As a declining birth rate erodes sales of chocolate in the traditional children’s market, manufacturers are targeting a more adult consumer. Sales of chocolate direct to offices are soaring, as male office workers succumb to sweet temptation.
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Some 90% of sales of chocolate in convenience outlets are made to women, but sales of chocolate through the new ‘refreshment boxes’ placed in office staff rooms are telling a different story. Men account for 70% of purchases through the boxes, which operate on an honour system. Employees place ¥100 (US$0.76) in the box and take out the confectionery item of their choice.
Chocolate producers are delighted to have found a sales channel that appeals to male consumers. “We just couldn’t get through to them with conventional sales methods,” said a spokesman for Ezaki Glico Co Ltd, Japan’s third-largest chocolate maker. The company delivered refreshment boxes to companies all over Tokyo. The scheme has done so well that Ezaki Glico now plans to roll out 20 dedicated marketing centres in Tokyo and Osaka within the next five years. They hope to achieve ¥1bn in annual sales by 2007, reported Reuters.
One of the methods chocolate producers are using to try to get adult consumers excited about chocolate is emphasising the potential health benefits. Recent studies indicate that the polyphenol contained in cocoa beans may help ward off cancer and reduce stress.
Japanese consumption of chocolate products climbed 2.5% to 239,027 tonnes in 2001 – the third year in a row that demand has hit a record high, data compiled by the Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan shows.
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By GlobalDataPer-capita consumption in 2001 hit a record 1.88 kg (4.14 lb), up 2.2% from a year earlier. Manufacturers hope to see this rise to 2kg per person in the near future.
