?Parle eyes a quarter of its revenue from Parle Platina in next 2-3 years

Parle Products Pvt Ltd is aiming Rs 100-150 cr turnover from 'Nutricrunch', its newly launched brand for health-conscious customers, in the next 18-24 months. 

The biscuits maker has re-entered healthy biscuits space with Nutricrunch range.

Mayank Shah, Parle Products Category Head, said, "We are looking at a Rs 100-150 crore turnover from Nutricrunch range in 1.5-2 years. Health-based biscuits category is growing at a fast pace. We have re-entered the category with focus and are offering products targeted at specific customer requirements." 

Nutricrunch is available across India but mostly in urban cities. With this new brand, the company is planning to provide consumers a healthy snack that is not just high in fibre but also aids multiple lifestyle issues prevalent in today's fast-paced world such as weight management, sugar control, cholesterol management and nutrient deficiency. 

"We are focused on targeting consumers who consciously opt for healthy offerings and not those who buy a brand due to discounts," Shah added. 

The products that are included in the Nutricrunch range are digestive biscuits, honey and oats cookies, digestive Marie and lite cracker. 

One of the biggest beverages-maker Parle Agro is planning to boost its sales and distribution network for its existing products, in addition, to launch of new categories to achieve its target of clocking Rs 10,000 crore topline by 2022, a top company official has said.

The city-based company expects to double the turnover of its flagship brands Frooti and Appy Fizz to achieve this target. While the former grosses Rs 2,200 crore now, the latter fetches around Rs 700 crore in topline.

"We are at Rs 4,200 crore now and we hope to be an Rs 5,000-crore company by December. We are looking at doubling this up over the next few years and have set an aggressive target of Rs 10,000 crore turnover by 2022," saidParle Agro joint managing director and chief marketing officer Nadia Chauhan.

"It is an aggressive target involving big plans not just in terms of furthering our sales and distribution network for existing products but also creating some new products and new categories over the next few years," she added.

Its flagship brand Frooti has been growing at 25 per cent and the company aims to double this in the next two-three years from Rs 2,200 crore now.

The mango-based beverages category is estimated to be over Rs 8,450 crore now, and Frooti enjoys 26 per cent of this segment, she said.

Parle Agro dominates the sparkling fruit juices category with its Rs 700 crore brand Appy Fizz, which it targets to be a Rs 1,000-crore brand by 2020.

The company recently roped in Hindi actor Salman Khan as the brand face for Appy Fizz and Chauhan said it is part of the strategy of growing the category and the brand.

"We really hope that this gives us huge penetration as a brand and achieve our goals of growth," she said.

Appy Fizz is one of the fastest growing brands in its portfolio, clipping at 50 per cent.

Chauhan plans to expand the distribution footprint and drive sales with innovative packaging, differentiated SKUs and aggressive pricing for Appy Fizz.

"Over the next two years, we will have lots of innovation and packaging, which we hope to increase our market penetration. Today Appy Fizz is available at about 6 lakh outlets, while Frooti is at almost 2 million outlets. We want to take Appy Fizz to the level of Frooti when it comes to retailing,” she said.

The company has earmarked Rs 200 crore for marketing activities in 2018, of which Rs 100 crore will be invested in Appy Fizz alone and the rest primarily in Frooti.

The Rs 10,000-crore fruit-based beverages market is dominated by mango, and last year the company had launched Frooti Fizz in the fruit-plus fizz category and is looking at other fruits to drive this category.

Parle Agro, which exports to 50 countries, is also evaluating opportunities to locally manufacture its products in some of its key export markets.

"We are aggressively planning to convert some of these markets to into manufacturing hubs for both captive consumptions as well to serve nearby markets. We are looking at the Middle East, East Africa, and the US for manufacturing base, as these are also big markets for us," Chauhan said.

"Currently, exports as a revenue stream is very small for us which is why we are looking some of the overseas markets for local manufacturing. We already have a manufacturing facility in Nepal," she said.

Parle Agro has 12 beverages manufacturing facilities and 56 bottling plants for water brand Bailley.

Parle Agro, the largest Indian beverage manufacturer has announced the launch of its new #FeelTheFizz marketing campaign for brand Appy Fizz with a budget of Rs. 100 Cr. This will be the first campaign for the brand featuring its new brand ambassador Salman Khan.

The new campaign builds on the need for the brand consumers to “Own Their Fizz” by being bold, confident just like Appy Fizz and is targeted towards the youth across India.

The aggressive campaign is part of the overall strategy of the organization targeting Rs. 5,000 Cr. brand turnover by end 2018 as well as building the Fruit plus Fizz category to Rs. 4,000 Cr. over the coming years.

With Appy Fizz, Parle Agro’s fastest growing brand, the organization is looking to step up its foothold in the Indian beverage space and continue to be the leader in its sub-category. The new #FeelTheFizz campaign with the addition of Salman Khan as the face of the brand is directed towards ensuring the continuous growth momentum of the brand in order to further leverage consumers changing habits as they move away from synthetic aerated drinks.  Salman Khan was selected to be the face of the brand owing to his stylish, macho and magnetic attitude being a seamless fit for Appy Fizz’s bold and edgy persona.

The Rs. 650 crore brand has been a market leader in the category of fruit plus fizz drinks and 2018 will see one of the largest marketing budget allocated to the brand since its launch aiming to further strengthen the brands connect with millions of consumers across India.

“With the new #FeelTheFizz campaign, the target is to further increase the double digit growth Appy Fizz has been consistently seeing over the past few years while solidifying it as the leader of the Fruit plus Fizz category. Salman Khan as the face of the brand plays a critical role in achieving the aggressive vision we have set out for the brand and the category it created. Driving scale in distribution, recall and preference are the key brand objectives for the brand in 2018.” Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director & CMO, Parle Agro while speaking on the new campaign said.

Speaking about this collaboration, Salman Khan said, “The new campaign for Appy Fizz is as exciting as it gets. I am sure the product and the new #FeelTheFizz campaign will surely resonate with all my fans.”

Sagmeister & Walsh, continues to be the creative agency on board, while the TVC is produced by 1st Ave. Machine, New York, and directed by Morgan Harary.

 “This year, we looked to undertake the unique objective of ensuring we preserve the almost premium aura of the brand while still ensuring it delivered to appeal across multiple audiences, ranging from the niche to the masses. We continued to build on the #FeelTheFizz story line while pushing the boundaries of being bold, edgy and confident, core attributes of Appy Fizz as well as its consumers,” Jessica Walsh, Partner at Sagmeister & Walsh commented on the new campaign.

With the aim of increasing distribution and penetration across the country, Parle Agro shall this year also be introducing the new Appy Fizz 160ml PET bottle SKU priced at Rs. 10. The new pack shall also featuring imagery of Salman Khan on its packaging and shall be produced at the organizations newest manufacturing location at Sitarganj, Uttarakhand.

The campaign featuring Salman Khan, will be released simultaneously on Television, Digital and OOH. Television investments also include presence on large scale properties like the IPL, Bigg Boss on Colours and Bigg Boss Telugu on Star Maa. The campaign will also see significant investment into in-store activations, cinema advertising and on-ground activations.

Manpasand Beverages and Parle Products have planned a joint distribution of their respective brands in western markets, starting with Gujarat. As a part of this strategic tie-up, the Beverage major has introduced a new brand for Mango Sip, “Mango Sip Gold,” which will be available along with “Parle G”.

“Our core strength has been our strong distribution networks in the rural and semi-urban markets of India. To deepen this, we formed an alliance with Parle Products as they have a strong distribution network across the country and also have a diversified product portfolio that caters to all types of consumers. Through this partnership, Manpasand Beverage will have access to 45 lakh outlets pan-India for our flagship brand “Mango Sip,” Dhirendra Singh, CMD, Manpasand Beverages said.

The first phase of the partnership was completed in the eastern region of India where up to 1 lakh outlets of Parle Products have been roped in by Manpasand Beverages.

Singh said, “As both the companies are known for their dominance in small and value packs, this tie-up will create a formidable synergy in the food and beverages segment of India. It will also help us in achieving our goal of providing quality and nutritional products to the masses.”

Last year, Manpasand Beverages tied-up with Parle products to jointly distribute their brands. Through this partnership the Company targets to expand distribution by two-folds by next fiscal year.

 “Parle is synonymous with the quintessential snack that every Indian has grown up with. This is a significant venture for us as we look for further growth in the Indian FMCG market with our Snacking range,” Krishna Rao, category head, Parle Products said.

Manpasand Beverages has invested a sum of Rs 600 crore to set up four new plants in Vadodara, Varanasi, Sri City, and eastern region of India.

India’s leading biscuits and confectionery maker, Parle Products, is planning to consolidate its position in the Indian market. The company aims to double its turnover in the next five years.

“If you look at Parle as a company, we have always been known for biscuits and confectionery. But we have got into quite a few categories over the last two years. We have entered into the bakery items segment like cakes and rusk, high-end chocolates, snacks and of late into pulses. So, I think now is the time to consolidate before we move forward and get into new categories," said Mayank Shah, Category Head, Parle Products in an interview.  

“Quite a few categories are moving over from unorganised to organised segments since consumers have started moving from unorganised to organised segments. One category which has seen conversion is bakery items. Then there are categories like gluten-free products, which have small and niche markets. However, we are at least a decade away from getting into that kind of specialised offerings. These categories are too small for big players like us to cater to," he further added.

Going further, the company aims to be a total food company by filling in the gaps in its offerings.

“Eventually, we are looking at several other categories and whenever and wherever there are opportunities, we would grow into a total food company,” he further said.

With domestic brands like Amul, Parle, Big Bazaar and Dabur featuring in the top ten list of India's most popular brands, a Nikkei BP-Market Xcel Data Matrix survey revealed that domestic brands are liked and revered by Indian consumers at par with international brands like Samsung and Coca-Cola.

According to the Brand Asia Survey 2017, Samsung has emerged as the most popular brand in terms of consumer brand relationship, followed by food and drinks brand Amul and mobile brand Nokia.

Ashwani Arora, Senior VP Research, Director on Board, Market Xcel said, "Amul, the food and drinks brand, has scored second place this year beating Coca-Cola (rank 10) and Pepsi (rank 15).”

He added, "Parle -- a brand from the pre independence era -- goes on to prove the love people have for it still. It has ranked fifth this year and its win is solely dedicated to the wide variety of its biscuits which has satiated consumer palettes since ages," said Arora.

"Hence, Indian brands are equally liked and revered by consumers," he added.

Arora further said, Nokia which is loved brand by Indians has a high past equity and connect. The brand was once a household name in India. The relaunch of the brand in India has refurbished the emotional connect with consumers as is evident in the survey," Samsung mobiles and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Parle ranked fourth and fifth in terms of the most popular brands in India.

The survey also revealed that Future Group-owned retail business Big Bazaar was the only retail brand to mark a place in the top 10 popular brands at rank six.

According to Arora, the kirana shops are unable to provide the choice, ambience, service and discounts which Big Bazaar offers leading to its popularity among customers. The (Big Bazaar) brand has many firsts to its credit. The only national competitor to the brand being Reliance Retail.

The rest of the brands in the top ten category included toothpaste brand Colgate, messaging platform WhatsApp, FMCG brand Dabur and beverages company Coca-Cola.

The top 10 brands featured in the survey are a mix of technology, FMCG and retail brands.

Another interesting insight was that the brands from the automotive sphere had the least representation even among the top 20 brands during the year's survey.

"Some of the reasons attributed to (automotive) category's low affinity include low penetration, high involving, and family product more than a personal category," Arora said.

"Also the choice is vested with few members in a family. The category has low mental salience with the womenfolk."

In 13 countries across Asia, a total of 200 brands were surveyed with a mix of national and international brands.

Biscuits and confectionery maker Parle Products is planning to increase the prices of its glucose, Marie and milk biscuits by 4-5 per cent in the first quarter of 2018.

Parle Products Category Head Mayank Shah said “As of now, we have not taken any price hike (decision) but we would be thinking of a price hike considering the increased taxes. It will happen in the first quarter of next year, which is January-March. There might be an increase of 4-5 per cent in the price in brands which are below Rs 100 per kg. For mass (category) earlier we were taxed at a lower rate and now we are taxed at a higher rate, so there has been an impact there and they (mass offerings) have suffered a bit. Growth has been slow in the biscuit below Rs 100 per kg category at 6-7 per cent, compared to the industry growth of 14-15 per cent. Biscuits have been able to overcome both demonetisation and GST. Biscuits which were earlier taxed at a higher rate and now have been brought down under 18 per cent, have grown better. Because of the tax benefits (in biscuits above Rs 100 per kg) being passed on to the consumers, there has been a growth in consumption. Rural demand has also seen an uptick this year, with a growth of almost 60-70 per cent. Primarily, glucose, milk and Marie are the categories which will see increase in prices. Company will probably look at one category at a time for the price increase. Its flagship brand ParleG that is dominant in the glucose segment, BakeSmith English Marie and Milk Shakti are the brands that would see a price revision."

Company had not increased the prices of these products post the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), when the government had slapped a uniform tax rate on biscuits.

Biscuits below Rs 100 per kg, including the glucose category, and those above Rs 100 per kg were placed in the 18 per cent tax slab under GST.

Earlier, biscuits priced below Rs 100 per kg did not attract excise duty but the effective tax rate was around 9-10 per cent.

Low priced high nutrition biscuits that are largely priced below Rs 100 per kg is estimated to be a Rs 9,000 crore market, constituting 35 per cent of the Rs 25,000 crore organised biscuit market in the country.

Biscuits and confectionery maker, Parle Products, has announced its entry in the pulses category with the launch of its new brand Fresh Harvest which will be sold across retail outlets in the country.

The company aims to offer its consumers protein rich pulses that are processed and packed in the most hygienic conditions.

The Fresh Harvest collection will comprise Toor, Moong, Urad, Channa and Masoor dals sourced from some of the best farms in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

With Fresh Harvest, Parle aims to provide Indian households premium quality pulses that are unadulterated and hygienically packed, assuring consumers about safety and quality of the product.

Mayank Shah, Category Head, Parle Products, said, "Fresh Harvest epitomises quality, hygiene, nutrition and consistency. Through this brand, we want to offer consumers premium pulses that are pure, unadulterated and full of nutrition to make meal-time healthier. Right from sourcing to delivering quality end products to consumers, the involvement of a company like Parle will go a long way in convincing consumers to switch to packaged pulses."

Currently, Fresh Harvest has been launched across class-A outlets, Self Service Outlets (SSOs) and local retail chains across more than 5 lakh towns in Maharashtra and would be launched in phased manner in other parts of India over the next 12 months.

Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd is launching a fizzy version of Frooti—the first brand extension for the popular mango drink launched 32 years ago.

Frooti Fizz is an attempt to build on the success of the original fruit beverage, which is Parle Agro’s largest revenue earner, making up more than 60% of the company’s sales.

Frooti Fizz, priced at Rs.15 for a 250 ml PET package, Rs.30 for a 500 ml PET package and Rs.25 for a 250 ml can, will be retailed across 1.2 million outlets of the estimated nine million outlets in the country, according to the firm.

Parle Agro has set for itself the target of increasing annual revenue to Rs5,000 crore by 2018, from Rs2,800 crore, said Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and chief marketing officer.

Chauhan said, "Parle Agro created the fruit plus fizz category in 2005 with the launch of Appy Fizz. Today, we hold maximum market share in this category. The launch of Frooti Fizz is a step towards taking this category to the next level. Mango continues to be India’s largest consumed fruit flavour and there’s space for the fizzy version of the mango drink in the market."

The company will be spending about Rs100 crore on the launch of Frooti Fizz, including the marketing expenses, said Chauhan. Some analysts are skeptical about the potential of Frooti Fizz.

Rajat Wahi, Partner and Head (Consumer Markets), at consulting firm KPMG in India, said, "It’s a bit surprising why the company is launching a fizzy version of a successful brand when the carbonated beverages market is witnessing slow growth. It could have, instead, looked at the fortified drinks segment. As an extension of a successful mass brand, it might work, but eventually, the company will have to focus on fortified drinks."

Biscuits and confectionery maker Parle Products has set its target to increase its market share to 18-20 percent in fiscal 2017-18 from 15 percent, in the premium biscuit category.

Mayank Shah, Category Head, Parle Products, said, "We will be expecting decent dividends coming in from our premium range. While we are very strong in the mid-tier or popular range and the mass range, premium is one place where we have started making our mark felt."

He further added, "We have brands like Hide & Seek and Milano and of late we also launched their variants. Having done that, we are seeing an increase in market share in that particular segment. We have seen our market share going up by almost 4-5 per cent in premium segment in last one year."

The premium biscuit category is estimated to be worth around Rs 5,000 crore, growing at 15-17 per cent. Shah said the company is expecting its market share to increase to 18-20 per cent in fiscal 2017-18 from 15 per cent at present.

Its premium offerings include Milano, Simply Good, Happy Happy and Hide & Seek, while the mass brands are Parle G, Parle Marie, KrackJack and Monaco, among others.

He said, "While we would like to improve our share by focusing on premium biscuits, we would also like to consolidate our position in mid-tier and low price range."

Parle Products has a market share of 28 per cent in the overall Rs 36,000 crore biscuit market.

The company has expanded its portfolio over the last two years by launching new products and would be consolidating them before launching new items.

On overall rural demand, Shah said there would be an impact of 2-3 per cent on growth in this segment due to demonetisation.

Shah said, "This year, with a good monsoon, we were expecting good growth coming in from rural but with demonetisation, growth across urban and rural has taken a hit. While we are seeing recovery in urban India, rural will take a bit of more time.

While we expect rural to be the growth driver, the impact of rural growth coming in would only be seen in the next fiscal. This fiscal, we will not be able to realise the full potential of rural demand."

He added, "We were expecting category growth in rural to be in double digits but after demonetisation there would be at least 2-3 per cent impact in rural growth."

The company, which has presence in confectionery and snack segments with brands like Mango Bite, Melody, Fulltoss and Mexitos, among others, said it cut its advertising budget by 15-20 per cent post demonetisation.

Adding that the company spends 7-10 percent of its revenue on advertising, Shah added, "From mid-November to end December, there was hardly any advertising that was done and on an average it would have been 15-20 per cent cut in advertising as a result of demonetisation."

Parle, one of India's leading manufacturer of biscuits and confectionery, has made an entry in the Indian luxury chocolate segment with the launch of Friberg – a super-premium chocolate brand imported from Belgium and Switzerland.

As per reports, the launch of the new chocolate brand is inspired by the growing demand for luxury chocolate offerings and changing consumer preferences from traditional sweets to premium chocolates as gifting options during the festive season.

In addition to the traditional bar format imported from Switzerland, Parle is said to have launched unique Belgian wafer thins which are a first of its kind for the Indian Market.

The wafer thin format is made of rice crispy wafers dipped in delectable Belgian chocolate flavours like Belgium Chocolate Noir and Belgium Chocolate Lait.

Parle G, the brand which can be associated with every Indian, regardless of their financial background has decided to close its 90 years old unit at Vile Parle in Mumbai. The owners of the company decided to stop the operations of the unit and finally put its shutters down after its production figures crumbled immensely and affected the business of the firm.

The decline in business resulted in a closure of a 90 year old unit and this also means that world’s largest selling biscuit- Parle G will be finally walking out of Vile Parle. The unit had become a most renowned landmark for the area and its closure means that the zone will be losing its sheen. Commenting on the move, Arup Chauhan, Products Executive Director, Parle said that the production at the time of closure was negligible. It didn't make commercial sense to keep it running.

Currently, valued at Rs 10,000 crore, the company has its manufacturing units across the country. These units, apart from making the signature biscuits, also produce other candies and biscuits and supplies across the nation.

Owners halted production at the local factory two months ago following a reduction in production capacity over the last few years. At the time of the shutdown of the plant, which at its peak produced the largest volume of biscuits, there were around 300 workers, who have all taken VRS, explained Chauhan. He further stated that Parle has kept VRS process very smooth and handy so that its employees don’t get stuck in the official glitches.

Spread across about 10 acres, the factory houses Parle Products' HQ. Although Chauhan did not divulge details, the closely held Parle Products, named after the western suburb, is likely to retain the land, which sits on a prime location amid a host of residential complexes, for development. According to experts, the going rate for residences in Vile Parle is between Rs 25,000 and Rs 28,000 per sq ft.

Parle Products, one of India’s pioneers in the biscuit and confectionary manufacturing segment, has announced winners of 14th Parle Saraswati Vandana.

Each year, Parle Products organises 'Saraswati Vandana' in the state during Saraswati Puja, inviting schools to participate in a competition.

The evening was attended by students and teachers from various schools across West Bengal. 

Schools, their faculty and students were appreciated and felicitated with certificates and cash prizes. The winning school, La Maternelle High School, Kolkata won first place and a prize money of Rs 30,000, the second prize went to Udaypur Haradayal Nag Adarsha Vidyalaya, Belghoria and Hindu School, Kolkata who won Rs 15000 each.

Rani Binode Manjari Govt Girls School , Ashalata Basu Vidyalaya , Jodhpur Park Boys School , Belur Girls'  High (H.S.) School and Saidabad Manindra Chandra Vidyapith were third place winners, the prize being Rs 10,000 each.

“We  organize this event around Saraswati Puja not only because this is celebrated in most of the schools through the state, but also to connect and educate students about the culture and festivities in  innovative and creative ways. This is our 14th year and we are delighted with the response we have received and sincerely thank the schools for their participation,” said Bhavin Panchamia, Senior Product Manager, Parle Products.

This year, Parle Products Ltd. invited over 600 schools from cities like Kolkata, Howrah, Siliguri, Durgapur, Asansol, Kharaghpur, Midnapore, Serampore, Chinsura, Chandannagar, Baruipir, Belghoria, Madhyamgram, Barrackpore, Burdwan, Bolpur, Krishnanagar, Behrampur, Malda, Ranaghat, and Raigunj.