Mars Wrigley and Hershey release Halloween 2018 candies: M&M’s, Skittles, KitKat, Reese’s and more

Some of the new items include Chocolate Variety Mix Party Bowl that includes Snickers, Milkyway and M&M’s branded bags of minis, and Variety Mix Haunted House Serve and Display that contains mini-sized Starburst, Twix and Musketeers.

These products came out after One Click Retail​​ recently encouraged confectioners to promote their Halloween items online as early as August to capture the seasonal sales spike.

“Halloween had already begun to impact search behaviors by the beginning of August last year,”​ said the e-commerce data provider.

“Now is the time to begin optimizing product content, introducing seasonal items, tracking inventory and prepping promotions in order to capture the initial wave of traffic and drive sales all the way to the end of October.”​

According to One Click Retail’s data, Mars Wrigley accounted for six out of 10 top-selling Halloween candies last year, including Mars Chocolate Halloween Candy Variety Mix 126.3-ounce 400-piece bag and Mars Chocolate Fall Harvest Minis Size Candy Bars Variety Mix 45.8-ounce bag.

Additionally, Hershey Chocolate Candy Bar Variety Pack, which includes Hershey’s Milk Chocolate and Reese’s, ranked fifth within the US Halloween chocolate candy category in 2017.

Euromonitor predicted the total US seasonal chocolate revenue will reach $3.06bn in 2018, increasing by 3.3% year-over-year. The expected sales also represent a total 17.9% growth from $2.6bn in 2013.