Pantaloon Retail boosts growth with private labels

In what seems to be counter-intuitive, private label brands of Pantaloon Retail (India) have been helping kick start growth in categories such as breakfast cereal, soups and toothbrushes. 

“We have been able to grow these categories by 25-30 per cent thanks to our efforts. For example, soups were stagnant for months despite the presence of two large brands. We have got growth back into this category by simply understanding that Indians do not like to have their soup from bowls. So we provided a free cup with soup packets, and the category has since grown by over 30 per cent,” said Sandeep Walunj, chief marketing officer, Value Retail. 

The company has recently launched a programme called ’Shubh Mahurat’ under which all Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar stores will bring out new products every month. Sadashiv Nayak, president, Big Bazaar, said, “We at Big Bazaar are constantly trying to find new ways to delight our customers with new and quality offerings.” 

PRIL plans to tie up with big branded firms to exclusively launch some of their new offerings through its outlets. It will also be coming out with new product of its own private label brands to keep customers excited.