India Food Forum deliberates the consumption shift though conventional stores hold ground
Mumbai: Emerging grocery brands are cost efficiently finding their way to the dark stores rather than standalone retail outlets, according to consumption trends experts at the 17th edition of India Food Forum taking place in Mumbai.
The investment cost for reaching out to a standalone grocery outlet is relatively high and since a buying decision is now done by more than one person sitting in the comfort of one’s home, it becomes more sense for emerging brands to opt for quick commerce. While grocers still account for 85% of the share in the retail market, the shift towards online is rapidly on the rise.
“Affordability and price are the key pillars, but purchase decisions are also swayed by other manifestations of value,” said Yoann Painbeni, Managing Director – APAC, Retail Vertical at NielsenIQ.
Around 50% of consumers’ shop online to get better deals while 47% see digital technologies to find better deals, Painbeni said. Traditional trade remains steady by online channels are the biggest source of growth. Affordable brands dominate the growth story, as increase in food prices are a concern among consumers, Painbeni said.
In an economy, which is growing by over 6%, large FMCG companies are growing by merely 3%, which indicates that emerging brands are now capturing market shares at the cost of established brands in the food space, said RS Sodhi, President, Indian Dairy Association.
Gol-gappa or Pani-puri has a market of Rs. 70,000 crore and increasingly around 10 % of it is becoming organized with a lot of further potential. Think about other Indian conventional snacks like Kachori and Samosa and the market potential that it can unlock, Sodhi said.
