Chocolate Candy Market in the U.S., 11th Edition

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Chocolate Candy Market in the U.S.

In the vast world of confectionary, few candy products possess the allure of chocolate. Doesn’t matter if it’s dark or milk or gourmet or conventional, chocolate is an indulgent favorite that appeals to Americans of all age, ethnic, and social-economic backgrounds. Chocolate is in essence an accessible luxury that creates many opportunities to trade the consumer up to premium products.

As a result of this widespread appeal, Packaged Facts views the chocolate market as dynamic and growing. The U.S. chocolate market benefits from a strong pace of innovation, an influx of creative new players and a steady flow of new products that engage consumers. Sales are projected to increase through the year 2020 and beyond.

Chocolate Candy Market in the U.S. examines the market for chocolate candy across the U.S. retail spectrum, and places the market in the larger context of the overall confectionery market, defined as the total U.S. market for chocolate/non-chocolate candy and gum. Retail channels include supermarkets and grocery stores, convenience stores, supercenters/mass merchandisers, gourmet/specialty food stores, warehouse clubs, drugstores, gourmet/specialty food stores, vending, direct-sales channels including catalogs and Internet, candy shops and specialty chocolatiers, and alternative channels such as department stores, kitchenware stores and bookstores.

Excluded from the scope of this report are other products such as chocolate-covered salted snacks, baking chocolate, chocolate cakes and ice cream, health/energy bars, nutritional snacks/trail mixes, fruit snacks, other food product products that may contain chocolate such as hot cocoa, chocolate syrup, and chocolate milk flavoring.

Report Methodology

The information contained in this report was obtained from primary and secondary research. Primary research entailed consultations with confectionery market sources, on-site examination of retail venues, and fielding a proprietary Packaged Facts online consumer survey focusing on chocolate product shopper insights – the Packaged Facts Confectionery Usage Study. Secondary research included extensive Internet canvassing and research- and data-gathering from relevant consumer business and trade publications; company reports including annual reports, press releases, and investor conference calls; company profiles in trade and consumer publications; government reports; and other food and confectionery reports by Packaged Facts.

Sales estimates are based on data from the above sources as well as IRI data for mass-market channels; SPINSscan data for natural supermarkets; published and estimated sales of major market participants; market size estimates from other sources, including those appearing in the trade press; the performance of relevant retail venues; consumer usage rates for confectionery products; and new product introduction activity in the market.

Our consumer analysis draws primarily on two data sources. The first is national consumer survey data from Simmons. Through an ongoing program of telephone and booklet questionnaire surveys of a large probability sample of consumers who represent a statistically accurate cross-section of the U.S. adult population, Simmons is able construct detailed demographic profiles across various consumer product and service markets. The discussion of consumer patterns also draws on the proprietary Packaged Facts Confectionery Usage Survey, which is based on 2,000 U.S. adults who in aggregate are census representative on the primary demographic measure of age, gender, geographic region, race/ethnicity, and presence of children in the household.