Egg prices threaten the sales of Easter coloring kit

The alley of eggs is anything but cheaper by the dozen today – and it becomes a big problem before the Easter holidays.

Manufacturers of Easter egg coloring kits are preparing for potential benefits if the egg shortage does not start to light up before the April 20 holidays. For many companies specializing in these activity sets, egg dye kits and related products constitute a significant part of annual income. The decrease in sales could have a major impact on their results.

“I think sales will be down,” said Ashley Phelps, founder and CEO of Color Kitchen, a plant -based cooking company. “It remains to be seen, but I think it will probably be the case.”

The prices of wholesale eggs have overshadowed record levels, reaching a summit of $ 8.58 per dozen in the middle of a national bird flu epidemic, according to the Global EXPANA Global Matter Data Company. More than 52 million birds weighted by the eggs have died, leaving the national herd to only 280 million, an extremely low level, said Ryan Hojnowski, a market journalist in Expana.

He noted that the rise in prices has slowed down the demand of consumers, because the prices of retail eggs on average about $ 6 per dozen or more. In addition, many stores have implemented purchasing limits, restricting the number of boxes that customers can buy at the same time.

The combination of inflated price and limited availability could reduce egg sales for Easter holidays, ultimately affecting the demand for egg color kits.

Natural Earth Paint, a company that manufactures natural art supplies and craft kits for children, generally sells between 40,000 and 50,000 egg dyeing kits during Easter holidays, according to the founder Leah Fanning. So far this year, the retail partners of the company have only ordered 7,000 kits.

“This is definitely a huge drop,” said Fanning, noting that most buyers have cited egg shortage for small orders.

Fanning told CNBC that egg dye kits are the best -selling product of Natural Earth Paint for 13 years and maintained business in its first eight years. Among the more than 40 products in the company, the egg dye kit remains its “absolute best-seller”.

She noted that if the majority of Natural Earth Paint sales come from retail stores, online sales usually take about three weeks before Easter. This gives the chance that direct sales to consumers can get a boost in mid-March.

Color Kitchen said that its Easter items represent 20% of the total stock of the company’s items and the sale of all other items, including its Christmas frosting kits.

Phelps noted that most retailers command these egg kits for months before the holidays to make sure they are in stock immediately after Valentine’s Day. She said that retailers “took a little less product this year”, being sensitivity to the inflationary environment.

“The other concern is that, some of the stories of the grocery store, if they do not sell, then we are invoiced for a product that becomes updated to try to move it from the store,” said Phelps. “So, this is where we will be struck if the things that have already been shipped in the grocery stores are not sold. It could be very bad.”

Phelps said that 75% of color kitchen sales come from the shelf. The remaining 25% come from direct sales to consumers on its website and on sites such as Amazon.

There are companies that always expect to see solid affairs this Easter. The holidays take place at the end of April, giving companies three weeks of additional sales compared to last year.

Hey Buddy Hey Pal, a company that makes the egg egg decorator, a craft tool that runs eggs so that children can use markers to color them, generates between 85% and 90% of its annual income from its Easter product. Last year, the company generated $ 14 million in sales, a bump of 22% compared to the previous year.

Curtis McGill, co-founder of Hey Buddy Hey Pal, said the retailers have ordered less of his products this year. However, the company said it expected another 18% annual income because it is expected to sell between 600,000 and 700,000 egg decorators this year.

Even when the prices of eggs were boula, some manufacturers of dye kit see the decoration of eggs as an essential tradition that few families will choose to jump, even if they reduce the number of eggs they use.

The Paas, the leader in the space of the egg dye kit, expects that some families will decorate fewer eggs this year, but have said that many will always participate in tradition.

“It’s just such a sticky tradition,” said Joe Ens, CEO of Signature Brands, who has the iconic brand of 140 years old.

The company recently carried out a survey of 120 consumers and found that 94% of them still planned to decorate the eggs this celebration.

“And the reason for this, apart from the important tradition for consumers, it is that if you really decompose the cost of tradition, it is undoubtedly the most affordable family tradition during all the holidays,” he said.

The Paas plans to sell more than 10 million kits this year, one of the strongest sales in the company ever, he said.

The Arts and Crafts Michaels store chain said it already saw buyers opt for products inspired by eggs. The company told CNBC that 43% of its Easter sales in total so far this year have been in charge of plaster, plastic and craft eggs.

Michaels said that an artisanal egg kit designed to “imitate the traditional egg decoration experience” sells almost three times faster than the company had planned it.

Likewise, Hey Buddy Hey Pal expects that some families can choose to buy wooden eggs instead of real. Although alternatives are generally more expensive than real eggs, they are an opportunity to keep creations long after the end of the holidays.

“Many things could happen by then, we can continue to see an avian flu epidemic and various egg farms that had not been affected,” said McGill. “It could get worse before it improves. It’s not the projections, but at this point … I’m just going to hold my breath until we arrived on April 20.”