Innovation and novelty are key drivers in confectionery: Yogesh Tewari

Interview with marketing director, Wrigley India

We will continue to focus on young adults, which is the group most open to experiments, Yogesh Tewari tells Ritwik Sharma.

To what extent have you had to customise Wrigley’s products keeping in mind the tastes and preferences of the Indian customer?
 

Confectionery is a well-established Rs 9,000-crore industry in India with no dearth of products. However, mint as a category is still nascent and constitutes only 20 per cent of the Rs 1,000-crore gum market. There is great potential in this segment with a lot of head room to grow. We see the scope of innovation to market our products and be creative in our approach to consumers. We are sure to see more original flavours and product varieties soon. We will continue to focus on young adults/adults as our target audience — this is the group that’s most open to experiments.

A lot of research goes into developing products — prototypes of a product are developed and validated through consumer testing before it reaches the market. The Indian market is unique in many ways — consumer tastes, trade environment, value proposition and price points — and we undertake thorough research to validate our products before launching them.

Take Doublemint, a signature Wrigley product that was launched in India last year. What are the things you had to do to adapt that product for the Indian market?

Wrigley India’s Doublemint Mints is the perfect solution for on-the-go freshness. Doublemint helps everyone, everywhere feel confident to connect with others. The Doublemint Mints are available in two refreshing flavours — peppermint, which is a core mint flavour, and spearmint which is a sweeter and milder flavour. A lot of research went into developing this sugar-free product, in terms of taste, packaging and fulfilment of a fundamental requirement of freshness. India is the first country to have launched this version of Doublemint Mints, and this unique offering is suitable for both traditional and modern retail formats.

Doublemint is a global brand of Wrigley, while the Doublemint sticks product has been a part of the Indian market for about 20 years. We have deployed specially designed Doublemint branded Wrigley merchandising units in our top outlets of tier-I cities of India. Consumers have received Doublemint Mints very well and in fact we are increasing our supplies to cater to the increasing demand.

How has the Indian gum market in general developed in the last couple of decades? Since it is a low-involvement category, how has Wrigley worked to keep the buzz alive?

Mint is one of the biggest verticals of the confectionery industry. On a global scale, the premium segment within this category is charted as the fastest growing. However, in India it is nascent and growing rapidly. It has a lot of potential to be explored with the launch of the Doublemint Mints. The chewing gum market is divided into various categories: the traditional bubble gum, the common chewing gum and new products such as sugar-free gum and chewing gum to keep teeth white or medicated for other purposes.

According to an AC Nielsen’s report, India’s gum market is sized around Rs  1,000 crore. India is one of the fastest growing gum categories worldwide, with about 20 per cent annual growth. The size of the confectionery category in India stands at a robust Rs 71.5 billion. However, it is extremely fragmented. The key drivers within the confectionery segment, as we understand, are innovation and novelty. Therefore, new product launches are increasingly important to the business.

With 26 per cent share, Wrigley holds the number 2 position in India’s gum industry. Wrigley began its India journey with peppermint flavour of Doublemint sticks in 1995. In the past 20 years, its distribution has stayed limited to specific modern trade outlets, owing to its premium pricing.

Are the target audiences mainly children and youths for Wrigley products, and if you look at extending to other demographics what are the broad challenges?

Our products are favoured by people of all age groups, especially the youth. We believe it is very important for those who love our brands to choose products with an understanding of the ingredients that we use, which is why we value transparency in all of our product labelling. It’s important that the messages we give consumers are accurate, honest, and appropriate for all ages. We also strongly believe that children should be learning from the world around them, not advertisements. That’s why we’ve committed to not advertising our products and services to children who are 12 or younger.