Chitranajan Dar On Sunfeast Marketing Strategies

ITC  has been trying  to establish itself into one of the major player in biscuit segment with brand Sunfeast , launching wide spectrum of  biscuit varieties . It has got products to match  all major segment s of biscuit market such as Marie , Nice , Glucose, Bourbon , Cream  and  Salty .Competition comes from  Britannia and Parle .

Chitranjan Dar on ITC marketing strategies 

Dar pointed out that ITC Foods was able to disrupt the leadership of Parle in the biscuits’ category, which was primarily lea by the Glucose segment. “Five years ago, ‘Glucose biscuits’, coming at affordable price points and targeted at the masses commanded almost 55 per cent share of the biscuits’ category,” he said, adding, “Today, cookies and cream biscuits are emerging as the largest segment within the category.”

This, he said, was possible when Sunfeast, an ITC brand, along with other players came up with cookies and cream biscuits in smaller packaging, priced at Rs 5. “A market that led for 95 years, crumbled in two years,” he said, referring to the leadership Parle commanded.

          source

exchange4media.com

Chitrajan Dar CEO ITC Foods Speak s On Business Strategy

ITC  foods  a food arm of  India,'s major corporate house ITC ltd , which has business spread out to  tobacco , papers , hotels , lifestyle , packaged food  and Agri  commodities. ITC  ltd  major earnings come from tobacco business and are leader in this category . To make ITC less dependent on tobacco earnings it has diversified in to  foods and personal care segment  making it into league  of HUL , PG , Kraft and Pepsi .  Chitrajan  Dar  has taken over from Ravi Navare as CEO of it Food division ITC  Foods.Sun feast brands of biscuit s   have made a mark  on biscuit segment giving tough competition to already entrenched players  like Britannia and Parle . Taking advantage of  huge network of  existing  dealers  and distribution channels  ITC  could well become a  major brand in biscuit  segment

Speaks  to ET 

ITC Foods, the maker of Bingo! Chips, Sunfeast biscuits and Yippee! Noodles, has gained a reputation of being a disruptive player. Contributing 12-13% to its parent's revenue, the division turned the corner last fiscal. Its boss, chief executive Chitranjan Dar , though, is reluctant to take all the credit. He says he took over when brands were established and the division only needed consolidation.

The strength of ITC Foods lies in sourcing staples through its e-choupal system that offers direct contact with farmers and a distribution channel that piggybacks on the equity enjoyed by Wills cigarettes across corner outlets. Dar, who has had a three-decade-run at the cigarettes-to-hotels group, tells Sarah Jacob how the division is now focused on a high-margin, value-added products strategy and is working on developing healthier offerings.

 Excerpts from an interview:

Where does Sunfeast stand in the biscuits segment?


Our market share is a third of what Britannia and Parle
Products have. (Industry estimates peg Sunfeast's market share at 11%).
We are looking at profitable growth by following a higher margin,
value-added strategy. We have been focusing on the mid-market and
premium segment and less on glucose biscuits. We launched Marie oats,
Special cookies, premium creams, choco fills and relaunched Marie and
Dark Fantasy.

source
The Economic Times