October is here and the countdown is on to Halloween. Beyond clever costumes and extended bedtimes for kids, you can’t have Halloween without chocolate. Now…let’s explore some macro trends that SPINS has seen within the chocolate category at INFRA over the past year.
Like so many center store categories in the past couple years, chocolate has seen a steady increase in average retail price. According to SPINS, the most recent 4 week period saw a 6% increase in average retail price for chocolate products at INFRA, though that levels out to 2% when looking at a broader 52 week view.
As you can imagine, that has some ripple effects across the industry. Using SPINS’ International attribute, we see that more traditional chocolate-producing countries had some of the highest increases in average retail price across all INFRA members. Chocolate tied to Switzerland had its ARP jump 11% at INFRA, while Belgium’s ARP rose to 12%! Conversely, some of the top growing chocolate countries with low ARP fell outside of that “traditional” group. India had a 108% growth in INFRA sales while also decreasing their ARP by 6%, and chocolate from Turkey grew 35% at INFRA and deceased their ARP by 2.5%.
Another macro trend in chocolate worth keeping tabs on is functional ingredients. Just like recent innovations in the soda space, chocolate brands are looking to entice consumers with bonus health benefits beyond sweet tooth satisfaction. Looking at SPINS data, Stevia is the #1 functional ingredient found in chocolate sales at INFRA, which is a notable embrace considering Stevia’s “contentious” reputation over the years. Mushrooms like Reishi (up 55%) and Ashwagandha (up 52%) are also succeeding at INFRA by offering novel benefits like antioxidants, inflammation control, and stress reduction…all from chocolate!
Finally, it’s important to note that October is only the 7th highest month for chocolate sales at INFRA. December leads the way, followed by February, April, March, May, and November. So, while your Halloween set is already locked in by the time you receive this, you can still utilize these insights for many months to come.
May you have a delicious and fruitful October and as always, we’ll see you at the show!