In preparation for Valentine's Day next month, department store chains are already ramping up preparations for chocolate products that will have a slightly different focus this year.
In contrast to past years, retailers expect that more people will buy chocolates for themselves, instead of as gifts, and that they will be looking for eye-catching creations to show off on social media as well as sweets they can eat while teleworking.
Ahead of its Jan. 19 opening of a special chocolate sales corner, the Kintetsu Department Store Main Store Abeno Harukas in Abeno Ward, Osaka, showed off this year's offerings to the media on Friday.
One of the products that a customer could show off on social media is a grand piano-shaped chocolate that measures 23 centimeters by 23 centimeters. It accurately reproduces the shape of a piano and is priced at 32,400, yen including tax.
Other Instagrammable products include chocolates that look like cappuccinos. A pack of six is priced at 1,512 yen.
For customers to consume on their own with tea, the department store has prepared fruit-flavored chocolate gateaux that are good as snacks, monaka sweets in which chocolate is used between the wafers instead of the traditional red bean paste, and baumkuchen layered cakes containing chocolate. These items are priced at 400, yen 2,160 yen for a pack of 10 and 1,080 yen for a pack of 10, respectively, including tax.
Recently, many people have taken to enjoying chocolates for themselves, not just presenting them to others as Valentine's Day gifts.
An official of the department store said, "The trend will likely be stronger than before, as many people are refraining from going out due to the coronavirus crisis."
Takashimaya Co., another department store chain, launched a service this year where customers can choose one piece of chocolate each from among 30 brands. Stores began accepting online orders on Wednesday, and the products will be delivered from Jan. 30.
A Takashimaya spokesperson said, "We've made it possible to eat and compare various flavors, as customers can't try them in sales corners."
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