Bacardi plans cheaper price points in India

On a high in India after recording 30 per cent growth for three consecutive years, Bacardi is spreading its net wide. “Our products have been targeted mainly at the niche and premium markets so far. The wider market is next on the agenda,” says Mahesh Madhavan, President and CEO, Bacardi India.

The current price range of its products is Rs 500-3,000. The company now aims to create at least three price points in between the existing range to target people across all income segments.

Madhavan says the company plans to shortly launch many of its global products in India, which ranks 13th in its contribution to Bacardi’s global turnover. India is an emerging market, close to Russia in terms of white spirits consumption.

Bacardi’s prime focus in India is vodka and rum, and the company plans to launch a host of new flavours soon across all categories. To begin with, it’s introducing new flavours in Bacardi ‘Superior’ and breezer this summer.

Among white spirits, vodka is the most potential market growing at a CAGR of 35 per cent. Bacardi launched its premium vodka ‘Grey Goose’ and Eristoff four years ago.

The total industry size for vodka is around six million cases. For white rum, it is half a million cases and for gin, two million per annum. In India, the vodka market is led by Diageo’s SmirnOff. In the rum category, Bacardi has been able to turn the tables as ‘Bacardi Superior’ enjoys a 97 per cent market share. But the premium rum category is currently growing at 1 per cent by volume and 2 per cent by value and is expected to grow at 4 per cent in volume and 7 percent in value in the near future, which explains why Bacardi is keen to play the mass market game.

The company has a three-pronged strategy to market its products - engagement with consumers, creating new lower price points to make it affordable for masses while still maintaining its premium brand value and to bring in more of its global brands into India. A few of Bacardi’s products in India are ‘Grey Goose’, ‘Eristoff’, ‘Dewar’s White Label’, ‘Martini Rosso’, ‘Bombay Sapphire’ etc.

Madhavan says the company’s growth has been much more than the industry trend of 22-23 per cent.

Sylvia Lagnado, Global Chief Marketing Officer, says Bacardi’s strategy would be to engage more consumers through events, parties and get-together. “Our consumer base is about 18 million in India with 29 years+ age. Since digital technology is more popular with youth, our communication would be primarily focused on that space.”