Chocolate Market : Exposé (document en anglais)

Introduction

Chocolate has been known as product since the seventeenth century. In the beginning, it was a lux product, because of its price and also because of the fact that it was rare on the market. Since the industrial revolution, during the nineteenth century, chocolate consumption is increasing and chocolate will take different forms. Until then craft, the first mechanical factories appear which makes production and distribution more intense, making the product available to everyone. Chocolate is less and less consumed as a medicinal product, and more and more for pleasure. Nowadays, consumers are looking for healthy eating products, and chocolate still answer to their expectations. We will only talk about the chocolate food market.

I The market

Market Chocolate market

Submarkets Sweets Tablets Spread Cocoa powder

Market share 40% 33% 17% 10%

Volumes 146 000 t 120 000 t 65 000 t 40 000 t

Market leader brand Kinder Lindt Nutella Nesquik

Market leader company Ferrero Lindt Ferrero Nestlé

The chocolate food market is divided into four major parts: sweets, tablets, spread and cocoa powder.

Sweets account or nearly 40% of the French chocolate consumption, representing 146,000 tons. In this submarket, French consumers prefer chocolate candies, chocolate rocks and bites, which represent more than 104,000 tons in 2008. Chocolate bars, in turn, represents 11% of the global French chocolate market, that is to say 42,000 tons.

Chocolate tablets have a steady increase; they are the second category of products represented on the market, with almost 33% of the French consumption, which is 120,000 tons. This type of product corresponded to an adult target in the 90’s, but nowadays attracts both children and teenagers than the older.

Spread is one of the biggest pleasures for children at breakfast. The spread consumption does not stop to increase, with 65,000 tons sold in 2008, which represents 17% of the chocolate market.

In last category, cocoa powder represents 10% of the market, with, in 2008, 40,000 tons sold. We can notice that those sales are in sharp decline on the last years, and its part on the market also decrease, innovation being limited on this type of product.

We can now distinguish five companies which we may designate as leader of the chocolate market, because they represent 88% of the chocolate distribution:

- Kraft Foot, which owns different brands, like Cadbury, Côte d’Or or Milka. It represents more than 30% of the global market, and 20% of the cocoa powder market, thanks to ‘’Poulain’’ (Cadbury). We can find this society on the different parts of the chocolate market.

- Nestlé, which represents 15% of the market, and make different categories of products, like bars, powder or sweets. Its most important brands are Kit Kat, Lion, Nuts or Nesquik, which is the leader on the powder market and represents 28% of the market share.

- Lindt, which is the leader of the tablets submarket, and represents 11% of it.

- Ferrero, which is the leader on sweets market with its brands Kinder or Ferrero Rocher. It represents 45% of the sweets market.

- Mars Incorporated, which is mainly present on the sweet market, and represents 28% of it, with its brands M&Ms or Celebrations.

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Chocolate market’s turnover is estimated at around 2900 million in 2008. It is performed by large companies

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