The pandemic has prompted a lot of snacking and people are awake till 12-1 a.m., after eating dinner at 8-9 p.m., this is an accidental nod to revenge procrastination, many people tend to sacrifice sleep to spend time doing things they like (usually streaming) after wrapping up their work.
Brands too are aware of to our desires and in this pandemic it is observed that various brands, from ready-to-cook kebabs to two-minute noodles to premium biscuits and even momos, do their best to satiate our hunger.
With India’s festive season around the corner, Parle Products has just introduced three new namkeen flavours, under its ‘Chatkeens’ brand (known as Parle Namkeen until 2017).
Lite Chiwda, Gujarati Mixture and Farali Chiwda are the new flavours. Chatkeens has announced a nationwide rollout of Farali Chiwda, while Lite Chiwda and Gujarati Mixture will only be available in India’s northern, western and central markets. These three take the total number of flavours under Chatkeens to 19.
In 2020, Chatkeens had launched two flavours: Butter Murukku and South Mixture. “About 45-50 per cent traditional namkeen sales come during the festive season,” reveals Krishnarao Buddha, talking about the main reason behind the launch of the new flavours.
Farali Chiwda flavour during these times is one of the favorites, especially in Gujarat and Maharashtra, where people tend to ‘fast’. Buddha said that the brand wanted to offer consumers a light snacking option, unlike an Aloo Bhujiya or Moong Dal and, hence, the launch of Lite Chiwda. Adding to this is the Gujarati Mixture which was a winner when taste-tested across geographies in the north and the south. It is a unique offering.
As these flavours are new, Parle Products will introduce them at a Rs 5 price point to encourage trials. Once they do well, other SKUs will hit the market. As of now, Chatkeens’ existing flavours are available across offline and online channels, and 400 gm-1 kg units are doing extremely well online, tells Buddha.
Krishnarao Buddha said that the consumers don’t want to put in all that effort and “convenience is what they’re seeking,” hence Chatkeens competes with not only the likes of, say, Haldiram’s, but also the gigantic unorganised namkeen market.
However, Chatkeens is competing against not just players (organised and unorganised) from its segment, but also brands from different categories. For instance, it competes against Nestle Maggi, Sunfeast Dark Fantasy, ITC Master Chef ready-to-cook items, and several other brands and food items.
The turnover of organised salted snacks (namkeen is a part of it) category is Rs 30,000 crore per annum, while the unorganised segment is valued at Rs 20,000-25,000 crore. And while the latter will have its loyalists, there is bound to be a “greater move towards higher and aspirational namkeens and farsans as awareness spreads about their quality and preparation method.”
Also Consumers now have a greater awareness of how the items are cooked and the possible storage conditions, he says, and will choose “packaged and branded” items in future.
India has a 130 crore populace, those choosing taste would form the major chunk. Those who’d see the ingredients would be in the 20-25 crore range, followed by the health fanatics, whose tally would go up to one crore (it was around 25 lakh in the past). Yes, there is a higher level of awareness among the consumers on what’s inside the pack, but the “taste comes first and foremost.”
While Chatkeens has 19 flavours now, its market share, as of now, is below five per cent. But Buddha is confident of its growth, considering the category’s “fast-track growth.”