Britannia shifts focus to small packs as in-home consumption tapers

Rs 5 price point to the straddle portfolio as out-of-home consumption slowly comes back

Britannia is putting in place a strategy that involves taking Rs 5 packets beyond the core brands of Marie Gold, Good Day, and Milk Bikis. This comes amid people gradually stepping out, and in-home consumption heading south.

The firm has several launches lined up over the next couple of months in categories including biscuits, crackers, and cakes, Managing Director Varun Berry told Business Standard.

“We are looking at democratisation of our products,” said Berry. The firm recently launched layered cakes for Rs 5, and lassi under the Winkin Cow brand at Rs 20. It has also rolled out Treat Bursts, which are centre-filled biscuits in the premium category, in a Rs 5 variant. 

Going aggressively on crackers — the largest segment in the biscuits category — the company is planning innovative products under its flagship 50-50 brand. 

Innovation, which had taken a back seat after the outbreak as the company was focusing on core products, is back in full steam. Its chocolate and vanilla croissants, still in the test markets of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, will be launched nationally in a quarter. 

Rural continues to be the focus area, with the firm aggressively increasing distribution in the hinterland. In fact, the number of rural distributors has risen from 19,000 from the pre-Covid period to 22,000 in September. 

“In the next quarter, in-home consumption will normalise. We are looking at available opportunities, of which the biggest continues to be rural,” said Berry. 

The Hindi belt agenda is going strong for the firm, and the compound annual growth rate has risen from 12-13 per cent in FY18, to 21-22 per cent in FY21 (so far) in these states. UP continues to be the best performing state. 

The firm has lined up three greenfield projects in phases across TN, UP, and Bihar. There are two brownfield plans as well. Britannia will be expanding the capacity of its Odisha facility and the Ranjangaon plant. 

“The dairy backend at Ranjangaon is expected to commercialise by 2022-23, work for which has already started,” said Berry. 

Eyeing international expansion, Britannia is evaluating co-packing in two countries in Africa, which could give it an opportunity to get into 8-10 countries in the continent under the Free Trade Agreement.