As if by magic, when they find themselves in packaging bearing the image of Saint-Nicolas, their price rises to €4.99 for 4 Kinders, or €62.38/kg. A 50% increase! And the brand clearly seems to benefit from it. Indeed, in 2018, the difference was “only” 20% between traditional packaging (3 eggs for €2.35) and those bearing the image of Saint-Nicolas (€3.79 for 4 eggs). In the space of 6 years, traditional Kinder have increased by 24% while their festive version has jumped by 33%. The great Saint clearly has a good back.
Don't have your Advent calendar yet? Don't panic, it's not too late!
Kinder isn't the only brand taking advantage of December 6th. A quick tour of the shelves allows you to quickly see this. At Lotus, Speculoos (or rather Biskoff since the brand's rebranding) are sold, in their chocolate version, at €2.19 for a 7×22 gr package. But the same product, flocked with the character of Saint-Nicolas, can be found on the shelves at the price of €3.99 for a 6×25 gr package. A price difference of almost 65%.
Milka is no exception to the rule. The subject of Saint-Nicolas (90 g) is sold for €2.19 in supermarkets. In the aisle, the milk chocolate bar of the same brand is displayed at the price of €1.49 for 100 gr. Again, a 60% price difference that is difficult to justify by the simple shape of the figurine.
If prices skyrocket on the occasion of Saint Nicholas on certain products such as sweets, the reasons can be various, as Pierre-Alexandre Billiet, CEO of the Gondola group, told us when we asked him the question.
The big test of brands: we found a few impostors behind the subjects of Saint Nicholas (COMPARATIVE)
“On the one hand we can say that they are taking advantage of this to inflate prices, but on the other, even if it may seem paradoxical, it is also an opportunity for certain brands or distributors to make money on products which are sold at excessively low prices throughout the year and therefore generate little margin. This is what we call social profit. For distributors, these products with free licensing allow them to catch up. brands, on the other hand, is not the case and it is all beneficial as long as the consumer is willing to pay…”
However, price differences can reach quite dizzying proportions. “This can vary from single to quadruple. With a specific target group like children, brands know they can afford it. We are not dealing with functional purchases but rather emotional ones. Price differences are therefore significant because the purchasing manager will not pay too much attention to the price. What matters is to please the child. The food sector is also conducive to this type of phenomenon because it can quickly adapt and ride the event, as is also the case for Halloween or Christmas.”
And, indeed, when we analyze the price of Advent calendars, we also see that brands benefit from it. Haribo, life is beautiful… Certainly, but if you succumb to the Advent calendar of the famous teddy bear, you will have to seriously put your hand in your wallet. So, for a calendar filled with 300 grams of candy, it will cost you €7.79, or €26 per kilo. Inside the small boxes, candies from the range available all year round, the price per kilo varies between €5.32 and €16.25. This is, more or less, the price per kilo of the entire range sold in bags of 200 to 250 gr. The increase of up to 500% for the cheapest candies, which are also found in the calendar.
