Cristian Stancu, marketing manager of Supreme Chocolat believes that a focus on modern retail and the launch of new products in summer will help curb sales fluctuations generated by the hot weather, considering consumers usually swap chocolate for other products during the summer months.
Supreme Chocolat, the producer of the Primola chocolate posted an approximately 5% sales increase in the first six months of the year compared with the same time in 2006 - about half the growth of the entire chocolate tablet market.
Sales of chocolate tablets on the domestic market witnessed an 8.2% increase in volume and an 11.4% increase in value between December 2006 and May 2007, compared with the same time in 2006, according to the AC Nielsen market research company. The manager of Supreme Chocolat, however, anticipates a weaker performance from the market during the summer months.
"No matter what sales and communication efforts companies might make on the market - chocolate consumption is affected by hot weather in summer. The chocolate market has a strong seasonal nature," Cristian Stancu explains.
Sales of chocolate on the market decrease during periods of hot weather, as consumers prefer to buy soft drinks and ice creams rather than sweets.
To reduce the sales fluctuations in the summer season, producers often release new chocolate products tailored especially for the summer season. This often involves companies dropping cocoa-based products for white chocolate or lemon cream.
"We launched three summer products at the end of May, two of which were the same as last year and also a new product, with ice tea cream filling," Stancu adds. In addition, the summer season brings changes in terms of chocolate-based product distribution, also because of the hot weather.
"The hot weather does not only affect consumption, but also the distribution of chocolate, because traditional retail does not provide optimum conditions or come anywhere close to those provided by modern retailers," Stancu says.
Supreme Chocolat is therefore relying on sales through supermarket, hypermarket or cash & carry chains on the domestic market. Supreme Chocolat owns the Primola, Anidor, Novatini brands positioned on different price segments, as well as Ulpio sweet biscuits. The company plans to expand onto the Bulgarian market this year by signing partnerships with several Bulgarian producers.
Supreme also intends to expand to markets on the outer borders of the region in the more distant future.
The company invested approximately 3 million euros last year in its Bucharest-based chocolate factory, in order to automate its production lines. The production facility of Supreme Chocolat now has a 7,000-7,500 tonne annual production capacity, according to data provided by the company. Last year, sales of chocolate tablets in Romania (Supreme's main market) stagnated at the same level as in 2005. This is why Supreme Chocolat's turnover registered a 9% decline in 2006. According to company information, last year Supreme Chocolat posted a turnover worth 19 million euros.
Supreme Chocolat
Plans to expand to Bulgaria this year and to other markets in the region some time later
Invested 3 million euros in its chocolate factory in Bucharest, to automate production lines
Posted 19 million euro turnover in 2006, according to its own data
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