Future of Sach is in your kirana store

Mumbai: Sachin Tendulkar may soon move out of the sh'e'lves at Food Bazaar to your neighbourhood kir'ana sto're, if promoters of the Sach brands have their way.

Pantaloon Retail (India), the firm that owns and operates Big Bazaar, Pantaloons stores and Central branded shopping centres, is planning to sell the Sachin Tendulkar endorsed range of juices and toothpaste through kirana outlets nationwide.

So far, the Sach brand, named after the master blaster, has only been available in Future group outlets such as KB's Fair Price and Food Bazaar among others.

This will be the first time when retail mogul Kishore Biyani will attempt to pedestrianise his private label by taking them to the street, where he will push the brand through Capital Foods, a FMCG distribution outfit. Future Ventures has a 40.81 per cent stake in Capital Foods, but is not the largest shareholder.

The company owns and sells Smith & Jones ket'chup and Ching's Secret noodles to kirana outlets and organised retailers such as Big Bazaar, Star Bazaar and Hypercity among others.

'Capital Foods already has a distribution network of 3.5 lakh outlets across 13-14 states. It's in the process of expanding its network to three times it current size over the next 18 months. Towards this end it's recruiting staff too. In the next quarter they will start distributing Sach products in the western market and then go national,' said KK Rathi, CEO at Future Ventures.

'The market is ripe and demand is absolutely growing. Now it's all about how efficiently the company does it,' said Harminder Sahni, managing director at independent retail consultant Wazir Advisors.

The Sach brand is owned by Future Consumer Products in which Sachin Tendulkar has a 10 per cent stake and also holds a seat on its board.

'In the first stage Sach toothpaste and juices will be introduced to kirana outlets in western India,' said Rathi. 'A wider distribution will make brand Sach more accessible as there are many parts of the country where a Big Bazaar or a Food Bazaar is some distance away.

Sachin's name and performance over the years, including the recent cricket World Cup, are exceptional. So Sach will get instant brand recognition and wide distribution,' said Vibha Paul Rishi, group strategy & consumer director at Future group.

Future group has a series of Sach private labels, with products ranging from toothpaste, toothbrush to apparel and fruit juices. 'In our group outlets Sach toothbrushes have a 35 per cent share of our sales while the comparative figure for Sach toothpaste is 15-20 per cent. We are seeing maximum growth in toothpaste category and are expecting sales here to grow by 25 per cent over the next one year,' said a senior company official.

Amitabh Mall, principal at Boston Consulting Group, said, 'This strategy has been tried and tested before by retailers. However, a company has to play by the rules in the case of private labels in traditional trade. If a player has to succeed it has to develop a differentiating factor.'

While Sach toothbrush is priced in the range of Rs 22 to Rs 95, Sach toothpaste (80-200 gm) is priced at Rs 32 to Rs 86.

When the Future group joined hands with Sachin Tendulkar in 2008 to create a range of products that would use his likeness, they had said that they hoped to create FMCG brands like those sold by India's leading consumer goods companies. This is the first time Kishore Biyani will be trying to sell an in-house brand through a retail channel he has traditionally competed with.