Mondelez SWOT Analysis (2024)

Company: Mondelez
Founder: Thomas H. McInnerney
Year founded: 1923
CEO: Dirk Van de Put
Headquarter: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Employees (2021): 79,000
Type: Public
Ticker Symbol: MDLZ
Annual Revenue (FY 2021): $28.72B
Profit | Net income (FY2021): $4.3B

Did you know? Oreo, Mondelez’s flagship cookie, is the most popular cookie of the 21st Century and can be found in over 100 countries worldwide.

Table of Contents

Mondelez Strengths

1. Impressive financial position – Mondelez International continues to post strong financial figures. In 2021 the snacks giant realized global net revenue of $28.72 billion, 32% of which came from confectionaries.

2. Accelerated growth – Mondelez reported a revenue of $28.72B – 8 % year-over-year (YoY) growth in revenue, over three times the growth realized in FY 2020.

3. Fortune 500 company – Mondelez International was ranked 108th among Fortune 500’s list of the leading United States companies by total revenue in 2021. It has an impressive market capitalization of $79.97 Billion . Globally, it holds the first and second position in biscuits and chocolate manufacture The snacks giant is also growing rapidly in the baked snacks segment.

4. Vast Market reach & international brand recognition – The US-based company sells products in over 150 countries and has operations in 80 countries, making its brand easily recognizable around the globe. It is also home to iconic brands Oreo and Cadbury Dairy Milk, estimated to be worth $1 billion.

Image source: Mondelez International Annual Report

5. Lucrative acquisitions – In January 2022, Mondelez announced the $2 billion purchase of Chipita SA, an Athens-based food company. This move is expected to improve the company’s offering in the attractive $65B global packaged baked snacks segment.

6. Innovative product offerings – Mondelez has shown creativity by combining its iconic brands to come up with fresh new snacks like its Cadbury Dairy Milk Oreo chocolate bar. In 2019 the confectionery giant launched a new and healthier variant of its best-selling Dairy Milk chocolate bar in response to the UK government’s sugar tax.

7. Impressive Performance in New Markets – Mondelez International is adept at entering new markets with successful outcomes. The giant snacks manufacturer is currently doing well in emerging markets like China, India, and Latin America, and has decided to ramp up capacity there rather than open new plants.

8. Revamp of its marketing strategy – Mondelez has ramped up its investment in digital marketing to 60%. 35% of this strategy is personalized with the aim of driving higher engagement.

Mondelez Weaknesses

1. Antitrust investigations – In January of 2021, the EU officially opened an antitrust investigation into Mondelez for alleged cross-border trade restrictions that hindered the free flow of chocolate, biscuits, and coffee products, affecting consumer prices.

2. Workers’ strike – In August 2021 unionized workers went on strike in five states because of differences over retirement benefits, shift lengths, and other issues.

3. Use of child labor in Cadbury’s supply chain – In 2022, a Channel 4 program titled Cadbury Exposed: Dispatches revealed that child labor was being used to supply cocoa beans to Cadbury.

Mondelez Opportunities

1. Product diversification – The push for more protein-fortified snacks in Europe presents an opportunity for category expansion in the snacking business. According to Glanbia Nutritional European Healthy snacking innovation team, consumers are demanding for more choices and better tasting products, a cue for Mondelez to come up with a new product offering.

2. Rising demand from emerging markets – Demand for Mondelez products has been growing across emerging markets such as BRICs and Latin America, especially for its Oreo and Cadbury This trend looks set to continue as the world economy continues to open up in the post-lock-down era, presenting an opportunity for the snacking giant to establish a bigger presence there.

3. New customers from digital marketing – With the Global Snack Foods Market set to reach $732.6 Billion by 2026, there is an opportunity to reap rewards from this positive trend through digital marketing. This can be especially effective when targeting Generation Z consumers who are known to actively seek out digital brand engagement and are highly influential in social media.

Mondelez Threats

1. Supply chain and cost inflation challenges– manufacturers of packaged food, including Mondelez, have been struggling with supply chain and cost inflation issues caused by spiraling prices for key inputs such as wheat, palm oil, milk, and eggs, affecting profit margins across the industry. In March 2022, Cadbury was forced to shrink the size of its larger chocolate bars by 10%, the first such reduction in a decade.

2. Slowing demand for at-home consumption snacks – Although Mondelez’s core biscuits and chocolate business enjoyed an acceleration in demand during pandemic-induced lockdown periods, this trend is expected to tail off as economies gradually open up and consumers become increasingly mobile.

3. Reduced consumption of less healthy snacks – according to Glanbia Nutritional’s European Healthy snacking innovation team, consumers are reducing their intake of less healthy snacks like crisps, candy, soft drinks, as well as traditional chocolate bars.

4. Government regulation – Ever since the government announced its ‘sugar tax’ in 2018, Cadbury has come sharply into focus as the UK’s biggest chocolate brand. The food industry had already been challenged by Public Health England the previous year to reduce sugar levels by one-fifth in a bid to curb child obesity.

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