- Parle-G has recorded the best sales figures during the three months of ongoing corona pandemic as biscuit sales shoot up due to lockdown.
Since 1938 Parle-G, a household brand achieved a unique milestone in terms of sales of biscuits during the lockdown. While Parle Goods, the Parle-G brand’s creators, declined to disclose precise sales figures, they affirmed that March, April, and May were their best months in more than eight decades.
“We have raised our overall market share by almost 5 percent… And 80–90 percent of that growth came from sales of Parle-G. This is unprecedented, “Mayank Shah, head of the Parle Products division, said.
Organized biscuit-makers like Parle got their operations running within a very short period after the lockdown on March 24 clamped down. Some of these companies also arranged for their workers to be transported to work for a simpler and safer commute. When the factories were in operation, these businesses concentrated on producing products that had powered full sales.
“Consumers took whatever was available-whether it was a premium or a pricey economy. Some players may also have been more focused on premium value SKUs, “says Anuj Sethi, senior director, Crisil Ratings, who recently conducted a study of FMCG players.
“Players have focused in the past 18-24 months on enhancing distribution reach, particularly in rural areas; this worked well for them during the pandemic,” he adds.
Over the past three months, biscuits across price points have seen a massive surge in sales volumes. Britannia ‘s Good Day, Tiger, Milk Bikis, Bourbon and Marie and Parle’s Krackjack, Monaco and Hide & Seek sold considerable numbers during the lockdown, experts said.
Parle Products focused on producing its best-selling but low-value brand Parle-G as it envisaged massive demand from all segments of its customers. The company will also reset its distribution channels within a week to ensure retail outlets have access to the product.
“Parle-G became the comfort food for many during the lockdown; and it was the only food they had on them for a few others. This is the biscuit of a common man; people who are unable to afford bread-buy Parle-G, “Shah says.
“We had several state governments requisitioning us for biscuits … they were in constant contact with us, inquiring about our stock position. Several non-governmental organizations purchased us humongous amounts. We were lucky to have resumed production from 25 March on, “Shah adds.
In normal times, around 400 million Parle-G biscuits are made daily by Parle Products. – And around this mammoth number, there are several trivials. The distance between Earth and Moon can be covered if the Parle-G biscuit production is stacked side by side for a month. When you line up all the end-to-end Parle-G biscuits eaten annually, it will go 192 times around the globe!
Parle Products manufactures their biscuits in 130 factories throughout the country – 120 of them are contract manufacturing units while 10 are property owned. Brand Parle-G falls into the affordable / value category ‘below-Rs100 per kg’ – which accounts for one-third of total industry revenues and accounts for more than 50 percent of sales volume. The overall Indian biscuit market in fiscal 2020 is estimated at Rs 36,000-Rs37,000 crore.
