PepsiCo India launched Mirinda Joosy exclusively for the Tamil Nadu market on Wednesday. This is its strongest market where the company wants to test the waters before going for a national launch.
Mirinda Joosy has 50 per cent less sugar than normal Mirinda and 5 per cent more orange juice. A plant-based sweetener Stevia compensates sweetness for the low sugar content.
Addressing mediapersons in Chennai today, Vipul Prakash, Senior Vice President, Beverage Category, said the objective of launching the product in Tamil Nadu, which is the biggest market for Mirinda, is to “understand the market before launching pan-India. It will take at least a year before we scale up.”
Mirinda Joosy will be available in 500 ml bottle across Tamil Nadu along with the regular Mirinda.
Earlier PepsiCo India had launched 7Up with 30 per cent less sugar in Gujarat. “In Gujarat we replaced 7Up less sugar variety with regular product and the response was good. Now we are thinking about scaling up,” Prakash said.
Though it might not be a pan-India launch we plan to introduce the new product in important markets 2018. “But we are yet to finalise the places,” he added.
The company has half-a-dozen brands in the low sugar beverage category. According to Prakash the company is looking to expand the category and products like Mirinda Joosy are in that direction. However, the category is still nascent and contributes less than 10 per cent of total sales for now.