Ice-cream companies expect scorching sales this summer

After two washed-out summer seasons, ice-cream companies hope to witness a bounce back in sales aided by uptick in the out-of-home channel as well as well as increase in footfalls in hotels and restaurants. Players are gearing up with new launches and strengthening their distribution networks aiming to clock growth over the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. .

RS Sodhi, MD, Amul (GCMMF) said, “In the past two years the ice-cream segment’s sales suffered due to the pandemic-induced restrictions . But this summer, we are expecting to see strong growth of 30-35 per cent over the same period in 2019..”

While the accelerated in-home consumption did help the ice-cream segment in the past two years but pandemic-induced restrictions adversely impacted sales of the out-of-home channel, impulse portfolio (stick and cone-based formats) and HoReCa channel (hotels, restaurants and catering). Easing of restrictions, drop in Covid cases and reopening of offices and educational establishments are expected to aid the growth of the segment.

Sanjay Sharma, Business Head – Dairy Products, Mother Dairy, said that the overall ice-cream category is likely to more than double this summer compared with 2021, and grow by 20 per cent as compared with 2019.“ With rising day temperatures and upcoming festivities (Holi), we expect an uptick in sales of ice-creams across all portfolios. The onset of summer and commencing of demand from establishments has already pushed up sales of our ice creams by about 25-30 per cent in February 2022, over the same period last year. Unlike 2021, when the demand was more skewed towards take-home portfolio, this season is likely to boost the impulse portfolio as well, with the out-of-home consumption already gaining speed,” he added.

Mother Dairy said it is introducing ten new products this season. “We plan to foray in additional 100 towns across the country with a mass media campaign to drive brand salience during this key consumption period,” Sharma added.

Havmor Ice-Cream, part of the South-Korean-based Lotte Group, also expects to witness significant growth this summer . Vincent Noronha, VP-Marketing at Havmor Ice Cream, said, “Our exclusive stores have already seen an increase in footfalls. We now have a solid presence across leading metros and mini-metros, and expect to achieve substantial growth this year thanks to our extended distribution as a national player.,” he added .

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