Understandably, there was a marked decline in Halloween parties and get-togethers last year but those that did take place were likely outdoors.
Whilst circumstances this Halloween season means we can entertain guests in the home more comfortably, the trend for winter barbecues continues to gain momentum – and entertaining outdoors demands different menu items.
Chris McLaughlin, Commercial Director at St Pierre Groupe, comments: “Guests need to be able to eat handheld items, but hosts and guests don’t want to compromise on flavour. That’s why St Pierre is well-placed for such occasions. Its products offer an upgrade, with delicious brioche for elevated bonfire burgers and Halloween hot dogs.”
With inflation on the rise and household energy bills and fuel costs increasing, shoppers are likely to be more discerning, but people will continue to look for ways to add something special when it comes to gatherings, because they miss the luxuries of frequent dining out or travelling.
“Indulgence is another trend gaining traction as many embrace the little pick-me-ups that we all need from time to time,” adds McLaughlin. “Wholesalers can easily cater to these trends by providing ranges that allow customers to ‘upgrade’ from traditional staples for their Halloween offering.”
Brioche is one key way to enable customers to do this and St Pierre’s brioche range is an ideal base for enhancing burger and hot dog recipes. The brand has a MAT growth of 74 per cent (Nielsen) and is the UK’s favourite burger bun brand.
Its best-sellers are St Pierre Brioche and Seeded Brioche Burger Buns, offering customers a simple way to elevate their Halloween gatherings.
St Pierre is the biggest burger bun brand in the UK, with one bun sold every second in 2021.
Brioche Burger Buns alone are worth £9.2m to the sector (Nielsen), with sales of Seeded variant increasing 299 per cent in the last 12 months and now selling £3.9m in L52 Weeks (Nielsen). The brand is maintaining sales year-round, which is in part down to the versatility of brioche as a base for different flavour combinations and its suitability across every meal occasion. Independent taste tests have officially awarded St Pierre the UK’s ‘best-tasting’ brioche and for shoppers looking to elevate their meals, that goes a long way.
Brioche Baguettes also hold appeal at this time of year, offering a more hearty option for handheld meals.
“Consistent brand building in consumer and trade spaces plays a key role as wholesalers and retailers want to offer trusted brands,” says McLaughlin. “St Pierre continues to build awareness and loyalty with increased marketing spend throughout the year with a raft of campaigns. These are designed to highlight the versatility of our products across all meal occasions, including seasonal periods like Halloween.”
The brand’s consumer website and social media channels play a key part in demonstrating the product versatility and it has a dedicated Halloween content campaign this year, to really highlight the suitability of St Pierre to the spooky season.
“Savvy wholesalers will plan ahead and prepare for a natural uplift in sales during this time,” continues McLaughlin. “The St Pierre range benefits from extended life, which has boosted success in the wholesale sector, allowing wholesalers to navigate unpredictable shopping and dining habits – guaranteeing availability and reducing wastage – particularly around key periods like Halloween and Bonfire Night.”
Gabriella Egleton – Senior Brand Manager – Kervan Gida UK Ltd, comments: “Decorations, Accessories, Vegetables ‘pumpkins and squashes’, Chocolate, Cakes, and of course sweets all benefit from the Halloween season. Arguably confectionery is one of, if not the top category to benefit, with sugar confectionery a key driver of sales. In fact, Halloween is the UK’s third biggest retail event in the confectionery calendar.”
Hygienic packaging post-covid is likely to be one of the top consumer priorities for Halloween, this year. As consumers welcome trick or treaters again, they will be more conscious than ever about what they give out and how it’s packaged. Individually wrapped formats help to tackle this fear.
Kervan Gida is going to be launching its Bebeto Trick or Treat Party Box to meet this demand. Each party box is 825g and contains 55 x 15g miniature bags of spooky mix. Packed in a handy gravity-fed, full-colour SRP, this packing format is perfect for consumers who want a hygiene-friendly option to hand out to trick or treaters who come knocking at their doors. Notably, each mini 15g also includes its own barcode, making this a great themed convenience-store line for Halloween.
“Another important consideration is HFSS, which will impact where and how products are placed in store,” adds Egleton. “C-stores need to pay particular attention to layout and merchandising to abide by legislation but also to drive sales during this seasonal period. Our advice for retailers is to ensure they promote through key messaging in shop windows and via online advertisements, and to ensure they give key space in the confectionery aisle to sharing bags, multipacks, and themed Halloween lines. Ensure the display is clean and shoppable and segmented into occasions (perfect for parties / perfect for trick or treaters).” Consumers may also be looking for products that appear to be healthier alternatives or ‘better for you’. New Spooky Mix products are free from artificial colours and flavours plus are vegan approved! Consumers are also paying more attention to their environmental impact based on the products they use and consume. Products using less or no plastic packaging will appeal to these consumers. Bebeto Trick or Treat Party Box comes in a box.
According to consumer Goods Insight (IGD) Pre Covid, 1 in 3 people celebrated either by attending or hosting a Halloween party, and 7 out of 10 shoppers did not celebrate Halloween at all in 2020. After many consumers missed out on celebrating with parties and trick or treating in 2020 and 2021, Halloween 2022 is set to be bigger than ever.
“Whilst HFSS and inflation threaten the rate of growth, we believe it’s set to be an interesting year. Even if trick or treaters don’t appear in force, we believe more households will be celebrating in some way so retailers need to stock up on spooky & sweet treats,” says Egleton.
“We think consumers are going to be celebrating at home with spooky movie nights and small family gatherings and parties, readily awaiting trick or treaters. Stock up on sharing bags (think what works well for Big Night In) and products suitable for parties and families including wrapped products for trick or treaters.
“Due to HFSS stores won’t be able to use front-of-store positioning or till point positions to upsell Halloween stock, so they will need to get creative. A designated seasonal area will help, think about drawing consumer attention with decorations and signage.
Use social media to show-off your store displays as well.”
Sophia Padt, Senior Brand Manager, Mars Wrigley Easter & Halloween, comments: “Last year, seasonal confectionery sales grew by 27% around the Halloween occasion (Kantar), with the trick or treating ritual growing in popularity following the two years of restrictions. Fun size formats prove to be perfect for the trick or treating ritual, making them a must stock for wholesalers looking to make the most of the Halloween occasion. With Mars Wrigley having a 60% share of chocolate funsize for the Halloween occasion in 2021, stocking the brand’s top selling fun size ranges will be key (Nielsen).”
Halloween provides a huge opportunity for wholesalers, with confectionery bringing in £39.6M in incremental spend, the largest of all Halloween categories last year (Kantar). Wholesalers can increase consumer confectionery spend with Halloween themed sharing bags and tubs, alongside growing the overall confectionery category.
“For wholesalers looking to drive sales during the Halloween and Bonfire Night occasions, it is important to stock consumer favourite products in a variety of formats,” adds Padt. “Fun size SKUs, sharing bags and tubs prove to be particularly popular for both Halloween and Bonfire Night, as they can be used for trick or treaters, at home celebrations, those having a big night in to watch scary movies together, or fireworks, or those looking to create festive bakes.”
Mars Wrigley’s portfolio includes Maltesers, the number one chocolate fun size range in terms of scale and return on sales for retailers (Nielsen).
“Stocking the Maltesers range in key formats will be key in increasing basket spend of consumers for the Halloween and Bonfire Night occasions,” says Padt. “Skittles is another key must stock for wholesalers. The brand is the number one fruity fun size format in terms of value sales, and number one recruiter to the fruity confectionery category (Nielsen).”
M&M’s range has a long-standing association with shared screen time, making it ideal for retailers looking to make the most of the big night in occasion on the lead up to Halloween and Bonfire Night. M&M’s bitesize range includes consumer favourite flavours peanut, crispy and chocolate. With 85% of the brand’s volume coming from the bitesize range, this is a must stock for wholesalers.
Tubs are another format that wholesalers should consider for both Halloween and Bonfire Night to increase sales, with the sharing formats working well for occasions where consumers come together to celebrate. The Celebrations tub was the no. 1 value SKU between 2018-2021, over the Halloween period, over-trading with younger shoppers (Nielsen).
Susan Nash, Trade Communications Manager at Mondelez International, comments: “Treatsize chocolate bags, such as Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons, Cadbury Fudge, and Cadbury Crunchie are always a popular choice for shoppers hosting gatherings or catering for trick-or-treaters. Consumers find Mondelez International’s treatsize range eerie-sistible. Last year, it grew ahead of the category by over 54%, and with many different treats available across several different SKUs, there’s something for everyone. What’s more, the Cadbury Treatsize bag was the season’s #1 best-selling product – the ideal individually wrapped treat for trick-or-treaters.”
Fondant-filled Cadbury Goo Heads are firm shopper favourites and are making a return for this year’s season in both five-pack and mini sharing bag formats. Brand-new for this year, however, Cadbury Goo Heads are available in a convenient and impactful clip strip format which are perfect for retailers’ impulse and incremental sales in-aisle.
Also returning this year are Cadbury Skeleton Fingers, which sees the delicious-yet-spooky combination of Cadbury White chocolate and crispy biscuit in a convenient sharing box. Another product perfect for sharing are OREO Spooky Biscuits. This treat has orange-coloured creme middles that are perfect for celebrating the season, while keeping their well-loved vanilla flavour. The biscuits feature a special spider-web embossed detail.
The Maynard Bassetts sharing range, including Wine Gums, Jelly Babies, and Liquorice Allsorts, is available in 400g packs. These larger formats make them perfect for gatherings and spooky visitors.
Halloween has become a valuable opportunity for wholesalers and convenience retailers, with last year’s seasonal sales growing by 13% (NIS) and three-quarters of shoppers buying their spooky treats in-store (NIS). Mondelez International is strongly positioned to help wholesalers and convenience retailers make the most of the season, as sales of its Halloween portfolio grew ahead of the market last year with a spook-tacular 42% (NIS) year-on-year increase.
“Confectionery now outsells pumpkins in the run up to Halloween (Kantar), so a strong range is essential for any retailer come October-time. Self-eat and sharing novelties are helpful to have well-stocked for consumers shopping in both the run up to, and for Halloween night itself,” adds Nash.
“Research shows that three-quarters of shoppers buy their spooky treats in-store. For scarily good sales this year, retailers can build excitement in their stores by casting a spell on their shoppers with decorations, costumes and promotional packs.”
Lauren Potter, Fruittella Brand Manager at Perfetti Van Melle, comments: “The total UK sugar confectionery market is worth £1.7billion, and within this Perfetti Van Melle is worth over £91million. Perfetti Van Melle’s UK business is driven primarily by its Mentos and Fruittella brands, both currently worth around £56million, with Chupa Chups lollipops and Smint completing the lineup (IRI).”
Perfetti Van Melle, has revealed new research that indicates the vast majority of retailers are still set on stocking and making space for Halloween-related confectionery, and creating in store focus around the event. And shoppers are still determined to get into the party “spirit.”
The research, conducted by KAM Media, interviewed 200 retailers and 250 consumers, ahead of the first Halloween affected by the incoming HFSS regulations.
Three out of four (74%) adults plan to celebrate Halloween, the same proportion as 2021, with one in three (32%) intending to go trick or treating. Of those celebrating, 68% are likely to buy sweets or chocolate to give out to trick or treaters, a huge rise versus last year’s 58%.
44% of those celebrating Halloween are also likely to buy sweets or chocolate for gifting. And there are additional opportunities for retailers to maximise sales around Halloween beyond sweets and chocolates, with 32% of consumers intending to decorate their house and 25% saying they will wear costume.
23% of retailers said they plan to put more focus on Halloween this year, recognising it as a growing seasonal event. 36% will increase their Halloween confectionery range, and 22% will give it more space. However, the research also shows nearly two thirds of retailers (60%) give themselves less than a month to prepare their stores for Halloween.
With nearly one in five customers having already started planning their own Halloween by then, it’s worth retailers being “Halloween ready” at least six weeks before October 31st. And with almost a third (30%) of shoppers planning to shop for themed lines up to a month prior, Perfetti Van Melle recommends ordering stock and POS as early as possible.
A huge 86% of shoppers prefer wrapped sweets and chocolates for Halloween, and a similar number (83%) say packaging choices play a major part in deciding which brands to buy.
Potter adds: “Shoppers opting for wrapped sweets and chocolates for Halloween is likely to be a long-term shift in consumer preference, as it hasn’t decreased, even with people being less anxious overall about hygiene.
“Judging by the responses to our survey, Perfetti Van Melle is in a real sweet spot to respond to both shopper demand and retailer needs – individually wrapped sweets and sharing bags from the UK’s best-loved brands; Fruittella and Chupa Chups, that appeal not only at Halloween, but throughout the year.”
Mark Walker, Sales Director at Swizzels, comments: “Halloween is the biggest calendar event for sugar confectionery, and it is set to be huge for 2022 as consumers return to their pre-covid lifestyles. Therefore, it’s essential to stock a range of best-selling, well known brands to entice retailers that are looking to make the most of the festivities.”
Three of the top five Halloween products are from Swizzels (IRI) so C&Cs and wholesalers can expect retailers will be seeking the most popular products in anticipation for the season.
Perfect for all sharing occasions, Swizzels’ Variety bags have recently been rebranded to include everyone’s favourites in three different packs, such as Luscious Lollies 176g, Scrumptious Sweets 173g, and Curious Chews 171g. Available with a £1 RSP, the bags are free from artificial colours and are now all suitable for vegans.
“Swizzels is the number one variety pack seller at Halloween (IRI), so we would encourage wholesalers to stock up in anticipation for high demand,” adds Walker.
Another product from Swizzels that is perfect for selling over the Halloween period and beyond is the Sweet Shop Favourites Tub.
“One of Swizzels’ most popular products for sharing occasions – and the No.1 Tub seller at Halloween the product contains a variety of individually wrapped favourites including Squashies, Love Hearts and Refreshers, meaning there’s something for everyone, making it a guaranteed seller and a must-stock,” says Walker. “The return of pre-covid life means we expect a lot of trick or treaters this year, so this tub is the ideal people-pleaser!”
A perfect hanging bag for Halloween and Bonfire night is Marvellous Mallows, Swizzels’ entrance into the mallows market, a category worth £24.7 million (IRI).
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