Beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo is set to roll out flagship juice brand Tropicana in a powder format, pitching it directly against global rival Cadbury-Kraft, which sells Tang, as well as home-grown firm Rasna.India may be the only market in which one of the world's largest beverage makers is taking Tropicana into the powder concentrate category. "The launch will help us drive accessibility, attract more consumers to the packaged juice/ juice-beverages category and expand the franchise of Tropicana in India," said Deepika Warrier, executive director, marketing (beverages), PepsiCo India.
While the powder concentrate market is estimated at over Rs 600 crore, Ahmedabad-based Rasna is by far the market leader with an over 80% share; it has been selling the eponymous brand since the last three decades while multinational Cadbury-Kraft's Tang is a distant No 2. "I am glad that a multinational player (PepsiCo) is following us. This market is set to grow faster now," said Piruz Khambatta, chairman of Rasna, which has been selling fruit-based powder under the brand name Rasna Fruit Plus for the last four years.
Pepsi, for its part , is keen to play an innovation game as compared to its rivals, which sell on the price-plank. "Leveraging Tropicana's global fruit expertise, we have developed a unique technology that preserves real-fruit taste and allows us to convert fruit juices into easily soluble powder without added artificial preservatives," said SR Murali, executive director, technology, PepsiCo India.
For PepsiCo, this isn't its first foray in the powder category. It had extended its sports drink Gatorade to powder format in early 2010 by launching Gatorade Sports Mix.
"The powder segment is a relatively old format and hasn't kept pace with out-of-home beverages like carbonated soft drinks or juice drinks. Pepsi's new offering appears to be a significant innovation and could change the game in growing the brand as well as the category," said Shripad Nadkarni, director, MarketGate Consulting.
Like many other foods and beverage makers, PepsiCo too has been betting on health and wellness even as it attempts to reduce its dependence on aerated drinks.
But this market won't be easy to crack. Apart from Rasna, Pepsi will have to compete with Cadbury-Kraft, which launched the world's largest powdered beverage brand Tang in India last year. "Tang is a billion-dollar global brand, which is right on trend with what consumers opt for -- affordability, taste and refreshing goodness.
