Positioned as a new-age FMCG company, Future Consumer is rapidly gaining ground on the back of unique customer insights, innovative products and modern retail channels.
A bell tinkles and an announcement booms through the supermarket, calling buyers to gather near the cashier. Kosh, a new brand of oats, is available for free tasting, says the voice on the microphone. Within minutes, the Big Bazaar store in suburban Mumbai sees people gravitate towards the meeting point. Swiftly, a store attendant gets to work: He pulls out a packet of masala-flavoured oats, tosses it into a pan and cooks it for his audience. Customers taste spoonfuls and nod in approval; suddenly there’s a burst of interest in the Kosh packets that line the shelves nearby. Supplied by Future Consumer—the food and FMCG arm of Kishore Biyani’s Future Group—they come in a variety of flavours, including Lively Lemon and Chinese Chilli.
While in-store promotions such as these aren’t new to the supermarket business, they work favourably for Future Consumer. Their products get prominent shelf space at modern trade outlets like Big Bazaar, Easyday and Nilgiris (which form a part of Future Retail, the Future Group’s retail arm), and access to a captive set of customers. Advertising and marketing outlays, as a result, are lower, time to market is shorter and the proximity to customers provides Future Consumer with a clue to their changing needs and preferences.
All this has resulted in financial reward for the BSE- and NSE-listed company that was culled out of the Future Group only five years ago. Sales growth has rocketed from ₹1,703 crore in FY16 to ₹3,005 crore in the fiscal ended March 2018, clocking a compounded annual growth rate of 32 percent, while shareholder return has grown by an impressive 358 percent during the same period. The company also turned Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) positive in FY17, with analysts expecting it to turn profitable after tax by mid-FY20. (Ebitda in FY18 stood at ₹66 crore.)
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