Roy Morgan Research has found that one-third of the Australian population buy at least one chocolate bar in an average four week period.
Supermarkets are by far the country’s favourite place to purchase chocolate bars with almost five million people buying chocolate from supermarkets. Convenience stores and petrol stations followed, accounting for 8 per cent of all chocolate bar purchases. Just over one per cent of the population buy from vending machines and milk bars.
Interestingly, 13 per cent of people can remember buying a chocolate bar in the last four weeks but can not recall where from.
More women than men were found to buy chocolate bars from Australian supermarkets however Roy Morgan Research said this was likely due to women doing most of the grocery shopping. Men brought more chocolate bars than women from milk bars, cafes, vending machines and sporting grounds.
Australia’s favourite supermarket brand was 50 mg Cadbury bars but convenience store shoppers like Cadbury and Kit-Kats equally. Snickers were the most purchased chocolate bar from vending machines.
“Since 2011, there has been a marginal decline in the proportion of Australians 14+ buying chocolate bars in an average four-week period, from 35% to 33%,” said Andrew Price, General Manager – Consumer Product, Roy Morgan Research.”This decrease is evident across most places of purchase, except for supermarkets, which are holding steady.”
“Of course, if we’re already at the supermarket doing the grocery-shopping, it’s easy and convenient to pick up a chocolate bar while we’re there. But that doesn’t explain why people who never do the groceries are almost as likely as main grocery-buyers to purchase chocolate bars at the supermarket!, said Price”
“Of all non-grocery-buyers who purchase chocolate bars in an average four weeks, 75% buy them at the supermarket – only slightly behind those who usually do the groceries (77%). Even considering how much cheaper chocolate is at the supermarket, it seems unlikely that such a large proportion of non-grocery-buyers would make a special trip to the supermarket simply for a chocolate bar. However, even these people must presumably need to visit a supermarket for the occasional item,” said Price.
“While it is impractical for other retailers to compete with supermarkets in terms of price, they might benefit from considering how else to entice shoppers to buy chocolate bars from them. Gaining an in-depth understanding of who buys which brand of chocolate bar — their demographics, attitudes, consumption habits and more— would be a logical starting point,” said Price.
