More and more consumers have been buying chocolate and other candy online. In fact, a recent CNN article revealed that consumers shelled out $3.7 billion on chocolate during the 17-week period that ended on June 27, 2020—a 6.3 percent uptick from the previous year. Not only are consumers buying more candy, but they’re also buying bigger bags, bringing the average basket size up alongside with it.
Yet at the same time, candy sellers saw sales for 2020 Easter products drop 4 percent year-to-year. Turns out that many brands had too much product in brick-and-mortar stores—and not enough available through eCommerce channels, where the bulk of consumers are shopping these days.
It appears as though we’re using sweets to cope with boredom and stress. Candy brands that are able to fully understand this trend and figure out how to capitalize on shifting consumers behavior might very well have a lucrative PayDay in their future (see what we did there?).
It comes as no surprise that one recent report found that 16 percent of consumers say they’ve been making more impulse purchases during the lockdown. What’s more, that same study found that nearly 70 percent of those surveyed had been buying groceries online, with 28 percent of them buying more in June than they did the previous month. Further, the study found that—when they made impulse purchases online—consumers were most likely to buy snacks and ice creams.
In other words, impulse buying is driving snack sales.
To take advantage of these proclivities, grocers like Albertsons are creating sections of their websites and apps that are conducive to impulse purchases. For example, Albertsons has a row of “featured items” that includes ads for candies and other on-sale items to encourage impulse purchases.
Candy brands and retailers that sell candy need to begin thinking about what they can do to make sure they have enough inventory in stock, while also capitalizing on the switch from impulse candy buying in the checkout aisle to impulse candy buying online.
Candy manufacturers and retailers have been taking proactive steps to start preparing for the busy candy-buying seasons ahead. With that in mind, let’s take a look at three eCommerce tips you can use.
During last Easter, Mars Wrigley found itself in the unenviable position of not being able to fulfill eCommerce orders.
“We were out of product when it mattered most with key retailers,” explains Tim LeBel, Mars Wrigley’s Chief Halloween Officer. To prevent this from happening again, the candy maker will “spend a disproportionate amount of time making sure we have the right range, in the right quantities, available digitally by each banner and retailer that we do business with.”
So, first things first: You need to optimize inventory management to make sure that you have enough products on hand to keep pace with demand. Beyond that, you also need to make sure that consumers aren’t sent to a page only to find out you don’t have a specific item they were salivating over in stock.
Furthermore, when online shoppers land in your out of stock product pages, they buy from your competitors. Using a robust eCommerce platform, it’s possible to prevent these losing market share to your competitors by only showing consumers where your product is in stock. You can also show backup variants in place of originally requested products. This should help you drive sales because consumers are more willing to try substitutes at this time.
You won’t be profitable selling candy online if you’re only sending consumers one chocolate bar at a time. In order for candy brands to truly capitalize on eCommerce, it’s critical to look for opportunities to increase the basket size by way of bundling. For example, if someone’s looking for a chocolate bar, why not show them complementary products such as graham crackers and marshmallows to make s’mores?
You might also prompt consumers to tack candy onto their orders upon checkout at an online retailer or eGrocer. When you think about it, that’s pretty much the same thing as a consumer making an impulse purchase in the checkout line at the supermarket.
Because candy is an impulse purchase, consumers don’t want to have to wait several days, or even hours, to fulfill their sweet tooth.
Retailers can solve this problem by embracing the click-and-collect method in which consumers buy something online and pick it up in the store. Consumers get the products they want quickly—and without having to pay for shipping or waiting in long lines for a cashier to check them out. Because many people are wary of being indoors with strangers these days—and people love buying things online when they’re stuck at home—this functionality can really be a boon for forward-thinking retailers.
Bringing the impulse candy-buying experience online isn’t as hard as it might sound. Schedule a demo of MikMak today to find out the easiest way to make sure consumers see the candy bars they like the most in the right place at the right time.