Parle Monaco Smart Chips eyeing 10-15% market share in the health snacks category.
Parle Products, India’s largest biscuit and confectionary manufacturer, has entered in the health snack food category with the launch of Monaco ‘Smart Chips’. With this launch Parle is eyeing 25-30% market share in the domestic market in next 2-3 years. Smart chips will be available in four flavours and will be positioned as non- fried chips.
Parle Monaco has been a leading brand in snacks for a long time. With its new variant ‘Monaco Smart Chips’ they have tried to fuse together the ‘do good’ (Marie, glucose biscuits) and ‘feel good’ (indulgent snacks) categories. The company is also coming up with a huge campaign for the new launch featuring Parle Monaco’s brand ambassador - Aamir Khan. The campaign is developed by Vipin Dhyani, Founder & Creative Director, Thoughtshop.
Speaking on the launch Praveen Kulkarni, GM, Parle Products said “Over the last few years, we have been looking to expand the product portfolio at Parle by introducing newer categories in biscuits as well as exploring options beyond biscuits. The consumer today wants a product that satisfies both the needs. We expect Smart Chips will become a significant ‘category benchmark’, driving sales for healthy snacks within snacks categories. We are aiming to grab 10-15% market share with the brand extension.”
Commenting on the launch Mr. Shalin Desai, Sr. Brand Manager, Parle Products said, “The category is new and is growing at a fast pace. I am sure that our brand will do well in the market. As per our studies, we realised that there exists a gap with snacks which are ‘fun’ to eat and ‘healthy’ to eat. Today’s consumers are health conscious and most of the products available in the market are not healthy, so being an early entrant we would like to capitalise on an early mover advantage. Monaco has been associated with the snack category for a long time and with this brand extension we wanted to capitalize on the high recall value of the brand.”
Parle has already diversified into the non biscuit snacks market with the launch of Musst Chips and Musst Stix in mid 2008. Smart Chips, a part of the company’s expansion plans beyond biscuits, provide foodies with an option of a healthy snack that satiates their taste buds too. These are not fried chips and priced at Rs 5 to Rs 10 for 25 gms and 50gms respectively and they target a wide consumer faction ranging from youth to family groups. Smart Chips will be available in four exciting flavors – Macho Masala, Simply Salted, Tangy Tomato and Crazy Chat.
The snack food market in India is estimated to be worth $3 billion, with the branded snack market at $1.34 billion, and is growing at 15-20 per cent yearly. The unorganised sector, worth $1.56 billion, is also growing at 7-8 per cent.
