Ritter Sport

Motto: "Quality. Chocolate. Squared."

Ritter Sport is a brand of chocolate for the Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG. Company which is headquartered in Waldenbuch,Germany. The chocolate brand Ritter's Sport Schokolade produced as the square tablet known today was launched in 1932 after Clara , Alfred Ritters wife, suggested creating a chocolate bar that would fit into every sport jacket pocket without breaking. In 1990 they launched project(s) "Cacaonica", which supports organic cocoa agriculture and reforestation in Nicaragua and "Ritter Solar" now the European market leader of solar thermal products and Large solar thermal systems. Also the monomaterial chocolate packaging is designed to minimize its ecological footprint. White-nut milk, orange liqueur, truffles, organic almond or diet-nougat - with a total of 43 products Ritter Sport offers a variety of ways to enjoy chocolate. With the unique and colorful diversity of its range, this traditional company has become very successful. What started in 1912 as a small family confectionary with Alfred Ritter and his wife Clara at the helm has developed into an internationally-successful family owned and operated company. RITTER SPORT is now sold in 80 countries and its success story continues . In April 2008 the company launched an organic product line called "Ritter Sport Bio". Organic varieties: Mandelsplitter Milk chocolate with chopped almonds. Macadamia Milk chocolate with chopped macadamia nuts. Trauben-Cashew Milk chocolate with chopped cashew nuts and raisins. Vollmilch 35% Milk chocolate with 35% cacao. Feinherb 60% Dark chocolate with 60% cacao.

Ritter Sport varieties available in Romania are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Ritter Sport White with Whole Hazelnuts Ritter Sport Chocolate Biscuits Ritter Sport Praline Ritter Sport Strawberry&Yoghurt Ritter Sport Cocoa Mousse Ritter Sport Alpine Milk Ritter Sport Marzipan Ritter Sport Caramel Nuts Ritter Sport Weiss+Crisp Ritter Sport Himbeer-Cranberry Joghurt Ritter Sport Erdbeer Vanille-Waffel Ritter Sport 9 miniselection Ritter Sport BIO Macadamia Ritter Sport BIO with Raisins and Caju nuts Ritter Sport White with Whole Hazelnuts Ritter Sport Whole Hazelnuts Ritter Sport Dark Whole Hazelnuts Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate

Among the 80 countries where Ritter Sport exports to, the most important ones are in Europe. Ritter Sport is number 3 in Europe with a market share of about 7%. The highest market share Ritter Sport has in Denmark-21%, Italy- 9% and Austria- 5%. In USA , the chocolate is available only in some retailers with low market share. Ritter Sport is seen as an expensive and high quality brand by most of the consumers. One of the reasons why Ritter Sport has high prices for its products is because the energy used at the production site comes 70% from green energy and 30% from a power plant. Another reason is because in 1990, Ritter Sport founded the initiative Cacaonica in Nicaragua which is supported with more than 2.5 million euros. Cacaonica teaches local farmers in organic growing methods and buys cacao for a price higher than the world price. For Ritter Sport , Germany is the biggest market -70% of production is sold here. However , the market share differs greatly from country to country with over 20% in Denmark and only 2% in Netherlands and theres a significant difference in consumption between the stable markets in Western countries(Germany, Denmark) and growing markets in the East (Russia, Poland).

Also , consumers tastes and chocolate eating cultures vary in European countries. Reasons are the general perspective on food, climate, the economy, the countries history of chocolate production methods. Ritter Sport is usually limited to countries where consumers prefer their chocolate bars of different sizes and tastes. For ex: Spain is a difficult market as people like chocolate drinks to chocolate bars. However, most people in most countries have chocolate preferences that are covered by one of the Ritter Sports varieties. Ritter Sport is not among the most preferred brands of chocolate in Romania, mainly because economic and taste reasons. Another important factor is that the average Romanian consumes around 2kg per year while Germans consume around 9kg , Britons and Swiss about 11kg per person a year. Also Romanians prefer to buy a lot of cheap chocolate with cream filling while the Westerns consume mainly dark chocolate or milk chocolate. Obviously , the economic crisis had also a negative impact on the peoples shopping habits and Romanians spend less now on chocolate, cheese, bread or milk and maybe thats why in the last years the chocolate market in Romania had a steady decline of 25%.