Food Gifting in the U.S., 3rd Edition

Keywords : Seasonal chocolate, chocolate, chocolate candy, candy, easter Chocolate, confectionery, Chocolate Product

Fueled by upper-income household spending trends, the food gifting market is on firmer ground, buoyed by continued product innovation and usage occasion expansion: Packaged Facts’ Food Gifting in the U.S. forecasts U.S. food gifting sales to reach $11.15 billion in 2012, up 2.5% from 2011. Despite this positive news, we see a plethora of untapped opportunity. While purchase frequency has trended upward during 2012-2012, it remains modest. To ex...

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Fueled by upper-income household spending trends, the food gifting market is on firmer ground, buoyed by continued product innovation and usage occasion expansion: Packaged Facts’ Food Gifting in the U.S. forecasts U.S. food gifting sales to reach $11.15 billion in 2012, up 2.5% from 2011. Despite this positive news, we see a plethora of untapped opportunity. While purchase frequency has trended upward during 2012-2012, it remains modest. To expand purchase frequency, we believe the industry can do more to ensure that food gifts are priced at tiers that allow for expanded lower-income market participation. We also identify a variety of tangible and intangible (emotional) product purchase and attribute rationales that can overcome sales obstacles among food gifters and non-food gifters alike. To assist market participants in maximizing sales and marketing opportunity, this report:

• Assesses the food gifter from a variety of perspectives: the degree people purchase food gifts for themselves and for others; the amount they spend per gift, the number of recipients for whom they purchase the gifts, and the kind of recipient (i.e. mother, friend, coworker, etc.). To help shed light on each of these perspectives, in each case, we trend 2010 and 2012 proprietary consumer data.


• Analyzes food gifting occasions, including winter holidays, birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, anniversary, Easter, Halloween, housewarmings, weddings and graduations. We focus on trending food gifting purchase occasions during 2010-2012; providing related purchaser demographic analysis; and assessing occasion opportunity.


• Frames why consumers purchase food gifts, what attributes they seek when choosing a food gift, and posits related questions and ideas to market participants.


• Explores rationales given for not purchasing specialty food gifts and offer ideas to address them—to assist market participants in assessing purchase obstacles.

We also assess leading food gifting manufacturer & retailer strategies and product developments. Falling into three primary catergories (chocolate, floral, and specialty food), the companies include The Hershey Company, Lindt & Sprungli AG, Mars Inc., Russell Stover, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, FTD, Candy Bouquet, Dean & DeLuca, Edible Arrangements, Harry and David Holdings, Inc., Houston Harvest Gift Products LLC, The Wisconsin Cheeseman, and Zabar’s and Company, Inc.



In addition to our market size and forecast, we provide detailed sale analysis of gift boxed chocolate and seasonal chocolate, a significant food gifting sales contributor. This includes 2011-2012 gift box chocolate, seasonal Christmas, seasonal Easter, and seasonal Valentine’s Day chocolate candy marketer and brand sales and unit comparisons, and identifying fast growing brand lines among each of these four chocolate candy segments.

Snack And Sweet Industry in the United States

Chapter 1: Executive Summary

Scope and Methodology

Report Scope

Report summary

Food Gifting Market Size

Details on chocolate

Gift boxed chocolate

Christmas chocolate

Easter seasonal chocolate

Valentine’s Day chocolate

Summary analysis

Food Gifting Purchaser, Gift Type, Gift Spend & Recipient Analysis

Summary analysis

Food gifting becoming more prevalent

Thank you, discretionary income gain

Food gift sweet spot stays the same, but 2010-2012 spend per gift trends upward

Thank you, higher-income consumers

Hispanic and black consumers overlooked? Or not interested?

Boxed chocolates/candies remain most widely purchased food gift

But other choices gathering steam

Food gift purchase recipient analysis reveals opportunities

Consumer Food Gifting Occasions

Summary analysis

How important is each occasion?

Consumer survey context

Food Gifting Purchase Rationales, Attributes Sought & Retail Distribution

Summary analysis

Intangible reasons

Tangible attributes

Utility, convenience & value

We don’t buy them because they’re cheap!

Increasing women’s market participation

Harness the internet to reach older food gifters

Specialty food gift purchase sources holding ground

Why We Don’t Buy Specialty Food Gifts

Summary analysis

We know you exist; now, prove you have sufficient value

Help us feel more confident about how our choice will match our recipient

Assuage our food fears & offer more healthful food gifts

Convince us that gift cards and cash are thoughtless and one-dimensional

Know thy enemy: trending gift card metrics

Food Gifting Manufacturers & Retailers

Chapter 2: Market Size and Forecast

Summary analysis

Food gifting market

Details on chocolate

Gift boxed chocolate

Christmas chocolate

Easter seasonal chocolate

Valentine’s Day chocolate

Food gifting market size and forecast

Graph 2-1: Food Gifting Market Size & Forecast, 2007-2014

Seasonal and Gift-Boxed Chocolate Sales Trends & Segmentation

Segmentation analysis

Gift Boxed Chocolate

Challenged by other formats deemed suitable for gifting

But presentation and quality appearance has its merits

Top marketers: gift boxes

Russell Stover maintains lead

Table 2-2: Top Marketers of Gift Box Chocolates, 2012

Top marketers: Christmas chocolate

Table 2-3: Top Marketers of Seasonal Chocolate Christmas Candy, 2012

Fast growers

Table 2-4: 15 Fastest-Growing Seasonal Chocolate Christmas Candy Brand Lines, 2012

Top marketers: Easter chocolate

Hershey maintains Easter seasonal chocolate lead

Table 2-5: Top Marketers of Seasonal Chocolate Easter Candy, 2012

Fast growers

Table 2-6: 18 Fastest-Growing Seasonal Chocolate Easter Candy Brand Lines, 2012

Top marketers: Valentine’s Day chocolate

Table 2-7: Top Marketers of Seasonal Chocolate Valentine’s Day Candy, 2012

Fast growers

Table 2-8: 18 Fastest-Growing Seasonal Chocolate Valentine’s Day Candy Brand Lines, 2012

Chapter 3: Food Gifting Purchaser, Gift Type, Gift Spend & Recipient Analysis

Summary analysis

Food gifting becoming more prevalent

Thank you, discretionary income gain

Food gift sweet spot stays the same, but 2010-2012 spend per gift trends upward

Thank you, higher-income consumers

Hispanic and black consumers overlooked? Or not interested?

Boxed chocolates/candies remain most widely purchased food gift

But other choices gathering steam

Food gift purchase recipient analysis reveals opportunities

The male angle

The usage frequency angle

The income angle

Food gifting on the rise

Table 3-1: Food Gifting: Purchasing for Self, Purchasing for Others & Receiving as Gift,

2010 vs. 2012

Buoyed by rise in per capita disposable income

Graph 3-1: Consumer Per Capita Disposable Income, Real and Adjusted, with Population

Change, Q2 2007-Q2 2012

Household net worth and disposable personal income up; household debt down

Graph 3-2: Household Debt-to-DPI & Household Debt-to-Net Worth Ratios,

Annual Change and Cumulative Change, 2007-Q2 2012

Food Gift Purchasers

Gift spending

Sweet spot stays at $20 to $29, but spend per gift trends upward

Table 3-2: Food Gift Purchasers: Spend per Gift, 2010 vs. 2012

Food gifting heavily reliant on $100K+ households, which generate 51% of spend

Graph 3-3: Food Gifting Market: Consumer Dollar Share by Household Income, 2011

And higher spend per gift

Table 3-3: Food Gift Purchasers: Spend per Gift by Household Income, 2012

Household growth trends skew toward high-income brackets, driving food gifting sales

Graph 3-4: Household Growth by Household Income Bracket, 2007-2011

Household income trends also favor food gifting market

Graph 3-5: Household Income Growth by Household Income Bracket, 2007-2011

Race/ethnicity spend analysis suggests low dollar share contribution among non-whites

Graph 3-6: Food Gifting Market: Dollar Share by Race/Ethnicity, 2011

Household growth trends suggest need to market to non-whites more aggressively

Graph 3-7: Household Growth by Race/Ethnicity, 2007-2011

Black and Hispanic household income growth suggests increased opportunity

Graph 3-8: Household Income Growth by Race/Ethnicity, 2007-2011

A contradiction arises

Significant regional variation

Table 3-6: Food Gift Purchasers: Spend per Gift by Household Income, 2012

Purchasing Food Gifts for Others

Types of food gifts purchased

Boxed chocolates/candies remain on top

Gifting accounts for 15% of premium chocolate purchases

But 2010-2012 purchase incidence gains among other food gifts more pronounced

Table 3-7: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Others, 2010 vs. 2012

Age

Table 3-8: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Others by Age of Food Gifter, 2012

HH income makes a difference in choice of food gift

Regional favorites

Table 3-9: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Others by Household Income of Food Gifter, 2012

Table 3-10: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Others by Household Income of Food Gifter,

2012

Who are food gift recipients?

Spouse/significant other at top of list

Mom, yes; Dad, not so much

What are friends for?

Males big food gifters for spouse/significant other & mom; females drive purchases for others

Table 3-12: Recipients of Food Gifts by Gender of Food Gifter, 2012

Mom, dad and siblings popular recipients among younger givers

Table 3-13: Recipients of Food Gifts by Age of Food Gifter, 2012

Higher income tied to wider food gift recipient distribution beyond family

Table 3-14: Recipients of Food Gifts by Household Income of Food Gifter, 2012

Number of food gifting purchase recipients

Moderate usage frequency provides growth opportunity

Table 3-15: Food Gift Purchasers: Number of Gift Recipients per Year, 2010 vs. 2012

The good news

Better news ahead, with just a bit of higher-frequency purchase conversion?

Table 3-16: Food Gift Purchasers: Gift Recipient Hypothetical, 2010-2012-2014

Gender analysis demonstrates need to increase purchase frequency among men and women

Table 3-17: Number of Gift Recipients per Year by Gender of Food Gifter, 2012

Explore additional food gifting occasions for 18-34s

Table 3-18: Number of Gift Recipients per Year by Age of Food Gifter, 2012

Enhance value proposition among lower-income consumers

Table 3-19: Number of Gift Recipients per Year by Household Income of Food Gifter, 2012

Purchasing Food Gifts for Self

Better to give to self than to others!

Everyday use helps tip the scale

Table 3-20: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Self, 2010 vs. 2012

Do not overlook men’s role in food self-gifting

Table 3-21: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Self: By Gender, 2012

Age

Table 3-22: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Self: By Age, 2012

HH income

Table 3-23: Types of Food Gifts Purchased for Self: By Household Income, 2012

Chapter 4: Consumer Food Gifting Occasions

Summary analysis

How important is each occasion?

Consumer survey context

Food gifting special occasions

Winter holidays

Easter

Spend categories

Spend locations

Online growth

Valentine’s Day

Spend categories

Spend locations

Online growth

Graduation

More than 6 million food gifting opportunities annually

Postsecondary opportunity

Table 4-1: Graduation and Degree Opportunity, 2007-08 to 2011-12

HH income levels support food gifting spend

Table 4-2: Graduations in Past 12 Months: Key Demographics, 2012

Weddings

Wedding rate significantly declines

Graph 4-1: Marriages and Marriage Rate, 2000-2009

More than 2 million weddings—and more than 275 million wedding guests

Table 4-3: Marriages in Past 12 Months: Key Demographics, 2012

Anniversaries

121 million married adults to target

Table 4-4: Married Adults: Key Demographics, 2012

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

Table 4-5: Graduations in Past 12 Months: Key Demographics, 2012

Occasions for purchasing specialty food gifts: consumer survey analysis

Food gifting less prevalent for Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving & Easter

Table 4-6: Occasions for Purchasing Specialty Food Gifts, 2010 vs. 2012

Winter holidays food gift purchase share

Table 4-7: Occasions for Purchasing Specialty Food Gifts, with Population Estimates, 2012

Gender: a close call

Table 4-8: Occasions for Purchasing Specialty Food Gifts: By Gender, 2010/2012

Age: winter holidays a key exception

Table 4-9: Occasions For Purchasing Specialty Food Gifts: By Age, 2010/2012

HH income and food-centric occasion connection

Table 4-10: Occasions for Purchasing Specialty Food Gifts: By Household Income, 2010/2012

Chapter 5: Food Gifting Purchase Rationales, Attributes & Retail Distribution

Summary analysis

Intangible reasons

Tangible attributes

Utility, convenience & value

We don’t buy them because they’re cheap!

Reaching women

Harness the internet to reach older food gifters

Specialty food gift purchase sources holding ground

Reasons for buying specialty food gifts

Gifts intended to convey an emotional expression: food gift recipient enjoyment matters

Why buy food gift unless the recipient views it as a special, a splurge?

Recipients may not need a food gift—but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want one

Utility plays a role

Convenience and value also relevant, with a twist

Food gifts aren’t cheap!

Rationales becoming more prevalent over time

Internet playing a role?

Table 5-1: Reasons for Purchasing Food Gifts, 2010 vs. 2012

Women: gift should be uncommon purchase and should fill want vs. need

Table 5-2: Reasons for Purchasing Food Gifts: By Gender, 2012

Attributes sought when purchasing food gifts

Quality and appearance prevalently sought

Trust and food health also relevant

Product variety, distinctiveness & special meaning vs. value

Shipping and online availability

Table 5-3: Attributes Sought When Purchasing Food Gifts, 2010 vs. 2012

Gender & the issue of thought put into the gift

Table 5-4: Attributes Sought When Purchasing Food Gifts: By Gender, 2012

With age comes wider desire for quality, product variety . . . and online availability?

Table 5-5: Attributes Sought When Purchasing Food Gifts: By Age, 2012

HH income analysis

Table 5-6: Attributes Sought When Purchasing Food Gifts: By Household Income, 2012

Specialty food gift purchase sources

Holding ground

Table 5-7: Specialty Food Gift Purchase Locations in Past 12 Months, 2010 vs. 2012

Similar food gift purchase incidence by gender at many retailers: please explain!

Table 5-8: Specialty Food Gift Purchase Locations in Past 12 Months: By Gender, 2012

Shopping context: women garner higher shopping share across retail segments

Table 5-9: Retailer Brand Shopping in Past 4 Weeks:

Usage Share by Gender, 2012

Age analysis

Table 5-10: Specialty Food Gift Purchase Locations in Past 12 Months: By Age, 2012

HH income analysis

Table 5-11: Specialty Food Gift Purchase Locations in Past 12 Months: By Age, 2012

Chapter 6: Why We Don’t Buy Specialty Food Gifts

Summary analysis

We know you exist; now, prove you have sufficient value

Help us feel more confident about how our choice will match our recipient

Assuage our food fears & offer more healthful food gifts

Convince us that gift cards and cash are thoughtless and one-dimensional

Know thy enemy: trending gift card metrics

Introduction

Reasons for not buying food gifts

Knowledge of food gifts versus food gift value

Knowledge about recipient

Food fears & food health

Alternative gifts

Table 6-1: Reasons for Not Buying Food Gifts, 2010 vs. 2012

Reasons for not buying food gifts: all consumers versus food gifters

Table 6-2: Reasons for Not Buying Food Gifts: All Consumers vs. Food Gifters, 2012

Gender analysis

Table 6-3: Reasons for Not Buying Food Gifts: Food Gifters vs. non-Food Gifters: By Gender, 2012

Age analysis: 18-24s, 25-34s & 35-44s

Table 6-5: Reasons for Not Buying Food Gifts: Food Gifters vs. non-Food Gifters:

By 18-44 Age Brackets, 2012

Age analysis: 45-54s, 55-64s & 65+s

Table 6-6: Reasons for Not Buying Food Gifts:

Food Gifters vs. non-Food Gifters,

by 45 and Over Age Brackets, 2012

HH income analysis

Table 6-7: Reasons for Not Buying Food Gifts: Food Gifters vs. non-Food Gifters, by Household Income, 2012

Regional analysis

Table 6-8: Reasons for Not Buying Food Gifts: Food Gifters vs. non-Food Gifters, by Region, 2012

Gift Card Competition

Positive holiday spending trend

Purchase spend trends

Durbin Amendment and CARD Act

Reg E dormancy, inactivity and service fees

Gift card usage & spending trends

Gift card purchase share segmentation

Table 6-9: U.S. Adult Gift Card Purchases: Dollar Value by Segment, 2010-2012

Purchase share leadership goes to . . .

Table 6-10: U.S. Adult Gift Card Purchases: Dollar Value Share by Segment, 2010-2012

Gift card usage penetration stabilizes

Table 6-11: Consumer Payment Card Usage Trending: By Type, 2010-2012

Gift card usage trending by retail distribution segment

Table 6-12: Gift Card Usage Trending: By Retailer Type, 2010-2012

Chapter 7: Food Gifting Manufacturers & Retailers

Chocolate

The Hershey Company

Tis the season . . .

Sales on the upswing

Table 7-2: The Hershey Company: Selected Sales Metrics, 2006-2011

Product price increase

Pouring money into advertising

Brands receiving support

Trade promotion activity

Hershey’s retail customer base

Table 7-3: Hershey’s Sales by Channel, 2011

Product overview

New product introductions

Lindt & Sprungli AG

Company overview

Products

New products

Seasonal confectioneries

Other Chocolate Products

Mars Inc.

Products

Marketing

Russell Stover

Company overview

Products

New products

Marketing

Whitman’s Turns 100

Television advertising

Valentine’s Day

Easter

Build-a-Box

Novelty Gifts

Floral

1-800-FLOWERS.COM

Company overview

Product and distribution focus

Sales performance

Company strategy

1-800-FLOWERS.COM is doing well in the face of a recession

Technology makes paying easier

Strategic partnerships

FTD

Company overview

Consumer floral and gift mass marketing

Floral network services

Planned FTD spinoff

Table 7-5: FTD Revenue, Orders & Order Value, 2009-2011

New collections

FTD College Rose Collection expanded

Program expands gifting occasions

Jane Seymour Silk Botanicals by FTD Collection provide floral alternative

Program targets weddings, holiday gift giving, and year-round home décor

Specialty Foods

Candy Bouquet

Company overview

Company strategy

New owners are making changes

Dean & DeLuca

Company overview

Food gifts and other products

Edible Arrangements

Company overview

Company strategy

New products

…with new advertising

…and technology

And strategic partnerships

Harry and David Holdings, Inc.

Company overview

Financial information

Food gift products

Company strategy

Houston Harvest Gift Products LLC

Company overview

The Wisconsin Cheeseman

Company overview

Zabar’s and Company, Inc.

Company overview

Methodology

Consumer survey methodology

Market size and forecast

Appendix

Report table interpretation

Product Definitions

Types of Food Gifts

Chocolate in United States

Snack and Sweet in United States