Mass energiser puts the squeeze on juicewalas

NourishCo, the newly formed joint venture between PepsiCo and Tata Global Beverages, is readying to market its first indigenous offering — Gluco Plus, a ready-to-drink, mass-based energiser — in the ‘non-modern' trade formats, taking on the challenge of competing with local fruit juice stalls.

Targeting kiranas, small grocery and convenient stores, NourishCo also faces the task of creating a new category in the mass energy drinks category, away from the premium category occupied by brands such as Red bull and Cloud 9.

Moreover, PepsiCo will have to take the mass product Gluco Plus to the smaller outlets, where it does not enjoy a wide presence currently.

Eyeing a ‘sizeable market'

Mr Ashok Namboodiri, Chief Sales and Marketing, NourishCo, told

Business Line , “Gluco Plus would be available at the kirana and traditional grocery outlets and not in the modern trade formats. We have the onus of category creation in the ready-to-drink mass energy hydration segment and the focus will be on mass distribution.”

It is currently manufactured by PepsiCo at its Aurangabad facility and is at a pilot stage in Maharashtra. Later, with countrywide distribution, the manufacturing would be outsourced.

Gluco Plus — sold at Rs 5 for 200 ml — would be pitted against the unorganised fruit juice vendors, as currently no beverage brand is pegged at this price point. “It is going to be a sizeable market as there are no such brands in this category and we see a huge opportunity here, and we would be competing against the street fruit juice vendors,” says Mr Namoodiri.

Mineral water challenges

On the other hand, the Tata-owned Himalayan natural mineral water brand would come with its own set of challenges. While PepsiCo would take on its distribution, Tata is expected to invigorate the brand through additional product development. “There would be more value-added waters and new opportunities explored within the category by the Tatas in terms of product development, while NourishCo would have a key role to play in premium marketing. The challenge for the brand is in building salience through an undifferentiated way.”

Dialogue Factory, a specialised unit of GroupM, will organise a series of BTL (below the line) initiatives for both brands. “There will be BTL activities like extensive sampling for Gluco Plus in both the urban and rural markets. While for Himalayan, the brand will continue to get associated with fashion and luxury events to create an experiential platform,” said Mr Namoodiri. Going forward, NourishCo will look at more opportunities within the hydration category with PepsiCo's sales and distribution network aiding it in reaching out with its brands.