Eureka Forbes, leader in the ₹3,800-crore water purification systems market, is betting big on ‘customised solutions’ to expand its footprint. Eureka Forbes has mapped the water quality in over 85 per cent of India’s pin codes over the last 15 years.
“This holds us in good stead in offering solutions for over 17 different types of water conditions in the country so far,” said Marzin R Shroff, Senior Vice-President (Marketing), Eureka Forbes Ltd.
It recently moved up the value chain from just ‘pure’ to position its products on the ‘health’ platform, with its new tagline ‘More than just pure. Healthy water’.
Over the last 30 years, Aquaguard has invested heavily in research and technology to understand customer needs and customise solutions and products to suit every water type in India. For instance, it has launched mobile water purifier Aquaguard-on-the-Go, he said.
Eureka Forbes is expanding its retail network to cover tier-II and tier-III markets.
Initially, a pure-play direct sales company, it now has a significant presence in retail, franchised, rural, institutional, community, and e-tail platforms. Shroff says the rural market holds high growth potential, particularly for offline water purifiers, and “we have come out with a new range of affordable purification units for rural markets.”
It has set up water kiosks in several tier II and tier III towns that sell water at 15 paise a litre. So far, it has established over to 200 such kiosks in the country.
It also proposes to set up such kiosks in major cities including Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Kolkata. But it may not sell a litre at 15 paise, as cost of running those kiosks in major cities will be much higher.
“We are planning to do some pilots before we launch them,” he said.
The market for water purifiers in the country is growing at 15 per cent year on year. Many home-grown and global brands have jumped into the fray.
“We welcome all competition. It fuels innovation and eventually that will benefit the consumer,” says Shroff.