Presentations “maxi” or covers from $ 0.50 are some of the strategies that are applied in the stores of sweets and chocolates.
The tradition of giving covers or gifts with candies or sweets, added to the reactivation of events and celebrations Christmas, boosts sales in the confectionery sector since the beginning of December.
Importers and producers of sweets have their expectations in place this month to raise their turnover, which has been affected since 2020, due to the COVID-19 crisis. The projection of the businesses is to close 2021 with top sales to those of the previous year, by at least 30%, and thus reach levels close to those of before the pandemic.
To achieve this objective, this year, it has chosen to supply its hangers with new items of national production and imported as sour-flavored gums, jellies in small packages, chewy fruit candies, and cookies with different fillings. Some of these products come from Colombia, Argentina, Peru and China; others, on the other hand, are Ecuadorians.
In Dulcito Shop products are brought from Turkey, Pakistan, Italy and Brazil, says its owner Raquel Ojeda. Within its catalog, which is exhibited in its premises located on Quito and Sucre avenues, in Guayaquil, are chocolate bonbons, gum with temporary tattoos, pacifiers and lollipops.
Other strategy What this company has chosen after two years is to offer again presentations of inexpensive covers from $ 0.50 in packages of 100 units to $ 40 in bags of 10 or 12 kilos in assorted candies.
The “maxi” presentations, as those over 15 pounds are considered by merchants, are the ones that are intended for companies, corporations and foundations who purchase products in bulk to make their own covers to donate or to give to their employees.
The dynamism of the market
Daniela Sáenz, Marketing Manager of Confiteca, indicates that the upward trend in the demand for sweets began in July and picked up again in the last weeks.
In fact, he explains that it was identified since the middle of the year that, with the reactivation of activities and the advancement of vaccination on a national scale, the chewing gum and menthol category it became more dynamic because it is tied to the mobility of people. “People began to go out and attend restaurants where menthol is an option to freshen their breath,” he details.
The hard, chewy candies and the kinds toffee they are also among the most purchased by consumers. Of the latter, says the firm’s spokeswoman, production has increased by at least 15% to 20%, given the high purchase at the different points of sale that are in the country. “The demand it exceeded the conservative projections that were made for this year, ”says Sáenz.
In the Virmart confectionery, located in the center of Guayaquil, a preference for packages containing jellies, candies, cookies and pacifiers ranging from $ 0.50 and $ 1. These presentations, in 2020, stopped being in demand due to the decrease in events and the closure of schools.
Henry villegas, owner of the confectionery, explains that the consumption trend in this month is close to that of 2019. In fact, he considers that according to the movement recorded since the last week of November they aspire to close the year with figures equal to those of that year.
The candy store began to fill its warehouses with product from the middle of the year until September to meet demand in December. This year, Villegas points out, there was no modest import; rather, it aimed to sell at the same rate as before the pandemic. Villegas expresses that 60% of its catalog is imported.
Confectionery imports
Given the logistics crisis which affects all foreign trade, the sector also had to overcome inconveniences. Import of raw materialsFor example, what had an impact on the firms’ production was affected since the middle of the year.
Confiteca states that there were problems with the arrival of glucose and material for packaging that had to be faced, but that were solved in time to cover the demand in December. In the case of the importer Virmart, it was decided to stop purchasing sweets from Asian countries and more were purchased from nations in the region such as Guatemala and Brazil.
The owner of Dulcito Shop, on the other hand, says that she has diversified her product catalog and now offers, in addition to sweets, items such as incense and flavored oils.
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Between January and September of this year, according to data from the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor), about $ 41 million in filled chocolates, candies, wafers, wafers and cookies were imported. An amount greater than 2020 when $ 34 million in these products were acquired from abroad. (I)
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