Go-to-market strategy seems to be the new mantra for the FMCG majors. To drive volumes in the competitive markets, the FMCG players are expanding their retail models.
To begin with, Dabur is expanding its retail model?New u?stores from 16 to 50 in this fiscal. Marico is also evaluating further expansion of its retail brand?MERA Stores across the country. Yet another FMCG major, ITC Personal Care is aggressively selling its premium personal care range Fiama Di Wills and Essenza Di Wills at ITC’s retail model Wills Lifestyle stores.
Enthused by the response to its retail brand Amul Parlour, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMFL) is adding 2,500 outlets to its existing 4,500 to woo consumers. ?After seeing the success of FMCG companies’ retail models, many players will soon jump on to the band wagon to sell their brands directly to consumers,? said a Mumbai-based industry analyst.
On Marico’s retail model, the company’s head of sales B Sridhar said the company has segmented the entire retail space into five segments namely, modern trade, wholesale, key outlets (MERA stores), chemists and cosmetics. ?MERA store is one such segment. Marico commenced this a few years ago. We have currently identified such key outlets (MERA) in about 30 cities. We will evaluate further expansion based on business needs,? he added.
According to Dabur India group director PD Narang, the company currently has 16 `New u’ stores operational across Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Bangalore and Hyderabad. ?We plan to up the number of stores to 50 by the end of the current fiscal,? he said. At present, `New u ‘ operates primarily in the beauty products retail market in India. In addition to selling Dabur India’s brands, the store also stocks products from HUL, P&G and L’Oreal among others.
On the company’s retail brand strategy, ITC Personal Care CEO Sandip Kaul said, ?We are selling our premium skin care range Fiama Di Wills and Essneza Di Wills in our retail store Wills LifeStyle across the country and this strategy has worked well for us.?
RS Sodhi, general manager, GCMFL said the company’s retail brand `Amul Parlour’ has built the Amul brand stronger and has also brought in volumes. ?We are adding on 2,000 Amul Parlours this fiscal. . We have a plan of creating 10,000 Amul Parlours by 2012,? he said. At present, Amul has 5000 Amul Parlours and 400 Scooping Parlours in India. According to industry sources, FMCG majors Emami and Rasna are also gearing up to foray into the retail arena, armed with different retail models. There are many FMCG majors who are looking for alliances with traditional stores to foray into the organised retailing arena in India.