Marico gives Parachute Sampoorna the burial

Marico, the market leader in the coconut oil category, has withdrawn the Parachute Sampoorna brand from the market.

Milind Sarwate, chief financial officer, Marico, said the company was not happy with the way the brand was doing, so it decided to discontinue the brand. "But it is not a major decision, and one shouldn't read too much into it," he said.

Sampoorna is a coconut oil, hibiscus and almond blend, which was rolled out nationally less than a year ago after finding the initial response to the test marketing positive. However, sales remained sluggish ever since the country-wide rollout.

Sarwate said the spinoff decision was not taken based on the sales figures alone. "The brand needed a unique position, but the hibiscus and almond platform didn't work up to our expectations," he said, adding "by withdrawing Sampoorna, we free up resources that can be allocated to other brands of ours, which are performing better," he said.

Incidentally, the ad for Sampoorna had been adjudged as the best evocative ad in the personal care cosmetics category at the Ad Review 2004.

Marico is about to finish the formalities to complete its acquisition of the hair oil brand, Nihar, which it bought from HLL last week.

Nihar was categorised as a non-power brand when HLL had rationalised its brand portfolio a few years ago. Besides, the coconut as well as the perfumed oil fits well in Marico's overall portfolio.

Parachute is the number two in the value-added coconut oil category with 17-19 per cent market share, according to AC Nielsen estimates with products such Parachute Advansed, Hair and Care, and Parachute Jasmine. Marico too has put some of its brands like Sweekar oil and its foods portfolio under the SIL brand on float.

The brands are still doing well enough for the company to continue with them, but the company does not provide ad support to them.

On the possibility of selloff of any non-focus brands, Sarwate said the company was still not thinking along those lines.

Meanwhile, the company is currently testing its initial product "" Sparsh baby oil "" in Andhra Pradesh.