Easter wins the candy battle

The Easter Bunny is the king of candy sales

   Halloween may have trick-or-treating and Valentine's Day may be synonymous with boxes of chocolates, but Easter is the day that leaves candy companies salivating.


In the week before Easter last year, Americans bought $823 million in creme-filled eggs, chocolate rabbits and colored marshmallow Peeps, according to Nielsen data. That narrowly beats out Halloween as the most lucrative week of the year for candy retailers.

Looking at weight alone, Americans purchased 146 million pounds of candy in the week before Easter. That's nearly half a pound of candy for every man, woman and child in the country, or the weight of more than 11,000 African bush elephants.

Costumed kids seem to be consuming more candy by the pound, but their neighbors are handing out some of the cheapest candy — several dollars per pound cheaper than the fancy chocolates for significant others on Valentine's Day. As for Easter, the red line in the chart seems to show retailers selling leftovers cheap the week after the holiday.

"In the weeks around Halloween consumers are buying in bulk with a volume mentality for the trick-or-treaters," said Carman Allison, vice president of consumer insights at Nielsen. "Easter and Valentine's Day are more gift based purchases where premium packaging plays a role in what consumers purchase for their loved ones and how much they are willing to spend."


Holidays are huge money makers for candy companies, but Americans apparently need no excuse to eat candy all year round. In a normal week, Americans still pay about $300 million for 76 million pounds of sweets.


According to Nielsen's point-of-sale data, about 17 percent of the candy sold each year is "seasonal" branded to be consumed during a specific holiday. Easter, surprisingly, makes up more than a third of that seasonal candy, according to the data.

Halloween is still the biggest holiday from the manufacturer's side, said Chris Gindlesperger, vice president of public affairs and communications at the National Confectioner's Association, citing the trade group's data. But the sales figures can change each year depending on retail factors, the night that a holiday falls in a given year or even what the weather is like around holiday.

The concentration of the sales week could also give Easter a higher peak – Halloween candy sales tend to be more spread out and piggyback onto back-to-school sales, said Allison.

Making a little over a billion dollars a year in just seasonal Easter candy isn't too shabby, but it's small compared to the approximately $45 million pulled in every single day for nonseasonal candies such as chocolate candy bars in convenience stores.

But — and there's no way to sugar-coat it — Easter's candy throne may be crumbling. Annual sales growth for the holiday's seasonal offerings was slowing compared with other categories over the last four years.

That may explain why Just Born, a company known for its iconic Easter candy, has been trying to expand Peeps sales beyond Easter. The varieties of Peeps available have exploded in recent years — pumpkin spice Peeps in October and hot cocoa and peppermint Peeps around Christmas.

The company has been making a concerted effort to expand to other seasons over the past few years, but 70 percent of sales still come from Easter, according to a Just Born spokesman. That's the same percentage as 2014, when the company launched its first year-round Peeps product.

Easter is the king of candy holidays, and Peeps are arguably the king of Easter candies (they've been the No. 1 non-chocolate candy for the last 20 years). The company is pushing Peeps for the summer, Valentine's Day and all the rest of the year, and they're not the only one. Everyday brands are also coming up with new products to capture shares of those holidays — think Reese's peanut butter eggs and Swedish Fish jelly beans.

"Consumers have an affinity and loyalty to certain brands and manufacturers who can convert that loyalty to a seasonal sale or unique format will win," said Allison. "To take a seasonal product and make it every-day is a bit more challenging since you need to change the consumer perception of not only what they brand stands for but also the perception of freshness."


Despite the earlier-than-normal date, the Confectioner's Association has high hopes for this Easter. The group is projecting that it will bring in $2.4 billion, up about 1.4 percent from last year. Halloween could catch up, based on the Nielsen data, but it may be too early to tell.  

Everything you need to know for Easter 2016

It's that time of year when many people's thoughts turn to chocolate, egg hunts, bunnies and the resurrection.

And for many, the first bank holiday weekend of the year - with four straight days off work - will also be appealing.

But Easter is that most confusing of dates - one that is never fixed and changes according to the lunar calendar.

Perhaps you're planning a break with the family or a weekend visiting friends. Or maybe you're just looking forward to spending a long weekend relaxing at home or wondering what the religious origins of Easter actually are.

Whatever your plans, you can get organised - and maybe learn a bit about Easter too - by reading our guide.

What are the key dates for Easter 2016?

This year Good Friday takes place on March 25
Easter Sunday: March 27
Easter Monday: March 28

So why does the date for Easter change every year?

Easter is a Christian feast day - which are significant days in the life of Jesus Christ or saints. But unlike most days in the Christian calendar, Easter does not have a fixed date.

Easter feast days are moveable days, in that they don't fall on a fixed date in the normal Gregorian or Julian calendars, which follow the cycle of the sun.

Easter instead is determined by the lunar calendar, which is based on the phases of the moon.
Easter is scheduled to fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox around March 21.

The Spring, or March, Vernal Equinox is the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north.

So, in Western Christianity, Easter will always fall between March 22 and April 25.

But could that change?

Campaigners want the next Government to help parents, schools and businesses plan their holidays by fixing the date of Easter.

Ministers may be asked to ensure it always falls between April 9 and 15. Lobby groups also claim the move would boost the economy.

In a letter to David Cameron, Keith Porteous Wood, of the National Secular Society, said: “The variation of the date of Easter causes significant and unnecessary inconvenience.”

Who decided when Easter should fall?

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A council of Christian bishops was convened by Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325, the First Council of Nicea, which was Christianity's first effort to get a consensus on what the church taught.
It was decided at this council that Easter Day should fall on the first full moon after the Spring Equinox, and that it should always fall on a Sunday to represent the day of Christ's Resurrection.

What's it all about really?

Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion.
Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose again three days later. The three days are known as the Easter Triduum.

The Easter season begins on Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent.

Lent lasts 40 days - if you leave out the six Sundays in between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday - and is a time when Christians fast, or give up a particular food or vice. The fasting period is to remember when Jesus went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days.

Ash Wednesday takes place after Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, when rich foods like eggs are used up before Lent and the fasting period begins.

The Easter week, also known as Holy Week, and includes Maundy Thursday, which marks the Last Supper Jesus had with his 12 disciples.

What's that got to do with chocolate eggs?

The eggs are a symbol of new life, used as a symbol of Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday. They can also be seen to represent Spring and celebrate rebirth and reinvigoration after the harshness of winter.

This is why we see lots of chicks, lambs and other cute animals - it reminds us of the continuation of life.

And commercially it's a massive deal - retailers and manufacturers love to get in on the holiday and persuade us to part with our cash by buying Easter eggs, cards and anything depicting bunnies.

And the Easter bunny and hot cross buns?

Blame the Germans for the Easter bunny. Originally an 'Easter hare', a buck-toothed bringer of chocolate to the kids that have behaved themselves was first mentioned in German literature in 1682. The tradition stuck, and has led to the Easter bunnies you see on the shelves today as well as the expectation for a delivery of Easter eggs on the day.

Hot cross buns are also a traditional snack for this time of year.

Scoffed on Good Friday, they mark the end of Lent.

The cross on the top represents the crucifixion of Christ and the spices inside remind Christians of the spices put on his body.