Festive facts

Mintel are busy releasing some interesting Christmas facts and stats right now. Once we got beyond the fact that the nation is to spend an estimated £307million on turkey this Christmas and that one in four pet owners buy their loved ones a Christmas stocking, we found a few snippets that confectionery retailers might find useful.

In 2011, Brits spent a massive £163million on Christmas chocolate. This compares to Easter 2011 at £264million and Mothers Day 2011 at £22million - who said that the market for spring confectionery was dead?!

61% of us will share chocolates with friends and family over the Chritmas period.

52% of us admit that when we cannot think of anything else, we buy them chocolate as a gift!

And finally, 25% of us like to buy Christmas gifts throughout the year as we see them.

We do hope that you find a few of these snippets interesting or useful. A very Merry Christmas from the Sweet Retailing blog.

Chocolate Pizza!

 

A little alarmed when I first heard about this, it actually looks really rather good! The Chocolate Cafe has created a Chocolate Pizza which can be ordered directly from their website. You select your "toppings" in the usual way. A really original Christmas gift don't you think?

Creativity is the future of confectionery, be it the actual product or the format that it is presented in. Sweets and chocolates are such a fun category to retail.

If you are a sweet shop, chocolate shop or a general retailer selling confectionery in a unique and creative way, please let us know and send us a photo!

Chocolate Wine Sir?

Have you tried this year’s most novel wine yet? Chocolate Wine has been created by The Chocolate Shop and I understand it is available in Sainsbury’s and The Co-op.

Retailing at £8.99 a bottle and with an ABV of 12% this is a red wine that has been infused with dark chocolate. Are you pulling a face yet or thinking how great this sounds? I suspect that opinion will be split! 

Developed as a dessert wine for the festive season it can apparently be used in many recipes too. I think I am off to Sainsbury’s this weekend!

Austerity positives

A recent research report from Mintel suggested that consumers are predicting over half a decade of austerity and that the “feel-good” factor is failing to make a comeback.

Mintel says that 42% of British consumers think that it will take longer than two years for the feel-good factor to return and a further 22% believe that it will take between one and two years.

Doom and gloom then? But from a confectionery perspective, this might be a good thing actually. Confectionery has proven to be pretty much recession proof, becoming a much loved “cheap treat” when a meal out or a new car is out of the question. Sales of sweets and chocolates have received a boost due to their low cost “pick-me-up” ability.

Some have suggested that sales might ease when the economy starts to improve and people have more ready cash to treat themselves. Following that line of thought, half a decade of austerity might just be a good thing for confectionery retailers?

Small is profitable

It seems no sooner have we got the Christmas range organised, attention turns swiftly to Easter. The seasonal calendar rolls ever onwards – it rests for nobody! 

As the supermarkets continue to eat up the market for branded Easter eggs and harsh pricing tactics are once again anticipated for 2012, the mini egg is being cited as a profitable option by many of the manufacturers. This advice is of course accompanied by a growing army of mini egg products rolling out for sale again, with Ferrero the latest to announce its new bags of mini eggs. 

But as smaller confectionery retailers look out for profitable opportunities this Easter, it is a fair point to contemplate. We all love that delicious little egg and seem to have the ability to justify eating a handful at a time! They are the perfect self treat for any reason you care to dream up resulting in no shortage of purchase opportunities. And they are affordable. 

Mini eggs are sold in many formats by many brands. But you can also do your own thing with these little beauties, buying them in larger “bulk” bags and packaging them attractively to create your very own delight. A bit more effort, but when you consider the profitability and indeed the popularity of the much loved mini egg, it might just be one to try.  

Let’s just get through Christmas first though eh? I for one am still writing my “to do” list.

Lots more confectionery comment and information can be found on Sweet Retailing.

Chocolatier vs Chocolate Maker

There is a very well written article on Love Food explaining the difference between a chocolatier and a chocolate maker. Maybe we are asking some of you to suck eggs but if you retail chocolate, understanding the difference will help your quality of conversation with your customers and also help you when sourcing different chocolates. Well worth highlighting the link we thought.

Read the article HERE!

Stevia revolution?

An interesting article in The Grocer recently (10 September) about the imminent introduction to the UK of chocolate made with stevia instead of sugar. The big question seems to be, will this prompt a chocolate revolution or not? 

Sugar prices are on the up, as is the price of chocolate. Stevia is a natural sweetener – a herbal extract, which has been used in soft drinks for some time. Whilst it is more costly than sugar to use, the end product can then proudly boast the “sugar free” status. Will it work for the Brits? 

Search on Google and the chocolate is out there. The Cavalier Company is launching its range into the UK early next year, to be distributed by House of Sarrunds and they are understandably predicting a “revolution”. 

Mintel on the other hand are less sure. They feel that consumers are reacting with portion control rather than seeking chocolate with health claims, pointing to Switzerland, where chocolate made with stevia has been available for some years. 

Time will tell. I for one would be interested to see what difference stevia makes to the TASTE of chocolate, which is certainly a priority in my book. 

Sweet Retailing will of course report on any sugar free developments and product launches that we learn about in due course.

Thank you Divine!

We have been in the throws of moving over the last couple of weeks and I have to say, Divine Chocolates sent us a box of goodies just at the right time! So just a note to say that I am a new fan of their 70% Dark Chocolate with Raspberries - it gave us hope and energy just when we needed it!

Chocolate Play-Doh?

 

Is there such a thing? Of course not! But there is Magic Choc which launched earlier this month. 

This is an interesting if not a cheap idea. Choc-o-Bloc has launched a mouldable chocolate product that does not melt. Made from Belgian chocolate, children can shape it to their heart’s delight without getting covered in chocolate. Then I would guess that they have the satisfaction of eating their “work of art”! 

So far in the UK, Toys R Us has stocked the product in addition to a number of independent stores (and no end of online businesses it seems). Starter packs retail at £4.99 whilst more comprehensive packs are priced at £9.99. 

Is this one for certain confectionery retailers to stock? Sweet Retailing would love to hear your thoughts.

3D Chocolate

The University of Exeter has apparently developed a prototype that can print in 3D…using chocolate! It quite simply prints using chocolate instead of ink and builds up the design in layers as the chocolate dries. 

Not surprisingly, several retailers have already expressed an interest in the novel printer. The potential is quite huge if you think about it. To my mind, this sort of unique device would create a great USP for troubled Thorntons, allowing customers to visit the shop and create a personalised image on a computer screen, watching as it becomes created entirely out of chocolate! Temperature might be an issue though on a hot day… 

Sweet Retailing will watch with interest to see just how this technology develops. It certainly goes to show that there is plenty of life left in the much loved chocolate industry!

Mood lifting research

A new piece of research has been published in the Journal of Psychology and Marketing in the USA concluding that shopping does actually lift your mood.

Perhaps we all know this from personal experience and perhaps confectionery retailers know that in tough times, shoppers turn to affordable treats. However, official confirmation of the fact leaves us wanting to advise you to make the most of it!

Researchers conducted hundreds of interviews at shopping centres as well as asking shoppers to keep diaries of their shopping behaviour, moods and buys they regretted.

Those who said they were in a bad mood on their way into a shop were more likely to indulge in an impulse buy. A total of 62 percent said they had bought something to cheer themselves up while 28 percent said they had indulged as a form of celebration.

Selin Atalay and Margaret Meloy are the authors of the study, Retail therapy: A strategic effort to improve mood. They say retailers can learn from the findings and ensure that they appeal to customers with the right emotional messages and slogans.

Another useful fact from Sweet Retailing - plenty more on the website!

Healthy Chocolate

Whilst we have probably all read about the health benefits of dark chocolate, it seems that the evidence does keep building.

Leatherhead Food Research has launched a new report called Future Directions for Functional Foods. Within the report, dark chocolate is discussed widely and is now apparently bought by 40% of UK households. 

The report goes on to suggest many claims for dark chocolate, some of which are well documented and others not so just yet:

            Anti ageing benefits

            Heart health claims

Mood enhancing properties due to constituents such as Anandamines, Caffeine and Magnesium

It can stimulate the secretion of endorphins and boost serotonin. 

The report states that there is more work to be done to substantiate these claims but the picture is certainly building and the functional confectionery market is yet to go mainstream, if it ever does. 

Interesting reading though and good for retailers to remain armed with such facts for their customers! 

For many more confectionery facts, remember to keep your eye on Sweet Retailing.

Free website from Google

If anyone fancies a free website, you might want to take a look at http://www.gbbo.co.uk/

Google is running a competition which aims to encourage more businesses to set up websites – it says that 40% of small and medium sized companies do not have a website.

Google’s “Getting British Business Online” tool is entirely free to use for a year and they reckon it is really easy to use!

The free to enter competition is open to all retailers that operate in the UK with 50 full time staff or less. A panel of experts will judge all websites created using the free tool (closing date 26 June) declaring an e-champion who will receive promotion on the website and a selection of Google products.

Good luck - you heard it here on Sweet Retailing!

Easter sales down?

If your Easter chocolate sales have not been quite as you would like, be consoled by the fact that you are not alone.

The Grocer has reported that supermarket Easter egg sales were “hammered” by the hot weather as shoppers swapped chocolate for a cold beer over the Easter Bank Holiday.

The Grocer reported:

"Easter got hammered by the hot weather," said one senior confectionery source. "Everyone was very comfortable in the run-up to Easter, but two weeks prior to the weekend, we saw the first of the good weather and instantly saw a significant dip in like-for-likes." Some sales were down 20%, he added.

Data from Assosia revealed promotions were hastily switched as the hot weather began. The number of ambient confectionery promotions offered by the big four, Waitrose and The Co-op Group slumped 14.1% in the two weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, against the equivalent two weeks the year before.

The switch was most pronounced at Tesco, with confectionery promotions down 36.2% but beer deals up 262.5%. Morrisons was the only retailer to increase confectionery promotions during the period.

Retailers had cancelled their Easter egg orders, resulting in a "buoyant season" for branded eggs in the residual market, revealed another source.

"There has been a slush of job stocks available through wholesalers with brands such as Lindt, Cadbury and Milky Way," the source said. "The type of egg offered and the time they are being offered has been marginally earlier than usual due to the discounting by the multiples and cancellations by a wider base of retailers."

In addition to the supermarkets, The Telegraph has just reported that Thorntons has not had the best of times over the bank holidays where chocolate sales are concerned.

The company said sales at its 371 company-owned stores were down 13.9pc to £31.4m in the 16 weeks to April 30, a 12.6pc like-for-like decline.

But the company did see sales in its commercial channel - selling through supermarkets - increase 25.1pc in the face of strong competition.

Keep an eye on Sweet Retailing to be up to date on confectionery retailing activities!

We're tweeting!

Well it seemed to make sense. If Twitter is your thing, you can know the moment that we add something new and interesting to read on Sweet Retailing as we will tweet it.

So next time you head over to Twitter search for us by name and follow our tweets. We look forward to seeing you there!

Another retailer resource?

We were rather interested to hear of yet another big wholesaler chain to revamp their website (following Sugro), offering advice and help to retailers. Today's Group has launched Plan for Profit with a view to helping retailers with their ranging and marketing across all manner of grocery categories. Whilst it has some nice ideas, we feel that its assitance is a little limited at the moment, but hopefully this will change. 

our results from POS Printer!

Once you have logged into the website, you can view the core product ranges (as determined by Today's) for each category (you will  find confectionery under "impulse"). Of course Today's only focuses on the main brands here so only delve in if that is your thing.

Another interesting area is the POS Printer. With the potential to be really rather good, we think the results are a little limited at the moment, but for retailers who don't have access to any artworking software it does provide a uniform system for A4 posters, for Today's core range at least!

An interesting development that Sweet Retailing will keep an eye on and certainly a step in the right direction from Today's.

Sugro gives branded advice

If you focus on retailing the big confectionery brands, you might like to take a quick look at the new Sugro website. We registered and found that we could see the top 50 branded SKUs listed, as quoted by AC Neilson. There are also a number of planograms to consider, depending on the size of your allocated space.

Perhaps the most interesting facility is full details and images of display equipment offered by Cadbury, Mars and Nestle. From small counter top contraptions to much larger creations, you can make an enquiry about their availability direct from the website.

Another useful snippet of information from Sweet Retailing!

The price of eggs

The Guardian newspaper recently reported (22 March) that research from shopping website mySupermarket suggested a 21% increase in the price of Easter eggs this year compared to last, with certain popular branded favourites rising by as much as 140%!

For many years now, supermarkets have been selling core branded Easter eggs at extremely low prices, keeping the playing field a little out of reach for smaller confectionery retailers. So it is ironic perhaps that in such a tough economic climate, prices appear to have eventually moved upwards. Of course the main reasons for any price rises would be focused around many rising costs including cocoa and the higher VAT level.

With just a few weeks to go before Easter, I am sure that your confectionery range is well established and quite possibly extends well beyond branded shell Easter eggs. But I for one will be taking a peek in the local supermarkets to see what they are up to and whether this research stacks up substantially.

Don't forget to keep a regular eye on the Sweet Retailing website for thoughts and ideas to develop your confectionery range!

The best sweet shop name?

I was reading a very long list of sweet shop names recently - the diversity and creativity was inspiring! There seem to be some trusted old favourites in amongst some rather entertaining plays on confectionery words.

It made me ponder just what might be the most effective name for a sweet or chocolate shop. Is it something plain and simple so that it “does exactly what it says on the tin” or is something more unusual a way to stand out from the crowd? Many might say that it is the contents of the shop that matter the most and its particular location. They would not be far off the mark! Yet bearing in mind the hours of deliberation that many a retailer will have put into his shop name, it is clearly a key part to the jigsaw.

So, my ponderings are not going to give you any answers I’m afraid but I thought you might like to know some of the most common names in addition to some of the more creative names for sweet shops across the country. Of course, if your shop has an even more creative name than this, why not let us know and we could feature you on Sweet Retailing?

Ten of the most commonly used sweet and chocolate shop names:

The Chocolate Box

The Sweet Shop

The Chocolate Shop

The Candy Box

The Candy Shop

Sweet Memories

Sweets and Treats

The Toffee Shop

Humbugs

Bon Bon

Some more unusual names:

            B Chewsy

            Fudgetastic

            Toot Sweet

            Yum Yums

            Chocology

            Sugar Rush

Chocolate leads UK Fairtrade

Publishing its own updated figures today, on the first day of Fairtrade Fortnight, The Fairtrade Foundation has announced that chocolate is now officially the leading Fairtrade category in the UK based on value.

Growing fourfold, the UK Fairtrade chocolate category is now worth an astounding £342 million (2010) which apparently amounts to 2.3 million chocolate bars a day!

Overall, the UK Fairtrade market is worth £1.17 billion (2010), demonstrating growth of 40% in the last year. UK consumer recognition now stands at 74%.

This is a useful addition to the recent article that Sweet Retailing wrote about the opportunity for Fairtrade chocolate. You can read it here if you haven't already... 

Live wholesaler promotions

For those of you who might be keeping an eye on wholesaler promotions, we've just had another look at the suppliers that we are currently linking to on Sweet Retailing. If you are a confectionery wholesaler and we are NOT linking to you, you only have to ask!

HF Chocolates wins the prize at the moment for the most interesting looking promotion. If you stock (or fancy stocking) Quaranta Soft Nougat bars, the company is discounting orders by 10% to 25% depending on volume.

We tend to check out the promotions for you every couple of weeks, in between everything else that goes on with Sweet Retailing. But the links are always there for you to click on. You will need to be registered but that only takes a minute (or less) and simply helps us to understand who is using the site. Just click here to register if you like.

And once registered, you can take a good look at the supplier directory too, packed with confectionery wholesalers, manufacturers of sweets and chocolates, equipment suppliers, vending companies, shop fitters...it's all there if you care to look!

Twelve days on

The "Big Day" was 2 February around 11.30am. Sweet Retailing went live at long last! Initial interest and feedback about the site has been really positive and it can only get better. Thank you and keep it coming!

Within the last twelve days we have added a couple of great articles in the Confectionery Advice section of Sweet Retailing.

Firstly, some great market intelligence from leading provider Mintel. This should be of benefit to many confectionery retailers who wish to understand the bigger picture.

Secondly, an ever growing table of media campaigns in the confectionery industry that are live right now. Instead of giving you reems to take in, we intend to maintain a constantly updating table of the key facts for each campaign so that you can use it check that, if you stock such products, you are making the most of the opportunity. Did you know that currently, no less than £34.2 million is being invested in media by confectionery manufacturers?

A bit of trivia, the most read article is currently the profile on Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe. This tells the story of how Martin Peet has successfully grown the company into a franchise of 100 sweet shops. The speed he is going, that is probably closer to 105 by now!

We are working on a few more Sweet Talk articles at the moment, having received some fresh contact from a number of suppliers. Do get in touch if you have something to say, whether you are a small specialist confectionery supplier or a large international organisation. Unusually for many, we love it when the emails ping in!

You tell us!

It is now under a week before Sweet Retailing goes live and it's keeping us pretty busy! We have a list as long as our arms and legs put together of articles we want to research and write, so rest assured it's well worth bookmarking the site.

If you want us to be an even better resource for your business, then why not tell us if there is something that you would really like us to write about? If it's important to you it's probably important to any number of retailers and that is what we are here for! Sweet Retailing is talking to all sorts of suppliers and wholesalers and so we might just find out some answers for you. Do drop us an email or pick up the phone and have a little word in our ear when you feel the need...

you can always contact us, wherever you are

Is it all about the packaging?

Like many of you I expect, I spent too much time in too many shops in the run up to Christmas, hunting down "one last present" that I needed to buy. What struck me this year was the massive diversity of shops selling nicely packaged sweets and chocolates for gifts, even if they had never sold confectionery before in their lives! Even Next piled up retro sweets alongside men's socks - the perfect stocking filler (excuse the pun!)?

Whilst some might think that this is dreadful competition for more traditional confectionery stores, I personally think that it highlights an ever growing opportunity. You see if you studied a few of these delicious packages, and did a mental calculation of the cost of the product, the margins are pretty damn good here! Simply by taking a handful of sweets and placing them into some form of attractive packaging, they become something else in the consumer's eye and something worth paying a bit more for.

John Lewis has been good at this for many years and it always amazes me some of the prices it seems to achieve on sweet treats. Its profits over Christmas I understand have been equally amazing.

My point? Well if the bigger players can do it, why not the smaller ones too? "But you need the volume!" I hear you cry. Not always true. I can think of two ways that the same objective can be achieved and indeed value can be added to your products.

1. Take a surf on Google. I did and quickly found:
www.shcweb.co.uk/ have some simple little acetate cartons
www.ebottles.co.uk/ have some lovely glass hexagon jars
And www.hastings-crystal.co.uk/ are selling packs of 50 heart shaped tins for 77p each - perfect to pop some sweets in - they even have clear tops!



That surf took me 10 minutes and I am quite sure that there are many more packaging options out there should you choose to research it further.

2. Talk to a few specialist confectionery wholesalers. Some are starting to offer different and very interesting gifting items that can help you to serve this opportunity, with little effort from yourself and yet more margin to reward your business with.

So there you are, food for thought perhaps? We would love to hear what you think!

How Sweet Retailing was born

Welcome to the blog of a brand new resource where so much can be learnt about the art of retailing sweets and chocolates. If you found the blog before the website, please go to http://www.sweetretailing.co.uk/. But why is Sweet Retailing here in the first place?

Businesses small and large are realising the potential that exists in selling confectionery. Of course, many wise souls have known for a long time. Let's face it, we all have a long standing love affair with something sweet or chocolatey. Trade magazines might talk about the confectionery market a bit, other websites might discuss particular issues a bit, yet there is no comprehensive resource developed entirely with the confectionery retailer in mind. So here we are at last - a brand new website devoted to the subject, including its very own blog!

We don't claim to be the all singing all dancing resource just yet, but we've not made a bad start and our wish list of things to discuss and develop gets longer by the day. So please do join us as we work our socks off to help all manner of businesses have the resource and information at their fingertips to do an even better job of retailing confectionery.