UK Sugar and Gum Confectionery Market Report 2023

Our Report Delivers Key Insights On

• Performance of the market following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, and challenges and opportunities arising from the rising cost of living/inflation.
• Eating/usage habits for sweets and gum, including types eaten/used and frequency of eating/using in the three months to April 2023.
• Flavours in sweets most likely to encourage eaters of sweets to try a new sweets product.
• New launch activity in sweets and gum, including non-HFSS and sugar-free launches, as well as flavour and other innovation.
• Behaviours and attitudes related to eating/using sweets and gum, including gifting and shopping behaviour, as well as the appeal of different product concepts and attributes.

UK Confectionery Market – Current Landscape

The UK confectionery market has seen a strong recovery in the last two years, following a poor performance in 2020, when sales were hit by a loss of out-of-home occasions and impulse purchases arising from the COVID-19 outbreak. However, Mintel forecasts that the rate of growth will decline in the coming year.

• Gum and sugar confectionery market size: The market increased by 14% in 2022, however a lower growth rate of 8.6% is forecast for 2023.

Sugar and Gum Confectionery Market Trends – What Consumers Want and Why

Low cost mood boost

Over two-fifths of UK consumers agree that eating sweets is a low-cost way to boost your mood. This goes some way to explain why volume sales of sweets did so well in 2022, despite the cost-of-living crisis and ongoing spotlight on health. Furthermore, 60% of consumers who like to receive sweets as a gift also agree that they are a good way to boost their mood, highlighting an opportunity for brands to link gifting and mood-boosting in marketing.

Fresh breath

Mintel’s market research has found that there are various reasons why people chew gum, to clean teeth and to help consumers snack less were popular, reported by 35% and 26% of consumers respectively. But the biggest driver was to freshen breath, reported by 76% of consumers. Breath freshening messages therefore clearly still warrant being a big focus of marketing for brands, and something that could be emphasised at the point of purchase.

Products and Brands Discussed in this Report

This report examines the UK retail market for sugar confectionery and gum, including soft confectionery (e.g. jelly sweets, pastilles), standard and power mints, hard confectionery (e.g. boiled sweets, toffees, caramels), chewing gum and bubble gum, and other confectionery such as loose pick’n’mix and lollipops. Sales of medicated confectionery are excluded from this report and are covered in our UK OTC analgesics and cough, cold and flu remedies market report.

Leading confectionery and gum brands covered in this report include Haribo, Maynards Bassetts, Rowntree’s, Swizzels, Skittles, Trebor, Maoam, Tic Tac, Wrigley’s, Hubba Bubba, Mentos and Chupa Chups.

Additional Features Included with Your Purchase

• Interactive Data Book: This gives you unlimited access to a consumer confidence tracker that is segmented into 25 different demographic categories.
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To learn how to connect with your audience, purchase our full UK Sugar and Gum Confectionery Market Report 2023. Discover lucrative innovation opportunities to help your business grow during times of financial uncertainty.

Expert Insights from a Food Industry Specialist

This report, written by Richard Caines, a leading food and drink analyst, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends in the UK sugar and gum confectionery market and add expert context to the numbers.