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When Dabur India announced a 13.3 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit for the first quarter ended June 2014, it was riding on an 8.3 per cent rise in volumes and small price hikes. Two of its businesses that contributed to this growth was health supplements and the foods business, growing at 22 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.
The strong show in health supplements was led by good demand for Dabur Honey and Dabur Glucose, each of which generate nearly Rs 200 crore in sales.
Glucose D: Riding on summer
Glucose-D (which contains a mixture of high-grade dextrose, monohydrate, vitamin D and calcium and is more popular in India as Glucon-D, the category leader from Heinz) is a seasonal product, with 80-85 per cent of its consumption happening in the summer season between April and June. ''The season has been helpful. There was also some base effect, as the monsoon came in early last year. Besides, our flavour portfolio - orange and lemon - has done well," says Kumar Mayank, Senior GM, Dabur India.
While the category grew 14-15 per cent last quarter, Dabur's Glucose-D grew 16-17 per cent; 4-5 per cent of this top line growth can be attributed to price hikes and the rest to volume growth. This has helped Dabur gain 3 per cent market share, up from 30 per cent in the previous January-March quarter; Heinz India's Glucon-D is the market leader with an estimated 54-57 per cent market share, while Wipro Glucovita enjoys 3-4 per cent share. But there's more to the glucose story than an extended summer.
Four things worked for Dabur. One, the flavoured segment for glucose-D now accounts for 30 per cent of the market, up from 20 per cent a few years back. Two, its communication strategy, with a contest for kids that centered on cartoon character Ben10, helped the brand gain traction. Three, it strengthened its position in key geographies like Andhra Pradesh, the fifth largest market for glucose-D, after West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha.
''People in these states tend to perspire more, and loose body fluids. Glucose-D provides replenishment of essential vitamins, minerals and body salts. It offers a ready source of energy and refreshes you instantly," says a Dabur executive.
Fourth, a few years back, it tweaked its brand positioning and communication, which has worked well. Glucose stands for energy. To differentiate itself, Dabur started saying its glucose offers 'cooling energy' (the catch line in Hindi was thandak de). It's been advertising with this positioning for the last 3-4 years and had roped in Ajay Devgan (the engagement with him though is over now) to drive this message. This has helped the brand grow 40 per cent in four years and gain 9-10 per cent market share. It ploughed in money in media and distribution (activated 8000-10,000 retail outlets in AP) in these key markets.
Honey: Repositioning helps
Dabur Honey, which enjoys 70 per cent market share in the organised honey market, has grown nearly 25 per cent quarter on quarter in the last few quarters, thanks to a smart repositioning of the brand. A problem with this category is infrequent usage: consumers would buy honey, say for a religious function, and then the honey bottle would be sitting on some shelf for months. Dabur has tried to alter usage habits by playing on the health and weight reduction benefits of honey.
''A few years back, we repositioned the brand to say honey helps you manage your weight if you use it daily early morning with hot water and targeted this communication on women in the age group of 25-45,'' says Dabur's Kumar Mayank. It launched a microsite Dabur Honey, which gives consumers tips on how to manage weight, where consumers could also chat with a dietician online to discuss their diet. It also used other marketing initiatives like Google keywords advertising, SCM to drive traffic onto this site. ''We wanted to be partner in a women's journey for weight management,'' says Mayank.
Dabur has also launched the product in large pack sizes of 500 gm and 1 kg, which is priced at Rs 355, positioning itself as alternative to sugar. The strategy to tackle infrequent usage has started working. A recent study by Dabur reveals that people who consume honey daily has gone up to 33 per cent, up from 14-15 per cent in 2012. Dabur competes in honey with a few organised brands like Lion (predominantly available in South India), Patanjali, Himalaya and clutch of regional brands like Kundaghat, Shreeji and others. Dabur's health supplements business also has Dabur Chawanprash, which contributes almost 70 per cent of segmental revenues, but is predominantly consumed in winter.
