Swedish hygiene products maker SCA plans to tap the e-commerce channel in the Indian market to distribute its product.

Cecilia Adebo, Managing Director, India told Business Line that the company has tied up with leading e-commerce portals in the country such as Flipkart, Firstcry, Snapdeal among few others to reach out to the Indian consumers in the tier 2 and 3 markets.

Adebo said that the company, which started its operations in the Indian market last year, is already getting about 10 per cent of its sales from the online channel and expects the same to grow 20-30 per cent in next 5 years on back of growing smartphone users and rising online market. At present the online retail is about $3.2 billion and is expected to reach $9 billion by 2016, according to industry reports.

That apart, the company has also launched a mobile app that will not only educate consumers about instilling hygiene practices among consumers, especially children, but also allows them to buy products online.

The company makes products like baby diapers, adult diapers (incontinence), tissue and toilet papers and hand sanitizers.

Besides, the company is looking tapping the quick service restaurants such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and many local food chains to promote their tissue paper and sanitzer brand Tempo.

Stockholm-headquartered company, which is a leading player in Europe with brands such as Libero, Tempo, Tork and Libresse, aims to garner number one position in the Indian market in the hand sanitizer and baby diaper segment over the next few years.

To achieve this, the company has already invested Rs 150 crore to set up a manufacturing unit at Ranjangaon, near Pune. The production will start early next year for tissues and diapers including those for adults. It has about 115 employees in India at present.

"There is a huge potential in the Indian market for tissue papers and hygiene products given the fact that India's population is large and still growing," Adebo said adding that Indians consume only 15 grams of tissue paper per person per year compared to 21 kgs per person per year in the US and European markets.

Globally, for SCA 53 per cent of its sales comes from tissue segment.

The company had also looking at tying up with various hospitals, geriatic and paediatric clinics to educate and inform nurses and midwives to promote their products as well as educate them about the use of hygiene products.

It has already contacted over 1,500 paediatric clinics in various parts of the country, she said adding that the next step will be to tie up with pharmacies for adult diapers.

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