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CONFECTIONERY A DIFFERENT WORLD OF CONFECTIONERY ONLINE RAlthough block chocolate sales on eBay to some extent mirror what’s sold in supermarkets, says online sales data specialist ShelfTrend, other confectionery categories paint a different picture. ather than half an aisle of Cadbury purple, ShelfTrend’s confectionery sales data on eBay Australia, including Coles on eBay, in some respects look quite different to what we see in supermarkets. For a start, lollies represent 78.3 per cent of the category’s 39,000-plus listings at the end of February. Chocolate sweets and assortments are next with 15.1 per cent of listings. Block chocolate is an also-ran at 3.2 per cent, with novelty chocolates at three per cent. Here, we look at each of these subcategories. Lollies: indications of trade buying Of the top 1,000 lolly listings, just over 20 per cent are unbranded. These lead in unit sales and are second in dollars sold per week. Chupa Chups leads dollar sales with $1,310 per week, likely to foodservice channels, although there may be some consumers buying for parties. The number three seller of the top 1,000 listings in dollars sold per week at $565 is a US brand, Jolly Rancher, which is not readily available in Australia. Costco’s Kirkland brand is seventh of the top 15 brands in dollars sold per week. Top individual sellers are predominantly bulk packs, eg, FruitMe 10-packs, 100 Clear Cello treats bags, Mars 226-piece packs and Wonka 1kg packs. Much of the category is therefore bulk buys in the $20 to $40 range per item, along with fairy floss sugar used in novelty fairy floss machines (Fubu fairy floss sugar is the number six seller), and Coles has very little sales in this category. Chocolate sweets and assortments: niche products Coles also has very little representation in this category. It’s mostly ‘weird and wonderful’ niche products such as liqueur chocolates and coins. Of the top unit sellers per week, unbranded products are ranked first, third and eighth. Nestlé is second and Cadbury fourth, although with a high median price of $87. Median price for the category ranges from $13 for Nestlé Japan (probably for Wasabi and Green Tea KitKats) to a whopping $182 for Grezon, Fazer and Anthon Berg brands. While there are more listings in the $10 to $30 price bracket, sales from listings within the $30-$120 price range are fairly even. The top listing is a 50 Japanese KitKat flavours assortment, followed by Grezon chocolate egg toy surprise bulk packs (eggs with plastic shells containing ‘surprise toys’ often leveraging licensed characters such as Paw Patrol and Barbie) and Anthon Berg chocolate liqueurs at number three. Other high performing sellers include Scho-Ka- Kola caffeine 10 packs from Germany, chocolate coated pretzels, Ferrero Rocher kilo packs and Cadbury 100 chocolate hearts. There may be some wedding and party sales here. Block chocolate: still about the big brands Although this category has 1,298 listings, only 28 per cent of them registered sales by the end of February, with the top four brands representing 41 per cent of these but 79 per cent of the sales volume, pointing to relative category concentration. Cadbury was the number one selling brand with 105 units per week and 46 per cent of total units sold, at an average $5 per unit, the same price as Woolworths online during the period. Nestlé was the second brand with 32 units sold per week, 14 per cent of category sales and an average sell price of $5.95. Lindt wasn’t far behind with 26 units per week and 11 per cent of total sales units, but an average sell price of $3. Fourth was Toblerone at 15 units per week, six per cent of total units but interestingly an average $21.20 price point, evidently for the bulk packs. Six of the top 10 listings were by Coles. This demonstrates how receptive eBay buyers are to large retailers being on eBay. Instead of being snubbed for the general type of eBay business, they appear to have been embraced to the extent that they’re leaders in some categories. Novelty chocolate: all about shape This category is overwhelmingly focused on shapes: hearts, coins, eggs, fish, roses, et al. Popular for wedding and party products, it’s dominated by generics, although Cadbury is number four by sales volume per week, including for its bulk mini egg packs. The appearance of eggs across categories could partly be attributed to pre-Easter sales, although the Grezon toy surprise eggs register consistent sales year round. References Australia eBay and Coles on eBay data as at February 2020. About ShelfTrend ShelfTrend provides live eBay marketplace intelligence for many FMCG categories. Data includes sales performance, search rank, new competition, and supply and demand on products, brands and competitors. Subscribe for free data, and upgrade for more. 42 RETAIL WORLD APR, 2020