A showstopping extravaganza to remember for the final day at State of the Industry Conference 2024

The Final day of the State of the Industry Conference spanned everything from a motivational talk from a former Navy Seal and reflections on the retail landscape, through to a magical finale from Oz Pearlman exploring the power of perception, writes Neill Barston.

For the 700 attendees of this year’s event in Miami, the last day had a sense of the spectacular about it, featuring a strong line-up that placed a broad spectrum of the industry, augmented with a couple of added special guests from beyond the sector for added engagement factor. (See our exclusive video review of this year’s SOTIC event here).

The first session very much fell into the latter category, featuring a conversation with Marcus Luttrell (below, right), former Navy Seal, whose career inspired a New York Times bestselling book, and movie, Lone Survivor.

As he told the audience, “It doesn’t matter what background you are from, so long as you have a great attitude,” was his key advice to the assembled crowd, who offered him a standing ovation as he recalled his eventful career with the elite navy force that he revealed had taught him to ‘attack each day from the start,” in an uncompromising fashion, such has been his determination in his personal and professional life.

From there, the conference main stage heard from Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president and chief advisor, consumer goods and foodservice insights at Circana, who outlined the fact that while there has been some growth in certain market segments, such as heightened interest in premium brands, other areas have revealed a softening of sales in the past year, amid constraints upon the broader economy.

Significantly, the presentation revealed that consumers are being faced with pricing that is effectively over 30% more than It was five years ago, with multiple issues impact the industry, namely the pandemic, as well as post-covid issues relating to core ingredients price rises.

“Since 2019, confectionery pricing has outpaced wage growth – that’s a problem, as we have gone to where consumers don’t have so much money to spend, compared to how prices have increased,” she noted of how the segment has fared.

However, as revealed by the State of Treating Report yesterday, there has in fact been growth in the segment as a whole, with US sales rising to $48 billion for the past year, compared against $42bn the prior twelve months.

“The fact that we have seen dollar growth speaks to the relevance that confectioners bring to consumers in the US,” observed Wyatt, who revealed that the past year’s data had revealed that many shoppers had eased off on the level of consumption rates of confectionery in some instances.

Significantly, she noted that discounting and pricing offers designed to encourage shoppers to indulge in their favourites have not had quite the impact in recent times as the sector would have liked – which she attributed to the fact that consumers remembered what they paid pre-pandemic and had not perhaps considered the pricing points offered as representing a good deal against their previous purchases from years ago.

“Here’s the good thing for people in the room – we are getting near to the point where people aren’t going to be remembering those prices that they once paid,” observed the analyst as she examined the psychology of shopping habits.

As Confectionery Production has previously reported, store prices for the UK and many others including the US have indeed experienced an upward curve during the past year, as manufacturers and retailers have not held back on passing along the significant surges in the cost of both cocoa and sugar in terms of elevated retail pricing strategy.

The morning was rounded out with a retail panel featuring Shawn Darmody, vice president of merchandising for the Target retail group, Cathy David , president of merchandising for World Market, and Brian Rinker, director for snacking and confections at the Walgreen Company.

“Confectionery is hugely important to us – and seasonal ranges are really huge for us in particular, during ‘big and small’ seasons in the year. No category in my opinion signals the seasons better than candy, so it plays a huge role for us. Our guests expect to have newness and discovery, and this category does such an amazing job of driving discovery, offering accessible luxury,” noted Shawn Darmody of its approach to the segment.

Afternoon sessions

Notably, the event offered several key afternoon sessions, which included a panel discussion on retail convenience stores, as well as a further event option explore how media buying for advertising opportunities has evolved significantly in recent years.

Furthermore, Sylvia Buxton, president and CEO of Perfetti Van Melle North America led on an additional segment that was devoted to creating workplaces that work for everyone. This explored initiatives to support women in the workplace, which included establishing employee resource groups and connecting with external networks with a view to assisting work-life balance that foster greater equity and acknowledge the need to balance family life alongside working commitments.

The afternoon concluded on a dramatic note, with a showstopping performance from Oz Pearlman, a mentalist and entertainer who wowed the audience in the main Majestic ballroom with his ability to read the room with a series of impressive feats of analysis that saw him display ‘mind reading like abilities’ – which he was quick to address – “I can’t read minds, but I can read people,” he asserted of his impressive show that drew a standing ovation that formed one of the final sessions of the event, before its traditional gathering at Tidal Cove for the final evening.

For an extended review of the event, see our subsequent edition of Confectionery Production magazine.