Milky Bar Wowsomes: A case of marketing myopia for Nestlé?

Just one day before Valentine’s Day, Nestlé decided to withdraw its low sugar chocolate bars from the market. 

Normally, this decision would not make sense, bearing in mind that the volume of sales for chocolate products on Valentine’s Day is huge.

However, it looks like Nestlé’s Milky Bar Wowsomes is not just another chocolate bar, and unfortunately for Nestlé, not for the right reasons. 

First of all, it is white chocolate, which is a very different thing, as chocoholics would argue, who didn’t seem to like this product that much. Perhaps they prefer the “real thing”, that is full sugar dark chocolate. 

I don’t blame them. When I was a student, I lost count of how many Kit Kat, Bounty, Mars, Lion, Cadbury’s and other delicious chocolate bars I consumed. I just couldn’t resist them. 

However, these are brand names that have earned their place in the hall of fame of chocolate history, and a new chocolate product, no matter how much technological innovation and health-related benefits it has, will find it hard to win a market share, even a very small one. 

Another fact that is characteristic of today’s market for chocolate bars is the strong competition between private label and branded products. Supermarkets, and especially discount grocers, display their own private label chocolate bars on their shelves, competing side by side with iconic brand names. In most cases, there is a significant difference in price between these two categories, which is not necessarily justified in terms of quality. 

In today’s hard economic times, consumers try to find ways to make every penny count, and when it comes to buying chocolate, choosing to buy a cheaper option, which is not that inferior in quality than a more expensive one, definitely makes sense to consumers.   

Demand for low-sugar products: Do you really know your market?    

Consumers may prefer, for example, full sugar and glucose-packed foods, because they are cheap, rather than more expensive alternatives that may be healthier, such as stevia-based products. 

Perhaps marketing and advertising should take other parameters into account that apply specifically to today’s market, and not the market of ten years ago; not even one-two years ago. Things change fast today; faster than in the past. The same applies to modern marketing: What was true yesterday may prove to be completely wrong today. Even giant food companies like Nestlé, with decades of marketing experience, can get it wrong. 

Everything is a matter of experimentation, in the end of the day. Trial and error is sometimes the only way to learn, get it right, and develop a marketing sensation. 

One thing that many people – whether marketing experts or plain consumers – tend to ignore is the fact that chocolate has become an essential part of modern diet. This is not only an effect of heavy marketing or high sugar content, but also a result of the high nutritional value of chocolate, especially dark chocolate. 

In the case of the chocolate bar that Nestlé has taken out of the market, I believe that although much emphasis has been placed on the technology innovation and health features of the product, and which are believed to have failed, there is another ingredient, i.e. oats, which is something that chocolate eaters may not like as much as they like chocolate itself, and that could be something that would explain its marketing failure to some extent. 

It would be a good idea, if Nestlé conducted market research right now, in order to ask consumers what they liked or did not like about the product, rather making assumptions.   

Sources: 

Nestlé axes low sugar chocolate due to weak sales 

Milkybar Wowsomes Milk & White Chocolate Bar 18g 

Report: Valentine’s Day third best holiday for chocolate candy sales