Chocolate brands are still standing

This article is available for reading in Trade magazin 2024/5

Szabina Redele
brand manager,
Mondelēz Hungária

Krisztina Nagyidai 
brand manager
Mondelēz Hungária

Consequently, both the tablet and the countline (chocolate bars) category grew by over 20% in value in 2023. Szabina Redele, brand manager of Mondelez Hungária’s countline portfolio, and Krisztina Nagyidai, brand manager of Mondelez Hungária’s tablets portfolio have analysed the demand-side trends for our magazine.

They say that value sales increased in all channels, but only discounters and small independent shops (“other food”) were able to grow in volume.

There is a shift towards private label and premium products, but the best-sellers continue to be branded mid-range chocolates.

Branded mid-priced chocolates remain the best-selling products

Smart self-indulgence

Ágnes Kiss
brand manager
Nestlé Hungária

On the positive side, Nestlé stresses that the big price rise hasn’t been followed by a major decline in volume sales, due to the nature of the category. Consumers are willing to give up many things, but not everyday treats and small indulgences.

“Increased production costs of chocolate tablets have forced manufacturers to incorporate the higher costs into their prices”,

explains Ágnes Kiss, brand manager at Nestlé Hungária Kft.

Judit Tömpe
brand manager
Nestlé Hungária

“It is noticeable that customers prefer the lower price points with chocolate bars and overall they buy fewer products in a more planned way”,

adds Judit Tömpe, brand manager of Nestlé Hungária Kft.

Pál Molnár
commercial director
Szerencsi Bonbon

Pál Molnár, commercial director of Szerencsi Bonbon Kft.:

“There has been a visible decline in purchasing power and willingness to buy in shops, where products are still expensive. If manufacturers want to survive, they are forced to raise prices”.

 

Péter Csóll
owner-managing director
Stühmer

Péter Csóll, owner and managing director of Stühmer Kft.:

“With chocolate bars only the rate of the sales increase has changed for us, while chocolate tablets were able to grow more strongly because more customers chose Stühmer products as a gift, owing to the significant price surge in the dessert category”.

Star products with star support

Mondelez Hungária has prepared with a number of new innovations for consumers this year. January brought a new look for the iconic Sport bar.

“Our analysis has revealed that the product’s shelf visibility reduced, which is a particularly important factor for chocolate bars as they are smaller in size, so we felt it was time for Sport to put on a new jersey”,

explains brand manager Szabina Redele.

“Also in January the Milka Hazelnut Creme small tablet product hit the shops: Milka milk chocolate with really creamy hazelnut cream filling (36%), made with alpine milk and coated with fine, smooth Milka chocolate”,

adds brand manager Krisztina Nagyidai.

Tamás Kundermann
customer activation
executive
Mondelēz Hungária

“In the spring, we are launching a football-themed campaign, for which we have managed to attract several well-known football stars. This creates an excellent opportunity for in-store “theatralisation”,

says Tamás Kundermann, customer activation executive of Mondelez Hungária.

Being true to yourself pays off

New products and innovation work have a big influence on consumption trends in both the tablet and the countline segments, so Nestlé is continuously expanding both categories. This spring they are coming out with the tablet version of the Nesquik brand, thinking about children and families. This year KitKat Chunky’s limited edition Lotus flavour made its debut, in biscuit and cinnamon flavours, coated in white chocolate. With the BALATON brand the company ventured into new territory in 2023: they entered the chocolate bar market. Stühmer is trying to operate in a way that it remains true to itself, so the company doesn’t want to change or downgrade the quality of products and packaging materials used, and the products won’t become smaller either. As for their market plans, in addition to the gift segment, Stühmer would also like to expand the category of products for personal consumption.

The sharp rise in prices was not followed by any considerable fall in volume

With or without sugar

Szerencsi Bonbon has recently introduced several innovations among both sugary and sugar-free chocolates. The selection of sugar-free products has got bigger with the ZERO% sub-brand, now covering all segments, as the demand created by special dietary needs is growing. From these the 21g milk chocolate maltitol containing filled bars, available in 6 different varieties in stores, are a real success story. In the second half of 2023 Szerencsi put 9 new products on the market in the chocolate bar/tablet category: Souvenir 100g milk chocolate tablets, 4 types of chocolate bars, 26g (CaféBar and RumBar), 27g marzipan (natural, peach and orange), 32g hazelnut cream (milk and dark) and 20g Bogyó és Babóca milk chocolate. Shoppers received the new products well, in terms of both penetration and items sold.

Premium in every respect

Szamos Marcipán has been present in the chocolate tablet category since 2019.

Zsolt Farkas
head of sales and
marketing
Szamos Marcipán

There is a growing demand fueled by special dietary needs also in this market

//