Advent calendars have moved far beyond the classic chocolate squares and are now much more integrated into the luxury category aimed at a more adult market. It’s an exciting space for food and drink brands, from craft gin minis to plant-based snacks and sensory experiences. Trends are quickly developing, featuring more personalisation and a focus on sustainability. This has enabled businesses to extend the Christmas sales window and showcase products to existing and new customers.
The rise of the new advent calendar
Alongside the overarching trend towards premium advent calendars, sub-trends include enhanced customer experiences and immersive technology to go alongside the item inside each door, options for personalisation and continued focus on sustainability.
- Premiumisation and craft — small-batch spirits, single-origin chocolates, artisan preserves and curated cheese or charcuterie samples replace mass-market sweets with the likes of Harrods and Fortnum & Mason leading the way with luxury FandB advent calendars
- Experience-first formats — calendars that invite ritual: recipe cards, QR-linked playlists or AR moments, and build-your-own kits. In 2022, Craft Gin Club added a QR code to each door of their advent calendar with a video show a perfect mixer pairing to each gin
- Personalisation — customisable selections and limited editions through DTC channels
- Sustainability and low-waste design — recyclable or reusable packaging; refillable compartments or calendars that convert to storage to use after
Unlocking opportunity advent calendars as a premium growth channel
Advent calendars provide the food and drink industry opportunity to attract new customers, and reward existing ones, allowing them to sample a variety of products, including limited editions. This leads to improved customer retention, brand loyalty, and enables manufacturers to start the peak sales period from November. The benefits of advent calendars extend across several key areas:
- High perceived value — 24 curated items create a premium unboxing and gifting experience that justifies higher price points
- Brand engagement and storytelling — daily reveals keep customers interacting with the product and strengthens brand presence throughout the month
- Cross-sell and sampling channel — efficient way to introduce a wide range of products
- Seasonal marketing spike — concentrated holiday sales window with strong social-share potential (unboxing advent calendars is a regular feature by social media influencers)
- Flexible SKU strategy — can combine new products, slow-moving inventory, and collaborations into one sellable package
Building better advent calendars: Balancing quality, sustainability, and the supply chain
Shelf life and quality control
Shelf life is a key consideration for the food and drink industry, distinguishing them from non-consumable alternatives. Manufacturers must carefully balance lead times in production to ensure products retain sufficient shelf life when it arrives to the customer. A unique advantage is that consumption is expected within a defined festive period, allowing for precise shelf-life planning.
While established manufacturing lines automate checks like weight and visual inspections, temporary lines face greater challenges without significant investment or volume certainty. It is paramount to ensure all items are present as shortages undermine customer trust. Missing items can go viral. Tony’s Chocolonely once cleverly leveraged a deliberate omission to showcase their brand values of fairness and education on inequality in the cocoa industry.
Supply chain and lead times
Balancing advent calendar production with regular stock, while managing shelf-life restrictions and build timings, requires robust planning. Close co-ordination with commercial teams is essential to achieve accurate demand forecast and ensure timely production for October and November sales.
Compressed festive lead times require early supplier engagement, especially for specialty or bespoke items. Building buffer inventory and considering dual sourcing for critical components can help mitigate risks.
Supplier agreements, such as committing to a certain volume of raw materials upfront but not delaying final production until volumes are set, can greatly improve financial flexibility whilst managing short lead times.
Sustainability and materials choices
The design of a product massively influences its Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), especially for labour intensive products like advent calendars. Packaging choices must be carefully considered; plastic allows easy pick and place but is not a sustainable choice, whereas recyclable cardboard inserts require folding or assembly, which increase labour cost and reduce output, especially disruptive in peak period. Whatever the packaging decision, it is useful to communicate sustainability choices on-pack as consumers value transparency.
Many brands have opted for re-usable packaging. Biscuiteers included a re-usable fabric advent calendar with their 24-day biscuit tin calendar, and Fortnum & Mason have a wooden advent calendar filled with treats to then be refilled each year. Not only are these sustainable solutions, but they also connect the consumer to the brand for years to come.
Filling and assembly automation
There is a trade-off between automation and labour costs. With rising labour costs and shortages, automation appears the better option but needs the right business case with demonstrated volumes to warrant sign off. This can be difficult if advent calendars are a new venture, or if companies are using a 3PL or a co-manufacturer to support production. Each party will need to feel the benefit of investment.
Manual assembly is flexible for small/complex luxury calendars but expensive at scale. Investment will be needed in semi-automated picking/placing rigs for medium volumes, and it is recommended to design product geometries for machine handling where possible.
Creating lasting impact through advent experience
Food and drink advent calendars are a great way to tell a brand story every day of December. There is a growing trend in the luxury food and drink category, being strongly supported by social media marketing. Personalisation, sustainability, and experience beyond the item itself in the calendar are trends to watch.
Success blends creative curation with smart planning and manufacturing: choose stable, sharable products; design packaging that protects and delights; and work with design teams, commercial teams, manufacturers, and suppliers, to imbed supply-chain realities into the plan early. Done well, a food and drink advent calendar can convert seasonal curiosity into long-term customers, one door at a time.
Share:
