Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Haribo Gummies

When you think of gummy bears, does a particular brand come to mind? I'm willing to bet that people fall into two camps. Either they don't associate gummy bears with any particular brand, or they go right for Haribo.

There is good reason why many people associate gummy bears with Haribo: its founder, Hans Riegel, is the original creator of them. In the early 1920s he incorporated Haribo — HAns RIegel BOnn, Bonn being the city in which he incorporated — and soon thereafter created the dancing bear. It looks something like the image to the right, taller and slimmer than the gummy bears we see today.

Mental Floss wrote up a neat, concise history of gummy bears, so anyone interested in where these treats came from should check that out. Us? We're more interested in how people are consuming gummy treats in the modern day.

Drawing from the past year's sales data, we can gain some insight into what kind of gummy candies people prefer. It only makes sense to start with Haribo. Not only did the company create the gummy bear, but it also has a large line of gummy products that people around the world enjoy.

So what do we know about people's gummy consumption habits? We'll start from the top.

Best Selling Haribo Products

The bears still win the day. They'd better — Haribo produces a hundred million daily! The bulk gold bears account for 12.56% of unique Haribo products sold, while the mini bags add another 11.06%, so nearly a quarter of all Haribo products sold are bears.

Curiously gummy worms didn't make the list, but that' probably because there are so many other gummies for which Haribo is well known. But Haribo Twin Snakes are starting to take off!

Here is the full list of our top ten selling Haribo gummy products.

Buying Fruit in Quantity

While the bears dominate unique purchases, fruit-themes Haribo gummies rank much higher in terms of overall quantity. For instance, in the last year our best-selling item by quantity are the Haribo Gummi Sour Cherries (an excellent choice, too). The average customer that bought sour Haribo candy purchased 4.3 bags!

Other fruit-themed gummies bought in quantity include Gummi Peaches, at 3.6 units per purchase, and Gummi Apples, at 3 units per purchase.

Here's a glance at the best-selling products by average quantity.

What Is It About Licorice?

We know few people who are crazy about licorice, but we know plenty of people who can't stand the taste. Our data show that people tend to buy licorice in conservative quantities.

The licorice wheels, both black and red, combine to average 1.12 units per purchase, by far the lowest average quantity among our significant-selling Haribo items.

What are your theories on why people buy licorice in low quantities? As you can see in the first chart, licorice is pretty popular in general. Leave us a comment below.

Ribbit

My personal favorite Haribo product is the frogs. (Although I just learned about the existence of Haribo Dinosaurs, so perhaps that will change soon.) They have a great balance of flavor, between the green gummy and the cream. These seem to be favored by only discerning tongues, as well. The average customer purchases just 1.22 units per order.

Here's the neat part about licorice and frogs. While they're both purchased among the lowest average quantities, many people love them. Licorice is our second-best seller in terms of unique orders, at 10.75 percent, although quite a way behind the bears. The frogs are our eight-best-seller in terms of unique sales, at 6 percent. Throw in the mini frogs and they're our #3 bestseller at nearly 8 percent.

Breakdown By Type

While there are dozens of different types of Haribo gummies, they essentially break down into four categories: fruits, living creatures, wheels, and bottles. Which is the most popular among them?

So fruit-themed gummies just barely edge out living creatures — the great majority of which are bears, which you can see in this chart.

The fruit chart is quite a bit more interesting. Not only does an unexpected fruit top the list, but it does so in commanding fashion.

What is it about grapefruit?

Changing Tastes

How have people's gummy-buying habits changed over the past year? We compared our numbers from the previous year (September 2012 to September 2013) to the current calendar year. Here are the big winners and losers in terms of overall percentage of Haribo products sold.

Poor cola bottles. We're sure they'll make a bounceback in 2014.

So what's your favorite Haribo gummy type? Is it one of the varieties we carry? Or are you a fan of the more exotic styles? Let us know in the comments!