Wipro Consumer to launch international brands via e-commerce
- For the company, the India market registered a 13.5% growth year-to-date till the December quarter. Demand was led by brands such as Santoor and Max Kleen floor cleaners, among others.
NEW DELHI: Packaged consumer goods manufacturer Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting has said it will launch more online-only brands in the market and also have products from its overseas portfolio on marketplaces as it takes a long-term view of e-commerce channel in India.
Brands such as Vitress, with haircare product,s and skin-care products under the Bio-Essence label, sold largely in Malaysia and Singapore, could be launched online in India, said a top executive at the company that sells Santoor and Yardley brands here.
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“What we will see a lot more going forward is brands on e-commerce. And we may just launch, or we are considering launching brands, which are just on e-commerce," said Vineet Agrawal, CEO, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting and Executive Director, Wipro Enterprises at a virtual roundtable on Thursday.
E-commerce, as a channel, would become viable, he said, adding that it may launch Vitress (in Philippines), which is in conditioning and hair-freshening. "We have a brand Bio-Essence—it’s the number one skincare brand in Malaysia and Singapore. That's something that we are evaluating whether we can launch it only in e-commerce with multiple categories," said Agrawal.
The pandemic has aided a faster adoption of online shopping. Consequently, more FMCG companies such as Marico Ltd, Nestle India and Dabur India, among others, are either building more direct-to-consumer brands or initiating internet-first launches.
As of December quarter, the contribution of e-commerce to overall FMCG sales in India stood at 2.8%. In the metros, it was higher at 7.5%, according to data shared by NielsenIQ’s Retail Intelligence team.
For Wipro, e-commerce sales more than doubled year-on-year this fiscal. “There are products which for us, are getting more than 10% from e-commerce now. In toilet soaps, contribution is much lower because it's a low-value item, and it's easily available across corner outlets. But for something like perfumes or lotion the percentage, which is coming out of e-commerce is much higher; it goes into double digits," Agarwal said.
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Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting sells Santoor and Chandrika soaps, Glucovita energy drink, apart from home care products such as Safewash liquid detergent, Softouch fabric conditioner and Yardley talcum powder and deodorants. It also sells packaged consumer goods in 20 countries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle-East. For 2019-20, sales revenue stood at $1.09 billion.
India contributes 46% to Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting’s business, with the rest coming from international markets.
Agrawal said demand trends in India remained quite strong in the three quarters of the current fiscal. India market registered a 13.5% growth year-to-date till the December quarter. Demand was led by brands such as Santoor and Max Kleen floor cleaners, among others.
Markets such as Philippines and South Africa grew ahead of India, he said. Vietnam and Indonesia have grown mid-single digits, while China is growing in high single-digits.
Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, the $1 billion-plus arm of Wipro Enterprises, has also been actively pursuing acquisitions over the last few years to build its consumer goods business both in India and abroad.
In December 2019, it announced the acquisition of South Africa-based personal care company Canway Corp. Canway was its 12th acquisition in the last 16 years.
Covid-related disruptions have, however, slowed down its deal activity. Acquisitions could soon pick pace.
“If it is makes strategic sense to us, we would definitely do an acquisition, whether it's India or outside of India. For example, homecare outside of India is relatively smaller, so if we get home care companies outside of India, we will definitely look at it. We look at emerging categories. And those emerging categories may be different in different countries," said Agrawal.
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