Diversified conglomerate ITC feels there is a “further scope” to enhance the market share of its Noodles segment under YiPPee! brand in the North, where it is “relatively smaller” in large regions.
YiPPee! is No. 2 brand in Noodles on a pan-India basis. The conglomerate’s Foods business will keep focussing on to grow in geographies where there is still scope to increase market shares. Nestle India’s Maggi is the market leader in the Noodles segment.
“There are large regions of the North where we are still relatively smaller (in Noodles). So, we want to grow there going forward,” said Suresh Chand, Vice president & Head of Marketing, snacks, noodles & pasta, ITC Foods.
Chand said the company’s key focus area is “product augmentation” to increase the market share further in Noodles. “Over the years we have done a very strong entry into this category. We have come up with a completely different proposition and we stand for long non-sticky noodles and there are veggies also that we have provided in the product. And it has given us extremely good results over the years. And very recently what we have done that along with Orange bucket (with differentiated taste), we have also come up with a product Wow Masala which is into the Yellow bucket. It has a better masala and even the quantity of the masala is more,” Chand said here on Wednesday.
Strategic partnership
He was speaking on the sidelines of an event where ITC’s “Sunfeast YiPPee!” and “Bingo!” announced strategic partnership with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) as its official regional sponsor.
Bingo! is No. 1 in the Bridges segment of Snack Foods. Bingo! earlier had collaborations with Kerala Blasters Football Club and East Bengal FC.
According to Chand, at the industry level Noodles and Snacks are fairly large categories. “Because there is a lot of play by local and regional players also, these growths (for the company) need to now be further enhanced. And that is where these partnerships and your products would be important going forward,” he pointed out.
As a part of the partnership with Argentine Football Association (AFA), respective brands have unveiled packs featuring star players like Lionel Messi, Ángel Di María, Julián Álvarez and Emiliano Martínez.
Headroom for growth
“YiPPee! and “Bingo! are the categories where there is a lot of headroom still to grow in terms of penetration and average consumptions. There are a lot of avenues to grow. We have to continue to work on our brand building, consumer connect and distribution. I am quite hopeful that the growth will continue and we keep accelerating in these categories,” Chand said.
Snacks, noodles and pasta constitute a “substantial part” of ITC’s Food business, he added.
Notably, the conglomerate’s non-cigarette FMCG business registered a 7.59 per cent year-on-year growth in its revenue to ₹5,209.05 crore during third quarter this fiscal, while the segment posted a 24 per cent y-o-y growth in operating profit at ₹431.82 crore during the period. The company, in its media statement after declaring its results on Monday, said its non-cigarette FMCG business delivered a resilient performance amidst slowdown in consumer demand. Segment EBITDA margins expanded 100 basis points year on year to 11 per cent.