ITC Ltd has partnered with direct selling company Amway India for distributing its new immunity beverage to stay relevant and to compete with rivals Dabur, Coca Cola and PepsiCo in the breakfast market this summer. Amway’s micro-entrepreneurs will sell the FMCG conglomerate’s packaged fruit beverage with immunity boosters that it has launched under its juice brand B Natural.
“Supply chain was disrupted for the entire juice category during the lockdown from April-May. With summer season here, there is likelihood of increased consumer demand and a shift from carbonated drinks to packaged juices,” said Hemant Malik, divisional chief executive at ITC Ltd. Malik said that ITC had been in talks with Amway for close to a year but Covid-19 outbreak fastened the pace.
ET had earlier reported that heightened awareness on social media platforms was leading to health taking mindshare, leading to double digit growth of categories including health supplements, chyawanprash, health bars, mixes and even branded health salt.
Sale of immunity-boosting foods have shot up by an estimated 20-40%. Online searches for such products have gone up six-fold, with ayurvedic home remedies, and vitamin C dominating, according to a report by Google.
Anshu Budhraja, chief executive of Amway India, said, “Overall, wellness will be a primary driver with self-care being the mega trend now. This collaboration with ITC will help increase penetration in this growing market.”
ITC and Amway hinted at extending the strategic partnership with more immunity-boosting breakfast and meal solutions. “Our portfolio of products, which includes atta, instant noodles to biscuits, gives us many formats with the potential for product development. We will increase our immunity product portfolio in the next few months,” said Malik.
While this is the first time ITC has partnered with a direct selling company to sell an isolated product offering, the cigarettes-to-food giant also tied up with alternative distribution channels such as Domino’s Pizza and Swiggy in the last two months to meet consumer demand during the lockdown. The company also launched ITC-on-wheels to reach out to housing societies with vans filled with their products for consumers to buy right from their doorstep amid the lockdown.
ITC acquired B Natural in 2015 and became a leading player in juice category made with regional fruits such as jamun and phalsa. Until then, imported juice concentrates dominated the Indian market. The current size of the packaged juice market is estimated at Rs 2500 crore.
Source: Economic Times