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| To include toothpaste, shampoo, powder and soap. |
Purvita Chatterjee
Mumbai, Oct. 14
Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) is going beyond the Shakti Ammas to drive penetration in the rural markets. After witnessing a good monsoon which might lead to increased rural spending, HUL is planning to bring out branded packs called ‘Bharat,' targeted at the rural hinterland pegged at Rs 25.
Considering nearly half the FMCG behemoth's turnover (Rs 17,524 crore) comes from the rural markets, it is now ready to have customised branded packs with lower-priced SKUs to cater specifically to them. According to industry sources, HUL is now in talks with rural marketing agencies to create a ‘Bharat Pack.' The pack would comprise smaller SKUs costing Rs 4-5, and consist of toothpaste, shampoos, powder and soaps.
In the recent past, HUL has been using rural agencies belonging to Ogilvy for its educational and experiential programmes such as Khushiyon Ki Doli, under which, it has already tried to drive economies of scale by bringing in its entire portfolio that range from giving demos on Lifebuoy soap to highlighting the grease-cutting technologies of Vim. HUL is choosing to reach out State by State and today has managed to reach out to 50,000 to 60,000 villages already. Its microfinance programme under Shakti already covers over one lakh villages across 15 States, and reaches over 30 lakh households every month.
Britannia makes a try
Other FMCG companies are also making such moves. Britannia is also trying to bring its cookies to the rural markets through a rural retail visibility drive and has appointed Percept's rural vertical to reach 22,000 retail outlets including kirana stores, bakeries and tea stalls in rural India.
In fact, this is the first time Britannia is bringing cookies into these markets, which are more expensive than its biscuits.
According to Mr Rajesh Amla, Business Head, Rural Vertical, Percept out-of-home, “Almost 70 per cent of the market is in rural India and most of these consumers are not brand-loyal.” This makes it imperative for FMCG companies to try and build brands in these markets. Moreover, there is near saturation in the urban markets.
Even Marico is trying its best to push its low priced packs of Nihar and Parachute in the rural markets.
“While there are already a lot of outreach programmes, the purpose is always to push deep into the hinterland and the rural network,” said Mr Sameer Satpathy, Executive Vice-President and Head (Marketing), Marico.
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