The consumer landscape is rapidly changing, driven by an increasing desire for fast satisfaction. Quick commerce has arisen as a critical route for rapidly delivering things to consumers. This trend is especially noticeable in urban settings where time is a premium. Quick commerce is critical for fast-moving consumer items like ours, since it allows us to address consumer needs immediately. While we believe existing e-commerce platforms are well-positioned to serve consumers looking for a variety of products, we are dedicated to making our products easily accessible on these platforms in order to capitalize on the emerging rapid commerce opportunity.
“We expect that in the next three years, these households are going to double to 22 million households. Middle India which has about 108–110 million households will be adding about another 40 million households in the next three years; this is where our growth is going to come from, says Manish Anandani, the Managing Director of Kenvue India and South Asia.
“The top end is going to drive the growth significantly, and we want to capitalize on the premium consumers as we go ahead. In India 2, we are going to capitalize on making sure the base of our consumers continues to expand. This is going to be a big growth driver for the economy, and hence we want to capitalize on this trend as we go ahead,” he further adds.
Anandani also highlights that quick commerce is critical for fast-moving consumer items like Kenvue’s, especially since the consumer health company doesn’t have a D2C business model.
In a chat with Storyboard18, Manish Anandani, Managing Director of Kenvue India and South Asia discusses Kenvue’s approach to essential health, self-care, and beauty in India and more.
Edited excerpts
How will Kenvue’s approach to essential health, self-care, and beauty be tailored to resonate with the Indian audience?
At Kenvue, we believe in choice versus prioritization. Globally, we have chosen 15 priority brands. India is one of the priority markets. In India, for essential health, Johnson’s Baby, Stayfree, and Listerine are important for us.
These are top-priority brands that we are going to bring to life for the Indian market. In the self-care segment, we have ORSL, which is a leading hydration brand and among the global priority brands.
The third segment is skin health and beauty, which is growing aggressively across all markets, including India. We are focusing on Neutrogena to make sure that we cater to the Indian audience, which is looking for premium beauty and skin products. This is how we are bringing our strategy to the local level.
Is quick commerce proving successful for the brands? Does Kenvue have a D2C business model?
Quick commerce is rapidly expanding, owing to consumers’ increasing demand for convenience particularly in larger cities, where time is of the essence.
Quick commerce is often crucial for products. Assume you are feeling dehydrated. You can’t wait any longer for the goods to arrive, thus you need swift commerce to provide the hydration product. Alternatively, if a lady is on her period, she will need her chosen sanitary napkin. We feel we must ensure that we are available on quick commerce in order to deliver it as quickly as feasible.
Quick-commerce is expanding exponentially in terms of business for both us and the market. We don’t have a direct to consumer website as we believe that the existing e-commerce platforms are better able to draw customers into their platforms since consumers are seeking a variety of products.
Can you describe Kenvue’s media mix?
We use different kinds of media for different kinds of brands. For example, if you have a highly penetrated brand, you need to use traditional media as well as digital media. But for a brand that is less penetrated, you have a digital first model as that makes more sense to strengthen reach. We have been driving the digital first media approach over the last few years.
Mommy influencer communities for instance are used to target mothers for our Johnson’s Baby brand. Then beauty influencers address beauty-conscious premium consumers and traditional media touch points to reach the masses in rural areas and beyond. In the sanitary napkins category, rural penetration is at 40%, which is low. We need to drive the penetration significantly for StayFree, so that’s how we use the relevant media.
How does Kenvue leverage AI?
We heavily rely on AI and machine learning for consumers. For example, we are innovating to satisfy an unmet market need by combining several digital technologies. We employed augmented reality (AR) for our Johnson’s Baby campaign last year, when we introduced AR technology that allows mothers to explore 100% of the baby-safe components in Johnson’s products. They might learn about each ingredient and its importance in our products through real-time interactive experiences at retail locations.
Then we also leverage AI to make our stock keeping units more convenient. Let’s take the case of Gurgaon’s sectors 50 and 25. Each store in that sector sells a different variety; we can supply statistics on what SKUs will be sold in every single store across the country.
The third is our HCP, because we interact with a lot of healthcare professionals. We are using technology to engage with these healthcare experts and effectively convey our products and science.
In the supply chain, we employ a demand-sensing approach to improve customer service and predictive maintenance to increase future efficiencies. We also use it widely across all of our business models, including research and development to improve product innovation.
What are some key consumer trends that are standing out for you?
Indian consumers, like those in Western economies, are increasingly seeking high-quality products. This transition creates a big opportunity for firms.
The market is separated into three income levels: high (India 1), middle (India 2), and low (India 3). High-income households (3% of the total) account for approximately one-third of India’s consumption.
We expect that in the next three years, these households are going to double to 22 million households. Middle India which has about 108–110 million households will be adding about another 40 million households in the next three years; this is where our growth is going to come from.
The top end is going to drive the growth significantly, and we want to capitalize on the premium consumers as we go ahead. In India 2, we are going to capitalize on making sure the base of our consumers continues to expand. This is going to be a big growth driver for the economy, and hence we want to capitalize on this trend as we go ahead.