Lindt to cut prices as chocolate demand weakens in key markets
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The Swiss company is cutting prices for its Christmas offerings and plans to lower them across the board starting from January.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Lindt plans to cut chocolate prices starting January due to weak demand and subdued consumer confidence in key European markets like Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
- The company lowered its 2026 organic sales growth forecast to 0%-2%, causing its shares to drop sharply, reflecting doubts about volume recovery and pricing power.
- Lindt expects positive volume growth in 2027 from easing cocoa costs and increased brand investments, and plans to invest in ice-cream equipment to adapt to hotter summers.
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ZURICH – Lindt plans to lower prices for its chocolate products after it pared back its sales-growth guidance for a second time in 2026, citing subdued consumer confidence.
The Swiss company is cutting prices for its Christmas offerings and plans to lower them across the board starting from January, chief executive officer Adalbert Lechner said on Sept 29 on a media call.
Lindt earlier revised its full-year 2026 outlook for organic sales growth to a range of 0%-2%, down from 4-6% previously, having already trimmed it in March.
The shares slumped as much as 8% in early trading in Zurich, the biggest intraday decline since the March guidance revision. They were down by more than a quarter in 2026 through the close on Sept 28 due to doubts about a recovery in volumes.
The confectionary maker has been grappling with tepid demand in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, as well as increased price sensitivity among customers. A heat wave also weighed on sales in Europe across the chocolate industry during the summer months.
“A second cut within six months dents Lindt’s reputation for reliable guidance, a key support for its premium valuation,” Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy wrote in a note.
“Pricing power, long Lindt’s trump card, is now being tested.”
Lindt, or Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG, expects “positive volume growth” in 2027 thanks to easing cocoa prices and increased brand investments, Lechner said.
“With our hedging strategy, we did not benefit in a big way from lower cocoa prices this year, but we will see a positive impact next year that allows us to do lower price points,” he told reporters.
Lower prices introduced in August in some of its key markets had already shown “that there is a direct link to volume development”, he added.
Lindt is planning to ramp up investments in ice-cream equipment for its stores and is considering offering cooled products, he said, warning that “we have to prepare for hotter temperatures in any summer”. BLOOMBERG