Week 1.6      Marketing in international markets and globalization

Toblerone is an international product which managed to be exported by 1963 in 101 countries. Now, Toblerone is sold in 122 countries all over the world( Saudi Arabia, Romania, Netherlands, Australia, etc), mainly in airport’s duty-free shops. In duty-free shops, Toblerone holds a market share of 25% since the brand is always associated with trips. Also, a 2016 study made America by InfoScout shows that Toblerone is purchased by 46% of the people who are pantry stocking. The same article shows that Asians are more willing to buy the chocolate bar than the other races. (Infoscout, 2016). Another report shows that in mainland Switzerland, Toblerone holds a market share of 40% of the total chocolate bars sold. This might be deducted because of the national awareness of the brand. (Shock, 2008) . Apart from that, Toblerone also accounts for 40% of the Swiss chocolate exports out of 96% chocolate bars produced for export. (Amos)

Regarding the recent international turmoil such as the Ukraine Crisis or Isis have not made an impact yet on Toblerone, or Mondelez International. Since Toblerone is a product that is almost exclusively produced in Switzerland, Toblerone is relying mainly on exporting. Given the fact that a series of political issues have happened across the world, the company did not suffer from any of it. A research was made in this way and no reports that show a decrease in sales or market share has been found. Because of the lack of reports made by a company in this matter and no drop in sales in those countries, it is safe to judge that the recent international turmoil did not influence in any way the company.

Toblerone has had some problems in the past regarding different aspects. First, Toblerone was accused by Boycott of Cadbury over its tax avoidance. Since it was taken by Mondelez five years ago, Toblerone has not paid any UK corporation tax.  This is not due to a lack of money since last year; the company had a profit of 96.5 pounds. This caused a drop in the image of Toblerone as well as Mondelez who tried to do out of Toblerone, a tax evading company.

Secondly, the company was badly criticized for its supply chain management. In 2012, the company has had a series of incidents. The company did not respect the code of conduct which discussed a set of 10 rules. Rule number 3 refers to Treating People Fairly, but the company was accused of forced labor, child labor and discrimination. This happened mainly on the cocoa fields. Information regarding working weeks and wages were vague and not consistent along the reports. These were not consistent with the International Labor Organization’s core conventions which included 48 hours per week +12 hours overtime.  As it can be presumed, the company has severely suffered despite its efforts to recover.

Finally, in June 2015, Ethical Consumer has reported that Mondelez has sold a large range of products containing dairy that were not certified as organic. All these problems stated above has affected Mondelez’s image and it made the company change its policies and made bigger efforts in order to be able to recover from the drought. (consumer, 2015)

Bibliography

Amos, S. (n.d.). Champions of Design: Toblerone. Retrieved from www.campaign.co.uk: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1141350/champions-design-toblerone#

consumer, e. (2015, June). Ethical Consumer Toblerone. Retrieved from http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/scoredetails.aspx?ProductId=58027

Infoscout. (2016). InfoScout-Toblerone. Retrieved from http://infoscout.co/brand/toblerone/?utm_expid=75303912-6.htwCYLNcRc6Lien8_V3bYg.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.nl%2F

Shock, D. (2008, March 23). 8 facts about Toblerone Chocolate. Retrieved from www.shockmd.com: http://www.shockmd.com/2008/03/23/8-facts-about-toblerone-chocolate/