An early Easter in 2024 didn’t dent seasonal sales, as spending on confectionery topped £100m for the first time ever in the seven days up to and including Easter Sunday, according to Kantar data.
The research firm says higher prices played a role in reaching the record spend figure, but the number of chocolate eggs sold in the seven days to Easter was also 3% higher than 2023, with 37% of consumers buying one in that week. Hot cross buns were even more popular, enjoyed by 45% of Britons.
Kantar says the growth in sales of confectionery also reflected a broader trend towards snacking in British diets: “Over the past decade, there’s been an increase in almost all types of snacks. Consumers munched on chocolate confectionery 93 million more times in the year to June 2023 than in the 12 months to June 2013. Fruit has also bumped up the list of Britain’s snack choices – 314 million more pieces of fruit were eaten between meals in 2023 than in 2013.”
