Cadbury milks KitKat's fall

Cadbury is to go head-to-head with Nestlé Rowntree's KitKat this month with the launch of a chocolate wafer bar under its Dairy Milk brand.

The confectionery giant is hoping to eat away at the market share of its rival's KitKat, which is still the UK's biggest selling chocolate bar despite experiencing a sales drop of more than 9% last year.

A wafer chocolate bar is not a new concept for Cadbury, whose Time Out bar is a similar combination in the more traditional finger format. However, Cadbury hopes that creating a wafer in the same format as its flagship chocolate brand will give it a greater chance of success.

Cadbury has also developed Snaps -- Pringle-shaped wafer-thin chocolate crisps that it hopes will create a new market for sharing chocolate similar to the savoury snacks market. According to Cadbury, while sharing is a key driver for snacking, three times as many salty snacks are consumed than confectionery.

Snaps are available in Milk Chocolate, Orange, and Hazelnut and come in 140g boxes.

The format is new to the UK although it has been around in the US since October last year in the form of Swoops, produced by Hershey.