After foraying into the packaged milk segment with the launch of Kissan Soya Milk, HUL is now entering the branded dairy products category with the launch of Kissan Creamy Spread in 22 towns across the country. With this move, HUL will directly compete with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF)?s Amul and Britannia Industries milk products in the domestic markets. HUL has positioned its new launch as creamy spreads enriched with vitamins and has roped in Juhi Chawla to endorse its product in competitive markets.
At present, the R1,000-crore branded cream spread market in India is growing at a rate of around 20% per annum, and is dominated by Amul (70%) and Britannia.
Meanwhile, Amul is doubling production capacity for its cheese spread brands and is extending its distribution network to 3,000 towns to sustain its competitive edge in this sector. On the other hand, Britannia is planning to launch new products to provide value addition to consumers. With the aggressive foray of HUL, the market dynamics in the branded milk products in India will soon change. According to a spokesperson from HUL, with its new launch, the company plans to get a strong foothold in the rapidly growing spread market. ?Globally, Unilever is the market leader in spreads market and Kissan Creamy Spreads launch seeks to leverage Unilever?s global expertise in this category,? he added. To announce its new launch, HUL is getting ready to launch a mass media campaign.
On Amul?s strategy, RS Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF, said, ?With increasing in production capacity of Amul Cheese spread, we are planning to enhance our advertising and promotional investment in this category. One more production and packaging line has recently been commissioned, in addition to the existing production plant.?
According to Sodhi, as per the latest AC Nielsen retail audit report, Amul has more than 70% share of the cheese spread market in top 35 cities. ?Across the entire country, market share of Amul Cheese Spread is more than 85% of the entire Cheese Spread market in India,? he added. Across the road, Britannia Ltd is sharpening focus on driving differentiation, launching new products and providing value to consumers to drive volumes. ?We have a structured marketing plan in place for all our categories. We have, in fact, launched cream cheese, calcium slices, flavored cubes and spreads in the last few months,? said a spokesperson from BIL.