82-year-old Parle G records best sales during Coronavirus lockdown. Parle G is one of the country’s beloved biscuit since 1938. ‘Delicious, Nutritious and cost-effective’ will be the most appropriate words to describe the product. It dominates the Indian Biscuit Market. Due to the ongoing novel Coronavirus outbreak, the country has been under lockdown since 25th March. During this period Parle G records its best sales in the past 82 years.
Mayank Shah, Category Head at Parle G said, “We’ve grown our overall market share by nearly 5%… And 80– 90% of this growth has come from Parle-G sales. This is unprecedented.”
Parle continued with its operations during the lockdown. It arranged transport services for the workers to ensure safe and easy commute.
“Players had been focusing on enhancing distribution reach, especially in rural areas in the past 18-24 months; this worked well for them during the pandemic,” said Anuj Sethi, Senior Director at Crisil Ratings. The company recently conducted a study on FMCG players.
According to experts, Britannia’s Good Day, Tiger, Milk Bikis, Bourbon and Marie Parle’s Krackjack, Monaco and Hide & Seek were sold significant numbers during the lockdown.
“During the lockdown, Parle-G became the comfort food for many; and for several others, it was the only food they had on them. This is a common man’s biscuit; those who can not afford bread buy Parle G,” says Mr Mayank.
It falls in the ‘below Rs. 100 per kg’ category which makes it a cost-effective glucose biscuit. It could have been a companion to thousands of migrant workers travelling on foot.
He adds, “We had several state governments requisitioning us for biscuits… they were in constant touch with us, asking about our stock positions. Several NGOs bought humongous quantities from us. We were lucky to have restarted production from March 25 onwards. This time has brought us great brand recognition and acceptance”
The company makes around 400 million biscuits every day. Which means that if you stack the biscuits one over another, you can cover the distance between earth and sun. If you stack the annual consumption Parle G biscuits side by side, it will go around the earth 192 times.