| Before the New Year, confectioners are fighting for an adult buyer Sweet New Year's gifts are one of the most profitable areas of the entire confectionery business. Profits from the sale of children's gifts for some manufacturers are equal to profits received throughout the rest of the year. And while the main players in the “children’s” market continue to be large “monsters,” younger enterprises are trying to occupy the niche of premium gifts for adults.
Children's gifts - confectionery sets in New Year's "containers" - a market that has been controlled by the largest manufacturers since Soviet times: "Red October", "Rot Front", the "Babaevsky" concern and smaller regional producers. “The competition is very strong,” says Babaevsky marketer Andrei Kolodiy. “Before the New Year, even those players who are not present at all on the confectionery market at other times begin to actively act.” For example, this year Babaevsky’s New Year’s assortment includes more than 20 types of gifts. Selling prices range from 34 to 1000 rubles. The concern refuses to name sales volumes planned for this year, saying only that they will be “no lower than last year’s” (last year, Babaevsky sold about 1.2 million New Year’s gifts).
The confectionery association "SladCo" (created in February 2001 on the basis of three regional factories - Ulyanovsk "Volzhanka", Kazan "Zarya" and Yekaterinburg "Confi") is also trying to take a place in the "children's" New Year's market. This year, as SladCo President Valeryan Khubulava told the Vremya Novostey newspaper, SladCo presented 25 types of gifts at prices ranging from 30 to 238 rubles. The company hopes to sell about 3 million gifts. The profitability of the “gift” business, according to Mr. Khubulava, is much higher than that of other areas in the confectionery industry. There were years when it reached 100%, but the industry average is 40%. The most popular price segment remains 40-100 rubles.
Another part of the “children’s” New Year’s confectionery market is gifts produced by packaging companies that purchase separate packaging for gifts and separately sweets, chocolates, and cookies from different manufacturers. “Such companies make a decent profit by collecting various confectionery products from different manufacturers as gifts,” says Valeryan Khubulava. The share of low-quality gifts made in Poland and Czechia, which four or five years ago occupied up to 30% of the market, now does not reach even five percent.
In addition, according to Mr. Kolodia, this year the manufacturers themselves have become more active. “Both Red October and Rot Front continue to be active. “SladCo” aggressively entered the New Year market, regional factories are significantly increasing production,” says Mr. Kolodiy. For example, the St. Petersburg factory named after Krupskaya, which last year sold 120 thousand gifts, this year expects to sell 200 thousand for the amount of $800 thousand. As a result, the share of gifts packaged directly by manufacturers, according to the calculations of Babaevsky marketers, continues exceed the share of gifts from packers.
The year 2001 on the Russian confectionery market was marked by rapid activity of manufacturers in the premium segment. So far, the segment itself is quite small: in one of the most dynamic markets - chocolate bars - it, according to various estimates, ranges from 3% to 4.5%, but is constantly increasing. And the most ambitious players here are betting on an adult buyer. None of the notable foreign manufacturers are represented in the “children’s” segment, limiting themselves to the New Year’s packaging design for sets in boxes designed for an adult target audience. Thus, Nestle, for example, released a New Year’s version of “Collections”, “Palettes” and other sets, and Cadburry launched a holiday version of its set called “New Year’s Kiss”.
Domestic manufacturers are also trying to attract adult buyers primarily with packaging. For example, the Krasnov Design company, known for creating pompous decorations for variety shows, worked on the design of New Year's boxes for sets of the Mechta factory, which opened less than a month ago. The company says that the main goal was to get away from the traditional stereotypes of “candles, flowers, champagne.” “Strategically, our company is not aimed at the children’s group,” says Milana Goncharova, head of the advertising and PR department of the Korkunov company (produces candies of the same name at the Odintsovo confectionery factory). - But this year we have presented five types of New Year's packaging in our traditional retro style. Of course, these gifts are aimed at an adult audience.” Pre-New Year sales of Korkunov, according to Ms. Goncharova, have already increased by 40%.
This year the Babaevsky concern began selling the elite gift “Spasskaya Tower”: it contains more than three kilograms of chocolate, it is almost a meter high. The gift will cost adults with a sweet tooth almost a thousand rubles. The Krasnogorsk factory of the Elikom company, which produces handmade sweets under the Konfael brand, has prepared five New Year collections of sweets. Pre-New Year sales of gifts for adults are more than active: compared to October, production volume has more than tripled and amounted to 10 thousand pieces of candy. Anfisa VORONINA |
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