Emami to develop fifth ‘power brand’ for global expansion

The ₹2,000-crore FMCG major Emami Ltd is set to expand its international business, with a strategic focus on West Asia, South-East Asia and Africa, with yet another “power brand”.

Emami has chosen three product segments — hair care, skin care and over-the-counter healthcare items — for aggressive thrust in the global arena, where it is also looking at a market beyond the Indian Diaspora.

According to Emami director Prashant Goenka, the move is part of the company’s initiative to raise the share of international business in the total turnover from the existing 15 per cent to 32-35 per cent in five years.

“The new brand will exclusively target consumers in international markets,” Goenka told BusinessLine .

In marketing lexicon, a “power brand” is defined as a growth driver. Emami currently has four such brands marketed globally — Navratan, Fair & Handsome, Boro Plus and Zandu. Some, such as Fair & Handsome, have wider product offerings for the overseas market. They feature geography-specific differentiations while keeping the brand core similar to that marketed in India.

For now, the broad plan is to place the new brand alongside the existing Emami brands in the “focussed” overseas markets.

In developing the fifth power brand, Emami is keeping its options open. It may acquire it; and target mass consumption or serve a niche market.

The West Asian market will see the first rollout of Emami’s plan this year. The strategies for the more evolved and competitive West Asian market might also involve the acquisition of a brand, said Goenka.

For this market, which has access to Western brands, Emami might look to acquire a developed market brand, he added. “There could be several variants of a product in terms of colour, fragrance or viscosity,” he said.

Emami, for the first time, will also go in for celebrity endorsement in that market. “The celebrity could be from sports or fashion or a blend of both,” Goenka said.

For the Africa and South-East Asia markets, the company will opt for inorganic growth. “It could the acquisition of a brand or an entity, or a marketing setup with strong logistics base. We are in talks with some players in the South-East Asian and African markets,” Goenka added.

Indonesia and Nigeria are likely to be the hub for Emami’s expansion strategy in South-East Asia and Africa respectively. In Russia and CIS nations, Emami will focus on maintaining its market share. Nearer home, in Bangladesh, where Emami holds a sizeable market share, it is expanding its manufacturing capacity and marketing network.

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