Shoppers are getting spooked in the candy aisle.
The cost of sweet treats has reached frightful highs, up 13% year-over-year in September, according to US inflation data. The price of certain brands is soaring far higher than others.
Twix is up a whopping 53%, Skittles has jumped 41% and Reese’s has risen 35% over last year, according to retail analytics firm, Datasembly. Other names like Nestlé Crunch and Butterfinger are up a more modest 4% to 5%.
Factors driving the surge in prices include logistics issues, energy costs, and short supplies of some ingredients, said Datasembly Chief Executive Officer Ben Reich. Gouging might be at play but that’s harder to assess, he said.
Shoppers have been pulling back on spending, trading down to cheaper alternatives and hunting for bargains as fears of a recession loom. Deloitte is forecasting a slowdown in holiday shopping from November to December versus a year earlier. But whether inflation will take a bite out of Halloween remains to be seen. A survey by the National Retail Federation found that nearly half of shoppers surveyed stocked up early, before prices began to take off.
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