Competitors Analysis

	Kit Kat (nestle)	Time Out (Cadbury)	Twix (Mars Inc)	Kinder Bueno (Ferrero)
Origin	Switzerland	UK	USA	Italy
Prices	RM1.99	RM2.49	RM2.79	RM3.
Packaging	Red, white and yellow	Blue, red and orange	Gold, red and white	White, dark orange, brown and light blue
Aisle in Hypermarket	Top shelf	Middle shelf	Top shelf	Bottom shelf
Manufacture	Malaysia	Australia	Australia	Australia
Type of chocolate	Milk chocolate	Milk chocolate	Milk chocolate	Hazelnut and Milk chocolate
Other ingredients	Wafer biscuits	Wafer biscuit and flakes	Caramel and wafer biscuit	Wafer biscuit
Popularity among Malaysian (high, medium, low) (based on self survey)	High	Medium	Low	Medium
Taste (based on personal point of view)	Sweet, chocolaty and not too milky	Very milky and the flakes tend to make the snack quite dry	The biscuit very soft and the caramel very sweet	Hazelnut chocolate make the whole snack bars very tasty but very sweet

The primary competitors for Kit Kat will be among the Cadbury “Time Out”, Mars Inc “Twix” and Ferrero “Kinder Bueno”. Among these three competitors, the most popular will be the “Time Out”. However, mostly Malaysian still prefers Kit Kat. Although Cadbury had been famous for its original milk chocolate, yet still when it comes to the snack bars, Kit Kat will be the first choice. Hence, we can see that the competitors trying to improvise the original wafer coated with milk chocolate with other ingredients, such as “Time Out” which inserted flakes, “Twix” combined with caramel flavor and “Kinder Bueno” using hazelnut chocolate. So their key differences from Kit Kat will be the ingredient. Consequently, from all the competitors, their promotion and marketing approach are using their key differences of unique selling point (their key ingredient) to differentiate themselves.

From the packaging point of view, Kit Kat definitely stands out more because of the striking red and convenient size. As general point of review, the design of a packaging is becoming increasingly important in all aspects of life. Consumers are definitely becoming more design conscious, demanding that goods are not only functional but are aesthetically pleasing. Lifestyles affect products and their packs, more people are eating on the move creating opportunities for chocolate bar-lines to compete in the snack market. Thus, comparison from all the competitors packaging, Kit Kat did a good job with their product picture snap shot in front of their packing which give a clearer meaning of what type of confectionery chocolate bar. Nevertheless, “Time Out” did a good job on their product name, because it straight forwardly telling the consumer that this is a snack bar. On the other hand, “Twix” packaging may be a bit dull and misleading, because their packing just have their product name and didn’t mention that what type of confectionery. On the same time, their gold packaging is not that appealing. As for “Kinder Bueno”, their packaging is interesting, in spite of this, the packaging is big and bulky compare with others.

From their marketing system, Cadbury tends to go towards the placement of their product. The key term will be “location, location, location”. Normally, their product will be placed on the middle shelf where it is the same eye level of most consumers (adults to teenagers). As for “Twix” they are not that concerned of their product placement, but their brand product of Mars Inc that carried all the way of recognition. Same as “Kinder Bueno”, they are not too concern on their product placement but their highly recognized brand of Ferraro that help to maintain their sales. While Kit Kat on the other hand, promote their product by inducing a lower price compare to the competitors. It might be from the reason of their manufactured ingredients which are mostly local that help them to lower down their price. This is their strength, because in the supply and demand mechanism, when the price is low, demand tends to go up (Who do not like cheaper price when it served the same purposes).