Do we need to make chocolate great again? Of course not. It’s chocolate; it’s already great. It’s so great, in fact, that chocolate candy accounted for $11.2 billion—more than half—of the $21.5 billion that American consumers spent on candy in its entirety during the 52 weeks ending April 30, 2016, per Nielsen data. That makes chocolate the best-selling candy type in America.
But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t sell better. And it doesn’t mean that chocolate can afford to skate on its reputation alone—impeccable though it may be—if it hopes to keep flying off what’s become an increasingly crowded candy shelf. Although the number of new chocolate introductions is increasing, according to Innova Market Insights’ 2015 Global New Product Introductions report, there is competition with the growth of the snack category increasing at a faster rate. In North America, bars lead the snack category.