July 3, 2021
Confectionery giant Mars Wrigley is planning to change its image and makeover itself into a treat & snack company by launching a plethora of products and smaller serve sizes, as consumers look for healthier alternatives.
The company’s strategy is in line with several global foods and beverage majors such as McDonald’s, Nestle, and Pepsi-Co are reconsidering their offerings to consumers in the wake of public outcry against products that lead to lifestyle-related health issues. “
As part of a pledge by 2022, Mars Wrigley along with others want to reduce levels of saturated fat in chocolates by 10- 15%, limit treat pack size products to 125 kcal or less, smaller portion sizes, like in India, we have a 15-gram Snickers which are 74 Kcal only, and front of pack calorie and GDA labeling.”
Kalpesh R Parmar, country GM at Mars Wrigley India, said that the demand was holding up against the backdrop of the second Covid-19 wave.
The second wave did not affect the supply chain as much as it had happened in the first. We ensured that stocks were available for our retail partners and we were more or less operational throughout. Looking at our learnings from the first wave, where rural did well; we have launched new packs not only to drive in-home consumption but also at the right price points for more rural consumption. Last year, we saw the neighborhood supermarkets and local kiranas doing really well,” said Parmar.
Last year, a large set of cities was affected, it was rural driving the growth. Even though rural growth is less this year, it still continues to grow.
Mar Wrigley is here in India for a long haul here and the ventures in India will be ahead of the growth curve and the company is seeing a good recovery and it’s still going to be tough looking at how the third wave pans out.