Christmas confectionery, snacking and gifting

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The year 2020 may not have gone quite according to plan, but as it begins to draw to a close, shoppers’ thoughts will inevitably turn to all things festive – including confectionery, snacks, and gifts for family and friends. Independent convenience stores have seen an influx of new shoppers during the pandemic and many will be looking to translate that new footfall into added sales as Christmas approaches. Andy Mutton, managing director of Storck UK, which owns confectionery brands Toffifee and Werther’s Original, says: “Shoppers have turned to their closest convenience stores for both their main and planned top-up shopping trips, and increased their basket value. As a result, the convenience channel has seen an 8% growth in sales this year.”

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Autumn start

Even in a normal year, it can be difficult to know how early to start stocking Christmas products. Susan Nash, trade communications manager at Mondelēz International, says the first phase of the Christmas season in the convenience sector begins in September and runs through until the end of October, with an increase in the number of ‘big nights in’ – a trend that has been further accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic as people have been forced to limit their time outside the home. This early phase is when retailers can start bringing in large sharing tubs and tins. Jo Sinisgalli, gifting senior brand manager for Mars Wrigley UK, says tubs accounted for 21% of total Christmas confectionery sales last year, so they “remain crucial to winning Christmas this season”.

Mondelēz advises retailers to stock Cadbury Roses and Heroes tins, sharing bags and boxes. The Cadbury Roses tin now features a design created by potter Emma Bridgewater. Nestlé Confectionery is launching a campaign to support its Quality Street tin this year, which it says is a must-stock for convenience stores. The campaign aims to highlight the brand’s popularity across a broad audience of younger and older consumers.

Indulgent novelties

Smaller sharing bags and boxes come into play in November, says Nash, as this is when the Christmas season really kicks off for the majority of shoppers. While these are designed to be shared, they also work well as stocking-fillers. Cadbury has added Cadbury Dairy Milk Jingly Bells sharing bags to its portfolio for this year, available in Hazelnut Creme and Chocolate Noisette and joining its existing Cadbury Dairy Milk Little Robbins sharing bags. Mars Wrigley UK is bringing back its Maltesers sharing mix pouches and is adding Galaxy Caramel Truffles alongside the original Galaxy Truffles launched in 2019. Sinisgalli says the initial launchadded more than 60% incremental sales to the category. Novelty chocolates also perform well during this period, as they are a way for shoppers to treat themselves. Mondelēz is bringing back its Cadbury Dairy Milk Snowmen, available in orange and chocolate flavours, and Mars will be bringing back its Maltesers Reindeer variant, which it says remains the number one best-selling confectionery treat at Christmas.

Retailers can also use this period to stock up on novelty confectionery suitable for children. Boorer says the children’s confectionery category is worth £528m at Christmas and Kinder is the number one brand. The brand is adding Squirrel and Sloth toys to its Kinder Chocolate fluffy toy novelties range, which will join the existing Reindeer and Polar Bear variants. Ferrero is also adding a new 55g and 110g hollow Santa figure to the Kinder Chocolate portfolio.

Trading up

Once December hits, retailers should have their stores well stocked with a variety of seasonal products. Nash says this period is when shoppers are increasingly looking to trade up by buying gifting and selection packs. Premiumisation is a growing trend, according to Sinisgalli at Mars Wrigley, with premium chocolate being bought as an “affordable luxury” by 56% of those who buy and eat chocolate.

Premium boxed chocolates are an obvious gifting choice for many shoppers, but the category has faced some difficulty in recent times. Levi Boorer, customer development director at Ferrero, says Christmas 2019 saw a massive drop in the number of people socialising with family and friends, possibly due to issues surrounding the election and Brexit, and there was a rise in the number of people celebrating Christmas abroad, leading to a significantly lower growth rate (0.2%) in the convenience channel. Boorer says: “Fast forward to this year and there have been some dramatic changes to the way people behave and we believe there will be a large growth in boxed confectionery sales this year – around 3% to 4%.”

Special gifting

He says there will be an increase in people wanting to spend time together because they have spent the majority of the year apart. And with life starting to feel a bit more normal, people might want to take the opportunity to spend Christmas together. With this in mind, retailers can grow sales of boxed confectionery suitable for giving as a gift.

Boorer says: “Special gifting products, which normally contain an assortment of chocolates and are a bit more premium and expensive, will be given as a gift to someone who will eat them on their own or share with their partner.” Ferrero Rocher boxed chocolates are ideal for this occasion, says Boorer, but also the Thorntons boxed range. He says Thorntons Classic grew by 20% during Christmas 2019 and is the number one assortment brand within the classic boxed category at Christmas.

Sugar alternatives

But not everyone wants, or likes, chocolate, so retailers should offer a range of sugar confectionery alternatives. “Christmas is an important time for sugar confectionery, growing 3.4% and outperforming total confectionery at 1.3%,” says Mark Roberts, trade marketing manager at Perfetti Van Melle, which owns brands such as Mentos. “Sales of £1.4bn went through the tills on the Saturday and Monday before Christmas last year, so any retailers that stock seasonal lines are likely to see an increase in sales as shoppers shop more and more locally,” he says.

Roberts suggests retailers should not overlook pre-portioned and multi-pack formats,especially Perfetti Van Melle’s multi-packs, which he says see 13% year-on-year growth during the Christmas period. Not only are these formats suitable for shoppers worried about hygiene and contamination risks due to the coronavirus pandemic, they are also “perfect stocking-fillers and great for sharing at parties and social get-togethers”. Roberts says bags of individually wrapped sweets like Fruittella also tap into the trend for hygiene, as shoppers are moving away from “naked candy”.

Indulgent biscuits

Seasonal biscuits are also a major opportunity for convenience retailers, says Kate Needham, marketing director at Burton’s Biscuit Company. She says retailers can make the most of this opportunity by stocking products that appeal to in-home treating and gifting. Suzie Carlaw, marketing manager at Border Biscuits, says coronavirus restrictions may still be in place over the Christmas period, so people will want to treat themselves even more at home, as they will not be able to go out a celebrate. Chocolate and more indulgent biscuits will continue to be popular during the festive period, says Carlaw. The brand is launching a Luxury Chocolate Selection pack for this year, featuring two new chocolate Border biscuits and three popular chocolate varieties, including its Dark Chocolate Ginger biscuit. It will be launching a marketing campaign specifically to promote this variant.

Cheese and crackers

There is also an opportunity to encourage shoppers to trade up to premium savoury biscuits, such as crackers, which are synonymous with the festive season. “Nothing says Christmas quite like a box of crackers and a cheese board,” says Jonathan Bull, head of commercial and seasonal brands at Pladis UK & Ireland, “and this year we are back with several selection boxes from Jacob’s to satisfy key seasonal trends such as indulgence and togetherness.”

Bull says Jacob’s Biscuits for Cheese selection is a store-cupboard staple and a must-stock for retailers. The 300g tin contains a variety of “consumer favourites” such as Jacob’s Cheddars and Jacob’s Cream Crackers, retailing at £10.

Savoury sharing

Other savoury snacks such as crisps and nuts are also in growth at Christmas, points out Matt Collins, trading director at KP Snacks. He says the sharing segment within this category is growing, with an uplift in the number of shoppers buying products for socialising and entertaining at home, and is currently the largest segment within crisps, snacks, and nuts.

He says: “Daytime snacking becomes even more important over Christmas, as family and friends gather for lunches or afternoon drinks and are looking for tasty nibbles at these occasions. “As with chocolate confectionery, shoppers will be looking to trade up to morepremium products within this category. Collins says 26% of shoppers are willing to spend more on higher-quality crisps, snacks and nuts during Christmas, so “retailers shouldn’t be afraid to broaden their product offering during the seasonal period” .

Key products to tap into this include Tyrrells crisps, which Collins says give consumers the premium snacking options that research shows are in demand at Christmas. He says Tyrrells sharing bags performed well over Christmas last year, growing at 27% year on year. Nuts also see huge growth at Christmas and in 2019, says Collins, there was a 60% increase in people buying them in December alone. Last Christmas, there was a 12% increase in shoppers buying KP Nuts in December and this year the brand is bringing back its KP Caddies, which “bring in incremental category shoppers”.

Alcohol is still one of the most important categories within convenience at Christmas, says Collins, so retailers should cross-merchandise with party snacks to increase basket spend. Alcohol is also bought as a gift at Christmas, especially more premium wine and spirits. Norbert Jozsa, head of category and insight at Accolade Wines, says the Christmas period is incredibly valuable to wine, as 27% of wine sales occur in the 12-week Christmas period.

Boozy gifts

He says: “We’re confident shoppers will still be looking to trade up as we approach Christmas and they look for something special to enjoy during the festivities, as well as to gift to friends and family. Retailers can depend on Accolade Wines to drive their wine sales over the all-important Christmas trading period when consumers are looking for brands they can trust.”

Christmas spirit

Premium spirits are always a popular choice for Christmas gifting, says James Stocker, marketing director for Halewood Wines & Spirits, as shoppers look to trade up from core spirits to something “a little bit more special”. He says the gin craze is showing no signs of slowing down and recommends retailers stock a range of premium gins to tap into this trend.

Halewood is launching a range of Whitley Neill Flavoured Gin Christmas crackers this year, which will include its best-selling Rhubarb & Ginger Gin and other flavours such as Raspberry & Blood Orange. It is also launching a 12 Gins of Christmas Advent Calendar, featuring a selection of its best-selling variants.