Five years ago, you were half of today’s size. By 2020, you say, you will double the business. How?
Currently, we are present in 250 cities and 200,000 retail outlets. By 2020 we will add 150 cities to our list. In terms of retail presence, we aim to be present across 2 million stores that is 10 times the current size. We plan to double our nutrition and dairy business with the launch of new products that include brand extensions, flavours, global products as well as local innovations. Through our innovative product portfolio, we aim to reach 400 cities across India by 2020 and 2 million outlets. That is the vision.
Why not invest in water?
We want to focus on our existing business. We feel there is still a lot of growth potential for us in both dairy and nutrition. There are many players in the water market.
You dominate with Protinex. Will we soon see a more appetising version of Protinex?
Protinex is the market leader in adult nutrition space with 47 per cent market share. The Protinex portfolio is designed according to Indian taste and preferences and caters to the different life stages of our consumers. We are committed to provide consumer-friendly formats that are convenient to consume. Our R&D team is working on it.
Are you looking at solid or liquid versions of Protinex? Is a protein drink in the pipeline?
All formats are appealing for us as we are the experts and leaders in this category. We keep exploring, and when the right time comes, we will let you know.
Would there be be an increase in marketing and ad-spends in the coming years? What kind of numbers are you looking at?
Marketing is important since it helps us to educate consumers on nutrition and also differentiate our product benefits. A good example is the 360 degree communication we are doing around the second growth spurt with Protinex GROW. We are going to increase our marketing spends for brands such as Protinex by 30 per cent in the coming years. In dairy, we are investing in consumer awareness campaigns around the goodness of yoghurt.
How do you ensure higher standards of quality?
We ensure the quality of our products by imposing tight standards that cover everything from sourcing of raw materials to how products are manufactured, packaged and stored; our fully-integrated quality management system is applied from ‘farm to fork’ to ensure consumers get quality products from Danone.