Heidi, a made-in-Romania product, present in 32 countries

Erwin Vondenhoff, general manager of Heidi Chocolat, says there are few products made in Romania that have gained international recognition. Beyond the famous Dacia cars or Nokia phones produced in Jucu, though receipts are much smaller, the story of Heidi chocolate shows the main factor guaranteeing the sale of a made-in-Romania product abroad is the accurate identification of the market segment one wants to tackle.

In the case of Heidi chocolate exports target the premium market segment. The reason? Bucharest luxury consumers are the same as New York or Shanghai ones.
In Romania, the premium segment is not growing rapidly and thus Heidi has a single option: exports.
"Ever since 2008, before the crisis fallout started being felt in Romania as well we've looked at the market and realised there was no way we could grow but by turning global. In late 2008, we started developing relationships with the major retailers of the markets we wanted to be present on, so that from exports of 4% in 3 countries we've now come to export 30% of production in 32 countries and we plan to hit an export level of over 50% by 2012," says Vondenhoff.