Royal sales over Jubilee weekend set for UK chocolate market: Analyst

However, these benefits will only be short-term, unless manufacturers intelligently develop products that can appeal for longer.

Micheala Peck, analyst in the Consumer Business Unit at Datamonitor, said that a lot of the major chocolate brands have launched British-inspired products – with new packaging, and some format development.

“This will inevitably boost consumer spend and this is a good thing for the UK chocolate market, which tends to see a slight dip in sales following the Easter period and moving into warmer summer months,”​ Peck told ConfectioneryNews.com.

“However, I think ​I think realistically the positive impact of these special editions on product sales will be more of a short-term trend for chocolate brands,”​ she said.

Consumers will “return to their more frugal showing behaviours against a backdrop of on-going economic instability,”​ she added.

However, manufacturers “that move beyond just special edition packaging and tap into consumers’ broader lifestyle values of tradition and nostalgia too will likely achieve longer term appeal,”​ she said.

A packaging bonanza​

Peck detailed that most brands have opted for ‘easy wins’ with simple packaging alterations.

For example Cadbury’s has launched a dairy milk bar in a 1952 inspired ‘heritage’ packaging under its brand name at the time the Queen was crowned – Cadbury’s dairy milk brand - that features a crown. KitKat has adapted its name to align with the Jubilee theme, becoming ‘Brit Kat’.

However, “in ​an attempt to differentiate and not get lost in this ‘sea’ of flags, some brands have made greater investments and coupled Union Jack packaging with adapted product formats as well,”​ she said.

M&M’s has Union Jack packaging but has also gone further – with only red, white and blue peanut M&M’s inside.  Barratt has also launched a British Mix sweets assortment, with a British-inspired bag and unique shaped sweets, such as a red telephone box, a tea pot and Big Ben. However, Barratt has positioned this for the Olypmics and Euro 2012 as well as the Jubilee.

“I think it is these products that move beyond basic Union Jack packaging, which will appeal most to patriotic UK consumers,” ​Peck detailed.

Clémence Martin Saint Leon, a research analyst at Euromonitor, said Cadbury products are set to do well “because the brand is so British.”​

Martin Saint Leon added that the bitesize and family-size products as well as confectionery will also succeed over the Jubilee period as many British consumers will be having friends and family over, including children.

British differences?​

Peck noted that for mass brands, “success will be dependent on them being as bold, novel and exciting as possible in their positioning.”​

She noted that brands will be competing against one another on the special edition shelf, and so are “faced with greater levels of competition in getting noticed by consumers at the point of sale.”​

“I think subtlety will be more important at the premium end of the chocolate market because brands need to retain an element of style and sophistication in order to allure more premium shoppers,”​ she added.

Both tourists and residents will be targeted, but that manufacturers will develop different products for each consumer group, as residents are likely to buy products in mass for sharing at parties and tourist will be drawn to premium gifts and memorabilia.

Dripping chocolate success​

The chocolate category is set to benefit significantly compared to other food segments over the Jubilee period, Peck said, and this is on two accounts.

“It is a high-impulse category and consumers are more likely compared to other more staple, and more costly, food products. Secondly, given that chocolate is synonymous with indulgence and is an enjoyment-led category, it is well positioned to capitalize on the celebratory ‘Jubilee fever’ sweeping the UK this summer,”​ she explained.

However, she noted that should the weather be particularly hot and sunny, chocolate sales could be dampened and consumers could opt for sugar confectionery products instead.