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After struggling for two quarters over sales volume growth, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare reported a decent six per cent on this metric in the December 2014 quarter. The company also pushed Boost into the top three health drink brands in India. In an interview to Viveat Susan Pinto, GSK Consumer's Managing Director Zubair Ahmed explains how these gains were made. Edited Excerpts:
What did you do to improve sales in quarter?
Pushing availability of our products and making available stock keeping units across price points were key. We now have stock keeping units for Horlicks ranging from a sachet of 18 gm to a 1 kg bottle. Price points vary from Rs 6 to Rs 300. Consumers are bound to try out the product at the (price) point most convenient to them. We also focused on pushing distribution reach in the north and the west, regions that have not been the strongest for us. Consequently, we saw double-digit (sales) growth in the west, making it the front-runner among the four regions for the December quarter. The east came next.
Do you see food inflation cooling?
Food inflation has been a challenge. A lot depends on supply bottlenecks and also consumer sentiment. We closely track Nielsen's Consumer Confidence Index. Numbers released in recent quarters suggest that confidence among consumers is back to previous levels. This gives us reason to believe the propensity to spend will improve. This is a positive indicator for consumer goods.
Rural sales performed well this quarter when most were expecting an urban recovery...
Yes, rural and modern trade did well for us this quarter. Sales coming out of kirana and grocery stores were weak. That is because there was some caution among middle-class consumers. But given the improvement in the consumer confidence index, the tide should turn.
Boost broke into the top three club of health brands in the December quarter...
We have been working towards this for a long time. We finally broke into the top three club. Of course, our endeavour would be to ensure that Boost continues to be there. Besides traditional media, we are also using digital as part of our advertising and brand-building efforts. The idea is to be as relevant to our target audience as possible.
Emma Walmsley (global president of GSK Consumer Healthcare) said during her visit to India last week how she was keen to help India fight malnutrition. Do you have a plan in place?
Emma spoke in the context of a Swasth Bharat Abhiyan or Healthy India Mission, something the Prime Minister is yet to roll out. We would be happy to help if the government considers such an initiative. We have something called a Horlicks Ahaar Abhiyan, where one can make a pledge of support for fighting malnutrition in the country. Each pledge is matched by a donation of Rs 1 by us.
