The pandemic followed by the Ukraine-Russia war has plunged the global economy into a severe recession and inflation. Like most FMCG companies, chocolate major Mars Wrigley has little but to increase prices of its products. “In several countries we have launched new formats and smaller pack sizes which allow us to keep certain price points so that if we increase prices on a certain product and if the consumer decides not to go to that price, we will still have an offering at a lower price point. This enables us to have a safety net to catch the consumer,” says Blas Maquivar, president (global emerging markets), Mars Wrigley.
The company, however, claims Maquivar, has been trying its best to be as efficient as possible in the way it operates so that it passes on the least impact of inflation on its consumers. “We really challenge all our costs, which is one of Mars' five principles. We make sure that we do not waste anything and by doing that, we are finding savings that is allowing us to compensate partially on inflation, but of course it's impossible that to compensate all of it,” he further explains.