Biscuits and Cookies

The word biscuit comes from the Latin word, “bis coctus,” which means twice baked. Biscuits have been baked for over thousands of years. Today, biscuit is a mass consumer product, hygienically packaged and made available at very competitive prices in different tastes across India. 65% of India’s biscuit production (totalling 630 thousand metric tonnes in FY 2018) happens in the organised sector, remaining in unorganised bakeries.

India is considered as the third largest producer of Biscuits after USA and China, however, the per capita consumption of biscuits in our country is only 1.8 kgs, compared to over 7.5kgs in the USA, UK and Japan. The importance of biscuits as a consumer product category can be judged from the fact that many countries celebrate a “National Biscuit Day” a celebration of biscuits of all forms.

Biscuits can be broadly classified into Savoury (including biscuits and crackers) and Sweet (including chocolate, cookies, filled, sandvich and plain sweet). Over the years, biscuit manufacturers have embraced changing customer needs (in terms of health awareness, meal replacements etc) as opportunities to expand their portfolio.

Indian biscuit manufacturers enjoy varied market share depending on the geo clusters, biscuit category, and price points. However, on a broad scale here is the market snapshot:

National Players: Britannia leads the tally, followed by Parle and ITC. International brands like United and Mondelez maintain a niche in their respective segments.

Regional Players: Anmol and Surya Foods lead the tally sharing similar market share, followed by Raja, Mrs Bectors, Krown, Dukes, Patanjali and handful of others.

The top biscuit brands include Parle-G, Good Day, Marie, Tiger, 50-50, Nutri Choice, Oreo, Mcvitie’s and about a dozen more.

Below are some key statistics of the Indian Biscuits Retail story:

1. Market size of approx 35,000 crores (both organised and unorganised)
2. Top 12 players contribute around 3,000 crores
3. Sweet category of biscuits is largest contributing around 75%
4. Mass biscuits (less than Rs 100 per kilo) are growing slow
5. Premium (more than Rs 100 per kilo) are growing steady
6. Sold at more than 8 million retail outlets (out of 12 million)
7. India Rural market contributes 25-30%
8. Metros and Tier-1 contribute 20% and 35% respectively
9. Tier-2 and tier-3 cities contribute around 20%

Indian consumers are evolving rapidly, and we believe biscuit manufacturers can capitalise on the following growth opportunities over the next 3-5 years:

1. Biscuits as Meal
2. Biscuits On-the-Go
3. Biscuits during Social-occasions
4. Biscuits during Work-breaks
5. Biscuits as Healthy food alternative
6. Biscuits as a Gift

Biscuits have transitioned from light to high fiber to whole grain (all grain types) as health conscious consumers demand for high nutritional value in each serving. And recently, brands are experimenting with exotic fruits and nuts options as part of their premium portfolio (which earlier was mostly chocolate dependent).

*Brands seen above showcase the industry construct, only Cremica brand is a customer of Peri CRM*

*result of informal interviews, field observations and non-statistical surveys*

Peri CRM has been enabling and automating Indian FMCG biscuit manufacturers since the year 2016, especially the tier-2 and tier-3 brands who have low to medium level of maturity in business process automation. We have mapped the automation needs of these companies very closely by working with their frontliners, field force representatives, managers, senior managers till the leadership. We have created a product which is best-suited to the evolving needs of such organisation and our consultants have gained sufficient expertise through a unique high-involvement implementation methodology. Below are the key differentiators of Peri CRM vis-a-vis the dozen other SFA’s (sales force automation) available in the Indian market: