snacks and beverages | Christmas cakes, party snacks, gathering ingredients, Lunar New Year dishes, and gift boxes |
| Purchase Motivations | Seasonal eating, everyday grocery shopping, and food content inspiration | Festive gatherings, Lunar New Year meal preparation, gifting, and stock-up purchases |
| Online Behavior | Fresh food delivery, brand websites, and e-commerce platforms, with frequent everyday purchases | Concentrated purchases of gift boxes, Lunar New Year dishes, and food for gatherings |
| Offline Behavior | Immediate purchases at supermarkets, hypermarkets, and bakeries | Larger festive purchases at supermarkets, hypermarkets, and retail stores |
| Purchase Journey | Very short; consumers are likely to purchase immediately after seeing an ad or product | Still short for everyday food; gift boxes and Lunar New Year dishes involve earlier comparison and pre-ordering |
New Customer Acquisition + Existing Customer Repurchase: Build Your Peak-Season Audience Early
Food brands can engage both new and existing customers simultaneously.
For new customer acquisition, brands can explore targeting strategies such as broad audiences, AI-powered interests, recent website visitors, cart abandoners, and consumers who have previously watched food-related videos.
For existing customers, brands can target:
- Customers who purchased during the same period last year, re-engaging them ahead of seasonal occasions
- Customers who purchased within the past 7–14 days, using repurchase reminders and cross-selling opportunities
Brands are also advised to maintain an Always-on campaign strategy and gradually increase budgets around key seasonal moments, including the Mid-Autumn Festival, Double 11, Christmas, and year-end gatherings.
How Can Meta Ads Support Peak-Season Food Marketing?
The food industry can leverage visual appeal and immediate purchase intent to shorten the path to conversion. Brands can prioritize:
- Advantage+ + Catalog Ads: Recommend relevant products based on consumer behavior, making this approach particularly suitable for brands with a broad product portfolio and e-commerce businesses.
- Partnership Ads: Amplify reach through KOL content such as product tastings, cooking demonstrations, and unboxing videos, helping reduce the barrier to first-time purchases.
- Live Video Ads: Combine product tastings, cooking demonstrations, and limited-time offers to drive group purchases and immediate conversions.
4 Creative Approaches for Food Ads
During peak seasons, ad creatives can focus on four key elements: appetite appeal, promotions, trust, and experience.
- Food Scenario: Use cooking ASMR, Mid-Autumn Festival barbecues, or autumn and winter hot pot scenes to quickly stimulate consumers’ appetites.
- Promotional Bundle: Use group-buying discounts, free shipping, spend-and-save offers, or festive bundles to encourage faster purchases.
- New Product Launch: Highlight product origins, freshness, ingredients, and taste to address consumers’ concerns when purchasing food products.
- Unboxing & Tasting: Feature KOLs or consumers actually unboxing and tasting the products to enhance authenticity and build trust.
Warm Up Early to Drive More Efficient Peak-Season Conversions
Peak-season food marketing does not need to wait until November. Brands can use September and October to build audiences through food-related video content, seasonal products, and new customer acquisition, then scale conversions in November and December as demand for gatherings, gifting, and Lunar New Year dishes increases.
An effective peak-season strategy means preparing audiences, content, and retargeting efforts in advance, rather than waiting until competition reaches its peak before increasing ad spend.
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Source: Meta
