8/2/2019 Parle to Launch New Snacks

1/4

Parle to launch new snacks, targets 25% of the marketPTI Mar 28, 2012, 03.33PM IST

Tags: PepsiCo| Parle| Madhya Pradesh| Kurkure| Haldiram's| Frito-Lay| Chhattisgarh

KOLKATA: Biscuits manufacturerParleProducts, which entered the snacks business four years ago, will

launch five new 'Namkeen' products within a year to garner 25 per cent of the Rs 8,000 crore market.

"We will launch various products in all the categories under snacks like traditional 'namkeen' and wafers

to increase our market share to 20-25 per cent within the next two years," B Krishna Rao, Group Product

Manager of Parle Products, told PTI here.

Ads by Google

ForexBall 2012Forex Trading Championship. Defend the Honor of YourCountry!www.forexball.com

www.flipkart.comHuge Selection and Amazing Prices. Free Home Delivery - AboveRs.200www.flipkart.comThe company has got positive response after the test phase launch of the new products

inChhattisgarh,Madhya Pradeshand Maharashtra this month.

"We are taking lessons from these test launches. There are some distribution related issues. The

competition is also not easy. But the response has been fairly good. By the end of 2012-13 we will launchit nationally," he said.

At present, the Mumbai-based company has a small market share of 8 per cent in the snacks segment

which is dominated by big players likePepsiCoFrito-Lay, ITC andHaldiram's.

It has 'Full Toss' to compete with PepsiCo-owned brandKurkureand also has a presence in the wafers

market.

2.

Parle to launch new snacks, targets 25% market

Parle plans to launch five new Namkeen products within a year

PTI

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/PepsiCohttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/PepsiCohttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Parlehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Parlehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Madhya-Pradeshhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Madhya-Pradeshhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Kurkurehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Kurkurehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Haldiram'shttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Haldiram'shttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Frito-Layhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Frito-Layhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Chhattisgarhhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Chhattisgarhhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Parlehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Parlehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Parlehttp://www.google.com/url?ct=abg&q=https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py%3Fcontact%3Dabg_afc%26url%3Dhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-28/news/31249629_1_parle-products-snacks-segment-wafers-market%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dca-pub-3198794349084862%26adU%3Dwww.forexball.com%26adT%3DForexBall%25E2%2584%25A2%2B2012%26adU%3Dwww.flipkart.com%26adT%3Dwww.flipkart.com%26gl%3DIN&usg=AFQjCNGX76I9WHoc2Ibs_BmO3I6ZUdEKjQhttp://www.google.com/url?ct=abg&q=https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py%3Fcontact%3Dabg_afc%26url%3Dhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-28/news/31249629_1_parle-products-snacks-segment-wafers-market%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dca-pub-3198794349084862%26adU%3Dwww.forexball.com%26adT%3DForexBall%25E2%2584%25A2%2B2012%26adU%3Dwww.flipkart.com%26adT%3Dwww.flipkart.com%26gl%3DIN&usg=AFQjCNGX76I9WHoc2Ibs_BmO3I6ZUdEKjQhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=B7WvzUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacO-cXr3QOpgbvxWeHRxcR2gJciEAEYASCB_4EhKAI4AFDJhIUDYOXS5IOoDqAB98O-zQOyASVhcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBc2h0dHA6Ly9hcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tLzIwMTItMDMtMjgvbmV3cy8zMTI0OTYyOV8xX3BhcmxlLXByb2R1Y3RzLXNuYWNrcy1zZWdtZW50LXdhZmVycy1tYXJrZXSpAklDgYbU97U-wAIGyALh2NcwqAMB6APtBOgDR-gDEOgDB_UDAgAABPUDIAAAAIgGAQ&num=1&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_2_Aohij8y0ZJtQrcmhxec-sByx7A&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.forexball.com/en/about%3Futm_source%3DGoogleIN%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleINhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=B7WvzUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacO-cXr3QOpgbvxWeHRxcR2gJciEAEYASCB_4EhKAI4AFDJhIUDYOXS5IOoDqAB98O-zQOyASVhcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBc2h0dHA6Ly9hcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tLzIwMTItMDMtMjgvbmV3cy8zMTI0OTYyOV8xX3BhcmxlLXByb2R1Y3RzLXNuYWNrcy1zZWdtZW50LXdhZmVycy1tYXJrZXSpAklDgYbU97U-wAIGyALh2NcwqAMB6APtBOgDR-gDEOgDB_UDAgAABPUDIAAAAIgGAQ&num=1&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_2_Aohij8y0ZJtQrcmhxec-sByx7A&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.forexball.com/en/about%3Futm_source%3DGoogleIN%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleINhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=B7WvzUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacO-cXr3QOpgbvxWeHRxcR2gJciEAEYASCB_4EhKAI4AFDJhIUDYOXS5IOoDqAB98O-zQOyASVhcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBc2h0dHA6Ly9hcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tLzIwMTItMDMtMjgvbmV3cy8zMTI0OTYyOV8xX3BhcmxlLXByb2R1Y3RzLXNuYWNrcy1zZWdtZW50LXdhZmVycy1tYXJrZXSpAklDgYbU97U-wAIGyALh2NcwqAMB6APtBOgDR-gDEOgDB_UDAgAABPUDIAAAAIgGAQ&num=1&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_2_Aohij8y0ZJtQrcmhxec-sByx7A&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.forexball.com/en/about%3Futm_source%3DGoogleIN%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleINhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=B7WvzUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacO-cXr3QOpgbvxWeHRxcR2gJciEAEYASCB_4EhKAI4AFDJhIUDYOXS5IOoDqAB98O-zQOyASVhcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBc2h0dHA6Ly9hcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tLzIwMTItMDMtMjgvbmV3cy8zMTI0OTYyOV8xX3BhcmxlLXByb2R1Y3RzLXNuYWNrcy1zZWdtZW50LXdhZmVycy1tYXJrZXSpAklDgYbU97U-wAIGyALh2NcwqAMB6APtBOgDR-gDEOgDB_UDAgAABPUDIAAAAIgGAQ&num=1&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_2_Aohij8y0ZJtQrcmhxec-sByx7A&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.forexball.com/en/about%3Futm_source%3DGoogleIN%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleINhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=BhyQhUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacOw53cvwLjiqfMJpvateNJoMDpAxACGAIggf-BISgCOABQo5yz3QRg5dLkg6gOoAG1pZ3lA7IBJWFydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gFzaHR0cDovL2FydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAxMi0wMy0yOC9uZXdzLzMxMjQ5NjI5XzFfcGFybGUtcHJvZHVjdHMtc25hY2tzLXNlZ21lbnQtd2FmZXJzLW1hcmtldIACAakCJl5SJKnfVD7AAgXIAvP30SCoAwHoA-0E6ANH6AMQ6AMH9QMCAAAE9QMgAAAAiAYB&num=2&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_3DbxmnYTZWGxZmtB5uj05rr4JjPg&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.flipkart.com/mobiles%3Fcmpid%3Dcontent_remkt_text_googhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=BhyQhUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacOw53cvwLjiqfMJpvateNJoMDpAxACGAIggf-BISgCOABQo5yz3QRg5dLkg6gOoAG1pZ3lA7IBJWFydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gFzaHR0cDovL2FydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAxMi0wMy0yOC9uZXdzLzMxMjQ5NjI5XzFfcGFybGUtcHJvZHVjdHMtc25hY2tzLXNlZ21lbnQtd2FmZXJzLW1hcmtldIACAakCJl5SJKnfVD7AAgXIAvP30SCoAwHoA-0E6ANH6AMQ6AMH9QMCAAAE9QMgAAAAiAYB&num=2&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_3DbxmnYTZWGxZmtB5uj05rr4JjPg&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.flipkart.com/mobiles%3Fcmpid%3Dcontent_remkt_text_googhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=BhyQhUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacOw53cvwLjiqfMJpvateNJoMDpAxACGAIggf-BISgCOABQo5yz3QRg5dLkg6gOoAG1pZ3lA7IBJWFydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gFzaHR0cDovL2FydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAxMi0wMy0yOC9uZXdzLzMxMjQ5NjI5XzFfcGFybGUtcHJvZHVjdHMtc25hY2tzLXNlZ21lbnQtd2FmZXJzLW1hcmtldIACAakCJl5SJKnfVD7AAgXIAvP30SCoAwHoA-0E6ANH6AMQ6AMH9QMCAAAE9QMgAAAAiAYB&num=2&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_3DbxmnYTZWGxZmtB5uj05rr4JjPg&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.flipkart.com/mobiles%3Fcmpid%3Dcontent_remkt_text_googhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Chhattisgarhhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Chhattisgarhhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Madhya%20Pradeshhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Madhya%20Pradeshhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Madhya%20Pradeshhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/PepsiCohttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/PepsiCohttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Frito-Layhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Frito-Layhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Frito-Layhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Haldiram'shttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Haldiram'shttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Haldiram'shttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Kurkurehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Kurkurehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Kurkurehttp://www.livemint.com/2012/03/28153955/Parle-to-launch-new-snacks-ta.htmlhttp://www.livemint.com/2012/03/28153955/Parle-to-launch-new-snacks-ta.htmlhttp://www.livemint.com/2012/03/28153955/Parle-to-launch-new-snacks-ta.htmlhttp://www.livemint.com/2012/03/28153955/Parle-to-launch-new-snacks-ta.htmlhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Kurkurehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Haldiram'shttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Frito-Layhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/PepsiCohttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Madhya%20Pradeshhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Chhattisgarhhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=BhyQhUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacOw53cvwLjiqfMJpvateNJoMDpAxACGAIggf-BISgCOABQo5yz3QRg5dLkg6gOoAG1pZ3lA7IBJWFydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gFzaHR0cDovL2FydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAxMi0wMy0yOC9uZXdzLzMxMjQ5NjI5XzFfcGFybGUtcHJvZHVjdHMtc25hY2tzLXNlZ21lbnQtd2FmZXJzLW1hcmtldIACAakCJl5SJKnfVD7AAgXIAvP30SCoAwHoA-0E6ANH6AMQ6AMH9QMCAAAE9QMgAAAAiAYB&num=2&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_3DbxmnYTZWGxZmtB5uj05rr4JjPg&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.flipkart.com/mobiles%3Fcmpid%3Dcontent_remkt_text_googhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=BhyQhUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacOw53cvwLjiqfMJpvateNJoMDpAxACGAIggf-BISgCOABQo5yz3QRg5dLkg6gOoAG1pZ3lA7IBJWFydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb226AQozMDB4MjUwX2pzyAEB2gFzaHR0cDovL2FydGljbGVzLmVjb25vbWljdGltZXMuaW5kaWF0aW1lcy5jb20vMjAxMi0wMy0yOC9uZXdzLzMxMjQ5NjI5XzFfcGFybGUtcHJvZHVjdHMtc25hY2tzLXNlZ21lbnQtd2FmZXJzLW1hcmtldIACAakCJl5SJKnfVD7AAgXIAvP30SCoAwHoA-0E6ANH6AMQ6AMH9QMCAAAE9QMgAAAAiAYB&num=2&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_3DbxmnYTZWGxZmtB5uj05rr4JjPg&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.flipkart.com/mobiles%3Fcmpid%3Dcontent_remkt_text_googhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=B7WvzUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacO-cXr3QOpgbvxWeHRxcR2gJciEAEYASCB_4EhKAI4AFDJhIUDYOXS5IOoDqAB98O-zQOyASVhcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBc2h0dHA6Ly9hcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tLzIwMTItMDMtMjgvbmV3cy8zMTI0OTYyOV8xX3BhcmxlLXByb2R1Y3RzLXNuYWNrcy1zZWdtZW50LXdhZmVycy1tYXJrZXSpAklDgYbU97U-wAIGyALh2NcwqAMB6APtBOgDR-gDEOgDB_UDAgAABPUDIAAAAIgGAQ&num=1&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_2_Aohij8y0ZJtQrcmhxec-sByx7A&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.forexball.com/en/about%3Futm_source%3DGoogleIN%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleINhttp://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=B7WvzUX6ET60j47-KB53vwacO-cXr3QOpgbvxWeHRxcR2gJciEAEYASCB_4EhKAI4AFDJhIUDYOXS5IOoDqAB98O-zQOyASVhcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tugEKMzAweDI1MF9qc8gBAdoBc2h0dHA6Ly9hcnRpY2xlcy5lY29ub21pY3RpbWVzLmluZGlhdGltZXMuY29tLzIwMTItMDMtMjgvbmV3cy8zMTI0OTYyOV8xX3BhcmxlLXByb2R1Y3RzLXNuYWNrcy1zZWdtZW50LXdhZmVycy1tYXJrZXSpAklDgYbU97U-wAIGyALh2NcwqAMB6APtBOgDR-gDEOgDB_UDAgAABPUDIAAAAIgGAQ&num=1&cid=5Ghtf2lgiXAUGJ_Kijxqsbzc&sig=AOD64_2_Aohij8y0ZJtQrcmhxec-sByx7A&client=ca-pub-3198794349084862&adurl=http://www.forexball.com/en/about%3Futm_source%3DGoogleIN%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3DGoogleINhttp://www.google.com/url?ct=abg&q=https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/request.py%3Fcontact%3Dabg_afc%26url%3Dhttp://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-28/news/31249629_1_parle-products-snacks-segment-wafers-market%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dca-pub-3198794349084862%26adU%3Dwww.forexball.com%26adT%3DForexBall%25E2%2584%25A2%2B2012%26adU%3Dwww.flipkart.com%26adT%3Dwww.flipkart.com%26gl%3DIN&usg=AFQjCNGX76I9WHoc2Ibs_BmO3I6ZUdEKjQhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Parlehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Chhattisgarhhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Frito-Layhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Haldiram'shttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Kurkurehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Madhya-Pradeshhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Parlehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/PepsiCo

8/2/2019 Parle to Launch New Snacks

2/4

Share on facebookShare on twitter

Kolkata: Biscuits manufacturer Parle Products, which entered the snacks business

four years ago, will launch five new Namkeen products within a year to garner25% of the Rs. 8,000 crore market.

We will launch various products in all the categories under snacks like traditional

namkeen and wafers to increase our market share to 20-25% within the next twoyears, B Krishna Rao, group product manager of Parle products, told the news

agency here.

The company has got positive response after the test phase launch of the newproducts in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra this month. We are

taking lessons from these test launches.

There are some distribution related issues.

The competition is also not easy. But theresponse has been fairly good. By the end

of 2012-13 we will launch it nationally, hesaid.

At present, the Mumbai-based company

has a small market share of 85 in thesnacks segment which is dominated by bigplayers like PepsiCo Frito-Lay, ITC and

Haldirams. It has Full Toss to competewith PepsiCo-owned brand Kurkure and

also has a presence in the wafers market.

In the traditional namkeen market we will soon have products like bhujia,

mixtures and moong daal, Krishna Rao said, admitting that the biggest hurdle forone of the oldest players in the biscuit market in the country was penetrating the

distribution cycle in the snacks market.

The snacks market is largely driven by a strong distribution market. If you look at

other players in the market, they also dont spend heavily on advertising, he said.

http://www.facebook.com/mint.livehttp://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/EmailArticle.aspx?Eartid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/EmailArticle.aspx?Eartid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/EmailArticle.aspx?Eartid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/EmailArticle.aspx?Eartid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/EmailArticle.aspx?Eartid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/EmailArticle.aspx?Eartid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?artid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.livemint.com/Articles/EmailArticle.aspx?Eartid=36D066E4-78BB-11E1-89F6-000B5DABF613http://www.facebook.com/mint.livehttp://www.facebook.com/mint.live

8/2/2019 Parle to Launch New Snacks

3/4

Asked about the health food and snacks market, which include nutritional biscuits,

breakfast cereals and health snacks, he said the market was not yet ready for it.Across categories health food has not been accepted by consumers.Its too early

now to invest in this segment, he said.

According to him, it was very difficult for any manufacturer to provide taste as wellas health in one product. If you focus more on health benefits then you have to

compromise on taste. But for Indians everything boils down to taste, he said.

Parle already has two products in this category - Actifit Digestive Marie and ActifitSugarfree Cream Cracker biscuits. With a 40% share in the biscuit market and a

15% share in the confectionery market in India, Parle has grown to become amulti-million dollar company.

3.

The wafers category is giving a hard time to the market leaders in the biscuit category. Parle Products, which

boasts of 40 per cent market share in the biscuit category, forayed into the organised wafer business in 2009, andlaunched three new snack brands Musst Stix, Musst Chips and Monaco Smartchips. It was a time, when manyentered into the snacks category.

Parle Agros Hippo is one such example. While Hippo basks in the sunshine, the th ree products from ParleProducts bombed in the market. What went wrong with the three products despite the same distribution channel.Was it a product failure or was there any other factor that played a bigger role in the failure?

What went wrong?According to experts, the products failed because there was no product differentiation in the category. Accordingto Abraham Koshy, Professor, Marketing, IIM Ahmedabad, Musst Stix was an imitation of Kurkure. Consumersseek a difference in taste and Parle Products failed at that. The storyboard of the ad commercials for theproducts showed the company comparing it with other products in the market and offering 50 per cent extra oneach pack.

Musst Chips and Musst Stix, both launched in the same year aimed at competing with the market leaders,

Lays and Kurkure. While Musst Chips was positioned as a young and light, fun snack, Must Stixx waspositioned as a family snack. However, the positioning didnt work for them. Wafers dont find the kind of

customer acceptance that biscuits do. Remember, the consumer may be the kid in the family, but the customer isthe mom or dad who shops for food and grocery. Moms and dads dont find wafers either nutritious or filling. Plus,wafers cost as much or even more as compared to biscuits, says Ray Titus, Professor of Marketing andCorporate Strategy at Alliance University, Bangalore.

But the company has a different story to tell. According to B Krishna Rao, Group Product Manager at ParleProducts, the companys umbrella brand or one brand strategy is at fault. In most of the sectors, be it consumerelectronics or FMCG in totality, most big brands follow the one-brand strategy. It is done in order to save on costs.In the wafer segment, we followed the same path but it didnt work. Consumers couldnt accept separate snackbrands with the same brand name.

There is a similar story behind Monaco Smartchips that was aggressively launched in the same year. Theproduct, which was positioned as a healthy snack, met the same fate like its predecessors. For Koshy, the

commercial worked against the product. Who was the focus in the ad? Was it Aamir Khan or the product?,Koshy asks, as he adds, Besides, the wafers category is a fun and light category and no one likes to be lecturedabout wafers.

While Koshy blames the creatives, M Unnikrishnan, Managing Director, Brand Finance feels the contrary. Hefeels that the commercial was great but the product failed to live up to the hype and expectations. Consumersare over-indulging in wafers and therefore there is a need for healthy snacks that can be consumed withoutputting health at risk. Monaco Smartchips aimed at doing just the same but failed as a product. Thus, thecompany had made a smart brand proposition with Monaco Smartchips, but as a product failed.

8/2/2019 Parle to Launch New Snacks

4/4

The battle groundPepsicos Lays and Kurkure were the first players of the market. Thus, they managed to capture a large marketshare with their wafer brands. While Lays had international flavours, Kurkure had the desi flavour. Kurkure isextremely innovative which appeals to the Indian consumers. A thorough taste research has been done and theflavours are inspired by the traditional Indian snacking, notes Unnikrishnan.

According to another expert, Pepsico has understood the flavour fatigued concept in the market. Consumersseek new flavours time and again and Pepsico did just that with both Lays and Kurkure.

While this is the story of the market leaders, snack brand Hippo that was launched in the same year as ParleProducts, the story is a bit different. Parle Agro introduced in the market, a baked wafer that was a non-potatobased. The product was differentiated because of its taste and it took instant liking by the consumers. Initially, theproduct was launched in international flavours and later in Indian flavours. The product was positioned as fulfillingsnack that satiated hunger. Hippo, again stood out for its brand name. The brand name was inspired by the factthat a Hippopotamus has a wide mouth and can gobble down maximum food at one go to suffice his hunger.

ITCs Bingo too launched Mad Angle that was different in design. The triangular snack brand focused on desiflavours and launched various variants in the market.

Relaunch?Taking a corrective measure, Parle Products has relaunched its two brands - Musst Chips and Musst Stix thisyear. Musst Chips, now called Parle Wafers and Musst Stix, relaunched as Full Toss have the same positioning inthe market. The brand decided to use its Parle logo in the name, so that consumers have an affinity towards the

new product. Earlier, the logo was really small, therefore, consumers gave it a miss as they mistook it as a localproduct, says B Krishnarao. Full Toss was inspired by our campaign Parle 20 -20. The campaign, whichcentered around cricket was a huge hit. Hence Full Toss, he adds.

The company admits that consumers were averse to the brand name Musstas it sounded derogatory. The wordMusst (sounded like the Hindi word mast) in these cases was not accepted in the market. According to ourresearch, our target group didnt want to be seen with Musst Chips or Musst Stix, notes Krishnarao.

Parle plans to spend 80 per cent of its marketing budget on TV while remaining 20 per cent has been dividedbetween print, digital and radio, to push the new brands. In terms of distribution, the brand will use its existingdistribution channel, but has appointed exclusive distributors in places where the existing distributors haverefused to take the wafers. These exclusive distributors will only keep Parle Products wafers in their stores.

What they can do best?According to Unnikrishnan, the brand should focus on developing a new category. The wafers category hastremendous potential. Instead of trying to grab the market share of established players, Parle should create a new

category and try to develop on innovations.

As per market reports, the snack market exists on the visibility factor. A product which is more visible to the eyesof the consumers, gets an instant liking. However, Koshy feels that snack the market functions on the product upto a point, what basically maneuvers is the product innovation. Unless, innovations are not done in the products,all of them will become me-too products, Koshy says.