After capturing a majority market share in health drinks, GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH) is now eyeing a stronger position on the breakfast table with oats
Early this month, making its foray in India?s organised breakfast segment, GSKCH launched Horlicks Oats in the southern part of the country. For a category which has seen several players entering the arena in the last couple of years – PepsiCo with Quaker Oats, Kellogg?s with Heart to Heart Oats, Marico with Saffola Oats and Britannia with Healthy Start, what?s the objective behind getting into the category this late?
?We want to make this a star product. Horlicks has always been known as a family nourisher. In the last couple of years, we became format agnostic and expanded the brand into areas where we promised nutrition with a difference. This is a step in this direction,? says Jayant Singh, director (marketing), GSK Consumer Healthcare.
Umbrella brand Horlicks has been on the breakfast table of Indians for ages through its flagship product Horlicks health drink. So, venturing into breakfast cereals was perhaps a natural corollary. ?A lot of Horlicks products are consumed on the breakfast table and so it made sense for us to look at tapping other opportunities in this segment. A couple of things underpins GSK globally and one of them is the company?s ability to deliver credible science to make the lives of consumers better. Oats is low in sodium, fights bad cholesterol and helps in weight management,? adds Singh. The company commands 70% in the malted health drinks market, with its basket of brands ? Boost, Maltova, Horlicks and Viva.
The breakfast segment in India is largely unorganised. According to industry estimates, the organised breakfast market is worth Rs 500 crore and much of this is dominated by corn flakes brands. Oats has been a recent entrant in this segment and currently more than 70% sales in this category comes from the south.
The category growth is spurred by factors such as increasing awareness about nutrition, lifestyle-related health issues, India becoming the diabetic capital of the world and the tightening grip of cardiac diseases on the youth. As a result, a large numbers of consumers are willing to buy into non-traditional categories of food products.
According to Singh, the level of health awareness is rising across the India and not limited to metros only. ?Oats is an unfamiliar category for a larger part of Indian consumers and the initial uptake will come from health savvy consumers. As consumption of this group gains scale, healthy growth is expected from lower strata of consumers too,? he adds.
As part of its phase 1 distribution strategy, the company is focusing on modern trade and self-service outlets. GSK is in no hurry for a pan-India rollout. The company will track the product’s performance in the south before zeroing on other potential markets. The product is available in three packs of 200 gm, 400 gm and 1kg for Rs 32, Rs 58 and Rs 125, respectively. The pricing may not appear attractive as PepsiCo?s Quaker Oats sells at the same price points. Television will be the lead medium for the launch phase followed by on-ground initiatives targeted at healthcare professionals.
GSKCH has been extending the Horlicks brand into various categories, including biscuits, instant noodles and cereal bars, as part of its strategy to make Horlicks an overall health drinks and food brand. Last year, GSKCH had announced an investment of over Rs 300 crore on repositioning Horlicks as the company’s umbrella brand.