Bounce in Easter retail as trend for seasonal decorations grows
Traditionally a time for bonnets, bunnies and a surfeit of chocolate, Easter has increasingly taken on a new aspect, and more so since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
Easter crackers, Easter wreaths, and Easter trees are now critical components in the commercialisation of the Christian festival, with the bank holiday beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Lifestyle magazines are groaning with glossy images of wreath-adorned front doors, while pastel-coloured crackers and rabbit-emblazoned napkins nestle among wine glasses and gleaming cutlery on stylish dining tables.
With pandemic lockdowns and restrictions having disrupted family get-togethers for the past two years, the appetite for Easter decor in 2022 is greater than ever, it seems.
Many retailers’ websites are already out of stock of Easter cracker kits – the equivalent of the Christmas cracker but often featuring an abundance of bunnies and floral illustrations. Consumers are invited to “fill your own” with chocolate treats, while others contain fluffy, yellow miniature toy chicks. The supermarket retailers Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury’s all appeared to have sold out of cracker kits online on Sunday.
According to research by the retail analysts Mintel, Easter was estimated to be worth £550m to UK retailers in 2016, and the figure has since grown. In 2021, almost one in 20 Britons brought home decorations for Easter, rising to one in 10 between the ages of 25 and 40.
This year, with social distancing rules no longer imposed, retailers hope householders will be pushing the boat out even more on lavish decorations.
Eggs are no longer just made of chocolate, but are painted, beaded with Fabergé-inspired designs, and set to sparkle from special Easter twig trees. At John
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