Within Europe, in terms of market value the UK is leading the sugar confectionery market, and has the second largest gum confectionery market, according to new research from independent market analysts Datamonitor.
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Health and diet concerns are having a positive effect on the gum and sugar confectionery markets with sugar-free products showing great growth potential in both Europe and the US. Throughout Europe, there is good news for sweetshops – confectioners, kiosks and newsagents are retaining or increasing distribution share while supermarkets are losing out, suggesting that the neighbourhood sweetshop is far from dead.
The UK has the largest sugar confectionery market in Europe, worth US$2.2bn in 2002. Gums and jellies form the largest sector, representing 28% of the market in value terms. The rise of pick and mix shops in leisure complexes such as cinemas, bowling alleys and shopping malls have contributed to this. Hard-boiled sweets are the second most popular sugar confectionery product purchased by consumers. Unsurprisingly, the products eaten least are medicated sweets.
The UK is by far the largest market in terms of sugar confectionery spending, accounting for 23% of a total European market value of $9.5bn in 2002; Germany comes second, accounting for 14% of the market. Denmark has the highest sugar confectionery expenditure per head in Europe, at $51.9 in 2001, while Poland leads European consumption per head, at 6.8kg per head in 2001.
Sweetshop renaissance?
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By GlobalData“It’s not surprising that Northern Europe leads sugar confectionery consumption,” says Datamonitor analyst John Band. “The cold climate lends itself to sweets – not just because people spend time at shopping centre or the cinema rather than outside, but also because they want to beat the winter blues by treating themselves.
“At the same time, it’s interesting to see where people buy sugar confectionery: across Europe, confectioners, kiosks and newsagents are retaining or increasing distribution share, and supermarkets are losing out, suggesting that the neighbourhood sweetshop is clearly far from dead.”
Sugar-free gum gains popularity
The UK gum confectionery market reached a value of $385m in 2002. Chewing gum is the largest sector of the market, representing almost 96% of revenue. Within the UK gum confectionery market, the sugar free sector has experienced extremely high growth in recent years. This is mainly due to the promotion of chewing gum as part of a total dental care package, with such concerns over health and diet having a positive effect on the market. Innovative products such as tooth-whitening chewing gum and products that release menthol vapours have also recently been released onto the market.
“People in the UK are certainly beginning to warm to sugar-free chewing gums,” says Band. “Given the amount of sugar and chocolate confectionery the UK eats, this may be just as well.”
Ireland leads on gum consumption
The UK gum market comes second in the European market, whose total value in 2002 was $2.9bn. Germany is the largest gum market, worth $600m in 2002. Austria has the highest gum expenditure in Europe, at $12.50 per head in 2001. Germany’s per head spending is just $7.20, despite the country’s huge market value. In consumption terms, Ireland leads the European market with 1.2kg per head in 2001, while Germany and Greece follow this with 0.6kg per head.
Eastern Europe chooses gum
“Chewing gum has stronger associations than most confectionery,” says Band. “For decades, in Europe at least, it is symbolised American ‘cool’. With that in mind, it’s noticeable that value growth in Eastern Europe has been very high over the last few years – and it’s now starting to slow as people take Western freedoms for granted. In Poland and Hungary, we expect value growth to almost halve from 2002-2006 compared to 1996-2001.”
Americans love gum, but spend even more on candy
The US gum market reached a value of $2.2bn in 2002. Chewing gum sales dominate with bubble gum barely able to attract a double-digit market share. One recent development in the US market is the introduction of medical chewing gum. The US sugar confectionery market, meanwhile, reached a value of $8bn in 2002, representing one third of the overall American confectionery market in value terms.
“The stereotype of gum-chewing Americans is partly justified,” says Band. “US consumption of gum is higher than anywhere in Europe except Ireland. However, sugar confectionery is far more important: the average American spends almost $30 a year on sweets, compared with just $8 on chewing gum and bubblegum. Even though we expect the gum market to grow slightly faster than the sugar confectionery market, the ratio will still be almost the same in 2006”.
To find out more about Datamonitor’s report on the global confectionery market to 2006, click here.
