Making healthier snacks and fortification of our portfolio is a major agenda: Britannia's Ali Harris Shere

As fitness becomes a fad, healthy snacking is emerging to be a lucrative category for many FMCG brands in India. Though it still constitutes a small part of the snacking category, the healthy snacks market is growing rapidly with many brands launching nutritious options for consumers.

Britannia too is focusing on making healthier snacks and fortifying existing products in a bid to reach out to younger and new consumers. On completing 100 years in the country, the brand had undergone an identity change and announced the launch of 50 new products in 12 months since the re-branding.

“Many of the efforts made in the 100-year celebrations and the new logo was aimed to target the new, younger and digital-savvy Indian consumer. From bringing excitement to the logo to investing in a digital 100-year film, this set of consumers was top of mind. Making healthier snacks and fortification of our portfolio is a major agenda,” said Ali Harris Shere, VP, Marketing, Britannia Industries Ltd.

“In today’s day and age, the consumer is discerning. Our track record for voluntary fortification is proven with a significant portion of our portfolio already fortified with essential micro-nutrients. With that, we also take care to include fibre and whole grain to give more wholesomeness to our consumers. For example, the NutriChoice brand has whole grains (a mix of whole wheat, oats, ragi, maize, millets, etc., in varied proportions) and is high in fibre. The same can also be said for our current breads portfolio,” added Shere.

Britannia has removed transfats from its entire portfolio. The company has taken the lead in providing micro-nutrient fortification in 47% of its products. Britannia has reduced sugar content by 6% per serving and has committed to reduce it further by 5% by 2020. Similar efforts are being made on the sodium content as well.

Having completed a century in the country, Shere believes one of the biggest marketing challenges that the category faces is of too many brands jostling for the consumer’s attention.

“In the biscuit category, there are a few big challenges: differentiation in a crowded market, building consumer loyalty or regularity of consumption when they have so many new experiences and offerings to choose from and lastly, a fragmented media — move from TV consumption to new age media which fragments marketing spend,” said Shere.

Britannia is vying for the top spot in the biscuit category with its Good Day. The position currently lies with Parle’s Parle-G. Varun Berry, MD, Britannia, had earlier claimed that Good Day would surpass Parle-G to become the number one biscuit brand in the country.

Shere said, “Good Day is the largest biscuit brand in urban India already and yes, our ambition is to become the biggest biscuit brand in the country. As India evolves, we are seeing a shift in consumers — they are more aspirational which means upgrades are required. We think that through Good Day, we can provide consumers with an opportunity to upgrade their biscuit experience.”

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