The UK confectionery sector is experiencing growth due to a combination of factors, including the rise of convenience stores, premiumisation trends, and a growing focus on health and sustainability.
According to research by SmartView Convenience I-TG International Services Ltd in partnership with TWC for the 52 weeks ending 23.03.25, the total confectionery market is worth £1.5bn in convenience and is growing 2.89% year on year.
Within this, chocolate, which accounts for 63.5% of the total confectionery market, is worth £999.9m and is up 4.55%.
Sugar confectionery makes up 30.4% of total confectionery, worth £478.7m and down -0.83%.
Gum accounts for 6.06% of total confectionery, worth £95.3m and up 5.25% year on year.
TWC says the main sugar category performance headline is resilient revenue: value is down by only 0.8% versus total convenience which is down -5.4%.
Sugar confectionery is in volume decline, with unit sales falling by 6.5%.
Higher prices or a premium mix are offsetting volume drops.
The traditional “Singles” format is losing appeal (35% value share), falling in both value (-6.1%) and volume unit decline (-10.8%), according to TWC and SmartView.
Sharing Bags holds 62% of category with value up by 2.3%, ahead of total sugar +0.8%.
HARIBO shows a 4.8% sales increase, holding 26% of total sugar category sales.
Own Label (+12.9%), Sour Patch (+22.6%) and Mentos (+12.8%) are the fastest growing within the top 10.
Legacy brands like Barratt and Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles declined 20–25%, according to TWC and SmartView.
Improved average pricing is cushioning revenue impacts.
The stable revenue vs. falling volume signals a need to refresh pricing, packaging, and promotions.
Lauren George, External Communications Manager, Mars Wrigley, comments: “Treating and snacking in the UK market is worth £13.3bn. Mars Wrigley is proud to have category-leading brands across the chocolate, fruity confectionery, and gum sectors of the market. We have seen consistently high, and growing, performance in all three categories – chocolate +2.7% y-o-y, fruity confectionery +8.2% y-o-y, and gum 18.5% y-o-y (Kantar). In terms of Mars Wrigley specifically, overall, we have approximately a 19.5% share of the confectionery market (Nielsen).”
Innovation accounts for 22% of confectionery growth. It is important/prevalent in bars (26%) and boxed (25%). Others include block (22%), bitesize (21%), fruity confectionery (21%) and gum (6%, Nielsen). Fun flavours and collaborations have risen through limited edition launches and this is a trend Mars Wrigley expects to be seeing lots more of.
“Confectionery is an impulse-driven category that thrives on visibility and strategic placement,” adds George. “As a leading brand, Mars Wrigley is committed to helping our wholesale partners maximise sales by leveraging impulse purchasing trends. Our category-first approach identifies new opportunities for driving shopper engagement across multiple channels.”
With a lot of cultural occasions still taking place at home, blocks of chocolate bags have favoured well. They are at the heart of shared experiences. Single bars on the other hand are much more of an impulsive purchase and about satisfying a hunger or providing a boost. The single format over indexes in the convenience sector but in grocery we are seeing more consumers planning ahead and buying multi-packs to take out and about.
PMPs offer consumers guaranteed and consistent pricing that doesn’t fluctuate every time they shop, helping to manage shopping budgets. This breeds invaluable trust – in the product and the retailer – and drives repeat purchases.
Moreover, in the confectionery category in which convenience is key, PMPs offer a quick price comparison, and are often positioned in easy-to-grab locations or display unit. This encourages impulse purchase (which in turn promotes repeat purchase) and as a result, half of convenience baskets include PMPs. And it’s not just familiar PMPs that are popular, when applied to new products, PMPs nurture a positive price perception and a reduced sense of risk, encouraging consumers to reach for them.
Fruity flavours are at the heart of Mars Wrigley’s growing gum portfolio, with last year’s EXTRA® Watermelon flavour proving popular – it achieved 5% share of fruit gum in its first year and outstripped previous fruit gum launches (NIQ). This marries up to industry trends, where fruit is the fastest growing gum segment with 70% volume growth incremental and is growing 23% faster than mint, typically recruiting younger shoppers into the category (NIQ).
Mars Wrigley has recently launched its new EXTRA® Refreshers Watermelon Raspberry flavour into the market. The launch of Refreshers Watermelon Raspberry flavour is in response to the continued growth in popularity of fruity flavours, with flavour combinations set to take centre stage this year.
A key NPD from 2024 was the M&M’S® Minis which measure a whole 3.6mm smaller than regular M&M’S® tapping into the trend for finding joy in small things. Appealing to the screentime consumption occasion while opening up new opportunities in baking and decoration, M&M’S® Minis are available in multiple pack formats: 70g Price Marked Pack, 115g Core Pouch, 176g More-To-Share Pouch and 800g Party Pack. This innovation fills the gap for a permissible treat that is fun to eat and capitalises on the Gen Z target market’s love of new and exciting tastes, offering a moment of escape.
To ensure Mars Wrigley is delivering for its shoppers during cost-of-living pressures, it is looking to balance promotions across everyday low-price mechanics to medium-low price mechanics; ensuring a range of options are available for shoppers across standard and trade-up pack formats, providing the best choice every day.
“In-store branding and marketing is where we are seeing the most significant and exciting changes regarding use of brands, media and shopper activation. From branded chewing gum ends to seasonal shelving takeovers, making the confectionery aisle a destination for shoppers has provided a chance for suppliers and retailers alike to engage shoppers in new, innovative ways,” says George.
“In 2023 a range of innovative branded merchandising was applied to confectionery aisles in key retailers, encouraging an increased dwell time from shoppers across the category. For example, M&MS® Colourworks walls were introduced to several Asda stores earlier this year, providing a new, engaging way for shoppers to interact with the brand, and attract them further into the store.”
2024 was a landmark year for Bebeto, achieving remarkable growth by doubling turnover in just two years. Phil Hulme, Commercial Director at Kervan Gida UK, shares the story behind their success: “We sold over 46 million packs of sweets, welcomed 21 new customers, and gained over 40,000 social media followers. It was a phenomenal year for us, capped off by the launch of eight new products, including fan favourites like Super Sour Weenie Worms and our viral Freeze-Dried Sweets. These innovations, combined with a commitment to maintaining a £1 price point across our core range, has helped us achieve an estimated RSV of £42m. In the retail grocery sector we were the 4th fastest growing sugar confectionery brand, increasing retail sales by +37.3% yoy in 2024.”
Centre-filled technology is one of the most exciting trends in confectionery today. It’s particularly popular with Gen Z, who love experimenting with bold flavours and textures.
“We’re thrilled to lead the way with this innovation and offer UK consumers a unique, high-quality confectionery experience with our latest NPD,” adds Hulme. “This marks an exciting new chapter for the Bebeto brand in the UK.”
Bebeto Forest Fruits are a centre-filled treat delivering a burst of fruity flavour with a gooey strawberry centre wrapped in a soft, foam-backed gummy. They are available in three vibrant flavours—Cherry, Strawberry, and Raspberry, at £1 RRP.
Kervan Gida supports all UK customers with tailored promotions and supports wholesalers with brochure features and mailouts offering their customers promotions on the Bebeto products.
The company can provide everything from display stands to FSDUs and POS of any kind. It can supply these to cash and carries and delivered wholesalers for their retailer estates.
Following the phenomenal success of its Freeze Dried sweets – which generated nearly £4 million in RSV within just six months – Bebeto, the UK’s leading challenger confectionery brand, is delighted to announce the launch of two brand-new flavours in its innovative Freeze Crunchy range: Bubble Gum Bottles and Blue Raspberry Rings.
These new additions will be available in shelf-ready packaging (SRP) of 12 x 35g pouches, with an RRP of £2.00. Each resealable pouch is designed to preserve the sweets’ signature crunch by locking out moisture. Like the rest of the range, the new products are Halal-certified.
The freeze-drying process – commonly used in space exploration and emergency rations – freezes the sweets before using a vacuum to extract moisture. The result is a bold flavour experience and an ultra-crunchy texture that consumers have dubbed a total game-changer.
Hulme says: “Having sold almost 2 million packs and generating nearly £4 million in sales, we’ve been thrilled by the incredible response to our Freeze Dried range. Retailers, wholesalers and shoppers across the UK have embraced the launch, and the momentum shows no signs of slowing down.
“The #freezedriedcandy hashtag has now surpassed 4.7 billion views on TikTok, proving just how strong the trend and demand is. That’s why we’re expanding the range with two exciting new flavours – Bubble Gum Bottles and Blue Raspberry Rings – which we’re confident will resonate with both loyal fans and new consumers eager to experience the sweets with a new sour and nostalgic twist.
“Bebeto is the only freeze dried confectionery brand in the UK to own its end-to-end production process including its own freeze-drying facility. This vertical supply chain means unmatched consistency, control, and one of the most competitive price points on the market. At just £2 per pack – we believe this range will continue to deliver strong results for our retail partners.”
The Reese’s brand is bringing a bold new twist to its beloved peanut butter line-up with the launch of Reese’s Peanut Butter White Bar, perfect for sharing, snacking or treating. This latest innovation pairs Reese’s signature smooth peanut butter filling with a white chocolate flavour coating, delivering the perfect balance of salty and sweet.
The new variation offers an alternative to the classic combination of peanut butter and milk chocolate flavour, expanding the range to appeal to changing consumer tastes. White Chocolate is the second-largest flavour segment after Chocolate, growing by +32.9% in 2024 (+£14.5m in total sales, Circana).
The Reese’s Peanut Butter White Bar’s design incorporates the iconic shape of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups into the mould, including the signature ridges, bringing the brand’s most recognisable format into this NPD.
Jackson Hitchon, General Manager of Europe, Middle East, Africa, and World Travel Retail at The Hershey Company, commented “We are excited to introduce the Reese’s Peanut Butter White Bar to British consumers, building on the success of the original Reese’s Peanut Butter Bar. This design evolution strengthens the consumer connection to the iconic cups, while maintaining the signature sweet and salty peanut butter experience. The innovation highlights our commitment to new flavours and formats, staying true to the Reese’s taste everyone loves. At The Hershey Company, we’re dedicated to creating exciting products that cater to evolving market preferences and consumer interests – because Reese’s is anything but ordinary.”
Designed for peanut butter enthusiasts and white chocolate flavour fans alike, the new Reese’s Peanut Butter White Bar offers a delightful take on the classic Reese’s flavour consumers love.
The recommended selling price of Reese’s Peanut Butter White Bar (90g) is £1.75.
Kathryn Hague, Head of Marketing at World of Sweets, comments: “Novelty confectionery is one of our best-selling categories. This is because the products’ eye-catching packaging, playful elements and bold flavours make them stand out from the shelves and encourage impulse buys. Novelty sweets also have attractive prices, usually staying in the £1 to £3 range which appeal to younger customers who want to treat themselves with their pocket money.”
Leading brands in the category such as Crazy Candy Factory, Kidsmania and Sweet Bandit offer a wide selection of fun and exciting novelty sweets, stocking everything from food-shaped treats and dip n lick lollipops to super sour liquid candy and mini gumball machines. With such a wide range of novelty treats available, wholesalers are encouraged to drive sales by keeping their ranges fresh with NPD to retain the new and exciting appeal.
“Share bags are also one of our best-selling product formats,” adds Hague. “Our Bonds of London share bags are very popular, featuring a wide variety of customer favourite sweets such as Jelly Beans, Wine Gums, Strawberry Bon Bons, Watermelon Slices and Cola Bottles. For their 130th birthday, the brand has launched a new share bag range, in partnership with Our Dementia Choir. The new range includes their four top-selling Bonds share bags – Lemon Sherberts, Pear Drops, Butter Mintoes and Rhubarb and Custard sweets, with all the bags available in brand new packaging.”
A new, exciting launch from the Crazy Candy Factory brand is the Paint Dripz product line which includes blue razz flavoured brush-shaped lollipops with a matching liquid candy bucket of ‘paint’. The fun shape makes it an innovative new dip and lick option for a novelty range, and the affordable RRP of just £1.29 makes it appealing for the younger customers.
Another exciting launch from Crazy Candy Factory is the Dip n Dunk 3-in-1 fruity lollipop that comes with sour sherbet and sour liquid candy. Dip n Dunk has a retail price of just a pound and comes in three flavour combinations – strawberry & watermelon, blue razz & strawberry and watermelon & blue razz.
The popular Barratt® brand has also welcomed innovative products to its wide selection of sweets. Their new candy floss product line is available in the classic Barratt® flavourings, but all have a unique twist to them. The WHAM® candy floss has popping candy scattered throughout an iconic sour raspberry flavoured floss, while Flumps® has crunchy, dehydrated mallows hidden within a vanilla floss.
Customers can find popping candy sprinkled in lemon and strawberry floss when eating the Dib Dab® floss, and the Fruit Salad® candy floss contains a mix of raspberry and pineapple flavoured floss that when eaten together, tastes like the much-loved retro classic chew.
Barratt® has also launched Fruit Salad® Duo Drops RRP £1, which contain raspberry and pineapple flavoured liquid candy. Duo Drops offer a new way to enjoy the classic Fruit Salad flavours – simply pop the lid and squeeze both sides to experience the flavours together.
New to the iconic PEZ range is the Stitch dispenser which is expected to be very popular among shoppers. World of Sweets is encouraging wholesalers to stock up on this new addition to drive sales ahead of the new movie launch.
An upcoming launch is a new partnership with Gumi Yum. The Gumi Yum candy egg features eight fruit flavoured gummy candy strips that can be unwrapped to reveal a surprise toy inside.
“Wholesalers should ensure they have a strong display, and that their shelves are well stocked throughout the day. Products should also be brought forward to show the full display of merchandise. This will catch the customer’s eye, and boost interest, turning into impulse buys,” says Hague.
“All of the sugar confectionery products should be displayed with clear POS. Clear signage about any current promotions and offers is also encouraged to attract customers to the shelves.
“Offering a variety of confectionery for customers to choose from can boost footfall and drive sales. Staying updated on new product launches and trends will help increase profits.”
Declan Hassett, Licensing Manager at Diageo, comments: “A growing consumer trend is the move towards premiumisation, with shoppers demanding enhanced quality and value. For example, a recent survey revealed that despite the uncertain economic climate, consumers are continuing to spend on affordable luxuries (Deloitte), showing a willingness to treat themselves to small, accessible items. The consumer traction for the treating trend is only expected to grow, with the global treat category expected to be worth $479bn in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 4.4% (Euromonitor).”
Within the UK’s treating market, chocolate is the biggest treat category, worth over £6.8bn (Euromonitor).
“When we combine this category with the growing premiumisation trend, we can see the big opportunity for wholesales, where stocking stand-out, unique and diverse products from trusted brands that surprise and delight shoppers, will encourage them to trade up and try something new,” adds Hassett. “With 59% of shoppers liking to try new and different products (Kantar) but 9% not finding what they’re looking for in store (Kantar), licensed products can play a key part in driving incremental sales for retailers in-store across different categories. So by stocking licensed products, wholesalers can benefit from highly salient and well-loved household brands’ help to have influence outside of traditional categories.”
The food and beverage category is now one of the fastest growing sectors within the brand licensing industry, worth £58bn (Licensing International), and Diageo is number 56 in the top 150 Global Licensors, generating $400m in retail sales annually (License Global).
Baileys – the number one loved spirits brand in GB (Kantar) – is synonymous with treating, from its indulgent blend of Irish cream and whiskey with rich chocolate and vanilla flavours, through to its extension into the world of confectionary through licensing. The brand’s licensed products take the distinctive taste, unique flavour and quality of Baileys Original Irish Cream into new areas of the store, from the chocolate and confectionery aisle through to the desserts and frozen aisle – with the potential to drive up to 20% uplift in incremental sales for retailers (Kantar) – something that wholesalers who stock them can benefit from too.
Baileys licensed products are hugely popular with adult consumers, with more than four million licensed products sold in the UK last year, equating to one product sold every eight seconds, and 24 million products sold globally (Euromonitor). Additionally, we know that almost 1 in 10 households in Great Britain buy Baileys licensed products, which equates to 2.5 million shoppers (Kantar). These statistics demonstrate not only the power of a brand such as Baileys amongst consumers but also presents a key opportunity for retailers, to not only encourage their spirits sales but capture the attention of shoppers elsewhere in-store.
Data shows that Baileys licensed products drive incrementality to the core by harnessing the brand’s saliency, with Baileys Chocolate Confectionery driving most unique shoppers (Kantar). Baileys chocolate was the fastest growing premium chocolate brand in Great Britain last year (Nielsen), and looking at Easter specifically, currently the fastest growing Easter Egg in GB is Baileys which reveals that ensuring relevance for Baileys through successful licensed partnerships, can enable the brand – and retailers – to breakthrough into new categories and recruit new consumers.
“When it comes to maximising the opportunity with branded licensed products, there is a scope to be creative and bring the occasion and opportunity to life for consumers, where treat shoppers are occasion led rather than category led,” adds Hassett. “Using innovative merchandising strategies that disrupt shopper journeys and encourage impulse purchases is important. Additionally, branded licensed products can be used to create cross-category touchpoints in-depot that reinforce brand awareness and contribute to incremental sales.” ‘
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