Magazine: Chocolate bars for every occasion

Gábor Mayer
managing director
Mondelez Hungária

Chocolate bars constitute a stable pillar of the chocolate product market, which has been one of the most dynamically developing categories recently. According to Gábor Mayer, managing director of Mondelez Hungária Kft., besides the products of leading brands, the engine of growth was new flavour combinations and product formats.Chocolate bar buyers are very much price-sensitive – unlike those purchasing other segments in the category. Small shops in residential areas and petrol stations are important sales channels for chocolate bars.

Judit Tömpe
product manager
Nestlé Hungária

György Kende, customer marketing expert of Mars Magyarország Értékesítő Bt. told Trade magazine that companies are putting a lot of work into developing these channels. MARS was able to increase sales above the average in these channels too, mainly due to the good performance of M&M’s and chocolate bar products. Judit Tömpe, product manager of Nestlé Hungária informed us that they give special attention to petrol station shops when launching new products: they reach several million customers there every year. Her experience is that there has been a shift in demand in the direction of premium products.

György Kende
customer marketing expert
Mars Magyarország

The healthy eating trend is big challenge for the chocolate bar category. Sándor Sánta, managing director of Chocco Garden called our attention to the fact that both dairy snacks and fruit/muesli bars cannibalise the segment. How can chocolate bars live up to this challenge? Mr Kende thinks there are opportunities in occasion-based consumption, and the ‘sharing’ and ‘gifting’ categories play a more and more important role in sales. Pamela Czifra, brand manager of Mondelez Hungária Kft. is of the opinion that few leading brands come out with products that are in line with the health trend – it is more the territory of new market players.

Pamela Czifra
brand manager
Mondelez Hungária

So-called retro brands can have a competitive advantage in the chocolate bar market. Ms Czifra told our magazine that a good example of this is Sport bar, which came out with a new, limited edition product last year, called Sport #2 (Kettős). Milka chocolate bars follow the latest trends more closely than other Milka products, coming out with new innovations and exciting flavour combinations regularly, e.g. in the Milka Oreo line. Since the spring of 2017 these products have been available in multipack format too.

The latest chocolate innovation from MARS is Bites products (Snickers, Twix, Mars): these offer consumers a new choice in the sharing category. Bites products are made using the same recipes as the classic chocolate bars, but their formats give people a completely new consumption experience.

Nestlé – just like Mondelez – is present in the chocolate bar category with both global and local brands. Since last year KitKat has been made from a new recipe, using more milk and more cocoa, but less sugar. In the BALATON range Újhullám products were launched at the end of 2017, treating consumers to four new flavours – in the usual high quality and with a youthful and dynamic image.

Sándor Sánta
managing director
Chocco Garden

Chocco Garden is present in the wafer bar segment with three different Piruetti products. This is a real impulse category, which means that products need to be placed where shoppers can’t miss them: in petrol station shops and in the cash register zones. Shoppers are rather loyal to brands in the wafer bar category. Chocco Garden’s 36g wafers aren’t only tasty but are also bigger than other wafers, which can make them the favourites of many people. //