Mumbai: As the festive season approaches in India, the consumer dessert market experiences a significant surge in demand, with households eagerly seeking delightful treats to celebrate. This period presents a unique opportunity for dessert brands to cater to the tastes and preferences of Indian consumers. The consumer market for ice cream is primed for significant growth. With an estimated value of nearly ₹18,000-₹20,000 crore, the ice cream industry has been experiencing a consistent annual growth rate of 15-17 per cent.
In this context, several key trends and approaches are shaping the landscape. These include a nuanced understanding of the Indian palate, expansion plans to cater to seasonal demands, and the integration of technology to streamline supply chains and meet customer expectations.
Indiantelevision.com in conversation with Graviss Foods Pvt Ltd (Baskin Robbins) CEO Mohit Khattar spoke on how brands like Baskin Robbins gearing up this festive season, key strategies on establishing a presence in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, understanding the needs of the Indian audience, and much more.
Mohit Khattar, with nearly three decades of experience, has been with Graviss since 2017 as CEO. During his tenure, he has accelerated business growth, strengthened management, improved brand image across various channels, and fostered a strong social media presence. Since 2017, he has focused on creating a cohesive team and positioning Baskin Robbins as an industry leader through strategic partnerships, opportunity identification, and innovative product, packaging, and marketing initiatives.
Edited Excerpts:
On Baskin Robbins' journey in India for three decades, adapting to meet the evolving tastes of Indian consumers, particularly during festive celebrations
Baskin Robbins has been around in the world since 1945 and in India for the last three decades. In these last 30 years in India, a lot of things have changed. Just as the country has grown in every aspect, so has the brand Baskin Robbins. The flavours have evolved; the range of products has grown from mere ice creams to a wide range of ice cream-based desserts; the style of communication as well as the platforms on which we reach out to consumers, has undergone relevant changes. The parlours too look quite different from the parlours even a decade ago. The brand logo itself has undergone two radical changes in these 30 years.
On Baskin Robbins preparations for the upcoming festive season in India
The festive season is a time for merriment, bonding and indulgence. Though from an ice cream industry perspective, this coincides with the onset of winter in India. Yet Baskin Robbins has been actively bringing newness to its offering irrespective of season every year. For the upcoming season, Baskin Robbins will be introducing very exciting new flavours targeted not just kids but also we have something for adults. Additionally, there will be seasonal specials. We will talk about everything closer to the actual launch of these products. We will be creating awareness about all our new launches through social and digital platforms and of course through in parlour and in-market activations.
On the company's efforts to understand the Indian palate and introduce flavours that resonate with local tastes while maintaining global quality standards
Just to give you an example, on one hand, very recently we introduced a blueberry with white chocolate flavour and on the other we introduced a caramel milk cake. On the one hand, we introduced cheesecake sundaes and on the other, we brought in Gulab Jamun sundaes. We have done this consistently over the last couple of years and balanced out our offering. The core guidance that we create and serve products with only the finest ingredients from qualified sources as well as quality and quantum of dairy fat stays constant. So, we are able to maintain the same creaminess and mouth feel that consumers can get pretty much anywhere in the world and expect from Baskin Robbins – while giving them a fairly wide range of exotic flavours to choose from. Also, I must add that we operate a very modern and well-equipped manufacturing facility that enables us to offer and maintain global quality standards. From this facility, we also supply to other parts of the world too.
On Baskin Robbins' response to the rising health consciousness among consumers, particularly in the context of festive offerings
We do believe that while customers are beginning to veer towards healthier options when it comes to the festive season, customers are clear that they would rather enjoy without compromise of any kind. And if they do have to compromise, they would rather exercise portion control rather than consume a healthier version of their favourite. Keeping the above in mind, Baskin Robbins will be introducing two fabulous new bite-sized innovations for its customers. There are also other attractions lined up. We shall speak about it closer to the actual launch timelines which is around mid-October.
On the key strategies to enter and establish a presence in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets during the festive season
And given the pace we maintain for our new stores, we open 8-12 every month. This is not specific to any season but is our broad strategy going forward to take the brand to where there is potential and demand. There are of course, still areas of opportunity in many pockets and a few states and we aim to plug these gaps as we go along. We intend to add another 60-80 cities over the next two years to our network.
On Baskin Robbins' approach to pricing its products in comparison to its nearest competitors in the ice cream industry
Honestly, we have rarely followed any specific brand in the competitive set for the pricing of our products. Our approach has been to follow our customers instead. We price our products at affordable premium kind of pricing levels. This allows us to offer superior product quality while maintaining our aspirational brand appeal.
On Baskin Robbins' approach to innovation in creating unique and appealing flavours for the festive season
This approach continues through the year. We have defined two launch windows wherein we introduce new products. One is to coincide the onset of summers in India and the other coincides with the festive period.
On the possibility of ice creams serving as a compelling alternative to traditional sweets during the festive season and Baskin Robbins' exploration of this in its festive offerings
Ice creams has some catching up to do before it can replace traditional sweets. But with the kind of work happening across the industry, in terms of product innovation as well as distribution, etc., I do strongly believe that it will happen in the foreseeable future. We have over the last one year introduced a few products with traditional roots. One of them is the Gulab Jamun sundae – a modern take on an iconic Indian sweet and more recently we brought in the caramel milk cake flavour – again a new version of a very popular Indian sweet. While this just highlights a few cases, we are primed to do a lot more and to create excitement in myriad new ways going forward. Watch this space for our festive specials that are bound to warm your heart.
On Baskin Robbins India's approach to leveraging technology for efficient logistics and timely delivery during the festive rush and the strategies are being employed to optimize its presence across online and offline channels to reach consumers during this season
We also operate a digital loyalty cum rewards program that identifies and segments customers to enable us to manage and drive sales performance. Additionally, we have more recently moved to e-bills and an option is given to customers to choose between paper or e-bills. On e-bills customers are served information on new products as well as we track their satisfaction levels with their last transaction and experience. Our website for e-commerce is already live and customers can chose to buy not just from aggregator platforms like Swiggy or Zomato or E-com and quick-com platforms like Blinkit or Instamart but also directly from the company’s own website. The approach is to make products available across channels.
On Baskin Robbins' outlook for sales growth and customer engagement during the upcoming festive season, and the KPI being monitored
The season with Rakshabandhan has begun well. While it may be too early to say this, I expect it to be another strong season for us with a growth of around 20 per cent over the same period last year. We track growth in volumes, average revenues, growth in number of outlets as well as in share of offline and online revenues as performance indicators.
On Baskin Robbins' agenda for the festive season, anticipated promotions, collaborations, or unique offerings to engage with customers
The short answer is yes. We have a very interesting cross-category collaboration in store based on which we have developed several products for our portfolio. There will also be Indian as well as international favourites coming up. We will have something of a very Insta-friendly product version too!
