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Tag: Kantar Worldpanel

  • The Script Room appoints K. Ramakrishnan as an independent director

    The Script Room appoints K. Ramakrishnan as an independent director

    MUMBAI: The Script Room, an independently owned, bespoke creative agency, founded by Ayyappan Raj & Rajesh Ramaswamy (Ramsam), onboards K. Ramakrishnan (Ramki), managing director – South Asia at Kantar Worldpanel, as an independent director on its board. With over three decades of experience in marketing, branding, and business strategy, he has held leadership roles at companies like Lenovo, Café Coffee Day and TVS Motor Company. In his new role, Ramakrishnan will participate in the strategic business decisions of The Script Room bringing his deep market knowledge, experience and thought leadership to the table.

    Known for its commitment to enjoyable scripts across formats, The Script Room has always championed storytelling that connects. With Ramki’s mentoring, the company takes a significant step forward in its journey of shaping their business with both soul and structure.

    Reflecting on the decision, The Script Room co-founder Ayyappan Raj shared, “Two years ago, when I first conceived the idea of establishing a Board of Directors and shared it with Ramsam, Ramki was the very first name on the list. I had the privilege of meeting Ramki in 2005 when he was a client at TVS Motor Company, and since then, he has played a significant role in both my professional and personal journey. It is with great pleasure that we announce his appointment as an Independent Director on our Board. Ramki is widely regarded as a trusted advisor and mentor – his innate capacity for leadership and guidance, coupled with his expanding sphere of influence, make him a valuable addition to our governance and strategic thinking.”

    K. Ramakrishnan shared, “It is a pleasure and honour to be able to serve as an independent director on the board of The Script Room. I am happy to work with bright and creative professionals such as Ramsam, Ayyappan and the others. I hope to provide professional counsel and promote a lot of dialectic thinking as The Script Room continues to scale up in its Creative Business journey”.

    Now in its sixth year of operations, The Script Room is excited about the future with Ramki joining as an Independent Director and will soon announce its full board of directors. With this guidance, the company is poised to continue delivering outstanding stories across all formats while building a cheerful and inspiring environment for its team and partners alike.

  • Premium category growth double that of entire FMCG sector

    Premium category growth double that of entire FMCG sector

    MUMBAI: Even though the FMCG sector in rural India is facing a slow down for the past few quarters, the number of households buying more than 20 categories in a year saw a jump of nearly 50 per cent in the past year, Kantar managing director for Worldpanel Division south Asia K Ramakrishnan told Indiantelevision.com as he highlighted the key findings from the Consumer Connection 2019 report, which is based on the buying habits of around 8200 households in India across 95 categories.

    Ramakrishnan said, “Rural India is in a conundrum. On the one hand, there is a slowdown (for FMCG) and on the other hand, they are trying more categories. Rural aspirations are just like urban consumers’ right now. So, they are trying newer things by cutting on staples like atta, oil, salt, etc. They are rationing it in such a way that they avoid the wastage of these staples and also the stocking.”

    One of the reasons behind this increase in categories that the rural consumers buy from are actions taken by various brands in making products available at cheaper price points in the form of trial packs.

    Ramakrishnan highlighted that along with Indian consumers’ move towards bigger packs—as compared to their affinity to sachets like earlier—increasing, there has been a substantial jump in the sale of premium category products across the country. “The growth of premium category is twice that of the FMCG category as a whole,” he said.

    He further noted, “We see it as a result of several things like there have been strong pricing actions by manufacturers for promoting larger packs; strong promotional actions to popularise these larger packs; and interesting innovations like Kissan’s ketchup sachets with a nozzle.”

    Ramakrishnan added, “The premiumisation is showing tremendous growth not just because the base is small, but also because a lot of premium brands are offering trial packs. For example, Surf Excel is a premium brand but it has grown, largely, on its Rs 10 pack.”

    He also mentioned that after a slowdown in the FMCG sector, that started from the second quarter from 2018, the industry is now looking towards a revival. The first quarter of 2019 has shown improvements, and Ramakrishnan believes that the worst is over.

    Ramakrishnan also elaborated on the increased penetration of e-commerce in the Indian market. He shared that though the category has witnessed 3-time increase in its penetration, it is largely because the base is small. He attributed this growth to the increasing smartphone penetration and cheaper data prices.

    Some other key findings of the Consumer Connections 2019 include a dip, of about 50 per cent, in the success rate of newly launched products, a 15 per cent volume drop in the sale of baby foods, and loss of volumes for unbranded products.

  • Amazon is gung-ho for digital music giveaway

    Amazon is gung-ho for digital music giveaway

    MUMBAI: Online retailer Amazon has stepped up the battle for music sales by announcing it will give away digital versions when customers buy CDs and vinyl records – and they will be backdated for any past purchases.

    The free MP3 service, called AutoRip, will enable music fans to have instant access to music they have bought – several days before their purchases arrive in the post.

    The company has already lined up in excess of 350,000 albums for AutoRip with more to be added, and said there will be no knock-on effect on prices.

    Tracks will be added to their AmazonCloud Player account and can be either streamed or downloaded to devices such as iPhones, iPads, Kindles and smartphones.

    AutoRip – which gives consumers their purchases in two formats – will be seen as a new weapon in the fight for dominance in the music sector against rivals such as iTunes which specialises in only digital versions.

    The Amazon site will show whether AutoRip versions are available when consumers check out information about potential purchases, although it will not work if items were bought as gifts for other people. And it does not apply to items bought from private sellers in the Amazon Marketplace – only those bought directly from Amazon.

    Latest figures for the UK market show Amazon became the leading music retailer in 2012, accounting for 25.6 per cent of expenditure (15.3 per cent for home delivery and 10.3 per cent downloads) and taking over from troubled HMV, which had been in front the previous year.

    But iTunes is way out in front for digital sales, and represents 22.5 per cent of the entire music market – up from 17.9 per cent the previous year – according to data from Kantar Worldpanel, which is used by the British Phonographic Industry. Both companies will be keen to push up their share, particularly after HMV went into administration earlier this year and is now operating on a smaller scale after formerly being the market leader for physical sales.

    Amazon‘s AutoRip will be backdated to purchases of CDs, vinyl or cassettes since its music store was established in 1999, if a digital version is available.