Dabur plans tie-up with `kiranas`

In a bid to increase its visibility and counter the growing number of modern retail outlets, Dabur India plans to tie up with kirana stores on the lines of Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL)'s 'Super Value Store' programme.

The FMCG company is conducting pilot tests with some local kirana stores at three cities - Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Ranchi.

Declining to elaborate on the programme, Mukesh Mishra, group product manager, Dabur India, said,”We have been conducting pilot tests with local kirana stores to promote our products. It is something similar to the ‘Super Value Store’ programme by HLL but we are not in a position to reveal much. Things are still in the preliminary stages.”

Mishra, who was in the city to promote the new look Dabur Amla Hair Oil, added that the company would also be targeting rural areas where currently unbranded products are sold more.

“We are conducting pilot projects in around 5,000 villages in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and other northern states. The rural market is still much untapped especially when it comes to hair oil since the unbranded products are more popular there,” he said.

The company recently changed the positioning of Dabur Amla with a new tagline and new look. “We have changed the packaging, which now makes the 57-year-old brand more contemporary and relevant in consonance with today’s lifestyle,” added Mishra.

With a consumer base of 3.5 crore across the country, Dabur Amla's sales is growing at a rate of 18 per cent.

Gujarat accounts for about 6 per cent of the Rs 250-crore turnover of Dabur Amla Hair Oil. Of the total hair oil market in the country, the brand?s market share is just 13.6 per cent. In the heavy Amla-based hair oil market, its share is 70.4 per cent.

Mishra expects more than 18 per cent growth for Dabur Amla once the new pack is introduced in the market from April 2007.