COMPANY PROFILE

Wagh Bakri is a family owned tea company in Gujarat, India. Sir Narandas Desai started Waghbakri Tea Company in the year 1892, which then was represented by small company retail shop at kalupur Ahmadabad,Gujarat. Since then the growth of the endeavor has been phenomenal.

Waghbakri tea house markets various tea brands in loose leaf cartons and teabags for tea lovers all over the globe – the finest certified black teas fromDarjeeling tea estates, Assam and Nilgiri.

Philosophy of the company

Sir Narandas Desai, our founder, believed that his Company was not just about

tea, but more a confluence of his values and beliefs.   

Wagh- Of the strong and the meek

Bakri- Of co-existence and harmony.

The same beliefs are reflected in out Corporate Philosophy even today. 

Build long lasting relationships through trust and fair play towards all stakeholders.

Is result oriented.  Contribute positively.

Be progressive and lead from the front.  Change with the times.

Be socially responsible.  Return to the society a share of the gains from commercial

enterprise.

Wagh Bakri Tea Group, plans to take its national market share from the current 7.5 per cent to 12 per cent in the next three to five years. It plans to establish its presence as a national brand across 30 cities.To achieve that, the company (turnover of Rs 500 crore last year) has lined up new offerings, including 'instant tea' sachets, as well as region-specific blends.

In the process of expansion, company is putting up a new plant near its existing one, close to this city, it is planning to set up another 15 million kg per annum production facility, with an investment of Rs 40 crore. The site is yet to be decided.

In the long run Wagh Bakri is also open to set up a production facility in Dubai.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) and Tata Global Beverages have 22 per cent of market share each in the

packaged tea segment, said Piyush Desai, chairman and managing director of Wagh Bakri. His company,

he said was third, with 7.5 per cent, and was clocking an eight to 10 per cent growth rate, even as the

packaged tea market was growing at five per cent yearly. “We are aiming to capture close to 12 per cent

market share in the next three to five years. We already have presence in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,

Maharashtra and Delhi markets, apart from Gujarat," Desai said.

In Gujarat, Wagh Bakri enjoys 50 per cent market share in packaged tea and 25 per cent in Rajasthan. In other

markets, it only has two to five per cent and it intends to strengthen these. Besides launching new blends to suit

regional tastes, the company says it would come up with instant tea sachets within the next three months. The

segment is gaining popularity among travellers, Desai said, adding it was still a new segment in the packaged tea

industry. HUL and Tata are yet to set foot in it.

The company has installed an IMA (Industria Automatiche Macchine) to produce staple-free tea bags, the first such

machine to be installed in the country, according to Mr Desai. The machine costing Rs 4.5 crore has been imported

from Italy and can produce 240 bags per minute. The tea bags will be for domestic consumption and will also be

exported to the UK, the US, the Gulf countries and Japan.

Wagh Bakri tea, is looking forward to reducing prices in the next few months. Tea as a commodity has been witnessing a rise in prices, by 25 to 30 per cent, over the past two years.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Parag Desai, Director Sales & Marketing, Gujarat Tea Processors said: “Tea prices will now start falling and we would be go in for a round of reduced prices. Tea prices have been rising due to the crop failing in the international markets primarily.

However, the worst is over for the industry and we will see improved pricing shortly within the next two months as the global factors will change and there will be high quality cropping.”

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Products ServicesWagh Bakri Tea Specialized Retail Outlets

Good Morning Premium Tea Tea LoungeMili Tea Online Portal (overseas customers)

Wagh Bakri Perfect Darjeeling Tea

Organic Tea Gift Packs

FUTURE PLANS FOR GROWTH IN KEY MARKET AND EXPANSION

Newer Markets and expansion in the existing market:-

The company has formulated and implemented strategy of going state by state as far as launching of the product & setting up the distribution network is concerned.

In the last financial year the company have taken aggressive steps to penetrate the markets of Maharashtra, DELHI and goa.

Mumbai

The company launched the product in very strong local dominated markets like Jalna(dominated by vikram tea) and Kolhapur(dominated by hp tea) and got reasonably good response

Delhi

The company has launched WaghBakri in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad and in near future mili launch is planned

The company has used Press, Radio and Television to create awareness of brand

Wagh Bakri to use Delhi as gateway to go nationalBusiness Standard New Delhi , 30 Aug, 2009

The century-old Wagh Bakri tea group has decided to start its operations in North India and plans to use Delhi as its gateway to setting up a national footprint. 

2011

RAJASTHAN AND MADHYA PRADESH:

In Rajasthan, the company launches product first in Udaipur section and it waslaunched subsequently in jodhpur / jaipur sections. Distribution section wasmuch similar to Gujarat.

And in Madhya Pradesh the company has super stockiest one at Indore and another at Jabalpur. The group also announced their plans of expanding the base in Madhya Pradesh and the surrounding markets with the introduction of its ariants of the other top brands like the flagship Wagh Bakri Tea, GOOD MORNING Premium Tea and Wagh Bakri Pure Darjeeling Tea. (22 jan 2011) 

Wagh Bakri Tea Group Launches in Chattisgarh

The largest privately held packaged tea company in the country enters the Chattisgarh market with its Wagh Bakri Tea, Mili Tea and Navchetan Tea brands

This takes the total number of states that the brand is present in to seven., the Market leader in Gujarat, brands by this group has a strong foothold in Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan , MP and expanding rapidly in Delhi & NCR regions. 

PAN INDIA PRESENCE

The ‘Wagh Bakri' brand is positioned at the premium end of the tea market and has also extended to the super premium segment with its ‘Good Morning' brand while it is the ‘Mili' brand which stands for its value for money brand.

The third largest packaged tea company is slowly expanding its presence in the southern markets and expects to have a pan India presence shortly. “After entering the northern and western markets, we are now looking forward to enjoying national presence.

Currently we are present in six states and have entered the southern state of Andhra Pradesh,” said Mr. Desai.

Competing with the big players like HUL and Tata Global Beverages, Wagh Bakri has a 7.5 per cent share in the tea segment. “Today both Tata Tea and HUL have similar market share between 12 to 17 per cent and we expect to achieve market share of 12 per cent with additional production capacities,” added Mr. Desai. It is setting up a third manufacturing plant in Gujarat with an investment of Rs 40 crore

EXPORTS

‘Waghbakri wants to grow their export division by catering all Indians and asian community wherever they are residing’ using this as a launching pad, the company would like to cater to all the tea expert of the main stream market all over the globe. Recently they have entered UK, Australia, New Zealand and also having strong dialogues with some of the European buyers and hoping to get good business from them.

Currently focusing in USA as a strong hold in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, houstan etc.

Having already entered the markets like UK and North America, the company now plans to enter Africa and Middle East region.

BRAND EVOLUTION

Waghbakri has categorized the organic teas, all other form of double and single chamber tea bags, Darjeeling teas and Nilgri teas as “Specialty Teas” and have started various forms of sales promotion. Which has operationalised our vision for catering to newer generation which traditionally was never our customers. Going ahead in this segment we have launched last year wagh bakri organic combo pack which has all the variable of the organic format with recipe booklet, which has helped our customer to understand the teas better.

Tea Lounge

Wagh Bakri to go one step forward and entered in the service arena of serving all forms of teas from single platform which we have discovered as “Tea Lounge”. They have opened one tea lounge in Mumbai in November 07 and have received an over whelming response and hence we are looking forward to go ahead with this idea on pan India basis.

Vending Operations:-

Vending operation is also a newer version of having hot tea. There are lots of opportunities and the company desires to cater to this business on pan India basis.

Institutional Business

The company is expanding wings, by tapping huge potential i.e. institution business. In this process the company is appointing distributors and setting up distribution networks. The company has already started business with railways , authorized vendors in IRCTC, organized segments (i.e. corporate ) and also tapped HTS ( Hot Tea Shops ) Highway Restaurants with organized efforts & now we are in process of streamlining it.

EMPLOYEE FOCUS

As Wagh Bakri represents traditional culture and believes in close-tie values, it treats the employees as extended family members. Employees are evaluated annually and appreciated according to their performance. Annual Days are held for employees to loosen up, and enjoy being part of the company.

Employees can walk up to their seniors to give their feedbacks about the operations or to generate new ideas. The employee can discuss the problems faced to the immediate seniors, if not satisfied can move to a step above.

MARKETING INITIATIVES

Wagh Bakri has gone to each and every customer be it an upper end customer or the

middle or lower level of customer in terms of socio economic class with different forms &

mediums of communication.

Advertising & Publishing Agency:-

The company has hired nationally renowned agency for their different brands. “Triton

Communication”, “Hanmer MS & L” & “Percept Advertising” are workingon creative part to

help them communicate to their “TG” i.e their target group. A publishing agency is hired

‘Publicity Parlour’ for publishing creative’s made bythe agencies in print as well as in

electronic medium.

Marketing Research:-

Wagh Bakri always had belief in marketing research, which had been carried

forward by purchasing syndicated marketing research report ( lastly purchased this type of

report from A C Nielson) & conduct market research by marketing companies.

Electronic Medium:-

Last year they had presence on number of channels like colors, star Gold, Aaj

Tak, Star One, Star News, NDTV Imagine, Set Max, Sahara One, Zee etc. The plan behind

broadcasting on these channel is to communicate the brand value to a

particular customer, who will recall their already known brand like “ Wagh Bakri Wagh

bakri Perfect” or “Milli”. The company wants to break periphery of four states i.e MP,

Rajasthan, Gujarat, & Maharashtra to communicate to their future customers across India.

In short they want to spread in PAN India where where their distribution has still not

reached and this is the best possible way to reach their prospective customers and make

them aware about the brand.

Print Medium:-

This is the medium which they think is the second most effective medium after

broadcasting as they can communicate to their “TG”. This medium is being used for two

main agendas i.e to communicate for the ongoing consumer promotion schemes & for

brand building activity. They have good presence in this medium be it local newspaper or

national newspapers.

Internet Selling:-

Wagh bakri is now catering to customers seeking tea online. Their online selling portal

have all the enmities required for the online selling portal. This initiative has kept them on

global platform. www.premiumtea.com and www.buytea.com are the two websites which

are catering to tea lovers seeking packed tea over the net

Organized Retail Network:-

WaghBakri have accepted the importance new form of retailing i.e organized

retail network. This retail network is growing up rapidly and would start catering many

customers who are used to go to next door retailing. They have started the activity of

gondola displays, floors stack displays and also used promoters at the select outlets where

they can interact with the end customers.

Customer & Trade Promotion (CP & TP):-

Customer promotion is given for two reasons; one is to motivate a customer to change and

second is appreciating customers choice to continue using the

particular product. They are also providing CP on their selected SKU for the same reason. i

New launching

The Wagh Bakri Group has launched its premium tea brand, Good Morning tea in Mumbai. Vidya

Balan unveiled the tea, which promises to be a delight for all tea connoisseurs.

Mumbai is the first launch market in Maharashtra. Subsequently, the brand will be available in key

cities like Pune, Nagpur and Nasik. Good Morning tea is primarily targeted towards quality

conscious consumers who appreciate a judicious blend of taste, strength and aroma.ii

FUTURE PLANS FOR GROWTH IN KEY MARKET

AND EXPANSION

It’s a familiar but audacious picture that is slowly emerging. Familiar because it is an oft-told battle

of a domestic corporate David taking on the might of multinational Goliaths Hindustan Unilever Ltd

(HUL) and Tata Tea Ltd. Audacious, because the Indian company Wagh Bakri Group is now chalking

out fresh plans to gain a competitive edge in the Rs 5,000 crore Indian branded tea industry. For

starters, Wagh Bakri is extending its presence, manufacturing facility and distribution network to

pump up volumes.

The group’s game plan includes, retail initiatives, high-voltage mass media advertisings campaigns

and export initiatives. The vital question is: Will Wagh Bakri’s growth strategy change the market

dynamics of the branded tea sector in India? On the group’s strategy, Piyush Desai, chairman &

managing director of Wagh Bakri Tea Group says, “Our main objective is to become a national

player by the end of this year. We are setting up a new facility at Nadiad soon. We are now the third

largest tea brand in India.” At present, Wagh Bakri has presence in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya

Pradesh and Maharashtra.

According to Desai, the group is planning to foray into southern states as part of its growth strategy.

To start with, the group is planning to introduce its flagship brand Wagh Bakri in Karnataka. In the

Rs 5,000 crore Indian branded industry, Tata Tea currently enjoys volume leadership while

Hindustan Unilever has value leadership.

With its national brand strategy, Wagh Bakri can pose a major threat to HUL and Tata Tea. Very

soon, the branded tea sector will witness a major tussle between national and regional players. As a

result, this sector is expected to register a 15 % growth this year,said an analyst based in Mumbai.

‘Seeing is believing’ seems to be the mantra for Wagh Bakri.To gain visibility for its brands, the

group is hiking its advertising budget by 50 % this year, according to Desai. To woo consumers, the

company is in the process of rolling out an aggressive print campaign with the tag line ‘Perfect

Rishtey Banaye.

“To support our print ads, we are also beaming television commercials on leading channels. Also,

we are strengthening our pan-India distribution network, this year.iii

 

i http://www.afaqs.com/search/index.html?k=wagh%20bakri&sbs=Media%20Brief Accessed on 4.01.11 s

http://www.waghbakritea.com/tea_recipes.htmlAccessed on 1.01.11

http://www.waghbakritea.com/archives.htmlAccessed on 4.01.11

ii news.maxabout.net/.../wagh-bakri-launches-premium-tea-brand Accessed on 4.01.11

iii http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/11/29/stories/2007112952070500.htm

Accessed on 4.01.11

References :-

http://www.waghbakritea.com/about_us.html Accessed on 1.01.11

http://www.waghbakritea.com/achievements.html Accessed on 4.01.11

http://www.waghbakritea.com/product.php Accessed on 3.01.11

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/11/29/stories/2007112952070500.htm

Accessed on 4.01.11

www.waghbakritea.com/Export%20House Accessed on 1.01.11

http://www.waghbakritea.com/archives.htmlAccessed on 4.01.11

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/agri-biz/article2151163.ece