BY Kathy Crosett
Chocolate is a favorite food and topic of conversation for most consumers. If your accounts are preparing to introduce new chocolate products to the local market, they need the right marketing strategy. You can show your accounts the latest audience data and marketing trends for chocolate lovers and show them how to advertise the benefit of chocolate.
The U.S. Chocolate Market
The total value of the U.S. chocolate market is around $28B. Consumers purchase chocolate as part of their weekly grocery shopping. They also make impulse buys at convenience store counters. And then, consumers drop by their local chocolate store when they want to treat themselves or purchase a gift.
You can check out the in-depth report for the local chocolate shops in your market with a subscription to AdMall, powered by SalesFuel. The information in the report can help you assist the local store owner in designing an ad campaign.
In 2025, research shows that around 80% of U.S. adults have purchased chocolate at least once in the past year. And 40% of consumers purchase chocolate around once a week.
What do consumers appreciate about chocolate?
Consumers like: milk chocolate (40%), dark chocolate (28%) and white chocolate (7%). The rest have no preference.
Consumers know that eating too much sugar isn’t a good thing. Your accounts can work around that potential barrier to purchase by emphasizing what consumers appreciate about chocolate. Specifically, they like “natural ingredients and transparency.”
Given the wellness focus by consumers seeking luxury products, chocolatiers should also highlight any connection to probiotics or superfoods. The benefit of chocolate should be included in the messaging.
Industry experts believe that flavor tops the chocolate selection process. And, the story behind high-quality, small-batch chocolate matters. Remind your accounts to emphasize those details in their marketing content.
When do consumers purchase chocolate?
The main chocolate purchasing events include holidays like Valentine’s Day and Easter. When Halloween and winter holidays are added in, 65% of chocolate sales are accounted for.
That leaves 35% of chocolate sales available for your accounts to capture during other times of the year. Keep in mind that 72% of consumers believe chocolates make a nice gift for friends and family members. But they need reminders.
How can your accounts connect with their chocolate-loving audience?
Candy/Chocolate Shop Shoppers respond to specific types of advertising, according to AudienceSCAN results. And they also exhibit behaviors that your accounts can take into account when designing ad campaigns.
Nearly 59% of this audience has a household income of over $75,000. They likely have the discretionary income to visit an upscale chocolate shop.
Media formats
AudienceSCAN also reports that this audience overindexes for responding to ads in newspapers, in print and online. Your account should include newspapers in their media mix. This strategy might be especially effective for the 20% of this audience that is age 65+.
In addition, 47% of the Candy/Chocolate Shop Shopper audience has responded to an ad on a social network in the past 30 days. Talk with your accounts about including social media in their campaigns.
SEO initiatives should include solid content updates. This content can highlight the unique products being sold. Once your account obtains contact details for their best customers, they can regularly email and text about new products and limited time promotions.
The value of events
Remind your accounts that over 35% of these consumers are interested in baking and trying new cooking recipes. The local chocolatier can attract new customers by offering a demonstration or class on how to make chocolates. Advertising the event, along with a discount on the first purchase, is a great way to build loyalty from a new audience.
Chocolate lovers are also far more likely than other adults to attend holiday/Christmas expos or local community festivals. Encourage your local chocolate specialist to sponsor these events and advertise their presence to strengthen community ties.
Suggested marketing budgets
Encourage your accounts to budget for a return on ad spend of at least 4:1. The experts suggest a marketing budget of up to 15% of revenue for new stores. Established stores can likely do well with spending 10% of revenue on marketing initiatives.
Chocolate may be most popular at specific holidays, but there is no slow season as far as true chocolate lovers are concerned. Help your accounts develop campaigns to tout the benefit of chocolate.
Photo by Igor Ovsyannykov on Pexels.
