The preferences remain unchanged: milk chocolate Santa figures represent nine-tenths of the value turnover, and in fact, their weight in the category is increasing year by year. Dark chocolate Santas generate 5% of sales, a two-digit drop compared to a year ago.

Says Dóra Hajnal, senior consultant at Nielsen, a marketing firm, "The figures for December haven’t seen a huge shift in consumer preference in recent years: [they should] be sweet, be hollow."