Cadbury to cut down on price promotion activity

by Joanna Bowery, Marketing 14-Jun-06

Cadbury Trebor Bassett is to phase out the majority of its price promotions and reduce trade discounting after reporting that the practice had had a £12m impact on profits in the EMEA region in the year to 1 June 2006.

The company increased its discounting earlier this year to clear high
levels of stock, which had been built up to enable it to cope with any
potential glitch in the implementation of a new IT system.

Cadbury recently introduced a Dairy Milk Creme Egg bar to offset

declining sales of its iconic egg (Marketing, 15 March 2006).

The innovation continues the company's strategy of seeking on-shelf
stand-out by creating a 'purple patch' of Dairy Milk variants, and
follows the launch of a Turkish Delight offering last year.

In a trading statement, the company said: 'The UK market is now modestly
ahead and our performance is improving with share gains driven by Easter
and a number of product launches in the second quarter. Green & Black's
continues to perform strongly with further increases in
distribution.'

Cadbury Trebor Bassett spent £18.5m on advertising last year, down
by 13% on the previous year, according to Marketing's Top 100
Advertisers survey (15 February).

Last year the company gave away Dairy Milk products with magazines in a
one-off promotion to celebrate the brand's centenary.

The deal was linked with the concept of 'Having time for yourself' and
was intended to grow sales.