FMCG
Coke’s desi accent
Local products play a role in Coca-Cola’s efforts to boost growth
Ishteyaque Amjad and T. Krishnakumar:
R
10 and R5 – these are not the usual
price points associated with Coca-
Cola, but they are the exact ones
at which the world’s leading beverages
company is launching new products
into the Indian market. For a company
whose name is arguably the second
most widely understood term in the
world after ‘ok’, this is perhaps a nod
to the rapidly growing Indian mass
market, as also the recognition for the
need to restrategise in this notoriously
complex Indian f&b space, where car-
bonated drinks are losing space to
other beverage categories – notably
in segments such as health-nutrition
and juices.
After a change in leadership a year
ago, Coca-Cola India is ready to be
agile, as it tries to reclaim some of the
market share it has shed in recent years.
T. Krishnakumar, president, Coca-Cola
India & South West Asia, says he wants
to  get more people to try Coca-Cola
products and launch more products –
initially about 10 a year, going up to
25 or even 30, using a new incubator
model. He would also like to enter new
segments, concentrate on fruit-based
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B u s i n e s s I n d i a u t h e m ag a z i n e o f t h e c o r p o r at e wo r l d
it”. He expects Mazaa to be the next
one to reach the milestone. (Mazaa
too is headed for international expan-
sion at a later date.) “These are the four
brands (Thums Up, Limca, Mazaa and
RimZim) in our stable, which have
the potential to go to other markets,”
he adds. Indeed, Mazaa already has a
range, from a tetrapak at R10 to a pre-
mium Mazaa Gold and Mazaa Refresh
somewhere in the middle. More than
70 per cent of packaged beverages sold
in India are at R20.
The non-alcoholic beverage indus-
try in India stood at $2.5 billion in
2015, informs Dart Consulting, which
estimates the market to grow at a cagr
of over 17 per cent during 2016-20 to
reach $4.9 billion by 2020. Other pre-
dictions include growth rates of over
20 per cent.
Incubating success
Travellers won’t have failed to notice
the limited range of Coca-Cola prod-
ucts hitherto available in India. Now
that looks likely to change.  A big
change Krishnakumar highlights
relates to the rate at which new prod-
ucts from the company are going to
be introduced. He points out that five
beverages, take local brands interna- new products were launched in 2017
tional and scale up pan-India outreach and that the number is expected to
to potentially new customers. A new double to 10 this year. Ultimately, it
vision is indeed in place, with a multi-
pronged approach.
 
Local success
Stressing on the local seems to be a pri-
ority. Thums Up, acquired by the com-
pany in 1993, along with Limca, from
Ramesh Chauhan, are still its top sell-
ers in the sparkling drinks category
nationally, while Mazaa is a leader in
the fruit-based category. Now, they
have gone global – albeit into South
Asia, for the moment. Thums Up has
been introduced in Bangladesh, as has
RimZim, a cumin-flavoured sparkling
beverage. Nepal and Sri Lanka, and
even Pakistan are on the radar for the
brands soon. “Once we see success, we
would take it to other markets,” says
Krishnakumar.
Last year, Coca-Cola had said that
it expects Thums Up to be a $1 bil-
lion (R6,500 crore) brand in the next
two years. “I think we are well on the
way,” Krishnakumar affirms. “By the
end of this year, we would be close to
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B u s i n e s s I n d i a u t h e m ag a z i n e o f t h e c o r p o r at e wo r l d
would reach 25-30 new products soon.
And, what’s making this possible is a
new approach.   company is targeting expectant moth-
“We have embarked on an incu-
bator approach for future launches,
which will reduce the time taken
from ideation, execution and eventual
launch in the market to weeks instead
of three-five years. We will also launch
products nationally and not regionally
as we do now; so, in three months, a
product will be available across the
country,” Krishnakumar says. “In six
months, we can make it a mega prod-
uct. The model gives us the freedom to
stretch. Its a simple and also allows for
extensions of the brand.”
“The idea of the incubator is to
ensure that we can do many prod-
ucts,” he adds. He says there is a small
team of four members, which can turn
consumer insights into a consumer
product in just three months. Going
from Version 1 to Version 5 is going
to get faster, predicts the president.
“Every product we incubate may not
be huge,” he admits.
 
Fruity time
There are plans for Minute Maid too,
which now has nine fruit drinks in
India. “It will intersect with Indian
fruits, giving us a circular economy,”
Krishnakumar says. Minute Maid
Mosambi was launched (a challenge
3-in-one
Aquarius Glucocharge, packed with glu-
cose, essential minerals (potassium,
sodium, calcium) and fruit juice has been
developed exclusively for Indian consum-
ers, who toil in the heat and need instant
rehydration to overcome exhaustion.
This non-carbonated, low sugar bever-
age with fruit juice is priced at R10 for a
200ml serving.
 
At a chemist near you
Minute Maid Vitingo is a specially formu-
lated product to address micronutrient
deficiency and malnutrition in India. The
formulation is fortified with iron, vitamin
A, vitamin C, zinc, folic acid, vitamin B2
and vitamin B12. It comes in single serv-
ing sachets of 18 gm priced at R5. Reg-
ular consumption of Vitingo has been
clinically tested to significantly reduce
iron deficiency, anaemia and vitamin
C deficiency among children.
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to Tropicana Mosambi, from rival
PepsiCo?), and has got a good response,
he says. “We are looking at multiple
fruits.
Krishnakumar points to chal-
lenges here, such as low yields per
acre of fruit in India. “We have done
work in mango, where the volume has
increased four times,” he says. We have
embarked on a citrus project in Maha-
rashtra on mosambi and santra, and are
setting up a plant.”  He also revealed
that the company is ready to launch
frozen fruit, and will look at exports
when the company has a surplus. “We
will try to get fruits into as many prod-
ucts as possible.”
 
Health & nutrition
With its two latest products, Coca-Cola
India is taking on another gap for it in
the market. “We have a good presence
in Sec A and B markets, but have a gap
to address those who work hard – peo-
ple who need good hydration. Water is
not enough, we need to add salt.”
Enter ‘enhanced hydration’. With
Aquarius Glucocharge, it is targeting
the mass market – about 700 million
Indians, well over half of all Indians.
“This is a product for young striv-
ers.” While it has been launched in
a lemon flavour variant, by the time
it is launched widely later in May, it
will also be in orange, apple and pine-
apple flavours. What the company is
hoping for is that its usp – a combina-
tion of salt, minerals and fruit juice,
not to overlook the affordable price
point, will make it a winner. “Aquarius
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FMCG
should be a big thing for us.”
With Minute Maid Vitingo, the
ers and anaemic children. India has
the largest number of people with iron
and folic acid deficiency, which con-
tribute to anaemia. The company had
been toying with a nutrition prod-
uct for a while – indeed Vitingo was
launched earlier, and has since been
used in the company’s csr outreach
programmes. Of course, there is enor-
mous challenge in the form of the well-
established Glucon D and Glucose D.
Krishnakumar admits the going will
be tough as consumers would need
to be educated about it. Also, as it has
little presence in the chemist outlets,
which are expected to be one of the
most important distribution channels
for Vitingo, it has tied up with whole-
saler Metro Cash and Carry.
 
Future race
As India develops, consumer choices
of beverages are going to increase, feels
Krishnakumar. We are thinking ahead
– what will India want in 2023, he
says. The days of thanda matlab Coca-
Cola, its catchy tagline from what now
seems a distant past, seems to have be
just that – in the past, as more future-
oriented products look set to take
centre stage. And, this includes Coca-
Cola India’s rather tepid feeling of the
waters in the potentially huge diary-
based drinks section with Vio, which
is still not available nationally.
But the efforts to broad-base its
market seems to have gathered pace.
Communication via ads is now in
local languages. While the ‘Share a
Coke’ campaign reached out in nine
languages, the current ad has four ver-
sions, written and executed individu-
ally in different languages.  
After a dip in growth in the last
quarter of 2016 and a successive one,
Coca-Cola India has reported three
successive quarters of growth, points
out Krishnakumar, ending 2017 in
the black. And 2018 is recording dou-
ble digit growth, he says. With a slew
of initiatives, he looks set to maintain
the tempo – with a bet on home grown
brands for a larger share of the massive
Indian beverages market. Did we even
mention the mother brand?
 u SUMAN TARAFDAR
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