Ferrero has been present in China since the 1990s and is arguably one of the most successful international chocolate brands to enter and survive in the market.
According to Larry Xia, marketing director of Ferrero China, this rather rare success can be attributed to significant local investments that ensure product freshness and food safety, as well as a variety of flavors to suit local tastes.
“In China, dark chocolate has been around for a long time, but here, dark means black and its cocoa content is usually 90% and above. There is no upper limit to the amount of dark chocolate that can be made in China.” Xia spoke at the recent Food and Beverage Innovation Forum (FBIF) 2024 in Shanghai, China.
“The common problem here is that what seems to have happened throughout the development of these high cocoa dark chocolates is that the focus on cocoa content has led to an imbalance and a neglect of what a chocolate should look like, which is not right because, at its core, chocolate is supposed to bring pleasure and indulgence to consumers.
“In response to this, we launched our Rocher Origins dark chocolate range in collaboration with the 40thThe Rocher brand celebrated its anniversary a few years ago and China was chosen as the first new pilot market for this range.
“This range is a balance between ‘dark’ and indulgent, and the cocoa used for this is also single origin as an added speciality – there is a 70% Ghanaian dark, a 65% Ecuadorian dark and an 80% Ivorian dark, all of which have different flavour profiles to suit the different taste preferences here.
“This range of different flavours is very important here in China, because variety is definitely an important factor, and we are very optimistic about this range because we know it fits perfectly with the palates of all types of local Chinese consumers.”
Product freshness has also emerged as a major driver in this area, particularly given the premium category in which Ferrero is positioned. To ensure the best possible freshness and the greatest distance with consumers here, the company has invested more than CNY2 billion ($275.4 million) to build a state-of-the-art factory in Hangzhou.
“The Hangzhou factory is Ferrero’s largest in North Asia and was built specifically to offer Ferrero products that can reach consumers with maximum freshness, because the fresher the chocolate, the better it tastes,” Xie added.
“It not only supplies China, but also exports to many markets such as Australia, Mexico and many others (which is possible because) it is the only plant in the company with full ISO certification (and it also houses) our national food safety laboratory which can further ensure quality and safety by testing for things like microorganisms, physicochemicals, allergens and much more.”
Health in chocolate
Ferrero has also chosen to emphasize portion control as its primary strategy for healthier consumption, and has relied heavily on its packaging to implement this strategy.
“We analysed our products and found that almost 86% of our entire range contains around 130 kcal per portion, which is equivalent to a slice of toast or a banana,” he added.
“Every product we sell in China is individually wrapped, whether it’s a Ferrero Rocher or a Kinder Hippo, and we’ve found that while this individual packaging method is a bit more expensive, it’s effective in helping consumers control their consumption and develop better habits.
“This is further accentuated by the indication of individual calories for each item, which then has a stronger impact on consumers.”
