The Hindu Business Line : Alembic eyes top spot in sweetener market

BY positioning itself as a lifestyle product, Alembic Consumer Healthcare aims to establish itself as the leader of the Rs 60-crore low-calorie sweetener market with its `Zero' brand within the next two years.

Mr Geogi Zakariah, Business Head, Consumer Healthcare, firmly believes that the sweetener market can be easily doubled to Rs 120 crore through aggressive marketing and proper brand positioning. "We have from the beginning positioned Zero as a brand for the pro-active health-conscious consumers."

The company recently launched Zero Bake and Cook, which can be used during cooking. Most sweeteners available in the market today cannot be used so but only added later. Alembic, says Mr Zakariah, is planning to spend close to Rs 4.5 crore by the end of this fiscal on marketing and advertising to drive ahead its lifestyle positioning. "We have done a lot of in-shop promos as well as organised sampling of Bake and Cook at gyms. With consumers becoming increasingly health-conscious, we are confident that our lifestyle positioning will work," he said.

Also on the cards are dessert festivals using low-calorie sweeteners. The company is also going to roll out low-priced SKUs of Zero Bake and Cook, such as smaller bottles and sachets.

The powder version is currently available in 29 cities, and the company, says Mr Zakariah, wants to focus only on the SEC-A consumers of these cities. "We are not interested in mass marketing for the time being."

Mr Zakariah hopes the brand will get a 10 per cent market share by the end of this fiscal.

The current market leader is Sugar Free, which has 65 per cent market share, followed by Equal, which has 12 per cent share.

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