Q] What trends have you noticed during the pandemic, and post pandemic in the food industry?
E-commerce was already booming before the pandemic, and during the pandemic it grew fivefold, and is expected to grow around 84% by 2024. Post pandemic, we have seen a constant growth as well, as consumers have gotten used to this way of shopping, and we can say that the most evolved consumers are affluent shoppers from the top metros. They shop their daily items, and tend to buy bigger packs through E-Commerce. Consumers are also experimenting with variants, new segments, and categories. Now we can see that the FMCG brands are taking e-commerce-first philosophy for the launch of their new products. E-commerce has become very cost effective for any new brand post the pandemic.
Q] You have been newly appointed as a Marketing Head at Haldiram Snacks Pvt Ltd. What would be your go to strategy to enhance the brand reach and revenue growth?
I would say that my go to strategy, or the company’s go to strategy is Digital-first now. Our whole focus is on digital, and I strongly believe that it’s time to up our game on Digital and reach a younger audience with our social media platforms, and engagement initiatives like influential marketing, deals, contest, etc. We are targeting the right audience through performance marketing campaigns, which the brand has been missing for years.
Our core audience, majorly aged 35 plus, still loves our traditional namkeens, savouries and sweets. But by going Digital-first, we want to target the younger audience and increase the reach for our western snack that are not as popular as our traditional namkeens. Our agenda is to keep serving the best to our loyal customers and engage younger customers, the younger TG, with our western range of snacks and savouries.
Q] You mentioned about emphasizing on Digital-first approach. What would be Haldiram Snack’s bifurcation for offline and online sales?
We are a very niche segment, I would say, we are not very old on e-commerce. I can’t give the numbers, but I would say that we still need to deep dive into it. It has just been three years since we have started on e-commerce. But, yes, the company’s growth is coming through it, and there is a huge potential. So there is a dedicated team for e-commerce now.
Q] There are a lot of packaged and ready-to-eat food and snack brands in India. Whom do you consider the closest competitors?
I would say in traditional namkeen, we do not compete with anybody because we are the market leader. We are way above any other brand in India in that aspect. I think in traditional namkeen we are the ones who are setting standards for any product, like every new namkeen you know was started by Haldiram’s. Khatta meetha, Navratan, Panchratan, and Bhujiya, were all started by Haldiram’s, and every other brand adapted it. But even now every brand has a huge gap to fill. So, currently, we are our own competition. In western snacks, of course, PepsiCo is the biggest competition.
Q] As you mentioned, your loyal customer base is aged 35 plus, what strategies are in play to connect with Gen Z and millennials?
So by being Digital-first, we want to target the young audience. We have a huge range, and we have identified that young consumers are not the namkeen eaters. That is the reason we have launched a range of western snacks. There is a Mexican range of nachos and then the chips range. We have Taka Tak, and various other products that would attract young consumers. With advertising on social media, we are connecting with the younger audience. We connect with them by talking to them in their language. I think this is our strategy because we do not advertise much about traditional namkeens. We just want to offer new flavours to our existing people, but for the new younger TG, we advertise on Digital with ad films, or on social media.
Q] Looking at the current market sentiments, how much growth is Haldiram’s expecting in the upcoming years as compared to past few years?
In 2020 we grew at 12% and in 2021 we grew at 25%. So, we’ve been doing good business. Even during the pandemic, by 19-20%. The growth has always been there, but now with the new health snack, plant ranges, and the upcoming chocolate range, which is a premium category, we are expected to grow by 35 to 40% in the coming years.
