Ailing Nestlé Double Cream in new revamp

The future of chocolate bar Nestlé Double Cream is looking increasingly uncertain after it emerged that Nestlé Rowntree is revamping the product for the second time in just two-and-a-half years. It is also planning to scrap the Double Berry variant after just a year on the shelves.

Double Cream will be repositioned as a niche, indulgent chocolate brand. It is not clear, however, whether the brand will receive any further advertising support despite &£35m being allocated to the brand for its first five years.

The decision seems to have been prompted by retailers who have decided to de-list the Double Berry and Double Chocolate brand extensions. An industry source says the main Double Cream bar has “always struggled” and that Nestlé has accepted that retailers could no longer stock all three products.

At the time of launch, Nestlé had hoped to create a new “premium mainstream” chocolate category that did not rely on price promotions. Nestlé aimed to support this positioning by focusing on the fact that the cocoa beans were from Ecuador and that it used pure cream.

Double Cream was revamped for the first time last year with new packaging. The two new variants were introduced at the same time and the range was heavily price promoted in an effort to kickstart sales (MW January 22, 2004).