How chocolate brands can counter the spending squeeze by courageously owning the moment.

Chocolate’s a solace when work gets you down, an indulgence when good times call and sometimes a momentary distraction from the same old everyday.

Which is why for 15% of the UK population, a bar, a brownie or a snack pack is a mainstay of daily life. A world of chocoholics would be every chocolatier’s dream!

But if you’re building brands in this category, here’s something you may not have considered: while the every-day consumers can always be depended on, it may be the other 85% that really make things interesting.

You see, if purchase frequency can be increased amongst the more occasional buyers, the impact on bottom line will be significant.

The question is, how do you achieve this, with inflation continuing to melt spending power, like chocolate coins under the glare of heatwave Charon?

Understanding what triggers purchase making decisions is a start.

Do you recognise when the good ol’ lipstick effect is in effect, with shoppers craving small indulgences to stave off the daily gloom?

And what does it mean for you when, in the food category, during tough times, consumers tend to trade down, perhaps switching from leading brands to value-for-money store brands?

Whether you operate at the more premium or the affordable end of the market, establishing the context, so you can communicate your brand appropriately, is key.

If you know the problem, you can work it.

But right now, the problems may well be coming out of your ears.

On top of the cost-of-living crisis, HFSS regulation has clipped your wings in-store.

That is, in the stores you’ve heroically managed to secure a placement in.

Because in this hotly contested market, landing a presence in major retail is not unlike unwrapping Charlie’s golden ticket.

A small study we recently conducted found that on average Mars, Cadburys and Nestlé dominate 76.7% of leading-supermarket shelf space.

A further 4.35% is given over to store brands, which leaves less than 19% of retail estate available to a brilliant but bottomless selection box of independents and challengers.

If you’re one of them, how do you compete?

Well, while impulse purchases, locked up in meal deals and shelf-space domination, may be out of bounds, if you want to win over the tastebuds of the more occasional buyers, the trick lies in establishing new consumption rituals, claiming new moments of indulgence in these increasingly uncertain times.

To help make this happen, here at Kastner London, we’ve developed the Bitesize Breakdown, a 5-point checklist for any brand in the category.

Five ideas to keep chocolate flying off the shelves.

Building on 36 years of partnership with Red Bull and our experiences working with Vita Coco, Tick Tock Tea, Blood Monkey and more, the Bitesize Breakdown is designed to give you food for thought, exploring how you can step up to the problems you face in the market today.

Want to discover how it could help you drive an uplift in your sales?

Got a problem that’s keeping you up at night and could use a fresh perspective?

Keen to understand what the agency that’s partnered Red Bull for nearly four decades could bring to your business?

Then why not drop our Head of Client Services, Josh Wilkin a message.

We’d love to show you what Kastner London can do for you.