KINDER: how Ferrero mislead Italians for years (and still does).

For those who don’t know, Ferrero is an Italian company that produces branded chocolate and confectionary products that are distributed worldwide. It was founded in 1946 and its most renewed brand line of products (excluding Nutella), is Kinder. 

In Italy, Kinder products are amongst the most sold and Ferrero’s success was constant increasing as I was growing up. Parents, grandparents, baby-sitters, who pick up children from school bring them kinder products as a snack. It’s tradition. With the knowledge I have now, I believe that Ferrero’s immense success is probably due to its powerful marketing strategy.  

First of all, In italy you will never find a supermarket that doesn't display Ferrero products on very visible shelves. They are always placed at optimal heights and effective corners. Moreover, you will always find more next to the tills. This final strategy in particular gives customers a second opportunity for purchase in case they missed out, which in other words means… another opportunity to sell. Customers in this situation will most likely buy if in doubt, for two reasons: 1) due to time restraints they most likely won’t be able to evaluate pros and cons effectively (it is almost their turn) and 2) kinder products are cheap so price is not a factor they may take into account and that may prevent them from buying the products.

Secondly, Ferrero perfectly knew their targe t audience and what kinder products were bought for throughout. They were targeting people exactly like my grandparents, who they knew were going be around children after school and before sports activities. So they simply designed packaging accordingly. They achieved this by, showing a large glass of milk on all products, which, obviously, they did not contain (only milk powder is actually present and in very small amounts), which made the products seem like a healthy choice for children, in the eyes of customers. Secondly, by choosing a child as the model, who made the products relatable/similar to the final audience. 

Thirdly, Ferrero always focused on tv campaigns to boost sales. Customers saw tv adverts very often, which, due to mere exposure and familiarity effects, made them recognise the products and  consequently increase the chances of purchase 

References 

Fang, X., Singh, S., & Ahluwalia, R. (2007). An examination of different explanations for the mere exposure effect. Journal of consumer research, 34, 97-103.

Parker, J. R., & Lehmann, D. R. (2011). When shelf-based scarcity impacts consumer preferences. Journal of Retailing, 87, 142-155.