Cadbury has thrown down the gauntlet to rivals Nestlé and Mars with three new sharing products.

Next month, the confectionery giant will roll out a Bitesize range consisting of Cadbury Raisins and Cadbury Peanuts in 200g resealable pouches, and Cadbury Clusters, a blend of crunchy corn flakes and raisins covered in chocolate, in 150g pouches and 37g impulse bags. The sharing bags will carry an rsp of £1.79 while the smaller bag of Clusters will be priced at 50p.

Clusters will be the main focus of a £3m marketing campaign, which will support the April launch and include TV, sampling and PoS material.

A move into resealable pouches for Cadbury Dairy Milk Giant Buttons completes the new line up.

Cadbury Bitesize will go head-to-head with similar offerings from arch rivals Nestlé, which launched Toffee Crisp Clusters sharing bags in January, and Mars, which owns Maltesers and Revels.

The Bitesize range would mark Cadbury Dairy Milk's biggest entry into the sharing bag category and tap into the 'staying in is the new going out' trend, said Kate Harding, trade communications manager at Cadbury. "This launch will provide consumers with a broader choice of products from their favourite chocolate brand," she said.

Cadbury also announced it was introducing a new chocolate-brown packaging design for Cadbury Shots, its answer to M&M's and Minstrels.

Last year, the confectionery bags sector rose 5% in value to £647m [Nielsen] with chocolate bags growing ahead of the market, up 10% to £199m.