Rivals snack on Pepsico’s share despite leader’s ‘good show’

PepsiCo retained its leadership in the packaged snacks category, although the market share of mainstay brands Lay’s and Kurkure shrank by both value and volume in the year ended March 2019.

Rivals Haldiram’s and ITC gained share during the year, said three industry officials, citing data from Nielsen. PepsiCo said the data was “under-reported.”

PepsiCo’s volume share for Lay’s potato chips, with overall sales of over a billion dollars, fell to 33% in 2018-19 from 34% a year earlier, while value share declined to 36% from 38%, the data showed.

PepsiCo sued and later withdrew legal cases against nine farmers in Gujarat for alleged intellectual property “rights infringement” on the grounds that they “illegally” grew its registered potato variety used to make its Lay’s chips.

For Kurkure, PepsiCo’s local salty snacks brand, volume share dropped to 27% in 2018-19 from 30%, while value share declined to 28% from 31%.

“We have not subscribed to Nielsen data for the last 18 months. It is also significant to note that both Lay’s and Kurkure continue to be leaders in snacks and have seen healthy growth rates year-on-year,” a PepsiCo spokesperson said in an email response.

The spokesperson said Lay’s and Kurkure have registered “strong double-digit growth rate” which he attributed to “premiumisation and innovation resulting in value and volume share gain in 2018-19.”

“PepsiCo India would like to categorically state that the data by Nielsen has been under-reported,” he added.

A spokesperson for Nielsen India said it cannot validate the data. “We cannot validate or verify data owing to client confidentiality policies and sensitivities in place and do not release any numbers among competing clients,” she said.

While PepsiCo was the first global brand to begin selling packaged snacks in India in 1995, local brands including ITC’s Bingo, Prataap Snacks’ Yellow Diamond and Parle and older ones including Haldiram’s and Balaji have since expanded their footprint nationally.

ITC’s share in overall snacks has gone up to 7.2% from 6.4% by value in the same period, the officials said. ITC divisional chief executive (foods) Hemant Malik said in an email: “ITC Foods has emerged a leading player in the snacks category with leadership position in the bridges segment; this is a result of increasing consumer traction, anchored on innovative and differentiated variants, and advertising which resonated well with consumers.”

Source:-https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/grocery/rivals-snack-on-pepsicos-share-despite-leaders-good-show/69210237