Swiss company Lindt & Sprüngli AG has announced that it will soon withdraw from the Russian market. We will support our employees in Russia and act in accordance with local laws. on site Manufacturer of chocolate and confectionery.
On March 9, Lindt suspended the supply of its products to the Russian market, and also closed all its offline outlets and online store. It has not yet been reported whether the company has found a buyer for its assets in the Russian Federation.
The first Lindt store opened 175 years ago in Zurich. To date, Lindt & Sprüngli AG has 12 factories in Europe and the USA, nearly 500 stores and a network of more than 100 independent distributors in more than 120 countries.
Lindt stores appeared in Russia in 2016. As of March 2022, nine points were operating.
Last year, the revenue of OOO Lindt und Sprüngli (Russia) increased by 16% compared to the 2020 figure, 3.1 billion rubles (SPARK-Interfax data). Net profit amounted to 99.6 million rubles (in 2020, a net loss of 61 million rubles was recorded).
“Not good not to have a loud bar”
Irina Eldarkhanova, chairman of the board of the Konfael group of companies, believes that the absence of such a strong competitor as Lindt can significantly affect the quality of chocolate in Russia.
“This company is one of the quality criteria. They are their own producers of the chocolate mass, which they use for their production and sell to other manufacturers. good quality. Remember the precedent where the company’s antimonopoly service claimed Lindt’s quality in Russia and Europe was different? They were able to prove that their quality was up to standards. Unlike other companies, their chocolate does not contain substitutes,” he said in an interview with socialbites.ca.
“In terms of competition, I can say that it is not good to not have such a high bar in Russia. Still, it’s good to have companies that fight for quality and maintain their advertised position as competitors. It seems to me that the absence of such competitors relieves companies operating in Russia, including foreign ones. After all, other companies are not leaving. Nestle does not go, Alpen Gold remains. For them, Lindt was at least a bar, but now there will be no such bar, ”Eldarkhanova added.
According to him, the brand has a large number of fans in Russia, and sales volumes were quite high in many retail outlets, for example, in the Yerevan Plaza shopping center.
At the same time, according to the expert, there is nothing special in Lindt products. “Strictly standard desserts, it’s okay to make them. Many do not do this so as not to repeat it. But there is nothing special in terms of technology, genre, quality of sweets,” he said.
new grocery cart
By counter Since the start of the Yale School of Management special operation in Ukraine, more than a thousand companies have significantly reduced their activities in Russia or completely stopped deliveries. Among them – PepsiCo (produces drinks such as Pepsi, 7Up, Mirinda, Adrenaline Rush, Russian Gift, etc., chips and snacks Lay’s, Cheetos, Khrusteam, juices and nectars Ya, Fruit Garden, J7, ” Favorite”, etc., dairy products “ House in the Village”, “Happy Milkman”, “Miracle”, BioMax, “Imunele”, etc., baby food “Agusha” and “Miracle Baby”), as well as Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Fanta, Sprite) and Mars (Snickers, Twix, Bounty, Milky Way, Orbit gum).
On March 9, on the intention to cut all capital investments in the Russian Federation and reduce advertising costs announced American company Mondelez International (brands Oreo, Alpen Gold, Cadbury, Milka, Toblerone, Barny, Hall). The company has been operating in Russia for over 20 years. It has three plants in the Vladimir and Novgorod regions. Mondelez International did not announce its withdrawal from the Russian market.
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.