Facing intense competition from local and regional players PepsiCo India aims to double sales volume of its salty snacks business by taking on rival products that come bundled with gifts, said a senior official.
As a first step, PepsiCo announced the roll-out of Cheetos Ocean Safari, a snack product for children, which comes in four 3D animation shapes (dolphin, shark, starfish and octopus) in the puffed snacks category.
“This is a first in the puffed snacks category,” said Jagrut Kotecha, vice-president, snacks category, PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd.
“We don’t want to put toys in our package, but a healthier product with less than 10% of recommended daily allowance (RDA) of sodium and energy, driven from saturated fat for children.”
Right now, Cheetos Ocean Safari is available only in the South and West.
“Today, we have two brands — Lays chips and Kurkure snacks — which are commanding revenue of more than ₹1,000 crore each. Doritos chips and Cheetos are growing brands,” he said.
‘More investments’
He said the plan to double sales in the next four years, would call for additional investments.
The market for salty snacks in India was pegged at ₹20,000 crore. This was growing at 10% to 12% year-on-year. “We are growing at a higher pace in the salty snacks category. We will continue to post good double-digit growth,” he added.
