Innovations to be Coca-Cola’s growth engine
NEW DELHI: Innovation is going to be the “key growth engine” in India for Coca-Cola contributing 15-20% in growth and the beverage major will focus on urban areas by adding premium offerings and expanding its rural footprints with affordable options, said its President Sanket Ray.
Besides, the presence of Costa Coffee, a coffee chain brand owned by Coca-Cola, will also be expanded to newer cities aiming to have a pan-India presence in the next three years, he added.
Coca-Cola India is expanding its network in rural areas, which nearly contribute 38% to the overall business. It had focused more on the urban market in the pandemic-impacted 2021 than rural areas, due to affordability and other issues.
According to Ray, the business of Coca-Cola India is still under-penetrated in the consumer business category and will grow its business through expansion of the portfolio, marketing and distribution.
“We are highly optimistic on the growth numbers for both short-term and medium-term,” Coca-Cola President (India and Southwest Asia) Sanket Ray told PTI. According to global forecasts, two of the company’s markets in the region, India and Bangladesh, will be among the top-10-growing GDP markets till 2030, he added.
When asked as to whether Coca-Cola will introduce some new brands from its global portfolio into the Indian market as the economy and purchasing power are improving, Ray said the right categories will be introduced at the right time.
“The urban market of India has a decent per-capita income and is exposed to global things (brands). We will have to get into the premiumization part, where the other FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies have done work. We have the option to do and will see the action happening,” he said.
Strengthening its portfolio, Coca-Cola recently introduced ‘Zero Sugar’ in December in India and more new categories will come in, said Ray.
“In the new category, it would not only be global brands but also local brands, with regional flavours,” he said, and added that the cola major is now taking its sparkling Zeera (cumin) flavour drink RimZim to the national level with a strong campaign and distribution drive.
In local flavour, Coca-Cola is going to launch ‘aam Panna’ flavour under its mango-based drink Maaza. “Similarly, we are also looking to launch in the sports segment and something in the mass-energy. We are going to drive innovation as a key growth engine. Mostly, we are looking at 15-20% of our growth coming from innovations,” said Ray. He added that this would be both from the global and local portfolio, in premium and affordable segments.
The company has plans to introduce an apple sparkling drink under the brand Fanta next week also. The new products will be both in the fizz and non-fizz categories, Ray added.
Talking about Costa Coffee’s expansion plans, Ray said it is a small business compared with rivals such as Starbucks in the coffee chain segment.