Mondelez India – maker of Cadbury chocolates and Oreo cookies – is entering the “nutritious, guilt free” snacking segment by launching snack bars through an extension of the “Cadbury Fuse” brand.
Called Cadbury Fuse Fit, the offering will be placed in the mid-premium segment primarily targeting urban consumers. It will compete with start-ups like Yoga Bar, Rite Bite and others in the nearly ₹150-200 crore ($20 million) market in India.
Cadbury Fuse, a more than four-year-old brand, has “hit scale” for the company.
“Bar” category
According to Anil Viswanathan, Senior Director – Marketing, Mondelez India, the company will look at a double digit growth over a three-year-period while aiming to be market leaders in the snack bar category.
Bars, which the company categorises for brands like Cadbury 5Star, Cadbury Perk and Cadbury Fuse, account for around 40 per cent of its chocolate sales. The remaining 60 per cent top-line contribution is from pure chocolate offerings, like Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk etc, and the gifting segment.
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The bar category has been growing at 2x the overall growth of Mondelez India.
Officials at the parent company, Mondelēz International, had in a recent conference call said Indian operations witnessed a strong double digit growth in the April to June quarter despite Covid second wave-led disruptions, restrictions and lockdowns. Emerging markets, of which India is a part, grew at 16 per cent.
“We identified some white spaces that exist and healthy snacking was one such area. Mondelez India can leverage its deep distribution reach,” Viswanathan told BusinessLine, adding that changing consumption patterns with increased work-from-home has led to more early-in-the-day snacking options for health enthusiasts. It added 20,000 new stores in April – June.
“Product roll-outs – two variants – have already begun and distribution will be ramped up across traditional channels (neighbourhood stores), modern retail, chemist shops and new ones like e-commerce and gyms,” he said.
Healthy Snacking
Healthy snacking is nearly 5 per cent of the overall snacking segment for Mondelēz International. Globally, chocolates grew more than 12 per cent between April and June 2021, with a two-year average of 5.9 per cent. Gum and candy posted double-digit growth at 28 per cent, but still declined over 7 per cent on a two-year basis.
Mondelēz International has, over the last few years, been acquiring snacking companies in geographies like the USA (Perfect Snacks in 2019), and in the United Kingdom (Grenade, which sells UK’s highest selling protein bar, Carb Killa) as a part of its push towards healthy snacking.
Earlier this year it scooped up Chipita, a Greek croissant and bakery snacks-maker.
Global Chairman and Chief Executive, Dirk Van de Put, had previously said the company wanted to acquire healthier snack brands in a bid to ramp-up its portfolio in the backdrop of consumers seeking more nutritious products and amidst growing investor pressure on tackling issues related to obesity.
“And we continue to reshape our portfolio to further increase our focus on snacking as well as to accelerate our long-term growth rates,” Put said during a recent investor call.
India strategy
In India though, the company went ahead and extended the “Cadbury Fuse” brand, primarily because of the absence of options, say industry sources.
“India is a nascent market. And we already have in-house expertise. With Cadbury Fuse, we did try to address in-between meal snacking. So it makes sense for us to leverage our own expertise in the protein and snack bar segment,” Viswanathan said.