Chocolate tablet retains its popularity

Chocolate in tablet form is as popular as ever, at annual level nine out of ten households purchase the category. The average family buys 200g every three and a half week. Sales grew significantly in the last two years, thanks to the increase in buying frequency, which also occurred in the praline and seasonal chocolate categories but not among chocolate bars. Private label products were the driving force behind the sales growth: their volume share reached 40 percent in the 12-month period ending in July 2014. This trend put pressure on manufacturer brands: in the last year 36 percent (in volume) of the chocolate tablet bought by households was purchased in promotion. Volume sales of white chocolate grew most robustly. Milk chocolate’s market weight is reducing but it is still at 60 percent, dark chocolate is at 31 percent (sales are growing), white chocolate represents 7 percent of the market and mixed-type chocolate’s share is 2 percent (sales have remained stable).