Udaan plans to expand FMCG reach 6-fold to 10,000 small towns, villages

Riding on the opportunity in the cold beverages segment in rural areas, B2B e-commerce unicorn Udaan is planning to expand FMCG vertical reach six-fold to around 10,000 small towns and villages in a year, a senior company official said.

The Lightspeed Ventures Partners-backed firm is expecting to double its business in the cold beverages segment on a year-over-year basis in the upcoming summers, Udaan FMCG Business head Vinay Shrivastava told PTI.

"Given the wide choice of partner brands available on the platform and our expansion across Bharat through Project Vistaar, we are targeting growth of around 100 per cent YoY in cold beverages on the back of strong demands from retailers/kirana owners in rural markets," Shrivastava said.

Udaan has undertaken an ambitious project by the name of "Project Vistaar' to grow the FMCG business and tap rural opportunities.

Started in the Ghazipur and Jaunpur districts of Uttar Pradesh, the company is servicing rural markets, having up to 3,000 population.

"Our aim is to expand 'Project Vistaar' reach to 10,000 towns and villages over the next 10-12 months," Shrivastava said.

The company is looking to tap rural opportunities for cold beverage supplies for expansion.

"Keeping in mind the current demand in rural areas, we are stocking small pack sizes and looking to make available a wide variety of brands on the Udaan platform," Shrivastava said.

He also noted that Udaan is working with key brands Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Dabur, Hector Beverages (PaperBoat), HellEnergy etc. - and ramping up its inventory to make available a wide range of cold beverages to small retailers and kirana owners.

"To cater to the demand from across Bharat, Udaan has enhanced its warehousing capacities with next-day delivery options. Keeping in mind the rural demand, Udaan is looking at supplying not only a variety of brands, but also making available small-size packs. For example a 200-millilitre size pack perfectly fits the purchase habits of customers from Bharat," Shrivastava said.