FMCG companies witnessed strong growth on the e-commerce channel, even as offline retail has been booming in recent times. Leading FMCG companies such as Dabur India, Nestle India, Tata Consumer Products and Marico said that the e-commerce channel grew in strong double-digits in the September quarter.
Nestle India recently stated that the e-commerce channel accelerated in the September quarter, fuelled by emerging formats such as quick commerce, and contributed 7.2 per cent to its quarterly sales. The company has also jumped onto the D2C bandwagon and is piloting mynestle.in in the Delhi-NCR region.
Standout performer
On an investor call, Mohit Malhotra, CEO of Dabur India, said, “Among channels, e-commerce was a standout performer with a growth of 50 per cent, and now contributes around 9 per cent to our revenue. Four years back it used to be around 2-3 per cent. Now, e-commerce has become a cradle for all innovations for us. Our new product contribution on e-commerce is already 11 per cent.” He added that its products such as the baby care range, peanut butter and apple cider vinegar, among others, are doing well on the e-commerce channel.
Marico, too, in its earnings statement, said that in the September quarter e-commerce and modern trade channels grew in double-digits.
Digital marketing
FMCG firms are investing heavily in digital marketing as well as leveraging digital platforms to launch new products, while some are also experimenting with their own D2C platforms.
“E-commerce channel has become integral to consumers. For us, it is growing at over 40 per cent. In FY22, the e-commerce channel’s contribution to sales was at 7.5 per cent, and in the September quarter it contributed 9.2 per cent to sales,” said Sunil D’Souza, MD and CEO, Tata Consumer Products.
Meanwhile, in a recent interaction, Sanket Ray, President of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, said that the company is strongly investing in the digital space. “We are focused on ensuring that our B2B partners are able to order our product online directly from us. We also see huge potential in partnering with the Open Network for Digital Commerce platform for direct reach. It’s in the experimental phase, and our platform Coke2Home is registering as a supplier,” he said. E-commerce channels have contribution to the beverage major’s sales has doubled in the past few years.