Nestlé India sees small-town growth

Reporting double digit growth for the September quarter, Nestlé India highlighted the food company’s performance beyond the country’s metros and signalled a greater focus on small towns in the coming months.

Why it matters

As the pandemic eases and vaccine coverage grows, the company is seeing growth across all food and beverage categories. But with packaging and transport costs increasing, expanding further into rural markets likely will mean sacrificing margin for market share. 

Takeaways 

• While e-commerce continues to grow, out-of-home channels are showing signs of a return to pre-pandemic levels in some areas.
• Coffee and chocolate were the fastest-growing categories in the organised trade channel.

Key quote

“We are firmly on a journey to accelerate [small town growth] further by using a healthy mix of a customised portfolio, enhanced distribution infrastructure and deployment of resources, localised communication, enhanced visibility and building consumer connect” – Nestlé statement.