Mondelez expands chocolate portfolio

Marvellous Creations under Cadbury Dairy Milk will be the latest to hit stores by the third week of August

The country's largest chocolate maker Mondelez will launch a new product called Marvellous Creations under Cadbury Dairy Milk by the third week of this month. The move comes as Mondelez pads up for renewed competition from archrival Nestle and smaller but nimbler players such as Ferrero and Mars (has the Snickers brand).

Marvellous Creations, which is available in select markets such as Russia and Australia, will be positioned as a family offering in India. Mondelez is expected to tap both online and offline channels to distribute the product as well as aggressively market the it following launch this month.

"Marvellous Creations has been produced at the new plant we opened in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh in April this year. It is among the first international products to be made there for the domestic market and there will be more such in the future," Prashant Peres, director, marketing (chocolates), Mondelez India, said.

More importantly, Marvellous Creations will be the first major launch under new company MD Deepak Iyer, who took over on August 1.

Iyer replaced Chandramouli Venkatesan, who was heading Mondelez India for close to two years. Venkatesan had spent over a decade with the company in various capacities and had resigned recently to pursue other prospects.

The latest product comes after a spate of launches by Mondelez in the last one year. This includes the country's first aerated chocolate called Silk Bubbly in July 2015, followed by an extension into biscuits of Cadbury Bournvita this April and a golden-coloured Oreo biscuit in June.

While Mondelez remains the leader in chocolates with a 65 per cent share of a roughly Rs 7,500-8,000 crore market, it has been difficult for it to get double-digit growth in the category thanks to a discretionary slowdown as well as increased competition in the segment.

In a recent investor call, Irene Rosenfeld, chairwoman and CEO of Mondelez International, said she remained confident of the India market despite it showing signs of a slowdown.