MONTREAUX CHOCOLATE USA :

Are Americans ready for healthy

dark chocolate ?
 APOLLO FOODS

❏ Location: Los Angeles , California

❏ Products: Global Consumer packaged goods: confectionery, biscuits,
snacks ,cheese & beverages
❏ Distribution - 170 countries
❏ US market share - 2nd
❏ Revenue - $54.4 billion in 2011
❏ Net income - 43.5 billion
 THE CHOCOLATE MARKET
❏ Chocolate-Made up of Roasted, Crushed & Refined cocoa beans
❏ Typical chocolate are at least -
Dark - 55% cocoa
Higher quality dark - 70% cocoa
Milk - 50% cocoa maximum
❏ 52.6% of market’s total value for global confectionery market is of chocolates
out of which 45.2% is captured by Europe and 33.9% by U.S.A
❏ 94.4% of the chocolate market value is accounted by top 4 segments out of 7
- bar/bag/box (3.5 oz.+)
- seasonal chocolate
- bar/bag/box (>= 3.5 oz.)
- snack size chocolate
❏ U.S chocolate market - 80.3% mass market and 19.7%
premium(everyday gourmet, upscale premium & super premium)
❏ 45.3% of the chocolate candy in U.S.A was sold by - Grocery(15.8%) ,
Convenience store(11.7%) , Drug store (9.0%) & Walmart(8.8%)

Trends in U.S. Chocolate market

- Premium chocolate moving into mainstream channels
- Benefits of dark chocolate such as helping in lower cholesterol
- Options with lower calorie chocolate for health conscious people
- Packaging, new labeling with terminology appealing to larger
conscious consumers
 CONSUMER MOTIVATION TO BUY
CHOCOLATE
❏ Women - personal reward, mood enhancement, improved
cardiovascular fitness & lower blood pressure
❏ Men - price, practical characteristics such as energy boost,
convenience, affordability.
❏ Preferring of mini and snack size chocolate portion to indicate an
effort to control consumption and awareness of health and wellness
issues.
 CONSUMER ATTITUDES & USAGE

● In 2012 chocolate was consumed by 92% adults and 95% children.

● Women contributed 94% in chocolate consumption while men
contributed 90%.
● The 45-64 age group had the highest level of chocolate consumption.
● Consumption of dark chocolate was seen proportional to the increase
in age.
 REASONS FOR COLLABORATION

❏ Montreaux, a swiss chocolate company wanted to enter us market;

apollo wanted to enter chocolate market
❏ Apollo especially wanted to explore new dark chocolate market
❏ It was a necessary step to increase Apollo’s US market share
❏ Apollo wanted to upscale its market segment
 GOALS

❏ Greater presence in the lucrative chocolate market

❏ Grow its confectionery share in the U.S.
❏ National distribution of the new Montreaux product line ie - increased
percentage of stores should sell the chocolate
❏ $115 million in annual sales
❏ Be in top 25 in revenue (0.60% of US market share)
 NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT
MONTREAUX,USA
❏ NPD at Montreaux ,USA began to explore the growing dark chocolate
category.
❏ They generated 45 ideas that all parties agreed merited further
testing.
❏ Montreaux partnered with Nielsen BASES to quantitatively assess and
optimize the new dark chocolate initiative.
❏ BASES is a multifaceted marketing consultancy which offers services
that span the NPD process from early idea to the final launch.
❏ BASES would help Montreaux hone in on the new product opportunity
and strategy in such a way that
● It was in line with Apollo’s and Montreaux strategy of health &
wellness.
● Demonstrated strong consumer viability
● Would deliver financial potential that would achieve the goals
 BASES IDEA SCREENING TEST
BASES offers a low cost way to quickly assess the efficiency of new
product ideas.The screening is based on the performance on four factors
of the foundational strength of an initiative which are:

❏ Distinct proposition
❏ Attention catching
❏ Need/Desire
❏ Advantage

Out of the 45 ideas that the NPD came up with 12 were shortlisted on
the basis of the factors listed above.
 BASES SNAPSHOT CONCEPT TEST

❏ 12 product ideas reached the snapshot concept test.

❏ It identified early optimization opportunities and rough size of price
estimates.
❏ Each idea was developed into full concept.
❏ 200 consumers per concept were asked to evaluate and give
feedbacks.
❏ Out of the 12 , 5 were further shortlisted
❏ Dark chocolate with fruit concept were considered distinct and
attractive by consumers.
❏ Montreaux’s R and D team then moved on to product development.
 FOCUS GROUP
❏ Manageable size - 4 products in total, two with 70% cocoa and
two with 90% cocoa in either 3.5 ounce bar or 10 squares in a
five ounce stand-up pouch
❏ NPD conducted eight focus groups to determine the optimal
level of cocoa and fruit.
❏ To refine the positioning of the line
❏ Consumers preferred the taste of 70% cocoa more than 90%
cocoa.
❏ Healthy was the most significant aspect of the new dark
chocolate.
 MARKETING CHALLENGES
❏ How to position the chocolate - health or taste
❏ What should be the size of the package - small 3.5 oz or 5 oz or bar
❏ How to package the product - Montreaux , Apollo or some other
name ( sub brand of Apollo )
❏ Perception of consumers of Montreaux Chocolate USA versus its
primary competitors.
SECOND BASES SNAPSHOT CONCEPT
TEST
● 200 consumers per concept asked to evaluate that concept and
provide feedback
● NPD developed 4 refined 70% cocoa dark chocolate with fruit concept
● alternative positioning (healthy vs tasty) and packaging/size (3.5 ounce
bar vs squares in 5 ounce pouch)
● Found that 5 ounce pouch with healthy positioning offered greatest
revenue potential
 BASES II TESTING

❏ Contacting consumers via internet survey panel to gauge trial interest

among a representative sample
❏ Shipped samples to interested candidates and contacted them about
their product experience
❏ This would allow to pinpoint potential areas of product optimization
and provide a year volume forecast
❏ Calculations are compared to standards with which comparable
products have been tested in marketplace
 PRODUCT LAUNCH
❏ The name of the chocolate would be ‘COCO FRUIT’.

❏ The product should be launched under the parent company itself

which is Apollo.

❏ Torre ‘s final decision should be to plan a regional rollout for the

product.

❏ Main focus should be on big cities and adults aged 45-64 years