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.