ITC online store can help promote the full range of FMCG products: report

ITC piloted its e-commerce platform in 2019. It is helpful that ITC’s FMCG portfolio includes such commodities as flour and spices, in addition to personal care brands such as Fiama, the brand of personal hygiene Savlon, in addition to packaged foods such as cookies, crisps and frozen foods. This can be of appeal to consumers looking to fill orders across categories.

“The launch of ITC’s online store, in our view, came at an opportune time given the resumption of bottlenecks. This will help the company to offer its customers its entire basket of consumer goods, which are not readily available in mom-and-pop stores and even on large e-commerce sites, ”the said. brokerage firm Edelweiss Securities in a note published on April 16.

He added, however, that historically, the entry of FMCG companies into e-commerce has been more of a marketing strategy than a big contributor to sales. Especially since established sites like Jiomart, Flipkart, Amazon and others are credible competition to reach out to consumer channels.

The acceptance of online grocery channels in the aftermath of India’s lockdown has prompted more businesses to expand their reach online. Marico Ltd also launched its own online store, Saffola Stores last year. Scale can be a challenge, however, as consumers typically shop across a range of brands and categories and prefer channels where they can find multiple deals.

ITC encourages larger purchases by offering 10% off orders above ??1,500 on its own portal. In addition, there are surprise offers at the checkout stage that incentivize conversions, according to the report.

He added, however, that ITC will need to generate enough traffic to its portal in order to make it meaningful through heavy advertisements and compelling offers to keep up with competitive pricing from existing players.

On the positive side, the ITC portal explains all of its brands and offerings, with full control over display and messaging, especially for new products, which may not always be highlighted in a traditional channel or when are placed on another e-commerce portal, the note says.

ITC could also look at demand trends through its own portal.

“FMCG companies go to great lengths to collect consumer data and marketing information. Usually, they rely on feedback from distributors or buy data from other sources. But ITC will now be able to collect data on consumer preferences and behavior for all of its products, directly from consumers … “, the report said.