Customers flock to a counter selling Valentine’s Day products at the Nihombashi Takashimaya Shopping Center in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday (Jan 22, 2025). - Photo: The Yomiuri Shimbun
TOKYO: As the battle for sales heats up ahead of Valentine’s Day, retailers are pulling out all the stops to boost chocolate sales despite recent increases in the price of the sweet treat.
Chocolate is commonly given as a gift on Valentine’s Day, but prices of chocolate products have been rising due to the surging cost of cacao beans, a key ingredient.
With Feb 14 now just a few weeks away, retailers are concentrating on a strategy of selling products that use less chocolate and recommending homemade gifts that use chocolate bars and other products.
The Nihombashi Takashimaya Shopping Center in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, on Wednesday (Jan 22) opened a section targeting customers seeking Valentine’s Day gifts.
The section will sell items from 137 confectionery brands from Japan and abroad until Feb 14.
The average price of Valentine’s Day products has increased about 10% from last year.
“Prices have gone up, so I’ll need to limit what I buy this year,” said a 29-year-old company employee from Koto Ward, Tokyo.
In a bid to prevent customers from keeping their wallets closed, Takashimaya is offering twice as many products that feature combinations of chocolate and jellies, shortbread and other foods as it did last year.
This is designed to keep prices down. The prices of popular brand-name chocolates from Europe and elsewhere have skyrocketed, so Takashimaya has strengthened its lineup of domestic brands, whose price increases have been relatively small compared to those of imported items.
The section carries items made with the input of six renowned confectioners, including Hironobu Tsujiguchi and Toshihiko Yoroizuka.
Cacao bean prices soaring
Cacao bean harvests in Ghana, one of the world’s main producers of the beans, have been poor in recent years.
Their prices on the London futures market, a global benchmark, have soared to about 4.5 times what they were in 2023.
Supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. brought forward its procurement in anticipation of a leap in chocolate prices, which has enabled the company to keep prices on 17 original products the same as they were last year.
Chocolate makers also are trying to resist hiking their prices.
The popularity of handmade chocolates died down during the Covid-19 pandemic, but major confectionery manufacturer Meiji Co. has spotted a business opportunity ahead of Valentine’s Day this year.
The company has predicted that these sharp price increases will lead to greater demand for handmade items that feel more affordable.
In collaboration with Sanrio Co., Meiji has released recipes for treats that depict popular characters, made using its chocolate bars and other products.
Toshimitsu Kiji, a market analyst at marketing research company Intage Inc., said 2025 was shaping up to be “challenging” for the chocolate market due to factors including consumers purchasing less due to higher prices.
“This year will give us a clearer picture of how Valentine’s Day sales battles will change going forward,” Kiji said. - The Yomiuri Shimbun
