You probably ate tangy tomato or masala chilli chips last week while watching your favourite movie or on a weekend trip. It is impossible to resist the craving for these delectable snacks. Savoury snacks, fried or baked, have become the first choice for people in metros as well as in small towns for those in-between meal times. At the same time, there has been a gradual shift in consumer choice with people demanding a package of affordable price, perfect taste and health. And that’s where the baked category has made its debut, though it’s just a miniscule 5% of the Rs 2500 crore snacks market at present. Today there are three big companies in the fray ? Parle Agro, Britannia, and Pepsico, the latest entrant ? with their many sub-brands.
Parle Agro?s Hippo and Parle Products? Smart Chips were the first brands in this category, entering the market in 2009. Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director and chief marketing officer, Parle Agro, says, ?The consumer wants a healthy alternative coupled with good taste and Parle Hippo offers a range of flavours that are unique and healthy.? Hippo has come up with innovative campaigns and wanted to focus on online audience to market Hippo Round-Round and reiterate the fact that Hippo Round-Round is made in flavours that Indian mothers make at home. So, during the festive season last year, Hippo launched http://www.hippomomline.com; a microsite that enabled consumers to bond with their mothers.
Britannia has three brands in the baked category– Time Pass, 50-50 and NutriChoice. 50-50 is valued at Rs 300 crore and Maska Chaska contributes 15% of the 50-50 brand. The company claims that the baked wheat snack, Time Pass is free from trans fat and MSG (mono sodium glutamate). Available in three flavours, the snack is targeted at the youth. In November 2011, Britannia launched NutriChoice Multigrain Thins and NutriChoice Multigrain Roasty targeted at adults in urban India. Britannia has also launched 50-50 snackuits (a cross between a snack and biscuit) in January 2012. Shalini Degan, category director( delight and lifestyle), Britannia Industries Ltd, says ?Britannia has expertise in the baked category. We have a great equity with housewives and they have placed immense amount of trust in the brand. We have also targeted the youth through Time Pass. Using our expertise of cheese which is an emerging taste in urban India, we are confident of tapping the market successfully.?
Lay?s from PepsiCo joined hands with designer duo Shantanu-Nikhil to launch a new range of baked chips – ?Lay?s Baked?, through an exclusive fashion show in Delhi in January this year. Their fashion collection for young women is inspired from the Lay?s Baked philosophy of ?unrestrained fun?. Vidur Vyas, marketing director, India Foods, PepsiCo India, said, ?PepsiCo Foods is committed to delivering new taste experiences to our consumers. Through this premium range of chips targeted at young women, we are offering a variety which has 50% less fat.? The launch is supported by a multimedia campaign which includes a television commercial, print advertising and a significant investment in digital.
Currently, PepsiCo’s healthy snacks portfolio comprises Aliva and Lehar Iron Chusti. Aliva is targeted at the upper end of consumers who are looking for healthier and tasty options. Lehar Iron Chusti, is yet another innovation from PepsiCo India, targeted at consumers at the bottom of the pyramid suffering from micronutrient deficiency. ?The test marketing of Lehar Iron Chusti in select districts of Andhra Pradesh has been a great success and we are now evaluating plans for scaling up distribution of this product for consumers in other states,? says Vyas.
The overall chips/ crisps category has seen high growth due to increasing consumption in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The rural market is growing faster and consumers are shifting from the unbranded to the branded segment. “Baked category is not a metro phenomena. It becomes a metro phenomena, the minute people price healthy products at a higher level than the rest. It is important for us to have a comparable price point and be able to deliver a product which is at par with other players. We received tweets from 53 states and 18 cities on our product which explains that baked category is not essentially stuck to the metros,?says Chauhan. Speaking on the competition from Lay?s she says,? Lay?s is priced at a premium and their target group is very different from us. The more, the number of players, the better it is.?
Talking about the packaging, Ramesh Srinivas, partner, KPMG Advisory Services says, ?Branded products (and therefore, good packaging) are perceived as relatively more hygienic. Availability in small packs adds to the convenience (applicable to the overall category of chips/ snacks) and also helps encourage customers to shift from unpackaged, unbranded snacks to packaged, branded ones.? The overall chips/ crisps category is expected to grow to approximately to Rs. 4,900 crore by 2016, at a CAGR of 14.4% (between 2011 and 2016).