ITC picks up Nokia’s global packaging deal.

retailnu — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:35:06 +0000

IT HAS remained a well kept secret for a while. ITC is now the principal supplier of value-added packaging material and box cartons for every Nokia cellphone that gets shipped to as many as 50 countries from the Finnish telecom giant’s Chennai factory. Nokia has silently inked a bulk purchase agreement with the $4.75-billion plus cigarettes-to-hotels conglomerate, wherein ITC is now the prime vendor of packaging material and customised microfluted cartons for all Nokia phones and accessories manufactured in Channai.

When contacted, both Nokia India and ITC confirmed the development. According to a Nokia India spokeswoman: “The decision to enter into a global purchase pact with ITC for packaging cellphones manufactured in Chennai is part of Nokia’s global sourcing strategy, wherein the packaging material and box cartons are procured from a local supplier near to its handset manufacturing plant. We can’t share commercials but such international purchase agreements are reviewed periodically.”

As Nokia phones shipped from Chennai hit several global retail points in 50 countries, ITC has to manufacture boxes that meet the Finnish player’s stringent quality standards. “Since all sales boxes and the larger shipping cartons supplied by ITC will carry the Nokia brand and hit several of our international retail points, quality consistency is critical. The boxes will also need to have very high grade image graphics and texture,” said Mr Josh Foulger, who is Nokia’s national sourcing head for India.

ITC bites off 11% of biscuit market

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:32:09 +0000

THOUGH ITC is nearly synonymous with tobacco, it has in no way stopped people from munching ITC’s biscuits. The company has managed to corner nearly 11% of the national biscuit market.

Since the Rs 9,000-crore biscuit market witnessed a growth of 20% last year and is slated to sustain its growth this fiscal, ITC is looking at enhancing its biscuit manufacturing capacities by at least 15-20%, primarily to manage supply chain costs and improve profitability. “We plan to set up additional capacities in such areas where we have developed a significant front-end scale, but are limited by proximate capacities. Attempts are being made to create new biscuit variants in segments that are relevant to the consumer. The positioning of the marketing mix is also being worked upon to drive consumption by creating convenient price points or by differentiating product propositions,” Mr Chitranjan Dar, chief operating officer, ITC Foods Division, told ET.

For starters, ITC plans to drive growth by vitalising its brand ‘Sunfeast’ through product innovation, contemporary packaging and targeted brand communication. A huge investment is also being planned for brand building and product development. At the same time, the company is looking at investments in building trade loyalty across channels and markets.

Elaborating further, Mr Dar said, “while ITC per se has no plans to rationalise its biscuits portfolio, we review the basket from time to time. Additions or deletions takes place on the basis of the market feedback and actual sales. The idea is to strengthen the winners and replace the average performers with potential winners from the biscuits stable. As of now, there is no product which does not contribute positively to the overall pool of contributions.”

Incidentally, a large proportion of the growth in the biscuits segment is coming from the mid-price offers growing at 35%. The mid-price offers is the non glucose segment and includes cookies and sandwich cream products.

“There are clear indications that consumers are upgrading to mid-price offers in line with the growth of packaged foods in the country. Since consumers are ready to pay for good quality and tasty products, we find a growing value for product quality and hygiene. Hence, our capacity additions will partly be in line with these requirements Mr Dar pointed out. The basic product glucose, however, continues to be largest category in terms of volumes.

Retail News Update » ITC

ITC picks up Nokia’s global packaging deal.

ITC bites off 11% of biscuit market