These Are the Most-Searched Chocolate Brands in the Philippines
We all know Filipinos have a sweet tooth, but just how much do we love candies and chocolates? And how do we compare against our neighbors in the region?
To find the answer, the folks at iPrice Group conducted a study on people’s interest in chocolates, candies and other sweets based on searches on Google across Southeast Asia.
The biggest finding in the study? It seems Filipinos’ penchant for sweets swelled during the pandemic. The monthly average of Google searches for keywords like “sweets,” “candy,” and “chocolates,” in each of the countries’ local language and in English, is 91 percent higher in 2020 compared to 2019. In October 2020, when many countries in the region mark Halloween, searches for the keywords surged 122 percent versus the same month in the previous year.
The research also showed that interest for sweets continued to rise throughout the year: searches in September were up 38 percent compared to February, which is a traditionally busy month because of Valentine’s Day. The study revealed that searches for the keywords started to increase in April, right around the time when people were getting used to quarantine protocols.
Were we adjusting to the peculiar situation and drowning our sorrows in sweets? It would certainly seem so.
The Philippines ranked third in Southeast Asia when it comes to interest in chocolates and sweets, with nearly 18.8 percent of the country’s Google population looking for sweets. Only Malaysia (21.8 percent) and Singapore (19.3 percent) ranked higher. The results mirror the data on the International Diabetes Foundation & Diabetes Atlas’ diabetes prevalence in Asia, which showed Malaysia at number two, and the Philippines at number 24.
If searches for sweets grew in 2020, it would be interesting to find out what exactly the candy and chocolate brands people are looking for. The iPrice study showed that popular Western chocolate brands took the top spot in most of the surveyed countries in the region.
In the Philippines, the top searches were for Toblerone, Maltesers, and Ferrero Rocher, which topped inquiries for local brands like Chocnut, Flat Tops, and Curly Tops. In fact, searches for the top three Western chocolates were 254 percent greater than the top three local chocolates, which were Flat Tops, Chocnut, and Curly Tops.
Indonesians seemed to be the most interested in local brands, with Choki-Choki, a liquid chocolate snack in a slim plastic package, ranking second in the country. It also has the most search interest in brands from the region.
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