BOCA RATON, FLA. – Twelve days after Kellogg Co. announced plans to transition its U.S. Snacks business, including Keebler cookies, to warehouse distribution from direct-store delivery (D.S.D.), Mondelez International, Inc., reaffirmed its commitment to D.S.D.
Timothy P. Cofer, chief growth officer at Mondelez, sung the praises of D.S.D. in a Feb. 21 presentation at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York annual conference at the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Boca Raton.
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| Timothy Cofer, chief growth officer at Mondelez |
“I would like to underscore our belief in the power of direct-store delivery in our U.S. biscuit business,” he said. “To be clear, we believe D.S.D. offers a number of significant advantages — better distribution and better merchandising for a broad portfolio, better speed to market as we introduce new items, better in-store feature and display conversion, and fewer stops versus warehouse delivered items.”
Mr. Cofer’s CAGNY presentation came minutes after Kellogg addressed the group. Kellogg executives devoted a large part of their presentation to explaining their decision, first announced Feb. 9, to move away from D.S.D. John Bryant, chairman and chief executive officer of Kellogg, suggested competitors would seek to capitalize on the change, and Mr. Cofer appeared to promise exactly that.
“You can expect us to leverage the full strength of our D.S.D. system as our competitors take a different approach,” Mr. Cofer said.
In addition to affirming Mondelez’s commitment to traditional distribution, Mr. Cofer also described the company’s ambitions to become a major player in on-line sales of snacks.
“We are building an industry leading e-commerce snacks business targeting at least $1 billion in revenue by 2020,” Mr. Cofer said. “To reach this goal, we’re investing in capabilities and infrastructure. Over the past several months we’ve staffed up with a dedicated cross-functional team of experienced staff from leading e-commerce companies as well as internal staff. And we’re improving data analytics, supply chain and digital technologies. We’re making sure we have the right assortment of our power brands in stock, ready for purchase at the right price. We’re building strong content, including reviews of consumers, optimizing search and investing in compelling programs to increase traffic.”
He said the company recently relaunched the belVita line at Amazon here in the United States.
He continued, “We made it available on subscribe and save. We improved search rankings and invested to drive traffic to our pages. As a result, belVita is now the No. 1 selling biscuit on Amazon. We’re fast transferring this model to other brands.”
