New Delhi: A decade after Parle Agro’s Frooti lost its position as the second largest selling mango drink in India to Pepsico’s Slice, Frooti has reclaimed the position beating its multinational rival during the last quarter.
According to findings of a Nielsen research cited by ET, Frooti had a share of 25.6 per cent in India's Rs 6,300-crore mango drink category against Slice's 23.4 per cent in the third quarter, which ended in March.
Coca-Cola's Maaza, meanwhile maintained its lead as the top selling mango drink with 48 per cent market share.
There are a slew of measures adopted by Parle to mark this turnaround. In a marked departure from its earlier practice, the company hired actor Shah Rukh Khan as Frooti's first celebrity ambassador ever to improve its market share, leading to an increase of 160 basis points in one year. The company also focussed on PET bottles in a strategy aimed at wooing both children and adults.
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Frooti was also the first company to introduce tetra-pack in the country almost three decades ago. However, it was after it turned its focus on PET bottles that it was able to build and convert a much larger adult consumer base.
According to the Nielsen report, Frooti sales grew 12 per cent last year against the category growth rate of a meagre 1 per cent. Frooti was launched in 1985 by the Chauhan family and is popular for its packaged mango drink in the country.
However, competition in the market has grown over the years with the introduction of new age brands. Also, Coca-Cola is aiming to turn Maaza into its first billion-dollar juice brand in India by increasing the market share of its non-carbonated drinks portfolio. Experts feel marketers need to innovate within the mango category as they seem unwilling to launch new flavours.
