PepsiCo, one of the oldest and largest food and beverage leader in the world is now planning to target fast ballooning internet consumers in India. They will soon start selling imported snacks and fruit juices exclusively through various e-commerce portals to Indians according to a ET report.
Vipul Prakash, VP for marketing at PepsiCo India told ET, “We have a significant portfolio of high-end global brands which many Indian consumers are already familiar with. We are working out plans to make these brands available exclusively through e-commerce in India”
It is interesting that PepsiCo has decided to take the online route rather than going through their Pan-India offline network. However, these premium snacks and beverages are targeted towards upper-middle and affluent Indian consumers, majority of whom are already big on online shopping.
These products will be exclusively available online, and will not be available at any offline stores. While PepsiCo’s regular products like their soft drinks and snacks like Lays, Kurkure and others are already sold on various online grocery portals. The products that will be available exclusively online include global brands like Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips, crackers and rolls, and premium fruit variants of its Tropicana juices.
PepsiCo’s online-only decision must have also come because of the fact that online grocery segment is growing at fierce pace, and many Indian consumers now prefer buying their groceries online.
It is just not just PepsiCo, but other large FMCG brands like HUL, P&G, ITC, R&B, Godrej and others are all aggressively pushing their products through various ecommerce portals.
According to forecasts, ecommerce will account for 5.2% of global FMCG sales by 2016, up from 3.7%, and that Asia will be the next major growth market. In India, the growth is expected to be much higher than it’s global peers, because it is just starting out and internet consumers are growing at much faster pace in India compared to anywhere in the world!
