Parle Agro looks to penetrate home consumption market for LMN

Encouraged by the response to its newly launched non-carbonated lemon drink 'LMN', beverages player Parle Agro plan to introduce the product in format of one litre and above to attract the home consumption market.     

The company, which launched LMN in March this year, is aiming to garner a bigger slice of the estimated Rs 2,000 crore Indian organised fruit-based drink market and would focus on larger pack formats of one litre and above as part of the strategy.     

"We are planning to increase our portfolio under different packages in the next few months. Our main target would be the home consumer segment and we would go for larger pack formats," Parle Agro Joint Managing Director Nadia Chauhan told PTI.     

She, however, refused to share details regarding the exact grammage size being planned for introduction.     

"The existing portfolio have helped us get a very good response, specially among the on-the-go consumers. We are now looking in penetrating the home consumption market and the larger pack format would help us in this," Chauhan said.     

Parle Agro launched LMN in March this year in three different package sizes — 110 ml Tetra, 200 ml Tetra and 500 ml.     

The company is hoping to repeat the success of its mango-based drink 'Frooti' through LMN in the lemon segment.

Speaking about the potential market for the product, Chauhan said: "Nimbu paani (lemon water) is a huge segment and it is difficult for anyone to guess the exact market size. However, this provides us an opportunity to place the product in same league as our flagship brand Frooti."     

She added that the estimated Rs 2,000 crore organised fruit drink market is growing at a fast rate and forms only a small portion of the total market.      Parle Agro is also planning a major marketing initiative with main emphasis on ground-level (below the line) activities to promote the product.     

"Among the major initiatives are product sampling at destinations including retail outlets and hangouts, besides visibility and advertising campaigns," Chauhan added.