Lotte India Debuts Biscuit Snack PEPERO, Eyes Rs.2,000 Crore Revenue
With the introduction of its first biscuit snack, PEPERO, in India, Lotte India, a division of the South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, broadened its product line in an effort to reach its revenue target of Rs 2,000 crore this year.
He gave an explanation of the launch's reasoning, stating that the Indian snacking market is changing and that consumers are looking for goods that fit with their identity, feelings, and way of life.
In Korea, the PEPERO brand currently commands a market value of $1.3 billion, and over the next ten years, the Lotte Group hopes to grow it to $ 13 billion, according to Wahi.
"We are launching it in India as the first market. Later, we will begin exporting from here to the Middle East and Far Eastern countries," he noted.
"We will also introduce Indian variants of PEPERO in the future," he added.
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According to Lotte India managing director Milan Wahi, Lotte India has allocated Rs 475 crore for investments at the Rohtak plant in Haryana, which is the company's first production site outside of Korea.
"We are positioning PEPERO in the mass-premium segment, targeting Gen Z consumers, who make up about 377 million people in India," he said.
About Rs 15 crore has been set aside for the brand's marketing effort, and Rs 225 crore of this investment is dedicated to the PEPERO company, he continued.
The regular PEPERO costs Rs 20 for a single pack, while the crispy version costs Rs 30. "The original PEPERO 'home pack' costs Rs 50, and the crunchy 'home pack' costs Rs 70," he said.
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It is anticipated that the partnership between Lotte India and Havmor Ice Cream will help the Lotte Group's food and confectionery division advance its "One India" goal in the most populated country in the world.
In 2017, Lotte Wellfood purchased Havmor, a prominent ice cream brand in India. According to Lotte, Havmor will remain a stand-alone brand despite the merger, preserving its ice cream business while providing improved capabilities and brand strength to Lotte India's Korean ice cream and snack production facilities.
Through the combination, Lotte India will be able to better serve the southern, northern, and western parts of India by gaining unified control over the manufacturing and logistics resources of both businesses.
According to Lotte Wellfood, Lotte India now hopes to report yearly sales of 1 trillion won ($734 million) by 2032 by optimizing the synergy from the combination.
Prior to the merger, in February, Lotte India opened a new ice cream manufacturing facility in Pune, a city in western India, with an investment of 70 billion won. The factory made the company more competitive in the market at a time when demand for ice cream was at its peak nationwide. One of the items produced by the facility is Krunch, a Korean ice cream brand that was first offered in India by Lotte Wellfood in 1983. In just three months, the company sold over a million bars, increasing the popularity of Korean ice cream among Indian consumers.