Adapting to consumer tastes

Dark chocolates or chocolates with less milk is the next super food

For as long as I remember, we all have been habitual of consuming chocolates to satiate our sweet-tooth. So much so, that chocolates became synonymous to desserts and sweets. But, very few people are well-versed with their rich sweet-bitter, legacy. Chocolates might be considered the quintessential sweet treat for years, but before being transformed in these delectable solid bars,they were consumed as a bitter beverage. Consequently, manufacturers started sweetening it to make it more acceptable to the masses. Of late, industry players have been experimenting with the art of chocolate-making at the back of innovative production techniques, churning out newer variants and flavours consistently.

However, purists, these days are looking for a demanding and powerful consumption experience. Today, it's interesting to witness the reverse paradigm shift, where the market is moving back to the original era - the purest form of chocolate, with high cocoa percentages. Emerging as a 'favourite' and a not-so-guilty pleasure for the 'health conscious' and simultaneously, for the 'not so health conscious' for its distinctive taste and aspirational value; Dark chocolates or chocolates with much lesser milk can easily be labelled as the super food. India has just begun savouring the bitter-sweet taste.

Chocolate is the world's most widely consumed product. In the larger chocolate category, dark chocolate is panning out to be one of the biggest drivers of growth in sales; especially in countries like Switzerland, United States and United Kingdom. It enjoys greater acceptability in the international markets owing to the evolved palate of a global consumer which is not extremely sweet and also, because of the added health benefits the higher cocoa content offers. Contrary to the foreign markets which swear by the product, the scenario in India is quite different. Until a few years ago, dark chocolate category in India was largely untapped, given the key challenge of an unacquainted taste and by the virtue of being more expensive than milk and white chocolates. From a lifestyle aspect also, traditional sweets have been inherent to India's cultural fabric and hence, predominantly just the perception that desserts are meant to be sweet acted as the biggest roadblock to the concept of dark chocolates then.

Being savoured by numerous Indians, Milk chocolates are currently the most popular category in India. Tablet segment constitutes to 55 per cent of the total sales of chocolates, leaving little room for other chocolate categories. But now, with preferences of Indian consumers transforming due to rising disposable incomes, growing media exposure, changing lifestyles and a young population's growing affinity for indulgence has set the stage to transform India into one of the world's fastest growing chocolate markets.In the fine chocolate/premium category, dark chocolate is continually growing in both sales and volume, to match the evolving tastes of the discerning consumers in Asia Pacific. Dark Chocolate constitutes six per cent of the total sales of the tablet segment.

In the Indian market, 100 per cent cocoa dark chocolates were anyway not strongly established as its positioning was that of an indulgent, aspirational product catering to a small segment of consumers. Though there was an initial hesitation, dark chocolate has gradually managed to adapt to the taste of the Indian consumers.

Prashant Peres
Director, Marketing (chocolates),Mondelez India