Christmas goodies have only just left the shop shelves and now their place has been taken by another festive product: chocolate Easter eggs. Although Easter isn’t until mid-April some stores already have Easter Eggs, chocolate bunnies and other traditional Easter goodies on sale. In our consumer affairs podcast the VRT News journalist and newsreader Chaima Saysay asks why the Easter products are being put on sale more than 3 months before Easter. Pierre-Alexandre Billiet of retail organisation Gondola says that “Retail chains want to avoid being stuck with stock and they don't always have the manpower to fill the shelves at the right time.”
Chaima Saysay says in the podcast “How is it possible? I was in shock when I saw that Easter eggs are already in the shops. It is still more than three months until Easter and they already want us to buy Easter eggs”.
The economist Pierre-Alexandre Billiet works for the retail federation Gondola. He told VRT News that there are three main reason why Easter eggs are already on sale in the shops.
The first reason is logistics. “Manufacturers wish to avoid keeping their products in stock for too long. Therefore, products are sent to sent to retailers straight away. Once the retailers have received the Easter eggs, they too don't want them to remain in their warehouse for too long. So, the Easter eggs are sent to the shops straight away", Mr Billiet explains.
The second reason has to do with staffing. “Retail chains do not always have the staff to get products onto the shelves at the right time. Therefore, it is sometimes better to get them out on display early, at the time when there are enough staff, rather than have them on the too late due to lack of staff.”
Commercial reasons also play a role “It is a smart move financially to start selling Easter eggs well in advance, even if sales are a little sluggish at the start. Waiting too long is always a risk. By offering Easter items well in advance, retailers prevent sales being lost”.
But are we already buying Easter eggs in January? The answer is yes and what’s more the eggs are even being bought by people like Chaima that are annoyed that they are on the shelves so early. This is because “Even though we feel that we would prefer to buy Easter eggs nearer to Easter, we can’t wait until then to buy them as the presence of the eggs on the shelves evokes an Easter feeling and makes us want to buy them”.
“Chocolate is chocolate. Whether it is in the shape of an Easter egg or a Christmas tree” Pierre-Alexandre Billiet concludes.