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PepsiCo India aims to double sales volumes of Kurkure, the flagship brand in its snacks portfolio, over the next 4-5 years.
The company is also working on reducing the salt content in its snacks products, in line with its long-term global commitments.
New variant
The company has also launched a new Kurkure Multi-Grain variant, which has about 6 per cent of ragi grain, and comes with reduced sodium content.
Jagrut Kotecha, Vice-President, Snacks Category, PepsiCo India, said: “We aim to double the Kurkure business in the next 4-5 years. For this, we are focused on launching innovations, which match the taste profile of various regions in the country. We have also revamped the packaging and brand communication in line with evolving consumer trends. We are also focusing on ramping up the distribution of the brand across traditional trade, modern trade and ecommerce channels.”
The company’s move to launch Kurkure’s multi-grain variant, which uses the nutri-cereal ragi, is in line with the rising trend of consumers looking for great-tasting but guilt-free snacks, he added.
“As per our Performance with Purpose (PwP) agenda, we work to improve our snacks products through a stepwise reduction approach. In India, we have been successful in reducing 21 metric tonnes of sodium from our entire snack portfolio till last year, and aim to reduce sodium in 75 per cent of our food portfolio by 2025.
“The recently launched multigrain variant with power grain ragi is meeting our global agenda on sodium reduction with a 21.5 per cent less sodium,” said Kotecha. PepsiCo India has also introduced a new youth-focused packaging for all the 40 variants of Kurkure, which emphasises on the ingredients used in the products on the front of the packs.
“We worked for about 12 months on these new packaging designs and it involved the local team partnering with PepsiCo’s Global Design Group as well as an external agency,” he said.
Double-digit growth
Despite intense competition from local and regional players, the company said that it has seen a double-digit growth in the salty snacks segment.
It believes that focusing on regional variants has contributed significantly to the growth trajectory.
“The taste profiles in India change every 100-200 km. So over the last 2-3 years, we have been developing a portfolio that meets the diversity in the consumers’ taste profile. We will continue to dial up the region-specific flavours in the Kurkure portfolio,” he added.
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