Apr 23, 2020
Amul witnessed an increase in its sales by 30-40% of butter, cheese and tetrapak milk and sakes of digestive biscuit brand McVities went up by 100%.
In the first three weeks of the lockdown the demand for butter, cheese, noodles, frozen non-veg snacks, digestive biscuits, chocolates shot up 50-150%, sources from the companies and retail chains informed.
To meet increased demand in food segments, the companies have to struggle through supply constraints. On the other hand, sales of grooming products such as hair dyes, make-up and cosmetics, shaving products and deodorants have dried up as nowhere to go, people finding lesser need to do to groom themselves. Instead, women and men are opting for home-done grooming remedies to stay presentable.
“We are seeing increased traction for chocolates which are compensating as desserts and to manage kids at home, digestive biscuits since consumers are trying to manage weight and lemon-based products which are known to be high-efficacy immunity boosters as well as because of the lack of beverages’ availability,” said Devendra Chawla, the chief executive of Spencer’s Retail and Nature’s Basket.
“Sales in general trade have doubled for digestives and some adjacent categories such as Marie. People are moving towards healthier options and portion packs which can be stored for longer period,” said McVities maker Pladis’ president, Abhishek Sharma.
Prashant Vatkar, the chief executive of Godrej Tyson maker of Yummiez frozen foods, said: “Due to a rise in consumption and pantry stocking, demand for frozen snacks has increased significantly. However, given the shortage of labour and irregular service by third party cold chain operators, we are unable to service that demand fully.”
With people cooking at home and kids staying indoors, demand for both ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat foods has gone up. “While demand is up 100% as Indians are cooking elaborate meals at home, we are managing to service only one fourth of the demand with supply chain being severely constrained,” said Vijay Arora, the chairman of LT Overseas, maker of Daawat and Royal packaged Basmati rice.