Less is more
Leatherhead Food Research analyst Jonathan Thomas told this site: “There is evidence of a trend towards using less packaging for Easter eggs – for example, Cadbury now produces a range of Dairy Milk-branded Easter eggs which have no boxes.“
Director of insight for Mintel Food & Drink Marcia Mogelonsky added that the drive for sustainable packaging was continuing.
Nestle recently announced that it had made its entire Easter egg range 100% recyclable by using recyclable cardboard and compostable film.
MP: ‘Industry complacent’
However, UK Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson said last week that the industry had become “complacent” and many Easter eggs remained over-packaged and unrecyclable.
Her comments were based on the MP’s annual Easter Egg Packaging report that found chocolate only took up 38% of the surface area in egg boxes, which was the same figure as last year.
Toning-down
According to Mintel’s Mogelonsky, wrapping in the UK has been “pared down”.
“Easter confections in that market are starting to bear a close resemblance to those from the US, where the exuberant packaging that has a market in UK and Brazilian products does not really exist,”she said.
Mogelonsky continued that few manufacturers were not "messing with tradition" in colour choices.
“Yellow, purple and pastels continue to be the Easter palette,” she said.
However she gave the example of an Easter egg product boxed in pale orange from Divine, a colour typically associated with Halloween.
Novelty
“A number of companies have moved to ‘elegant’ gold foil wrapping, emulating Lindt's iconic Gold Bunny,” Mogelonsky continued.
Lindt said in its recently published 2011 Annual Report that it would be investing “large sums of money” to boost the presence of its Gold Bunny product over the crucial Easter period.
Leatherhead Food Research noted the success of novelty confectionery items in its recent ‘Innovations in the Global Confectionery Market’ report.
It said that Aero Luvabubble Lamb from Nestlé, launched in 2010, now had sales approaching £3m and new varieties, such as mint had been added.
Packaging trends are not limited Eggs. Other innovations include new product launches in share-bags.
Leatherhead, for example, pointed to Kraft’s Crème Egg Splats, which were launched at the end of 2011 for the bite-sized chocolate sector.
Both analysts said they expected Easter confectionery sales to rise in 2012, particularly in the US, UK, Brazil and Australia.
