Mumbai: The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry in India, according to Godrej Consumer Products, is hopeful of a gradual recovery over the coming quarters.
The Godrej group company has reported 7% volume growth in India business for the July to September quarter of fiscal 2019-20.
Vivek Gambhir, managing director and chief executive officer, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), said, the 7% volume growth was its highest in the last five quarters and was broad based across categories. “We have seen a sequential pick up in volume every quarter, for the last few quarters.
The growth was led by new product launches, strong marketing campaigns and consumer offers. Our expectation is to ride on the gradual recovery that we see in India and improve our volume growth momentum,” he said during an earnings call on Wednesday.
To achieve this, the company will be intensifying its thrust on innovation and new product launches. In the pipeline are a slew of disruptive offerings including the Good Night Gold Flash, which it claims to be its biggest innovation in the category over the last decade. Another offering is HIT rat glue pad that’s available only in a select few markets at present.
GCPL has also entered the anti-mosquito racquet space under its HIT brand. This product category has been largely dominated by Chinese products and private labels thus far. The company is looking to disrupt this segment with a branded offering via the e-commerce distribution channel.
At Rs 399 a piece, the pricing of this product however is significantly higher compared to what’s already available in the market at present. Abneesh Roy, executive vice president - institutional equities (research), Edelweiss Securities noted that since the product is only available through e-commerce the company may need to look at physical retail stores going forward.
In fact, GSPL is planning to launch the anti mosquito racquet in modern trade and based on the market response will extend it to premium general trade and other outlets in the next phase of its distribution strategy.
“We are quite happy with the initial success and the plan is to scale up across other channels as well. As for pricing is concerned, this is a product with a much longer warranty and is much superior versus some of the unbranded and private labels that you’d see (in the market).
Our hope is that with the kind of trust and equity HIT commands in the market, we should be able to sustain the premium pricing (Rs 399) of the product,” said Gambhir.
Among other new products to be launched will be in the hair colour space including the relaunch of Expert Creme hair colour and Godrej Anoop Ayurvedic anti hairfall oil through the e-commerce channel. This apart, a bunch of new offerings are in experimental stage and will either be launched on e-commerce or sold through modern trade channels.
(The writer is an independent business journalist and can be reached at ashishktiwari.1976@gmail.com)
