Happy Easter!

UK Easter gift spending expected to be worth £590m this year.  Brits top the global chocolate eating charts, according to Mintel .  Just Love these decorated Viennese-style chocolate eggs available at The Delaunay Counter.

Happy Easter everyone.  
Hope you’ll all be eating a lot of chocolates during the holidays, and rightfully so, you will be in good company.

According to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), there has been a delicious 23% rise in Easter chocolate launches over the past year* providing a plethora of chocolate choice for Easter egg hunts across the globe.

The countries leading the way in Easter chocolate innovation include Brazil, which accounted for 11% of global Easter chocolate product launches in 2017, followed by the UK, South Africa, Germany (each with a 10% share) and France (9%).

However, it seems no one loves chocolate quite as much as the Brits across the globe. The average Brit devoured 8.4 kg worth of chocolate in 2017.  Hot on the heels of the Brits, Switzerland consumed 8.3kg, closely followed by Germany at 8.2kg.  Within the top 10 chocolate per capita consumers, Russia experienced the biggest increase at 2.2%; meanwhile, Austria reported the sharpest decline at -1.9%.

Reflecting the importance of seasonal products as a whole, in 2017, almost a quarter (23%) of global chocolate launches were positioned as seasonal, such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day and Halloween.

Overall, the US and Germany lead in terms of total chocolate new product development (NPD), each accounting for 8% of new product launches in 2017. This is followed by France (7%), the UK (5%) and Brazil (4%).

Marcia Mogelonsky, Director of Insight, Mintel Food and Drink, said:“Easter represents one of those ‘permissible indulgence’ moments where consumers enjoy giving and receiving chocolate treats. The holiday also marks a time for increased innovation in confectionery as consumers seek new and novel products. In the UK, for example, Easter eggs flavoured with beer or stout, which were the rage in past years, have given way to new alternatives such as gin-and-tonic flavoured eggs. In Germany, the introduction of vegan Easter bunnies and eggs reflects the growing popularity of a plant-based diet in that country.”

Happiness is ...Chocolates made from the finest!

A question that I have heard ever more often nowadays is "are you Happy?"   Whether one's in a restaurant being served or having a gym exercise session, people want to know if we are happy with the experience of the moment.  This apparently simple question usually solicits a simple answer: yes or no.

Clinton's Cocoa Paradise range in attractive nature-inspired packaging offers customers globally-sourced chocolates
in a variety of flavours to suit different tastes.

If one's life is not under threat, and health is not a concern, most people would probably find happiness from the simple pleasures of life, like when the sun is shining brightly, and when one's having a satisfying meal or simply eating chocolates.

Such joy that chocolates can bring to us (me included) that the global chocolate market has become huge today, to the tune of more than US$98 billion a year, according to MarketsandMarkets (M&M),a global market research and consulting company based in the U.S.  Growth of the chocolate industry over the last decade has been driven in large part by an increasing awareness of the health benefits of certain types of chocolate and growing popularity in Asian Pacific countries, according to experts.

So it is welcome news that UK card and gift retailer Clintons has launched its own luxury brand of chocolate, Cocoa Paradise range, available in 12 different varieties, to boost their entrance into the chocolate market. The premium bars packaged in attractive flora and fauna designs are available exclusively in 400 Clintons stores across the nation.

The new venture marks Clintons’ commitment to expanding their confectionery range, as the company aims to capitalise on the thriving chocolate industry, which is expected to continue growing at an annual rate close to 5% until 2020.

The 100g bars are made from cocoa beans sourced from farms around the world including Madagascar, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador and slowly roasted to release their natural flavours. The Madagascan dark chocolate which is made from 70% cocoa beans went on to win an award at the International Chocolate Awards in 2016.

Indeed, understanding happiness is a profound matter, and together with well-being, happiness of the world's population has increasingly seen as important factors for global governments when it comes to developing policies.

According to the 2017 World Happiness Report - launched earlier this year, those countries that have thrived economically and socially have registered the highest level of happiness in the world ranking.

The six indicators for measuring happiness are Freedom, Generosity, Health, Social Support, Income and Trust Worthy Governance. 

These indicators show that we should not just judge the success of a country by figures based on GDP growth but by the quality of growth, a view that was emphasised by  the head of the UN Development Program (UNDP) in a recent speech arguing that more attention should be paid to happiness in the world's governments' efforts to achieve both human and sustainable development.
This report gives special attention to the social foundations of happiness for individuals and
nations. The chapter starts with global and regional charts showing the distribution of
answers, from roughly 3000 respondents in each of more than 150 countries, to a question
asking them to evaluate their current lives on a ladder where 0 represents the worst possible life and 10 the best possible.

Although the top ten countries remain the same as last year, there has been some shuffling of
places. Most notably, Norway has jumped into first position, followed closely by Denmark,
Iceland and Switzerland.

This was the fifth such report published since the first World Happiness Report of April, 2012, published in support of the UN High Level Meeting on happiness and well-being. Happiness is increasingly considered the proper measure of social progress and the goal of public policy.