We unwrap all the Christmas confectionery bestsellers in Scottish convenience with CD:UK data from Talysis.
It’s no surprise that chocolate and sweets enjoy a hearty sales spike come Christmastime. “Notably, 97% of UK households purchased confectionery during the holiday season, spending an average of £73 per person [Kantar Worldpanel 12we 29.12.24],” says Andy Mutton, Managing Director at Storck UK, which is bringing back its Werther’s Original Golden Mix Christmas Gift Box for 2025. “This highlights the category’s broad penetration and the opportunity for retailers to drive incremental sales by offering the right mix of festive confectionery.”
But which confectionery segments are really bringing the magic for Scottish local retailers?
SLR’s exclusive data from CD:UK, powered by Talysis, provides an in-depth insight into the Scottish convenience market, identifying exactly which areas are worth your attention.
There was cause for celebration all-round as Seasonal Confectionery in Scottish convenience grew 5.7% in the 16 weeks to end December 2024 versus 2023, while general sharing confectionery (including boxed chocolates) soared 13.7% and impulse confectionery leapt up 12.7%, reveals Talysis.
Novelty factor
Novelties was the best-performing seasonal confectionery sub-category for c-stores in Scotland for Christmas 2024, with remarkably high growth of +39%, according to CD:UK findings.
While Cadbury Puds was the number one SKU for indies and symbols UK-wide in 2024, growing 5% [Nielsen, Total Christmas, 24 Weeks to 28.12.24], CD:UK data reveals that Cadbury Mini Snowballs 80g were in fact the top-selling novelty in Scotland over the festive period, with an impressive 12.2% value share. For 2025, the 80g bag will be replaced by a 74g pack due to increased input costs across the supply chain.
In the bestsellers list, Mini Snowballs 80g were followed by 2024’s new releases Cadbury Mini Puds 43g bag, and M&M’s Crispy Milk Chocolate Santa Treat. Cadbury Christmas Puds ranked in fourth place, while new sugar confectionery line, the Haribo Merry Mix 140g bag, squeezed into the fifth slot and sixth place was taken by festive favourite Maltesers Merryteaser Reindeer. It’s a close-run competition with each product ranked from second to sixth commanding around a 7% value share of novelties. Cumulatively, the top six lines account for almost half (48%) of novelty sales within Scottish convenience.
Mars is continuing to keep things fresh in 2025, expanding its Malteser Reindeer range with a new Ginger variant available in single (29g) and mini bag (59g) formats, as well as featuring in the 240g Maltesers Christmas Mix.
The firm is also building on the M&M’s Crispy Milk Chocolate Santa (29g) – which drove a 55% uplift in the total single category [Nielsen IQ Scantrack Data to: W/E 28.12.24] – with the launch of a five-pack.
Laura O’Neill, Senior Brand Manager, Christmas at Mars Wrigley says: “Refreshing product ranges with new flavours and formats is essential during the festive season. Innovation is a key driver, with new product development contributing 27% of Christmas 2024 growth [Nielsen IQ Scantrack Data to: W/E 28.12.24]. During this time, shoppers naturally turn to trusted brands for moments of nostalgia and indulgence. By combining nostalgic flavours, exciting innovations, accessible price points and premium choices, Mars Wrigley is providing retailers with the tools they need to drive sales, grow their audience and make the most of the festive trading period.”
The best way to take advantage of the popularity of novelty lines at Christmas is to get a “fast start” claims Cadbury brand owner Mondelez International, meaning that smaller festive treats should already be on shelves. “Self-eat is about 50% of the sales in indies and symbols during this period,” says trade communications manager Susan Nash. “The quicker you’re in it, the quicker you’re going to win with Christmas, so it’s really important not to start too late.”
Not only do retailers make plenty of Christmas novelty sales during the pre-Halloween period, but displaying products in good time can also help to plant a seed for further down the line. “As consumers visit stores, they clock – sometimes consciously, sometimes not – that Christmas is there,” says Nash. “That’s great because as the season moves on people think ‘Last minute gift – I know where to go’ because it’s been signposted to them.”
Having a dedicated seasonal area that can be rethemed throughout the year is ideal, suggests Nash, adding that a secondary display can help retailers to “really harness and connect with people”. This year, Cadbury has introduced clip strips for its Mini Puds bags, making additional sitings even easier and enabling retailers to disrupt the shopper journey and drive pickup.
Call for calendars
Advent Calendars were another Christmas winner for Scottish local stores with value growth of +21.7% in 2024, notes Talysis. Cadbury took the top spot again with its 90g Dairy Milk calendar, the biggest seller by far, accounting for almost a quarter (24%) of the segment’s value sales in Scotland.
However, there’s clearly strong demand for premium options too as Lindt’s milk chocolate advent calendar took the number two spot with just over 14% of value sales. Kinder Bueno 167g comes in at number three, while Mars Wrigley’s Galaxy 110g, Malteser Truffles 218g, Milkybar 85g and new Celebrations Tree 215g took slots four to seven respectively. The top seven lines represented 75% of sales within the segment.
Cadbury has a new premium offer for 2025 with its Biscoff Advent Calendar (236g, RSP £7.79), featuring 12 solid Cadbury Dairy Milk chunks and 12 with Lotus Biscoff pieces and Biscoff spread. “It’s a great option for those looking to trade-up this year and makes the countdown ritual even more special,” says Nash.
Mars Wrigley is also appealing to consumers seeking elevated gifting and indulgence options during the festive season with the national release of its Maltesers Assorted Truffles Advent Calendar (216g).
As Christmas draws closer, gifting becomes a key focus.
Sales of Giant Tubes were relatively flat for Scottish c-stores in Christmas 2024 versus 2023 (-0.5%), states Talysis. The segment is dominated by Nestlé, which owns nine of the top 10 brands by sales value. The Smarties 120g Giant Tube is number one with over a quarter (26.1%) of value sales, while Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles, Smarties Elf Treats, Aero Bubbles Peppermint and Milkybar Buttons making up the top five.
Selection boxes took a dip in 2024 with sales down -5.3% in Scottish convenience. Cadbury rules the roost in this area with four of the top five bestsellers, including the Medium (125g) and Small (78g) Santa Selection Boxes, which rank first and second. Each boast more than double the value share of the third bestseller, which is the 170g Cadbury Stocking Selection Box. The top three account for over half of value sales in this segment.
Boxing clever
Over in boxed chocolate, Maltesers 110g box nabbed the top spot in Christmas 2024 with a 7.7% market share, followed by Cadbury Heroes 290g and Cadbury Milk Tray 360g. The top-selling tubs were Quality Street 600g and Celebrations 550g.
“The great thing about our range is you can offer a mixture of traditional Christmas gifts, but also Heroes and Roses and Cadbury Dairy Milk bars,” says Nash. “They’re a gift, but they’re not tied to Christmas, so they de-risk to some extent. If they don’t sell through, they can be ready for the next mini season because it’s not long after Christmas before we then get Valentines and Mother’s Day.”
New for 2025, Mondelez is extending its Toblerone Truffles range, which launched in 2023, with Toblerone Assorted and Toblerone Golden Caramel Truffles.
Baba’s Kitchen in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, has come up with a surefire way to grow Christmas confectionery gifting sales, whilst making a decent margin and avoiding being left with excess seasonal stock.
“Boxed chocolate always sells well at Christmas, so we keep the stock low during the year and then really ramp it up towards the end of the year,” says Supervisor Amy Bennett.
Milk Tray is a good seller and tubs of Celebrations, Roses and Heroes are also in demand, however it’s nigh-on impossible to make much money from the latter, she claims.
“We definitely can’t beat the supermarket price for tubs. Funnily enough, most of the time we have to buy the stock from the supermarkets actually because they’re cheaper than our suppliers, so we don’t really make much off of the tubs, but we sell quite a lot in volume. I wouldn’t say they bring people into the store, but I would say folks just expect it to be there. We almost always sell out of those every year, so they do go well.”
Recognising the high demand for gifting lines, Amy started making up cellophane-wrapped hampers containing chocolate and alcohol to give the store a point of difference.
“We do some in late November at a lower price point that don’t have alcohol in them for pupils to give to their teachers as gifts,” she says. “Then we do alcohol with chocolate for people to give friends and family. The hampers tend to start at about £10 and range up to £50.
“We sell the products inside at their normal price and then we add on £5 for wrapping and packaging, so it’s probably on average about a 40% margin.”
In the past she used to make up batches of hampers in advance, but sometimes at the end of Christmas she’d have to break a few down because they didn’t sell out. “None of the stuff gets wasted, although my eye starts twitching because I’ve spent ages making them all and someone’s just cut them open!” she laughs. “So we’re moving more towards custom-made ones where we ask the customer to give us 24 hours to make it up and then they can have whatever you want in it.”
The store also buys in cardboard Christmas boxes, which it uses to create gift sets. “They look like a book on the outside, there’s usually a wee Christmas message on the front and then the cover opens and the stuff is inside,” explains Amy. “They always go really well and it’s less manual labour time making them up, it’s just a case of adding a bit of tinsel and chucking the chocolates and drinks in.
“We sold about 50 of the cellophane ones last year and around 50 of the books.”
Combine our Scottish convenience insights from Talysis with your own EPoS data and local knowledge, plus a generous sprinkle of creativity, and your seasonal sales are set to sparkle.
