Gummies edge past hard candy in Japan as chewy textures and convenience reshape snacking

A narrow lead marks a bigger shift in Japanese sweets

Japan's gummy candy sales reached 66.5 billion yen in the first half of 2025, edging ahead of hard candy at 66.1 billion yen, according to market tracker Intage Inc. The gap was just 400 million yen, about 0.6 percent of hard candy sales, yet it marked a milestone for a category that has been steadily changing the country's snacking habits.

Gummies have led monthly sales since April, putting them in contention to finish a full calendar year ahead of hard candy. As Japan marked Gummy Day on September 3, the figures pointed to growing demand for sweets that combine a satisfying chew with portable packaging and a wide choice of flavors.

The shift extends beyond a single strong season. Gummies overtook chewing gum in 2021, while their market grew 17 percent in 2024 to 113.8 billion yen. That was the first time annual sales cleared 100 billion yen and roughly twice the market's size in 2017.

Working adults and students buy gummies for a quick refreshment, a palate cleanser after coffee, or a small bite during a long day. Children enjoy their playful shapes and fruit flavors. Overseas visitors buy them as souvenirs that are light, easy to carry and share, and associated with Japanese tastes.

Convenience stores and drugstores sit at the center of this expansion. Small pouches fit into commutes, desk routines and day trips, while the candy itself offers a practical advantage over gum: there is nothing left to dispose of after chewing. Flavor, texture and convenience are working together to turn an occasional treat into a regular purchase.

From the gum slump to the gummy boom

Japan's preference for a firm, resistant chew has helped drive the category's growth. Industry sources call these products hard type gummies. They resist the first bite before yielding, giving consumers a longer and more substantial chewing experience.

Sales of this segment have tripled since 2017, according to analysts. Its rise became especially apparent in 2021, when gummies surpassed chewing gum and gum sales fell to about 59.3 billion yen. Changing routines and fewer everyday occasions for chewing gum helped open space for a different kind of chewy sweet.

The key steps in the category's development span several decades:

• 1980: Meiji introduced Cola Up, described as Japan's first gummy candy.
• 1988: Meiji launched Juicy Gummy, combining a comfortable chew with fruit taste and aroma.
• 2017: The starting point for comparisons showing a doubling of the wider gummy market by 2024 and a tripling of sales for firm gummies.
• 2021: Gummies overtook chewing gum, whose sales fell to about 59.3 billion yen.
• 2024: Gummy sales rose 17 percent to 113.8 billion yen, passing 100 billion yen for the first time.
• April 2025 onward: Gummies led hard candy in monthly sales, helping produce a lead for the first half of the year.
• September 3, 2025: Gummy Day coincided with growing attention to the category's new position.

Manufacturers have expanded the choice far beyond a single chewy texture. Shelves now hold firm and snappy pieces, hearts with soft jelly centers and a coating of sugar crystals, and sour varieties that start with a sharp pucker before turning sweet. Those contrasts give shoppers reasons to try another pouch and return to the category without always buying the same experience.

Why warmer months helped gummies pull ahead

Hard candy has a seasonal advantage that gummies must still contend with: throat lozenges sell especially well in winter. Warmer months tend to favor gummies, when shoppers seek small, refreshing bites and have less reason to buy sweets for a dry throat.

Intage analyst Toshimitsu Kiji explained how temperature and infection trends affected the competition in 2025:

Hard candy, especially throat lozenges, sees increased demand in winter, so it is easy for gummies to take the lead when temperatures are high. In 2025, infections like the coronavirus have settled, so the momentum for throat lozenges has weakened, while gummies continue to perform well.

Monthly sales since April strengthen the possibility of an annual lead for gummies. Resealable pouches and small portions also fit office work and commuting, allowing people to save some candy for later and avoid the clutter of individual wrappers. Similar packaging choices have been credited with supporting gummy demand in other markets, and Japanese retailers have embraced them quickly.

How manufacturers turn chewing into product design

Meiji has made texture a subject of measurement at its Hachioji Innovation Center. Researchers built a chewing simulator and mapped bite resistance to help develop products for different consumer needs, including focus and relaxation. The company has also shared a chewiness chart that matches products to moods and moments.

Bite resistance means how much force is needed to chew a piece. Measuring it gives developers a way to adjust how a sweet feels in the mouth, rather than relying on flavor alone. In Japan, where texture plays a large role in candy enjoyment, these differences help separate products that might otherwise seem similar.

Meiji's earlier manufacturing work helped lay the foundation. After introducing Cola Up in 1980, the company refined its recipes and molds, blending gelatin with pectin through a starch mold process common in Germany. Starch provides the mold in which the candy mixture takes shape.

Gelatin, which comes from collagen, supplies elasticity and a springy bite. Pectin is a gelling ingredient obtained from fruit that adds structure and a different snap. Changing their proportions, cooking temperatures and acids allows manufacturers to produce everything from a soft jelly center to a firm, resilient piece.

Juicy Gummy, introduced in 1988, paired an approachable chew with fruit taste and aroma that appealed to children and adults. Meiji reports that the brand held 17.0 percent of Japan's gummy market from April 2023 to March 2024, based on Intage SRI+ data. Its fruit shapes, fruit juice concentrates and absence of artificial coloring are part of its appeal.

Precise molds can reproduce details such as fruit pulp, giving an everyday sweet a more premium appearance. Muscat grape, yuzu and white peach sit alongside other citrus flavors and cola, while sugar crystals and sour powder add another layer of sensation.

Tourists bring extra demand to convenience store shelves

Japan welcomed a record 36,869,900 foreign visitors in 2024, according to the national tourism bureau. Their spending adds demand in convenience stores and souvenir shops, where gummies offer an affordable purchase that travels well and can be divided among friends, relatives or colleagues.

A Shine Muscat Grape gummy chocolate sold by 7-Eleven Japan illustrates how attention overseas can translate into sales. Social media interest in China, South Korea and Taiwan helped drive sales to a reported ten times their previous level over six months.

The combination gave travelers an unusual texture and a recognizable Japanese fruit flavor at a price suited to an impulse purchase. Gummies also cost less than premium chocolate, making another pouch an easy addition to gift bags or sweets intended for sharing at the office.

Convenience stores support demand through frequent changes on the shelf. Flavors available for a limited time, regional fruits and seasonal designs encourage both regular customers and visitors to look again. Displays at the ends of aisles and pouches positioned at eye level make it easy to try something unfamiliar.

For commuters, the purchase can fit into an ordinary stop on the way to work. For tourists, the same display can become a place to discover a souvenir and return for another pack before leaving Japan. Muscat, peach, yuzu, ramune and cola appeal across East and Southeast Asia and feature prominently in city center and airport shops.

What a Taiwanese entrant sees in Japan

Want Want, the Taiwanese snack maker expanding across Asia, chose gummies as a lead product for Japan because of the category's scale and the country's status as a benchmark market. Its approach shows how distribution and local preferences shape the competition alongside the candy itself.

The company prioritized physical retail, including 7-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart, and added specialty chains such as Don Quijote and Daiso. Its work has included adapting flavors, packaging and marketing for Japanese consumers, along with events aimed at young people in places such as Shibuya.

Market entrants describe a long commitment to winning shelf space and consumer trust against established domestic names. Regular promotions and products tailored to Japan are part of that effort. A place on a convenience store shelf puts an unfamiliar brand directly in front of the commuters, students and visitors already buying the category.

Brands compete through texture, novelty and packaging

Bourbon's Fettuccine Gummi, Kanro's Pure Gummy lineup and Nobel's Chibi Sours illustrate the variety competing for attention. Firm chewing textures, soft centers and sour coatings give brands several ways to make a product memorable even when the basic fruit flavors overlap.

Taste tests and travel features frequently draw attention to Japanese sour gummies and inventive textures. Some reviewers recommend freezing gummies for a bite that combines crunch and chew, adding another way to eat a familiar product.

Packaging contributes to the decision at the shelf. Resealable pouches and modest portions let shoppers limit how much they eat without giving up the treat. Transparent windows allow a look at the contents. Regional fruit collections, collaborations and editions sold for a limited time can turn repeat purchases into a collecting habit.

Retail channels serve different needs. Convenience stores encourage trial and purchases made on impulse, supermarkets carry larger packs for families, and discount chains attract people looking for value. Ecommerce extends access to bulk purchases and imported flavors.

Brands support those channels with store promotions, influencer campaigns, livestreams and temporary shops. Frequent product introductions and carefully timed updates keep shoppers interested. The commercial challenge is to offer enough novelty to prompt another purchase while keeping the textures and flavors that existing customers recognize.

Gummies are becoming a format for supplements too

Gummies now carry vitamins, probiotics, collagen and sleep aids as well as serving as confectionery. Around the world, their pleasant taste and texture make supplements easier to take and can reduce reluctance to follow a daily routine. That wider use also makes the gummy shape more familiar as a choice for both a treat and a functional product.

Analysts at Future Market Insights estimate that the global gummy market will reach about $30.4 billion in 2025 and roughly $92.7 billion by 2035, with a compound annual growth rate near 11.8 percent. That rate describes the steady yearly pace that would take the starting market value to the projected final value, with each year's growth building on the previous year's total.

Demand for simpler ingredient lists, recipes made without gelatin, options based on plant ingredients and products with less sugar is gaining ground. Manufacturers face technical challenges in maintaining taste, texture and stability when they remove sugar or change the ingredients that form the gel.

Advances in pectin and starch systems, together with flavor technology, are helping manufacturers preserve quality while changing recipes. Pectin also offers a route to gummies suitable for vegan consumers, who avoid ingredients derived from animals.

Separate projections show the scale of interest in functional products. The market for melatonin gummies is expected to grow from around $1.4 billion in 2025 to about $3.7 billion in 2035. Biotin gummies are projected to rise from roughly $1.89 billion to about $3.29 billion over the same period, according to market research firms.

Those supplement categories sit outside ordinary candy, while encouraging consumers to associate gummies with wellness as well as pleasure. Their growth adds another reason for manufacturers to invest in recipes that people find easy and enjoyable to use.

Health preferences bring new recipes and tighter claims

Japanese drugstores and supermarkets sell both candy and supplements, and consumers are accustomed to browsing for each in the same retail settings. Labels and health claims are tightly regulated, so confectionery makers largely avoid promises about specific health effects.

Japan's supplement rules also limit certain ingredients, including CBD. Manufacturers exploring functional gummies must work within those rules while developing products that retain the taste and texture consumers expect.

Companies are investigating lines enriched with vitamins, added collagen, recipes based on pectin for vegan consumers and formulations containing less sugar. These developments aim to reach shoppers concerned about health without losing traditional candy buyers.

Sugar concerns also support smaller portions. Meanwhile, gelatin costs and supplies may encourage more use of pectin and other gels derived from plants. For supplement gummies, scrutiny of dosage and claims will remain part of bringing products to market. The practical task is to balance the ingredient list with the eating experience that made gummies popular in the first place.

Winter will test the strength of the 2025 lead

As of September 6, gummies were positioned to finish 2025 ahead of hard candy if current trends continued. The first half advantage and monthly lead since April provided momentum, but the annual result was still undecided.

Winter normally increases demand for throat lozenges and could narrow the gap later in the year. A warm autumn, continued strength in inbound tourism and new flavors and textures would favor gummies. Retail displays and launches available for a limited time could help sustain purchases through that period.

The longer contest involves more than the weather. Manufacturers will need to respond to changing preferences and costs while keeping products affordable, portable and enjoyable. Smaller portions, recipes with less sugar, alternative gelling ingredients and clear labels are among the choices already shaping development.

Japan also remains a testing ground for international confectioners. Products that succeed through local fruit flavors, carefully adjusted textures and convenience store distribution can inform wider strategies across Asia. The current lead gives those companies a concrete measure of how far Japanese consumers have moved toward gummies, while the final months of 2025 will determine whether that shift delivers an annual sales milestone.

What to Know

• Gummies sold 66.5 billion yen in Japan in the first half of 2025, compared with 66.1 billion yen for hard candy, according to Intage.
• Monthly gummy sales have led hard candy since April, but winter demand for lozenges could narrow the gap.
• The gummy market grew 17 percent to 113.8 billion yen in 2024, roughly double its size in 2017.
• Firm gummies have helped drive growth, with sales of that segment tripling since 2017. Gummies overtook chewing gum in 2021.
• Convenient packaging, varied textures, fruit flavors and demand from tourists support repeat purchases.
• Japan recorded 36,869,900 foreign visitors in 2024. A viral Shine Muscat gummy chocolate at 7-Eleven saw sales rise roughly tenfold over six months.
• Meiji introduced Cola Up in 1980 and Juicy Gummy in 1988. It reports a 17.0 percent market share for Juicy Gummy in the year through March 2024.
• Manufacturers are developing products with less sugar, alternatives to gelatin and functional ingredients, while supplement labels, doses and claims face regulatory scrutiny.