The e-commerce data provider recently noted Halloween is a “tent pole event” on Amazon for candy brands, and this year is no exception. Amazon's growing influence in the candy space “will ultimately be good for the industry,” it said.
Amazon’s total candy sales in September and October last year grew by 38% compared to 2016, with most of that growth occurring in October, according to One Click Retail. Chocolate was a bigger seller than non-chocolate and experienced 170% sales increase in October compared to the previous month.
“In 2017, the total candy sales in October grew by 46% year-over-year and 100% month-over-month. This year, Halloween candy is on track to set a new record on Amazon,” it added.
However, to capture the seasonal sales spike, candy companies need to start early.
“Halloween had already begun to impact search behaviors by the beginning of August last year.
“Now is the time to begin optimizing product content, introducing seasonal items, tracking inventory and prepping promotions in order to capture that initial wave of traffic and drive sales all the way to the end of October,” said One Click Retail.
Search terms on Amazon
How should companies optimize their product content online? One Click retail recommended them to learn from Mars Wrigley Confectionery, which produced the top four bestselling candy items during October 2017. "All of their variety packs and three of them calling out 'Halloween' in their titles," it said.
“The top five relevant search terms during Halloween 2017 were ‘Halloween Candy,’ ‘Bulk Halloween Candy,’ ‘Halloween Candy Bulk,’ ‘Halloween Snacks,’ ‘Halloween Chocolate’,” said One Click Retail.
“What’s remarkable is that the top keyword ‘Halloween Candy’ began to be searched with frequency at the end of July, with significant increase in rank in late August and again in mid-September,” it added.
Additionally, “brands should also work to optimize their portfolio by offering a variety of product variations and pack sizes.
“Many brands in the Candy space have introduced new formats and multi-options to better serve Amazon shoppers, resulting in a lift in sales. Seasonal-specific releases have a good track record during Halloween as well,” said One Click Retail.
Avoid stocking out
The traffic spike on Amazon may start to happen weeks before Halloween, so candy brands that are not prepared for it could risk stocking out, One Click Retail noted.
That will further cause their sales to fall while other brands pick up the slack during the holiday, it said.
“Year-round candy sales on Amazon are growing rapidly, and that growth is steepest in October.
“Brands need to use last year’s sales to determine a baseline and scale up their inventory to match Amazon’s category growth,” said One Click Retail.
