Leading FMCG player ITC has been firing on all cylinders since the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.
With increasing demand for products that ensure enhanced hygiene and sanitisation, the company has launched as many as six new products in a span of 12 weeks in the personal care and home hygiene space. For instance, the company took just about 24 days to launch the Savlon Surface Disinfectant Spray in the market.
And there is more to come. The company is in the process of rolling out soap and bodywash products under the Savlon Hexa Pro brand. In the next few days, Vivel Neem Oil Bodywash will also hit the retail shelves.
Sameer Satpathy, Chief Executive, Personal Care Products Business Division, ITC Ltd, said: “In the early days of March, we realised that while everybody is talking about sanitisers, consumers will also seek other products to disinfect surfaces and spaces. In the normal course of events, it would have taken over an year to launch new products. But we leveraged on the company’s deep manufacturing and R&D capabilities and talent to compress time and be able to launch these products swiftly.”
“More innovations are on the anvil. There are still a lot of consumer problems that need to be solved. We are looking at new areas and working on getting new products to the market. So far, we have been able to pick consumer insights to not only swiftly execute launches but have also managed to do these launches at scale,” Satpathy said.
He added the focus will also be on ramping up the distribution. The products launched include Savlon Hexa Hand Sanitisers, Savlon Germ Protection Wipes and Savlon Sanitiser Satchet.
Local factors at play
On the supply chain management, Satpathy said: “In some areas, local level factors in terms of restrictions remain. But overall, in terms of our supply chain, we are back to 80-85 per cent of the normal distribution levels for our personal care products across all channels, including traditional trade and modern trade.”
In recent times, the company has been broadly focusing on Savlon and Savlon Hexa brnads to ramp up its personal care portfolio. But now, it has begun expanding its personal care brands portfolio too.
“We are seeing differential response for different kinds of products. We are witnessing good traction for our herbal Nimyle Herbal floor cleaner. Our newly launched Nimwash Vegetable and Fruit Wash has been getting good traction. Similarly, Fiama handwashes are doing particularly well. We are also launching bodywashes under the brand Vivel. So, each of our personal care brands have something in its portfolio that has done very well in this environment,” Satpathy added.