Would you like plastic with that?

The annual report on Easter egg packagng is out once again, thanks to Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson. Apparently in the UK, we still place 3,000 tonnes of waste into landfill, having unwrapped and enjoyed our Easter eggs.

The worst offenders were reported to be Thorntons and Marks and Spencer, still using too much plastic when packaging their Easter egg range. Nestle, Mars and Cadbury however were praised for greatly improving the situation and working with much more cardboard. Indeed Nestle recently announced that the packaging in its 2012 Easter egg range is 100% recyclable – a bold statement if ever there was one! 

The confectionery industry must take responsibility for its potential to make landfill waste, as should many other grocery industries. It is clearly a tricky balance between good presentation, safe transportation and cost management on the one side and minimising waste on the other. But if Nestle can do it…?

I guess the challenge is that confectionery shoppers, who more often than not are purchasing on impulse, do not necessarily stop and think “No! I won’t buy this one because I cannot recycle the plastic!” If the price, presentation and content fit the bill, the quick answer is just to buy it and be done. Can we blame ourselves when life is so busy and budgets are squeezed?

I would be interested to hear from any retailers that feel their customers do prioritise this issue at shelf level. Perhaps you use it as a USP for your Easter egg range?

So whilst we bash the big manufacturers and retailers over the head for producing too much landfill waste, are we as shoppers truly voting with our purchases to demand confectionery and indeed Easter eggs that are packaged with the environment in mind?

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Is UK confectionery doomed?

A recently published NHS report found that between 1997 and 2010 average consumption of sugar confectionery and chocolate in the UK fell by 39 percent among four to ten year olds and by 35 percent among 11 to 18 year olds.

So the facts suggest that in the UK, children are eating less confectionery. A good thing for childhood health in many ways but is this going to have a significant impact on the growth of the UK confectionery market going forward and is this reduction in childhood consumption really noticeable in all areas?

 

Sweet Retailing recently discussed the new confectionery Key Note report, which certainly suggested good growth for the UK confectionery market throughout 2012 and then a slower rate of growth until 2016.

 

Would it be right to assume that if childhood confectionery consumption is falling, that adult consumption of confectionery in the UK is the significant key to growth? Many of us are certainly turning to our favourite sweeties and chocolates to get us through the economic turmoil! What will we do when the UK economy has bounced back?

 

It’s an interesting one. If children are eating fewer sweets these days, such habits are likely to stay with them as they become adults. Would this suggest that the UK confectionery market is doomed once the next few generations have died off and the children of today have taken our place? Given that confectionery has such a rich and fabulous history in the UK, I would personally find this hard to believe. I am quite sure that the range of confectionery available to us will change and evolve over time but surely the joy of consumption will keep us loving all things sweet for many generations to come? I sincerely hope so!

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American beauties

I’ve just been reviewing some contributions that we have received for an American sweets article that is underway for our Sweet Retailing website – is there no limit to the UK confectionery market?! 

American sweets are clearly a growing confectionery opportunity in the UK and a number of companies have been popping up in the last few years to focus purely on this category, both online and on the high street. The future of the UK confectionery market has plenty of stars and stripes in it! 

 
Confectionery is such an exciting and interesting category to retail in the UK when you choose to look beyond the mainstream brands. I am not saying that the brands should not be considered (some sweet shops intentionally avoid them though) but there is so much more to UK confectionery than the most common brands alone. 

And we all want to buy it right now! Down in the doldrums with the state of the economy, the perfect pick-me-up is our favourite sweets or chocolate bar, even an American chocolate bar it seems. I read some research recently that discovered (somewhat unsurprisingly I thought) we predominantly turn to chocolate (and not fruit!) when we are stressed. How true. 

So confectionery retailers, think creatively, try new things, have fun and look forward to reading our article on the market for American sweets!

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