In 2021, Nestlé India declared that it would spread its reach to 120,000 villages by 2024 by sprucing up its rural distribution channels. Suresh Narayanan, chairman & MD had then said that rural is an important dimension of the next phase of Nestlé. Cut to today, it has expanded its direct coverage reaching a total of over 196,000 villages — 5,300 of which were added in the December quarter.
According to Narayanan, during the October-December quarter, around 20% of the company’s overall revenues came from rural market, which is expected to go up to 25% in the next four to five years.
As part of its ‘RUrban strategy’ of creating a portfolio, infrastructure analytic platforms, and activation have supported deeper penetration and distribution expansion in smaller towns and large villages. Its customer ordering app ‘NesMitra’ claims to have over 7,500 active users at present, as it continues to expand its product portfolio as per the local requirements including Maggi teekha masala, manchurian and pasta masala. At the same time, its established network of ‘RUrban smart stores’, has expanded to 19,300 from 3,486 in 2020, offering greater accessibility and convenience to rural customers. Further, to augment its distribution infrastructure in rural areas, the company has increased the number of wholesale hubs in rural areas to 8,013 units in 2023, from 3,301 units in 2020; rural re-distributors increased to 8,218 from 6,901 in 2020.