Reckitt Benckiser has started its own direct-to-consumer e-commerce operation to sell some of its premium products in the country through brand-specific platforms, joining a select set of firms with own sales portals, such as Mondelez and ITC.
An email query sent to RB India’s spokesperson remained unanswered till the time of going to press.
RB India has signed a deal with Gurgaon-based logistics and supply chain firm Cogent Transware for backend partnership for the same, a top official at the logistics company said.
Cogent Transware follows a ‘hybrid logistics’ model, whereby it will buy products from RB, store them in its tech-driven warehouses that enable round-the-clock monitoring and compliance, and then deliver the products to consumers as and when an order is placed, its chief executive Sandeep Sharma said.
“Our new process will combine digital power with infrastructure and service capabilities for safer and faster delivery of products to the end consumer,” Cogent Transware chief executive Sandeep Sharma said. He said the model will reduce working capital because of single-point inventory and order management, and include single-point payment collection.
RB India has already started direct sale of Durex condoms through the brand website Durexindia.com. It plans to start online sales of a few other brands in March, people in the know said.
Reckitt Benckiser’s global president (hygiene and home) Rob de Groot had said in a post earnings call earlier this month that the company will hyper target consumers on ecommerce in India and China, in response to “the rise of the middle class and categories developing”.
The British maker of Dettol antiseptic and Clearasil skincare has increased investments in ecommerce and digital by three times between 2017 and 2019.
“The rules of fast-moving consumer goods have changed,” Groot had said. “Where in the past, it was about putting big sales forces together and going to the stores, now the digital technology, both at the consumer communication part as well as the transaction part from a channel perspective, opens up completely new opportunities.”
While most consumer products firms bet on online channel partners and marketplaces such as Amazon, Grofers and Big Basket to make their products available to online shoppers, a select few have opted for their own online sales channels as well besides the marketplaces.
“Grocery is definitely going to start seeing traction as ecommerce picks up, with consumers being increasingly preferring digital channels for their purchases,” Nielsen executive director Ajay Macaden had said at the India Food Forum earlier this month. The online grocery market in the country is expected to soar to $5 billion by 2020, from $1 billion in 2017.
Chocolates makes Mondelez has created a subscription model besides individual gifting options for its brands like Oreo and Cadbury for its ecommerce business.
“Our direct-to-consumer platform is an opportunity to foray into the ecommerce market by providing an additional channel for consumers to directly connect with the brand,” a Mondelez spokesperson had said at the time of announcing the launch of the platform, www.cadburygifting.in, in 2017.
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