INDOOR CHOCOLATE?

Interesting trends in Jakarta worth noting! Restaurateurs tell me that more people are staying at home these days. More people are staying home these days, say the Movie people. In my area more people are buying DVDs.

Adding up I wondered if these trends were doing anything to chocolate. A retailer who didn't want to be named said,that in the last three months sales of moulded chocolates had gone up be 12%. Chocolate confectionery multi-packs upped by nearly 5%. So are soft drinks, snacks(modern and local).

The general opinion is that more people are tending to stay home, and enjoy in-home entertainment, rather than go out for "expensive" diversions.

Cross selling, said the retailer, would be an ideal strategy to take advantage of this trend.

Small and home businesses can also cash in on this trend.

SOME DOWNSIDES ELSEWHERE

Prices of chocolate bars and snacks are trending upwards in US and Europe and we fear it may trickle down here in Indonesia. The reasons are the higher prices of nuts, cocoa and fuel of course. Mars and Hersheys have pushed up prices by 12% and 11% respectively. Cadbury in the Pacific Region, closer home, has announced downsizing to refocus on their chocolate business.

INTERESTING TEAM-UP

An interesting team-up has been brought to my attention with an email. A strategy and a concept use able on a small scale or big. This one is very big. It has nothing to do with chocolate but it is interesting for chocoholics to think about.

Unilever, Pepsi-Co and Starbucks have joined forces to produce Ready-To-Drink teas.
Of course I don't mean that chocoholics and chocolatiers should look at team-ups to produce something as mundane as chocolate drinks but something things chocolate that are sparse on our shelves.