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Acknowledging the growth and importance of e-commerce in India, consumer giant Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is slowly taking the e-commerce route to launch its products. The strategy is also in line with its parent company Unilever’s plan to garner significant sales volumes through the e-commerce channel globally.
HUL, the maker of products like Kissan, Dove, Surf and Ponds, has exclusively tied up with online grocery portal BigBasket.com to launch two new variants of Knorr brand of soups for sale online. For Unilever, Knorr International Soups is one of the first food brands that has been launched exclusively online.
According to the FMCG major, the partnership with BigBasket was to make sure that the products reach all the major metros keeping in mind the premium value of Knorr brand. The Bengaluru-based grocery portal is present in the six major cities reaching up to 13 lakh high income consumers.
Abhiroop C, General Manager, Food at HUL, told BusinessLin e that the launch on BigBasket was to target consumers at their doorstep. “This is also in line with Knorr’s thought leadership and its strong leadership position in soups segment in India,” he added.
Of late, HUL has been experimenting with different ways to tap the burgeoning e-grocery market, which has witnessed emergence of pure play grocery portals such as Localbanya and BigBasket along with several hyperlocal players such as PepperTap, ZopNow, BigZop trying to bring the kirana stores online and cater to the consumers’ needs in less than two hours. HUL is also piloting its e-commerce initiative humarashop.com in Mumbai and plans to take it to other cities soon.
According to an Assocham-PwC report, the Indian e-commerce industry is expected to cross the $100-billion mark in value by 2019, growing at 35 per cent annually thus a CAGR of 35 per cent over the next five years. While most
e-commerce portals have been focusing on premium personal care brands, which is also the highest selling category online, food is also growing fast.
A recent study, by the search and technology major Google and consultancy firm Bain & Company, said that online sales of FMCG categories such as male grooming, beauty, personal care and infant care will constitute $5 billion (₹30,000 crore) by 2020.
While this number would mean only five per cent of the total FMCG sales, estimated to reach $100 billion (₹6 lakh-crore) by 2020, it is still significant.
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