Sales

A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. Signalling completion of the prospective stage, it is the beginning of an engagement between customer and vendor or the extension of that engagement.

Cadbury brand owner Mondelez International is investing heavily in sales and route-to-market expansion in India, a priority market for the American food giant where sales have slumped to their lowest since 2005.

"We increased our sales infrastructure with one lakh visicoolers in the market and the company took big strides by expanding into rural India and reaching seven states in 2013," a spokeswoman for Cadbury India said.

According to data provided by Mondelez, its India business grew in the "low-teens" in 2013. It was 21% in 2012 and over 30% in the preceding years. Cadbury India attributed it to economic slowdown, increase in commodity prices and the depreciation in the rupee.

Although India is one of the fastest growing markets for chocolates, domestic sales of the commodity have fallen with consumers spending less due to the economic slowdown. In 2013, growth in overall food segment slowed to 11.6%, from over 17% in the previous year, data showed.