Coca-Cola, the world's biggest beverage maker, has made its move to make up for lost time in India's packaged juice market. The company launched its globally successful Minute Maid 100 per cent juice in India at the Food Forum India 2011 in three variants -orange, apple and grape- of one litre and 200 ml packs priced at Rs 85 and Rs 20, respectively.
"This is a big opportunity for us. The market is growing with the change in lifestyle and urbanisation. In today's fast life juice is a convenient as well as healthy option. Earlier, we introduced Minute Maid Nimbu Fresh, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange and Maaza, all fruit-based drinks, and these are doing well. We design all our products keeping in mind the taste of the Indian consumers," said Atul Singh, president and chief executive officer (CEO), Coca-Cola India and South West Asia. Maaza is one of the largest selling products from the Coca-Cola stable.
The company has created a separate division for fruit juices and plans to focus on this high-growth segment. Coca-Cola has also appointed Andriy Avramenko as business head (juices). Earlier, Avramenko was at the company's global juice centre (GJC) in Atlanta, US. The juices market in India is dominated by Dabur's Real juices.
Dabur is the biggest player in India's juices segment, commanding about half of the market share. PepsiCo's Tropicana comes in second, with about 35 per cent market share. Clearly, biting off a chunk of the market share from these established players will surely be a challenging task for Coca-Cola.
"In the juices category Real is the largest selling brand and Real Mixed Fruit juice is the highest selling variant. Real is also the market leader in the packaged fruit juices category with over 50 per cent market share and a turnover of more than Rs 400 crore. In the 100 per cent juices segment Real Activ Apple is the highest selling variant for us," said K. K. Chutani, head of marketing, foods, Dabur India Ltd.
Speaking about competition, he said, "While summer months do see a mild spurt in consumption in certain geographies, packaged juice is consumed all through the year. In fact, Real fruit juices saw a growth of around 43 per cent during the third quarter, which are the winter months of October to December, whereas in the second quarter of the current financial year, which are the summer months of July to September, the growth was around 23 per cent.
Going forward, we will continue to grow at a similar healthy pace." "We welcome competition, we are fierce competitors and want to give our best to Indian buyers," said Singh.
Dabur, too, has plans to woo its consumers with new variants. "We are currently test marketing a new offering under our brand Real Activ in Mumbai and Bangalore. It's the first fibre-enriched juice in the Indian market called Real Activ Fiber+. We intend to do a national roll-out of the same this summer. Also, there are plans to extend the portfolio of variants under brand Real and introduce more exciting variants of Real juices this season," said Chutani.
Dabur recently concluded a 360 degree campaign for Real, which is in tune with its re-branding exercise. As part of the exercise the brand logo and packaging have been changed.
Courtesy: Mail Today
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