The snacks market is in for some nail-biting action. Four-and-a-half years after entering the wafers and finger food space in India with its Bingo brand, ITC Foods is pushing hard to take the game a notch higher. Its latest offering, Tangles, is part of that broader strategy.
According to Chitranjan Dar, divisional chief executive, ITC Foods, Tangles, which falls under the finger snacks category, appears Western in texture, but has a distinct Indian flavour to it. He said: “The consumer is always looking for something new when it comes to snacks and a lot of it depends on the flavour and the format the snack carries. Tangles will aim at carving a niche with respect to both format and flavour.”
Carrying three price points of `5, `10, `20, ITC Tangles made its debut in September in North India and the South, including Tamil Nadu and Bangalore. The company intends to make it available in the western and eastern regions by December.
The Bingo brand, which was introduced in March 2007 and covers products like potato chips, Mad Angles and Tedhe Medhe, sells in close to 6.5 lakh shops and outlets in India, with over one lakh new shops being added every year. The Bangalore-based company is hopeful that with Tangles, the footprint can only get wider.
According to industry estimates, the organised market for snacks in India is valued at more than `4,000 crore, with finger snacks and chips alone - the space where Bingo is present — accounting for Rs2,500-3,000 crore. Finger snacks in particular sees an explosive growth of 25-30% year on year, which refers to snacks other than traditional items and potato chips. ITC Foods is striving to grow much beyond that number.
Prominent players in the finger snacks segment include Lay’s Kurkure, Haldiram’s Takatak, Parle’s Full Toss and the like. “The segment is extremely fragmented and there are differences in appearance, texture and taste among various products. So, even though there are competitors, there is no direct competition like in the potato chips category. So, a lot depends on how the firm can market the product,” said an analyst from a brokerage firm.
Dar said that to get the new product registered in the consumer psyche, apart from advertisements, channels like Facebook, product sampling, and mall tie-ups will be used. Anand Halve, co-founder of the Mumbai-based brand and communications consultancy, Chlorophyll, said how a new variant does depends a lot on the credibility of the mother brand. “Once that credibility is established, then the new variants should bring something different to the table in order to succeed,” he added.
Industry experts agree that the credibility of Bingo is well established in terms of clarity of image. However, for the new variant to do well in the non-metros and semi-urban settings, certain other factors come into play. Halve said, “A brand has to be available and accessible. Second, the taste profile should be compatible with the consumer preferences in rural and semi-urban set-ups.
Usually, people in these markets prefer traditional flavours rather than flavours like cheese.” He was quick to add that the advertising and communication play a critical role here.
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