Giving sweet treats as gifts is more than just a win for raising brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty; it’s good for business sales too. While HFSS restrictions, the cost-of-living crisis and cocoa shortages continue to affect the sector, gifting and seasonal launches remain a success story.
Market intelligence provider Mintel reveals in its latest 2024 research report that premium chocolate will continue to be a significant component of the category over the next two years.
With premium confectionery – a consumer go-to for gifts – here to stay, luxury brands can also combine premium with better-for-you healthier alternatives that contain reduced sugar, vegan options, and eco-focused ranges that are packaged in high-end formats with bespoke elements.
Stabilising confectionery sales
Demand for gifting offers the potential to salvage dwindling chocolate sales. Leading chocolate brands have enjoyed sweet success from their gifting ranges.
In its latest sales-to-date for 2024 and outlook for the rest of the year, Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company Lindt said its direct-to-consumer channels, including its retail and online stores, have grown by 15.8% compared to 2023. Lindt puts its growth predominantly down to consumer demands for gifting.
Mondelez-owned Toblerone saw sales of its premium truffles increase by 23.7% in value in July 2023, growing by 18.4%.
Entering the travel retail sector
Duty-free confectionery has become synonymous with gift-giving over the years. And it’s a trend that’s not going away, as this summer has seen global brands team up and unveil new ranges exclusively for the travel sector. These can also connect to seasons and occasions throughout the year.
Luxury Belgian chocolatier, Neuhaus, has set its sights on expanding its presence in the premium travel retail market with eye-catching destination packaging in 2024. This year saw the leading confectioner extend the shelf life on its 28-piece praline History Box gifting option to make it suitable for the travel retail sector. Growth in the destination market sees Neuhaus expand beyond Brussels into Paris and London as well as Abu Dhabi in the UAE and München in Germany.
Known for its premium quality, Danish confectionery brand Anthon Berg has teamed up with Baileys Tasting Selection range to offer a travel retail-exclusive confectionery product range. Entering travel destinations in March 2025, Anthon Berg’s latest collaboration will see it combine its signature premium dark chocolate bottles with four Baileys flavours in 300 airports around the globe.
Marketing, beyond generations
“The future of marketing is intergenerational”, the title of a 2024 Harvard Business Review article conveys. Marketers are therefore moving away from alienating any one demographic and instead producing an ‘ageless’ brand, highlighting shared and common values across age groups.
Ultimately, the aim is to build a ‘post-generational’ brand and enter into the realm of ageless marketing. Age is only one of many ways to segment consumers, after all. Research also indicates that the differences between generations are not clear and distinct. Brands can, therefore, look at their data-driven insights to offer a reliable picture of how to appeal to multiple generations accurately.
Growing in popularity with the rise of at-home eating and gift-giving during the COVID-19 pandemic, gift baskets and boxes are a novel way to combine contemporary gift-giving and convenience with classic brands and flavours that span generations.Upscale French bakery and confectionery brand Ladurée has a £165 (€195) gift basket called The Imperial Hamper. It features a box of 14 chocolate squares, a lemon candied box and pistachio nougat, alongside its famous macarons and Eugénie pastries.
US-based premium Valerie Confections brand offers its $175 (€158) handmade sweet gift basket, The Large Gift Set. Its confectionery collection contains an 18-piece Baby Grand Assortment featuring almond toffee treats, two chocolate bars in bittersweet and milk chocolate varieties with toasted rice and black sesame and a box of chocolate-coated caramels. Chocolate fans can opt for Harry & David Chest of Chocolates. Priced at $99.99 (€90), the collection offers truffles, malt balls and chocolate-covered pretzels.
Eclectic flavour profiles and interesting textures are proving popular with shoppers buying gifts. Vosges Haut-Chocolat is tapping into this with its $50 (€45) Exotic Truffle Collection, complete with pasilla chiles, dulce de leche and olive oil.
