Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

HLL may turn heat on Barista, Café Day

K Giriprakash in Bangalore

Fast moving consumer goods company Hindustan Lever Ltd, in the line of Café Coffee Day and Barista, may soon open coffee parlours in the country.

"We will definitely get into retailing in a big way and may look at opening coffee parlours," said Venkat Sridhar, Hindustan Lever Ltd's marketing manager.

He said the company is currently exploring various options including opening coffee parlours as the potential is huge in this business.

"Out-of-home drinking is a growing segment, though it has not been fully exploited," he said.

HLL has two major coffee brands which are Deluxe Green Label, a roast and ground coffee and Bru Instant, a ready-to-mix coffee powder.

Green Label leads the pack in its segment with a share of 56 per cent whose total market size is Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion), while Bru Instant has a market share of around 40 per cent in the Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) market.

Its competitors are Sunrise and Nescafe from Nestle, and have an edge over HLL's brand in terms of market share.

Sridhar said the company is examining several aspects of coffee parlours. These are imagery, location and flavours one can offer for customers.

"Out-of-home concept has not caught on yet in India," he said.

He said the company is into institutional sale of coffee through vending machines, but has no presence in retailing of coffee through vending machines.

"We may eventually get into retailing of coffee too," he said.

The company has also relaunched the roast and ground coffee, Deluxe Green Label, with enhanced aroma.

Sridhar said their internal research indicated that most customers buy loose coffee sold at local shops because of its stronger aroma as they attribute it to freshness.

"We wanted to change that mindset. Hence decided that by enhancing its aroma, we would be able to convert these customers to by packaged coffee," Sridhar said.

The improved aroma was achieved through a process innovation that minimises its loss during the process of roasting, grinding and packing the coffee resulting in stronger aroma.

Sridhar said the Deluxe Green Label brand has seen several innovations. These include introducing the brand in metallised pack and later in a nitro-flushed pack.

Powered by

ALSO READ:
Monetary & Credit Policy 2002-2003
More Money Headlines