Amul plans new brand, packaging to push chocolate business

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets the Amul brand of milk products and chocolates, is reviving its chocolate business with new products and renewed packaging.

The company will launch the Chocozoo brand of chocolates on December 9, which will target the age group of four to 14 years.

"Besides introducing new products in the chocolate segment, we have decided to revamp the packaging of our offerings. We will do this with the help of TMA, which is an international agency. We are also planning a promotional campaign for chocolates," said B M Vyas, managing director, GCMMF.

The Indian chocolate market is pegged at around 4,000 tonne in volume, and Rs 650 crore in value terms on an annual basis.

Although Amul has introduced several products in the chocolate category, it does not enjoy leadership in the segment.

Cadbury India is the largest player in the Indian chocolate market, followed by Nestle India and Amul. GCMMF has also drawn up plans to make its chocolate business a separate division of the company.

The federation had recently launched occasion-related sub-brands. Its Nuts 'bout U brand was launched on the eve of Valentine's Day, while the Kite Bite brand was unveiled during the kite-flying festival in Ahmedabad.

Amul has decided to segment the market with brands catering to the `impulse' and `teen' segments, as well as having brands catering to different occasions.

Earlier the company had launched three chocolates brands called Fundoo, Bindaas and Almond Bar. While the first two have been priced at Rs 10 for a 30 gm stick, the third one carries a price tag of Rs 10 for a 35 gm offering. It had also launched Amul Rejoice gift brand.

Amul, which reaches out to over five lakh retail outlets, has over 2,600 distributors under its fold.