Snickers and Mars candy bars, produced by Mars Inc., sit on display.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
For 11 months of the yr, Tim LeBel is Mars Wrigley’s president of sales. But for the month of October, he dons a latest title: chief Halloween officer.
For many years, the autumn holiday has been the largest day of the yr for candy makers. Lately, Halloween has also stretched to turn out to be a three-month season for Mars and rivals equivalent to Hershey, Ferrero and Mondelez, and the retailers who stock their candy.
The National Retail Federation predicts consumers will spend $3.6 billion on Halloween candy this yr, up from $3.1 billion last yr, at the same time as many consumers pull back spending elsewhere.
“We all know that in difficult economic times, consumers are particularly excited about having fun with type of the easy things in life … like Halloween,” Hershey CEO Michele Buck told investors in July on the corporate’s quarterly conference call.
Unlike Hershey, family-owned Mars doesn’t report its financial results, but disclosed nearly $45 billion in annual revenue in 2021. While best known for a candy portfolio that features M&M’s, Snickers, Three Musketeers and Twix, Mars also makes ice cream, chewing gum and pet food.
With the stakes so high for Halloween, Mars starts planning for the vacation two years upfront. LeBel said he sits down with key retailers to debate trends across flavors, packaging and sustainability.
“Quite a lot of those things take two years to develop and execute to bring to market,” LeBel told CNBC. “So the things we checked out in 2021, you are beginning to see this yr in 2023.”
Tim LeBel, Mars Wrigley’s president of sales.
Source: Mars Wrigley
That is phase considered one of planning. The subsequent stage happens within the three weeks of November after last Halloween. Mars once more sits down with retailers, this time for a post mortem on its candies’ performance.
“What items did we not make enough of? What items perhaps went off trend?” LeBel said.
This yr, Mars has a few tricks up its sleeve, equivalent to Skittles Shriekers. Each bag includes classic Skittles with a number of sour-flavored ones that look similar to the remaining of the bag.
The corporate can also be leaning into online shopping. Last yr, roughly a 3rd of consumers bought Halloween items online. This yr, Mars has teamed up with digital convenience store goPuff to be certain that everyone has enough candy to pass out on Halloween. Consumers whose stash is running low can visit MarsWrigleyHalloween.com and receive a delivery of a free backup supply of Mars candy in under an hour in participating locations, while supplies last.
But Mars’ Halloween plans will at all times include the classics, equivalent to its Snickers bars, that are the second best-selling Halloween candy, trailing only Hershey’s Reese’s cups. Three of Mars’ variety bags cracked the highest 10 for hottest assortments, in line with the corporate.
Retailers’ insights may lead Mars to pivot its plans for the subsequent Halloween season, which starts just nine months later, before temperatures cool and pumpkin spice lattes return to Starbucks’ menu.
“[Retailers] realize that having our portfolio on display from August through October captures multiple consumer occasions,” LeBel said.
Those moments include picking up a spread pack of candy during back-to-school shopping, snacking during spooky movie nights and the all-important trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Still, 48% of Halloween candy sales occur through the last week of October, in line with LeBel. Those last-minute shoppers mean that candy manufacturers and retailers must be ready to fulfill that demand.
All of Mars’ planning has paid off this yr. The corporate exceeded its production targets this Halloween season.
“I actually still have some in our warehouses, able to ship,” LeBel said.
