Introduction:

Cadbury was founded almost 200 years ago . However, Its presence in India dates back to 1948, when the parent Cadbury Schweppes set up a wholly owned subsidiary Cadbury India Ltd. It is the world’s largest confectionery company and market leader in the business of chocolates with a share of about 70 to 75%.

Milk chocolate for eating was first made by Cadbury in 1897 by adding milk powder paste to the dark chocolate recipe of cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar. In 1905, Cadbury's top selling brand, Cadbury Dairy Milk, was launched. By 1913 Dairy Milk had become Cadbury's bestselling line and in the mid-twenties Cadbury's Dairy Milk gained its status as the brand leader. Cadbury India began its operations in 1948 by importing chocolates and then re-packing them before distribution in the Indian market. 

Marketing Mix of Cadbury:

Around the world, the name of Cadbury Chocolates is enough to get most chocolate lovers excited. How has Cadbury lasted over a century and a half? How did it achieve the title of most successful confectionery brand? In order to answer that, it is essential to understand the Marketing mix of Cadbury.

What is a Marketing mix?

Now, to market or sell a product successfully a business must develop a strategy based on four elements, essentially termed as the 4 Ps of marketing:

    Product

    Price

    Place

    Promotion

How the elements are combined in a marketing strategy is called Marketing Mix. It encompasses all the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market.

1. Product :

Product mix refers to the total range of products offered by a company.

Now, a company might have 1 or 2 cash cows, but Cadbury has several with the lion’s share of the market. It has a very strong brand presence and an even stronger product range. If we were to take into account its entire worldwide portfolio, then we would end up with over 57 sub-brands under its confectionary category, over 11 different types of desserts (with at least two sub-brands in each dessert category), 7 types of beverages, 3 types of biscuits, 4 types of cooking products, and at least 20 different types of miscellaneous chocolate sub-brands. Needless to say, it’s a huge umbrella brand which balances its brand equity with its diverse product range.

Thus, with such a strong line of products, Cadbury is bound to lead the chocolates industry. Due to its products, Cadbury is the leading name of chocolates across the world and has presence in all 7 continents.

2. Price:

Anytime anything is sold, there has to be price involved. It is the most important element of marketing mix as it is the only one to generate turnover for the organization. Cadbury has very smartly tried to position itself as somewhat of an affordable luxury. The price of Cadbury products is kept high in some cases, whereas in others it is very much reasonable. Products like perk, five star and eclairs give the taste of Cadbury even at lower price. Dairy milk is considered to be a premium brand of chocolates due to this positioning, but because of lower priced chocolates, it is also accepted across various target segments. It is, in fact the clear winner. Priced in high as well as low variants,the Cadbury dairy milk has a position of gifting and hence is selling high volumes even at higher prices.

3. Place or Distribution :

Place in the marketing mix refers to the channel, or the route, through which goods move from the source to the final user. Place could be the intermediaries, distributors, wholesalers and retailers.

 The distribution of Cadbury is fantastic and widespread, some over 200 countries! It is present strongly in all urban areas as well as A,B and C category towns.

 Company    >>  C&F agent    >> Distributors     >> Retailers     >> Consumers      

As you can see, due to the channel, the distribution costs of Cadbury are high. But based on the demand in the market, the costs were going to be high anyways. That is something which has to be taken into consideration during the distribution of products. In the end, Cadbury has a very strong presence in the market, and you can be rest assured, that if you want to have a Cadbury, it will be within 2 minutes reach from you in any of the local retail shops.

4. Promotion:

Promotion mix encompasses all the activities undertaken in order to reach out to the target customers, inform them and persuading them to buy the company’s product with the overall objective to increase the sale of the product. Youngsters love sweet, and old people want a nibble from time to time. Thus it is no surprise, that a smart marketer like Cadbury has a tag line “Kuch meetha ho jaye” which means that lets have something sweet. It is no surprise that people always have some cadbury’s stocked at home. Or they gift a Cadbury dairy milk or celebrations to their loved ones.

The promotions of Cadbury for each of its products is different.      For Bournville, Cadbury has kept the position that you don’t buy a Bourneville, you earn it. So basically, it is not on the consumer to buy the Bournville, Someone has to gift him the same. For Cadbury celebrations, the positioning is of gifting. Cadbury celebrations has a major commercial customer base, where the chocolate is brought in bulk and given to employees, clients or vendors. Eclairs has a low cost position, Bournvita has a strong health positioning, Perk has a youngster position, so on and so forth. Cadbury uses a combination of ATL as well as BTL marketing. The BTL marketing of Cadbury is very strong with its hoardings, and standees as well as flex banners on shops, corners, hotels etc. Thus, due to these activities, the brand recall is very high and people will always remember a Cadbury whenever they are buying a chocolate.

Thus , it is safe to say that Cadbury’s strategy to attract consumers is somewhat unique in a sense, instead of focusing on the product, it seeks to tap into emotions normally associated with chocolates, which is precisely what gives it an edge over its competitors.