 "Havmor looks for a bigger scoop")
Ahmedabad-headquartered Havmor Ice Creams has had the national market in its sights for a while now. In fact, in the summer of 2016, a time of the year when ice cream brands launch their marketing blitzkrieg, Havmor surprised many with a high-decibel national campaign. Instead of focusing on regional advertising as had been the norm in the past, the brand tapped into audiences in the North and the South and positioned itself in the mass-premium category, with prices marginally higher than national brands such as Amul.
The brand was preparing the ground for its national foray. And now, six months later, the campaign has helped the company build an online footprint for the Havmor brand, well beyond the markets it served. Customers in states such as Gujarat and Rajasthan became online ambassadors and helped build awareness and recall in states Havmor was just setting up shop in. “We are very strong on social media and have over a million followers on Facebook. During summer, we launched a TVC first on the digital platform where we got over a million views,” said Ankit Chona, managing director of Havmor.
Going digital is helping spread the word as is the brand’s ability to connect with local customers in a range of ways. Havmor ran special promotions during Diwali and tied up with Uber on ‘Ice cream Day’ for special deliveries. “We wish to advertise in places where it will push consumption. Therefore, we won’t do in-film branding. We will come up with region and occasion specific innovations like we did ‘modak’ ice creams in Mumbai during Ganeshotsav. We will also be doing strategic alliances with multiplexes,” said Chona.
Havmor categorises itself as mass premium ice-cream, its prices a tad higher than Amul. It is the market leader in Gujarat, with close to 40 per cent share in the state, followed by number two position in Rajasthan. Amul is the national market leader according to Euromonitorand its campaigns areusually around a theme of national importance. Havmor, on the other hand, is using local references and connections to expand its national footprint. It is also placing itself at a premium spot, using the growing health concerns among consumers in the country to talk about the wholesomeness and natural flavours of the brand in its campaigns. According to a Euromonitor report, ice cream rode the premiumisation wave in 2015 and could well continue to do so through the coming year too. Many companies have introduced high-priced varieties and exotic flavours and focused on nutrition and wellness in their campaigns.
Awareness about the Havmor brand is also being spread through the company’s presence in the fast-food parlour segment. Havmor has 200 food parlours across the country. “We have similar like-to-like growth rates that other restaurants are struggling with. The challenge is that with the real estate costs and manpower costs increasing, we have had to tweak our fast-food outlet when expanding further. These outlets will now have more youth oriented and standardised products, with interiors also appearing younger. We have redesigned the whole menu and outlet, adding more items to the menu of take-away foods,” said Chona.
While the company is looking at the young consumer in the new markets, it says that the Indian ice cream market is severely under-tapped. The country currently has a per capita ice cream consumption of below 400 ml, as against Pakistan’s 700 ml, USA’s 24 litres, and Australia’s 26 litres. It believes that by spreading its wings further, it can benefit from the category expansion that is underway as new brands and new flavours bring new customers into the fold.
Havmor is the third ice cream brand from Gujarat, after Amul and Vadilal, to eye a pan-India presence. It is present in eight states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Goa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh. “We are consolidating our presence in the existing states. For instance, we have rolled out 300 push carts in Delhi itself which has earned us revenues to the tune of Rs 10 crore. Next year we plan to triple the sales numbers, including that from NCR,” said Chona.
The strategy at Havmor is to strengthen the position in the West and South while planning launches in multiple cities in the North, followed by the East. Havmor is launching operations in five new states by the end of December this year. These include Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It plans to service markets up North through its upcoming plant in Faridabad which is likely to be commissioned by February 2017 at an initial capacity of 50,000 litres per day. Havmor plans to expand the Faridabad plant capacity to 100,000 litres per day and consolidate its existing Ahmedabad plant further. “We can optimise the Ahmedabad plant further from the existing 200,000 litres per day. With the Faridabad plant touching 100,000 litres per day capacity later, our overall new 300,000 litres per day capacity should be sufficient for the next few years,” Chona added.
As part of its plans to become a pan-India player, Havmor is also mulling on a third plant in south India. “Once the Faridabad plant commissions next year, we will begin a feasibility study on a plant in south India which can come up in 2018 or 2019,” said Chona.
