UK chocolate sales have soared by \u00a350 million year-on-year, boosted by chocolate bar sales in supermarkets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is no surprise, as during the pandemic, Brits were put into lockdown, and even after lockdown was lifted, people continued to work from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u00a350 million sales, only contributes to a 3% increase in the total value of chocolate sales. Even though the amount of chocolate consumed may have risen by two or three times that level but the type of chocolate bought in supermarkets is much cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst there’s an increase in sales of multi-packs and larger bars for sharing. single bars sales dipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to analysts at research group Kantar, sales of multi-packs of chocolate bars in supermarkets are up by more than a fifth, but the biggest increase has come from larger sharing bars, sales of which are up nearly 46% in supermarkets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
British supermarket, Waitrose said its sales of large sharing bars of brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk were up by 37%. Demand for the supermarket\u2019s own-label bars was also up by a fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to government restrictions from the pandemic, travel and home visits were restricted, resulting in a decline of sales for small single bars and gift boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Analysts put the overall rise in chocolate sales down to the ‘lipstick effect’. This is when facing an economic crisis, consumers will be more willing to buy less luxury goods and cheap treats sell especially well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are interested to see numbers for the speciality industry, which serves a different demographic. Hopefully, these will not be impacted by this ‘lipstick effect’ as much as commodity chocolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson Woods, a consumer specialist at Kantar, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n