Nestle
´
: China’s Chocolate War Sideshow 159
while also improving profitability. This was indeed a catch-
22: a higher sales volume was needed in order to justify ad-
vertising, and advertising was needed to build higher sales
volume. In the end, it was a problem that the company’s choc-
olate and confectionery business managers would struggle
with for years to come.
Thus, in 1999 Nestle
´
became the only one of the Big Five
chocolate companies to market a compound chocolate in
China while abstaining from advertising its chocolate prod-
ucts. KitKat’s retail price was reduced and Nestle
´
imple-
mented a low-price distribution-driven strategy as the way to
attract China’s emerging chocolate consumers.
The Launch of Nestle
´
Wafer
In the United Kingdom, Nestle