Online Halloween Chocolate Sales Doubled in 2020
Tags: Cpg, Halloween, Ecommerce, Chocolate, Online Grocery

Mondelez chocolate sales grew the most, up 163% from last year

Key Takeaways:

Walmart was the clear winner when it came to online Halloween chocolate sales among merchants.

Target (direct) had the highest peak for chocolate sales at merchants over Easter

Comparing holiday sales in 2020 saw overall online chocolate sales 13% higher the week of Easter than the week of Hallow

Halloween 2020 likely looked a bit different this year than in previous years. With COVID-19 remaining a looming threat, many people found creative ways to still celebrate the holiday in a socially distanced manner. Some homeowners in places like Staten Island, for example, used “candy shoots” to send candy to trick-or-treaters or laid candy options out on a table, while some cities in states like Massachusetts decided that there would be a complete ban on trick-or-treating during 2020. Regardless of how Halloween was celebrated, as with other holidays this year chocolate was still consumed and cavities were certainly made. To see how online spend on chocolate has been affected by COVID-19 and the spooky holiday, Edison Trends took a deep dive into over 215,300 transactions in the USA.

How has online chocolate spend changed by manufacturer this year compared to last year?

Figure 1: Chart shows estimated year-over-year growth in online chocolate sales by manufacturer comparing October 2019 vs. October 2020, for Mondelez, Hershey, Lindt, Ferrero, Nestle, Mars Wrigley, and all together, according to Edison Trends. This analysis was performed on over 21,000 transactions from over 280 vendors. These numbers don’t include sales from Amazon.

Some chocolate manufacturers saw a large year-over-year increase in online spending on their products from October 2019 compared to October 2020. Mondelez has grown the most, rising 163% YOY. Hershey and Lindt follow with 127% and 124%, then Ferrero at 104%. Nestle and Mars Wrigley round out the pack at 78% and 55%. Taken all together, these vendors grew their customers’ online spending by 100% YOY.

Comparing holiday sales in 2020 saw that overall online chocolate sales were 13% higher the week of Easter than the week of Halloween.

How has weekly online spend on chocolate changed in 2020?

Figure 2: Chart shows estimated online spend on chocolate, by vendor and week, from December 30, 2019 — November 1, 2020, for Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, Shipt, H-E-B, and Dollar General, according to Edison Trends. Note: The highest spend per week was set to 100, and other values were scaled accordingly. This analysis was performed on over 63,000 transactions for Hershey’s, Mars Wrigley, Nestle, Mondelez, Ferrero, and Lindt chocolate.

While Target (direct) had the highest peak over Easter, Walmart was the clear winner when it came to online Halloween chocolate sales. In the week of October 26, they bested Target by 156%. Sam’s Club came in third that week, followed by Shipt, H-E-B, and Dollar General. This ordering is also a change from Easter, when Shipt — which receives a large portion of their business from Target orders — came in third.

To access the full version of this report that includes weekly online spend on chocolate by manufacturer and growth changes in online chocolate spend by manufacturers and merchants during the Halloween holiday sales period, please contact us at bizdev@edison.tech.

As the market evolves, we will continue to stay on top of the latest trends. To learn more about how Edison Trends can help your business, contact us at bizdev@edison.tech. For more up-to-date insights in the e-commerce space, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter at @EdisonTrends.

*The data shown is based on a sample of anonymized and aggregated e-receipts from millions of consumers in the United States.