Easter bunny sitting in the grass

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2025/2-3.

Consumers are feeling this with their wallets and are making changes: they are looking for smaller products, substitutes or they pay more attention to promotions.

Panna Miklós
confectionery
business manager
Nestlé

Panna Miklós, confectionery business manager of Nestlé:

“This trend is particularly true for seasonal chocolates, which have a high price per kilogram compared to other sweets. As a result, after dynamic double-digit growth in the past, the category of seasonal chocolate figures is stagnating”.

Pál Molnár
commercial director
Szerencsi Bonbon

Pál Molnár, commercial director of Szerencsi Bonbon Kft:

“The prices of almost all raw materials keep rising: milk derivatives, cocoa butter, cocoa paste, etc. Only the price of sugar is reducing, but sweetener prices continue to climb”.

Kitti Lázár
BOCI marketing
manager
Cerbona

Kitti Lázár, BOCI marketing manager of Cerbona Food Production Zrt.:

“At Easter 2025 demand is expected to remain at the level of last year, with the difference that consumers will prefer smaller, affordable but high-quality products”.

Same but smaller

It is important to emphasise that economising doesn’t necessarily mean compromising on quality. The position of branded products is solid exactly because of their guaranteed quality. At the same time consumers are switching to smaller formats or to other chocolate subcategories that offer better value for money.

Instead of the classic 80-100g products of the past, they are now opting for 50g or smaller chocolates, explains Panna Miklós. Despite the above trends Nestlé’s 85g SMARTIES and KITKAT bunnies remained the best-sellers from the Easter portfolio last year. The company has a number of surprises in store for Easter 2025: a SMARTIES plush toy gift box will be available in a smaller size and the company is also preparing a multipack.

Inflation is expected to force manufacturers to focus on price-sensitive segments, while premium products remain a promising segment of the market

The iconic BALATON brand will be offering an Easter bunny for the first time this year, in 45g size, at an affordable price. Cerbona – the company is now the distributor of the BOCI brand – has learned it from the 2024 Easter season that the brand’s buyers still prefer traditional, well-known products such as chocolate bunnies and eggs. Shoppers appreciate aesthetic packaging more and more. In the 2024 Easter season the most successful BOCI chocolates were the classic milk chocolate figures, especially the chocolate bunnies and eggs, informs Kitti Lázár.

Surprise Eggs: not just for Easter!

Brúnó Homola
managing director, owner
Salesrep

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