By Bayo Bernard
Between January and September 2017, Cadbury Nigeria Plc. disclosed that the company recorded a net loss of ₦64 million. The previous year 2016 had been most devastating
for the multinational company, considering that it recorded a net loss of ₦842 million.
The problem may have informed the appointment of Mohammed Amir Shamsi in January 2017 as the managing director of the company to turn things around his appointment, however has not really turned the situation around.
The fortune of the Bournvita maker has continued to dip in the last few years, particularly in the face of stiff competition from other competitors such as Nestle Milo.
As it is, Bournvita has lost a large share of the market to its Nestle competitor.
The company has however failed to disclose the major reasons behind the slump it has suffered in the food and beverage market, but the magazine learned that Bournvita, its major brand has been facing drop in sales in the last few years, even as its faces uphill task in convincing parents that the brand is good for growing up kids.
Market sources in the food and beverage market said there are many reasons for this, top among them the decision of the management to reduce the quantity of the 500 gram refill Bounvita pack to the chagrin of consumers.
Cadbury had inadvertently reduced the quantity of the 500 gram Bounvita refill pack to barely 400 grams.
In spite of this, the price has remained unchanged. Worse still the multinational company has maintained that the pack been contains 500 gram of cocoa drink.
The response of consumers to this development has been very swift. They have permanently removed Bounvita from their shopping list whenever they go to the market.
Shoppers at Shoprite, Ikeja Mall, Aluasa Ikeja, told the magazine that Bournvita is no longer a favorite for them. Apart from the quantity, they said their children are helping them to make the informed choice of which of the brands to buy.
“I cant buy what my children don’t like. I think most kids prefer the other brand,” Kafayat, a mother of two told the magazine.
The situation is not different at Justrite, Abule Egba, where it was observed that Bournvita has dropped sales significantly. Sales attendants at the mall told the magazine that sales of Bournvita have dropped compared to other brands in the category.
Last week at the popular Eko Market on Lagos Island, many shop owners told the magazine that their stock of the brand has reduced in line with consumers’ behaviors.
According to one trader, who simply identified herself as Nimota Kamoru, “I started reducing the cartons of Bournvita that I buy after I realized that customers are dropping it.”
She said “before I sell one carton of Bournvita, I would have sold more than 30 cartons of Milo. She disclosed that all Bournvita categories are affected by customers’ indifference.
Cadbury Bournvita has set their campaigns ad on mothers and growing kids. But the message that Bournvita helps to promote growth seems not to resonate anymore with the target audience, rather, the target buyers are now unsure of health benefits of Bournnvita to kids.
For instance, Dora Egbeyele told the magazine that she stopped buying the brand after her Doctor said her daughter’s purging may have been caused due to consumption of Bourvita, which he said is “not good for children.”
