Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL), player in the dry cell batteries segment, has now entered the Rs 9,000 crores plus confectionary market through its brand Jollies.
In the first phase, Jollies will be launched in the fruit chew segment. This segment estimated to be around Rs. 400 crores is growing at a rapid pace.
With extensive distribution, being one of EIIL’s key strengths, confectionary would provide an opportunity to not only compliment the current basket of products and give an opportunity to offer value added products to the Company’s vast up-country distribution, Jollies will also provide a quality offering to rural consumers who have limited access to branded confectionary and are dependent on unorganised and often poor quality products.
The company believes that the fast-growing fruit chew segment will double in the next 3 to 4 years and expects to become a significant player in this segment by making this under-penetrated category available across urban and rural India through its robust deep distribution network.
EIIL is working on an asset light model and hopes that it can add significant turnover and profitability with entry into this segment.
Speaking on the occasion, Amritanshu Khaitan, managing director EIIL said, “Jollies is the first step to scale up our FMCG portfolio of products. We believe that priced at Re.1, Jollies Fruit Chew will be an attractive offering to Indian consumers who prefer healthier choices. The product being launched has a high percentage of natural fruit pulp, making it a preferred healthier option to pure sugar candy. Candies are a mass market product and can be carried in the Eveready vans reaching a million outlets. This brings in a major competitive advantage for us and we believe we can become a major player in the fast growing confectionery market in the next 3-5 years with only investments required for branding.”
