To revive sliding sales, Nestle China has launched an eCommerce experiment, offering 67 brands online that are not available in shops and have never been offered previously in China.
The Swiss maker of KitKat chocolate has started selling products ranging from Damak chocolates to Nido milk powder on Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall.com. It is pinning the promotion on the company’s 150th anniversary, with more than 150 deeply discounted products. The trial will run for six months.
“Chinese consumers are discerning, and they are the fastest in the world at adopting new technology,” Nestle’s head for Asia and Africa Wan Ling Martello said in Beijing at the campaign’s launch, also attended by Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang. The anniversary campaign is titled the Nestle-Alibaba Strategic Co-operation Celebration on the company’s China website.
Nestle’s sales in the greater China region rose 6 per cent to 7.1 billion francs (US$7.3 billion) last year, making it the company’s second-biggest market, while eCommerce sales doubled. However, Nestle has missed its overall long-term sales targets for four years.