Spending on chocolate has soared by £50m year on year, powered by sales of chocolate bars bought in supermarkets to eat at home. The increase in sales of multipacks and large “sharing bars” has offset a dip in sales of single bars, often impulse buys to eat on the go, from newsagents and other outlets. While the £50m sales increase is only 3% up on the total value of chocolate sales, the amount of chocolate eaten is likely to have risen by two or three times that level because the kind of chocolate bought in supermarkets is so much cheaper. Sales of small single bars and gift boxes for family and friends have declined after travel and visits to other households were curtailed by government restrictions. Analysts put the rise in chocolate sales down to the “lipstick effect” – a spending pattern where cheap treats sell especially well during tough economic times.
