Jayanti Chauhan Bets Big On Bisleri With Tech, Sports & Gen Z Bisleri is deepening its presence in districts that have high per capita income and is tapping the potential of the travel clusters. Furthermore, we have moved towards a dark store model, and our quick commerce business is performing quite well, says Jayanti Khan Chauhan, vice chairperson, Bisleri International

In 50 years, Bisleri traversed the world, from a spring in Italy named Angelica to the remotest homes of India. Through these years, the brand has become synonymous with bottled drinking water in the country. Despite the presence of a huge number of small and local manufacturers, the bottled water industry in India is controlled by multinational corporations and Bisleri commands the largest market share in the sector.

Ramesh Chauhan, also known as the Cola man of India, took the bold step of introducing the bottled mineral water to the Indian market, at a time when buying it was unheard of. Parle Exports bought Bisleri from an Italian entrepreneur in 1969 and began to sell mineral water in India. "My father launched some of the most iconic beverage brands along the way. Stepping into such big shoes, I have my work cut out: Taking Bisleri through the next 50 years and more of unfettered growth. The vision for our team is a brand with a rich heritage that has sustained its connection over generations," said Jayanti Khan Chauhan, vice chairperson, Bisleri International.

In the beverage category, brands must stay flexible to meet the evolving tastes and needs of the consumers and therefore from packaging to distribution, advertising, everything has to evolve based on the changing requirements of the industry.

Leading the way in innovation

From transitioning to PET bottles from glass, introducing tamper-proof caps, to crafting bottles of unique shapes and sizes tailored to different consumer needs, and offering labels in regional languages, Bisleri has innovated through the years.

The company is continuously strengthening and streamlining the distribution network to increase reach and coverage especially in smaller towns. "Our 140 production facilities and presence in over 300,000 outlets across India ensures that consumers find a bottle of Bisleri wherever, whenever they want. Our water is enriched with minerals such as Magnesium and Potassium and ensured a 10-stage purification process with 114 quality tests," the vice chairperson said.

It is present across a diverse consumer base – from retail to complex and high-volume channels such as general trade, modern retail, HoReCa, corporate. To meet the various customer demands across platforms, the company has modernised the IT systems to provide real-time visibility and respond effectively. Technology advancement has helped the logistic team to plan, execute and utilise its assets better.

"The company has launched in the UAE market this year and is revamping its product portfolio, including Vedica sparkling and carbonated soft drinks," she said, adding that most of the new range of carbonated drinks were developed in-house by the R&D team, without the involvement of external flavour or developmental support.

Identifying new opportunities

The company's range of diversified beverages which includes Bisleri soda, Vedica Himalayan Spring and Sparkling Water and the carbonated soft drinks Bisleri Limonata, Bisleri Pop, Bisleri Spicy Jeera, and Bisleri Rev is curated to meet the demanding but discerning new-age consumers. In the past two-three years, it has grown as one of the major sports marketing brands in India with presence across categories from Golf, Cricket to Taekwondo, Table Tennis, Kabaddi, Football to Marathons, etc.

"We also focus a lot on localising our products through limited edition packs of popular movies. The campaigns not only helped us increase our presence in markets such as Tamil Nadu, AP, Telangana and Punjab but also helped in building an emotional connect with our consumers," she explained.

In 2011 Jayanti Khan Chauhan sensed a growing opportunity for the premium water category and took up the challenge of rebranding Vedica to grow its sales. The strategic decision to invest in Vedica, recognizing its untapped potential, proved successful with the introduction of Vedica Sparkling Water.

"It's encouraging to see our brand transition from being primarily consumed in the HoReCa sector, which accounts for about 50 per cent of our sales, to becoming a choice for home celebrations. In our commitment to bolstering our presence in the carbonated beverage segment, we are actively scaling up our manufacturing capacities and extending our distribution channels. Our aim is to get both these segments to account for over 10 per cent of our total revenue, out of which we may have already reached 6-7 per cent. These categories align seamlessly with our existing manufacturing and distribution capabilities and therefore seems a more natural progression," she added.

The next phase of growth

In April 2022, Bisleri launched a four-year vision plan to more than double its pre-pandemic sales, focusing on expanding the premium and new carbonated product portfolios.

With the premium segment contributing to 5 per cent of the revenues, the aim is to grow Vedica into a INR 100-crore brand in the next few years. The company is deepening its presence in districts that have high per capita income and is tapping the potential of the travel clusters.

The Middle East is a major market for packaged water, primarily led by local brands. "With our strong track record in India, Bisleri plans to make a mark in this region, starting with our debut in the UAE as the first step in a broader expansion strategy," Chauhan added.

During the pandemic, the company was one of the first FMCG organisations to develop a home delivery app, Bisleri@Doorstep, to provide safe drinking water. "Our e-commerce is largely Gen-Z and millennial-driven with a large metro-based consumer. We are almost doubling our business size year-on-year, and it's becoming a good acceleration point for us to reach consumers directly at home," she explained.

Furthermore, the company has moved towards a dark store model where it has service agents who are in high-traffic, high-volume pin codes, similar to a Hub and Spoke model which helps in faster deliveries. "Our quick commerce business is performing quite well where we have expanded our presence to platforms such as Zepto, BlinkIt, Swiggy, and BigBasket."

The company's technology enablement has helped in revamping customer service through acquiring, retaining, and nurturing customers.

"The increase in tourism has also led us to focus on the industry which is growing at a rate of 9 per cent year on year basis. Besides HoReCa, our strong SKU portfolio focuses a lot on the go travel and tourist channels," she concluded.