How is House of Candy Planning to Make a Global Foray This Year

The Indian candy market was valued at $1643.64 million in FY2020 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 15.40 percent to reach $3661.68 million by FY2026. One of the brands that plan to rule this market is ‘House of Candy’. Starting with just a single kiosk at DLF Mall Saket 8 years ago, the brand currently operates more than 210 stores.

“We have seen 100 percent growth Y-o-Y for the last 8 years. The Pick N Mix concept is unique and has been grabbing a lot of eyeballs in every model. From bakeries and departmental stores to 5-star hotels, consumers will find House of Candy everywhere. We want our customers to have a particular favorite candy that brings them to us and then get to try a variety of them. We have got cables and belts in multiple flavors, which widen the choices for the customers,” Kanu Priya Sharma, Co-Founder, House of Candy said.

Establishing Offline Presence

At present, House of Candy has over 210 stores across 60+ cities, of which, 70 percent are company-owned while the rest are franchises. Recently, the brand opened 2 new stores at Lulu Mall Bangalore and Jaipur Airport, and has about 20 more stores in the works. 

“We are aiming to open around 100 more stores pan India by the end of FY23. We further aim to have over 500 stores across India by 2026. We are targeting our Shop-in-Shop concept (SIS) for expansion. It is much more scalable and has a lot more touchpoints than any other concept,” Sharma asserted.

The brand has also noticed that Tier-II cities have a lot of potential in the confectionery sector and that’s where it is headed. In the last month, it opened a franchise kiosk in Aligarh, Bikaner, Behror, and Bagru, and a high street retail store is coming soon in Anand, Gujrat. 

Online Play

Apart from its own website, House of Candy is available on Amazon, Flipkart, Halfcute, Meesho, Jio Mart, Paytm Mini App, Rk Group (formerly, Cloudtail), and Dilocious among others.

Currently, the brand’s e-commerce sale contributes 9 percent to its total sales. It wants to take this number to 20 percent by the end of this year.

“After expanding up to 210+ stores, we realized that the key for us is quantity, we want to be placed in every nook and corner offline as well as online which will then add to the revenue. We are also working on collaborations with certain brands to make House of Candy the go-to brand for the gifts,” she stated.

Product Portfolio

The brand is presently offering over 200 SKUs in categories like Gummies, Lollipops, and Fizzy to name a few. Its best-selling SKUs are Gummy Bears, Marshmallows, Dark Chocolate Almonds, and Fizzy Jelly snakes among others.

House of Candy is planning to bring more veg candy options this year.

Recently, the brand launched three new merchandise options - squeeze box, wrapped box, and sugar plum cornet, all of these are available at its stores pan India and on its website. It is also working on introducing new merchandise this year.

Technology: A Game Changer

Technology plays a really big role in the brand’s business. Starting with its e-commerce platforms to its retail outlets, technology has made communication with customers easier.

“The best thing that technology has given us is a way to understand our target audience better. Apart from this, it has also enabled us to predict what our customers would want in the future or what is it preferring these days. The automated process of showing the customer similar products and the ads that follow the prospective customer according to their browser history has enabled us to acquire new customers and also get repeat purchases,” Sharma noted.

Building Brand

Social media and email marketing have been essential tools for the brand to push its online business. To get more traction on the website, House of Candy is pushing its focus towards Facebook and Google advertisements, and SMS and email marketing. It is also building a community on Instagram with more relatable content and new filters.

House of Candy is further boarding a CRM program to eventually launch its customer loyalty program soon. 

Apart from this, the brand is planning to increase customer interaction with it physically; hence it is planning to host multiple customer-centric events in its stores pan India.

READ MORE: House of Candy to Foray Into Merchandising Segment

Future Plans

The brand has garnered revenue of Rs 44 crore in the last financial year. It is expecting to achieve the revenue target of Rs 68-70 crore in the current financial year.

Additionally, House of Candy plans to enter the global market by the end of this year. It is aiming to open its first store in Hong Kong and Thailand.

“We are also pushing towards increasing our placement in Modern Trade. We are already present in Modern Bazaar, More, and Spencer to name a few.  We are also looking at more collaboration with kids’ brands to maximize the audience and add more value to what we are offering,” Sharma concluded.