This is the second attempt in three years by the iconic bottled water brand to revive its soda business. It launched Bisleri Fizzy Soda in 2009, but quietly withdrew the soda-like product, as it failed to attract interest.
According to the Business Standard, this time the attempt is serious. In an interview, Ramesh Chauhan said Bisleri was working on distribution to retail the product across India. “We have dedicated plants set up to manufacture Bisleri Soda in Mumbai, Delhi and Mysore,” he said. Marketing for the product is expected to start a little later, as the company is working on getting its distribution in place”.
Bisleri Soda will face tough, established competition. Alongside their core cola brands, Coca-Cola fields Schweppes, Kinley Soda and Sprite, while PepsiCo has Lehar Soda and Duke’s which was relaunched only last year. Kingfisher and SAB Miller also feature soda brands in amongst their beer portfolios and there are dozen of regional players.
The market for soda in PET bottles in India is a little over Rs100 crore, smaller than the returnable glass bottle segment, which it closer Rs800 crore, but growing fast, due to the sheer convenience of storage and usage.
According to the Business Standard, Chauhan said special emphasis had been given to the packaging of Bisleri Soda to drive sales at retail points. But experts say the success of the brand will also depend on its acceptance in the hotel, restaurant and cafe segment, where PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are strong.
It is only days since a number of almost simultaneous moves in the Indian bottled water market saw me writing: All eyes on the Indian bottled water market… now it seems we need to keep an eye on the India soda market too.
Source: Business Standard/FoodBev Media
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